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A SELECT LIBRARY
NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS
of
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
EDITED BY
PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK,
IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF PATRISTIC SCHOLARS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA
VOLUME VIM'
SAINT AUGUSTIN:
EXPOSITIONS ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS
TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES AND INDICES
WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY
GRAND RAPIDS 1956 MICHIGAN
SEP 3 wflO
PHOTOLITHOPRINTED BY CUSHING - MALLOY, INC.
ANN ARBOR. MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1956
EXPOSITIONS ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
BY
SAINT AUGUSTIN,
BISHOP OF HIPPO.
EDITED, WITH BRIEF ANNOTATIONS, AND CONDENSED FROM THE SIX VOLUMES
OF THE OXFORD TRANSLATION,
BY
A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D.,
EDITOR OF THE ANTE-NICENE FATHERS, ETC.
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
The delightful task of editing these Enarrations, which was what I undertook, became,
indeed, a very painful one when the general editor informed me that the whole work must be
comprised in a single volume of the series. This allowed but one hundred pages to each one
of the six volumes of the Oxford translation. But I felt that my learned friend was right (i) in
deciding that St. Augustin's treatment of the Psalms must not be wanting to the series, and
(2) that the exposition is so diffuse and digressive, that it readily admits of abridgment, if these
exceptional features supply the material for retrenchments. In working out the result, I have
" done what I could." I have preserved the African Psalter entire, with as much of the comment
as was possible ; even so overrunning, at the publishers' cost, the six hundred pages which were
all subscribers might expect. The only means of avoiding this was to omit entirely the CXIXth
Psalm, an expedient to which I could not consent.
To the primitive believers came the Psalter, like an aftermath, wet with the dews of a new
birth as from the womb of the morning. The Spirit had descended upon it anew, as showers
upon the mown grass ; and it had sprung up afresh, sweeter than before, for the pasture of flocks.
The Church received it as full of Christ, as the inheritance of a nobler and truer Israel, for which
His coming had illuminated it with a genuine interpretation, painting even its darker and clouded
surfaces with the bow of promise, now made the symbol of an everlasting covenant and of all
promises fulfilled in Him. Hence the local and temporary meanings of the Psalms were regarded
as insignificant. Their Sinaitic comminations and their conformities to the Law were but.
prophecies which the Jews had voluntarily appropriated by rejecting the Son of David. They
were types of what had been fulfilled in their rejected Messiah. The Church received the Psalter
from the temple and the synagogue,1 and adopted it into liturgic use, " with hymns and spiritual
songs," all magnifying the crucified and glorified Christ. With the fulfilment of prophecy by
the destruction of the Temple and the dispersion of the Jews, everything pertaining to the law
was sloughed from its ripened stalk ; and the Psalter blossomed with the consummate flowers and
fruitage which were its deeper intent, and which had waited so long to be disclosed. The true
David had come, and little thought of the typical David was to be entertained : the true Israel
was to be seen everywhere, and the dead images of legal rites and symbols were to be interpreted
only by the Gospel. To bring out its hidden meanings, the reading and chanting of the Psalter
received the accentuation of antiphons and doxologies, and constantly elevated the worshippers
into the newness of the spirit out of the oldness of the letter. Thus the whole book breathed
a sweetness unknown to the Hebrews, but for which kings and prophets had patiently waited.
The name of Jesus disclosed itself in every reference to salvation, and perfumed these sacred
odes with a flavour that could come only from " the Root and the Offspring of David." Such
• See Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. vii. p. 530 it teg.
vi EDITOR'S PREFACE.
was the Psalter to the primitive faithful : the walk to Emmaus had opened their eyes to behold
the Lord. To the true interpretation of the Psalms St. Paul had supplied the key, and from the
beginning of the Church's institutions we find evidences of the enthusiasm with which the Psalter
was appropriated in all the richness of its evangelic import. The earliest Fathers are full of what
the genius of Augustin has embodied in his Enarrations, which nobody must confound with
works of scientific exegesis. The author's one idea was widely different from that of modern
critics. His " accommodations " of Scripture, as they would now be called, are part of the system
which the Church had received, of which Christ was the Alpha and the Omega, and in which the
foreshadowing David was nowhere." He who comes to this volume with any other conception
of its uses will be sadly disappointed. In the critical study of the Psalms, with all the modern
helps, such as Delitzsch and others have so richly supplied, let us not fail to exercise ourselves day
and night ; but if, as Christians, we wish to catch the living Spirit that animates the " wheels " or
mechanical structure of the Psalms, let us learn from Augustin that indeed in every sense a greater
than David, a " greater than Solomon, is here." The fanciful ingenuity with which our author
interweaves the New Testament with the Psalms will at first provoke a smile. His ideas seem
often overstrained and unnatural. But let us reflect that he is animating the Church of Christ
with the true " spirit of prophecy," which is the " testimony of Jesus ; " that his object is to hang
Gospel associations upon every stem and twig that come from the root of Jesse, and to wean
even the Hebrew Christians from their instinctive references to the Law. Let us adopt these joint
conceptions of the work, and we shall find in it a glorious illustration of the Apostle's assurance,
" Ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, . . . but unto Mount Sion, and unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, . . . and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant."
In every way the divine and the student will find this work, even as here presented, a noble
introduction to patristic studies. Let us observe also what it proves. It gives us the .old African
Psalter in all its rude and uncouth conceptions of the Septuagint, and teaches us how much we
owe to the erudition and labours of St. Jerome. First of all, the dignity of the Holy Scriptures,
and their importance to all Christians, are assumed. Its historical values are very great : it shows
the absolute freedom of the early Church from the corruptions of medisevalism. The Pentecostal
unity of Christendom, the Catholic and Apostolic system as defined in the constitutions of
Nicaea and Constantinople, the autonomy of national Churches, the independence of the, African
Church (illustrated by the personal history of Augustin, who rejected communion with the Bishop
of Rome when he stretched his claims beyond seas), and the dogmatic primacy of the patriarch-
ate of Carthage in Latin Christendom as the mother of its theology, are assumed in every reflec-
tion upon the Donatists, and in the tone and voice of the great preacher himself, to whom the
Western Churches owe all that survives their schism and corruptions, even to our own day. \ But the
ethical and doctrinal teacher will find the charm of these pages, ( i ) in their correspondence with
the evangelical precepts of the Sermon on the Mount, and their freedom from the tainted dis-
tinctions and dilutions of modern casuists; (2) in their perpetual enforcement of the Pauline
ideas of justification, harmonized successfully with those of St. James ; (3) in the faithful exhibi-
tion of the doctrines of grace ; (4) and in the loyalty to Jesus Christ of every word ; abasing
human merit, and presenting Him as " the end of the law for righteousness," with an uncompro-
mising tenacity, and a persevering reiteration of this fundamental verity which seems to foresee
the gross departure of Western Churches from their original purity, and to " lay an anchor to
windward " for their restoration to orthodoxy.
The readers of this volume will need little reference to the innumerable commentaries which
have been devoted to the Psalter ; but I must mention the exceptional work of the late erudite
J. Mason Neale, D.D., because it throws light on the liturgical history of the Psalter in the Western
1 Compare a Chron. vi. 43, Isa. lv. 3, and Acts xiii. 34.
EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii
Churches. The learned commentary of the late Eishop of Lincoln, Dr. Wordsworth, will be found
to combine in a remarkable degree, with critical exposition, the Augustinian spirit of devout
evangelical associations and elevations.
The editor of this volume blesses God for much spiritual help and comfort afforded by the
review of these " songs of our pilgrimage," with which his task has enriched the latest years of
that period of our mortality beyond which all is but labour and sorrow.
A. C. C.
May io, 1888.
NOTE.
It remains to note that I have had the Benedictine edition in the types of Louvain and of Migne constantly
at hand, and have referred to them not only in all cases of doubt, but for general refreshment of mind; the
epigrammatic beauty and consonance of Augustin's Latin being untranslatable. From the Oxford translations
I have rarely departed, and in all important instances have noted the wherefore in the margin. It was not the
design of this series to give the reader any other than the masterly work of the scholars to whom we owe its
appearance. Other instances have been such inconsiderable adaptations as are demanded in the suture of parts
dislocated by abridgment. My brief annotations are always bracketed and marked by an initial of my name.
ADVERTISEMENT.
It seems necessary to give the following outline of the history of this Oxford translation. It was undertaken
as part of the great series of original translations which appeared "under the patronage of William, Archbishop
of Canterbury, from its commencement, a.d. 1836, until his Grace's departure in peace, a.d. 1848." It
proposed to include all the "Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church before the division of the East and West,"
and this exposition was dedicated as a memorial of Archbishop Howley in the following words : —
" To the memory of t/ie most reverend father in God, William, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all
England, formerly Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, this library of ancient bishops,
fathers, doctors, martyrs, confessors, of Christ's Holy Catholic Church, undertaken amid his encouragement, and
carried on for twelve years under his sanction, until his departure hence in peace, is gratefully and reverently
inscribed."
The preface to the first volume was by the saintly Charles Marriott of Oriel College, with whom I
enjoyed some acquaintance. It is well worth preserving here,1 and is as follows : —
In any commentary on a portion of the Old Testament by a writer unacquainted with Hebrew, exact criticism, and
freedom from mistake, must not be expected. But the Psalms have been so in the mouth and in the heart of God's people
in all languages, that it has been necessary often to find an explanation suitable to imperfect translations. And no doubt it
is intended that we should use such explanations for the purpose of edification, when we are unable to be more accurate,
though in proving doctrine it is necessary always to remember and allow for any want of acquaintance with the original, or
uncertainty with respect to its actual meaning. However, the main scope and bearing of the text is rarely affected by such
points as vary in different translations, and the analogy of the faith is sufficient to prevent a Catholic2 mind from adopting
any error in consequence of a text seeming to bear a heterodox meaning. Perhaps the errors of translation in the existing
versions may have led the Fathers to adopt rules of interpretation ranging too far from the simple and literal ; but having
such translations, they could hardly use them otherwise. Meanwhile St. Augustin will be found to excel in the intense
apprehension of those great truths which pervade the whole of Sacred Writ, and in the vivid and powerful exposition of what
bears upon them. It is hardly possible to read his practical and forcible applications of Holy Scripture, without feeling those
truths by the faith of which we ought to live brought home to the heart in a wonderful manner. His was a mind that strove
earnestly to solve the great problems of human iife, and after exhausting the resources, and discovering the emptiness, of
erroneous systems, found truth and rest at last in Catholic Christianity, in the religion of the Bible as expounded by St.
Ambrose. And though we must look to his Confessions for the full view of all his cravings after real good, and their ulti-
mate satisfaction, yet throughout his works we have the benefit of the earnestnsss with which he sought to feed on the " sincere
milk of the word."
His mystical and allegorical interpretation, in spite of occasional mistakes, which belong rather to the translation than
to himself, will be found in general of great value. It is to a considerable extent systematic, and the same interpretation of
the same symbols is repeated throughout the work, and is indeed often common to him with other Fathers. The "feet"
taken for the affections, " clouds " for the Apostles, and many other instances, are of very frequent occurrence. And it is
evident that a few such general interpretations must be a great help to those who wish to make an allegorical use of those
portions of Holy Scripture which are adapted for it. Nor are they adhered to with such strictness as to deprive the reader
of the benefit of other explanations, where it appears that some other metaphor or allegory was intended. Both St. Augus-
tin and St. Gregory acknowledge, and at times impress on their readers, that metaphorical language is used in Holy Scrip-
ture with various meanings under the same symbol.
The discourses on the Psalms are not carried throughout on the same plan, but still are tolerably complete as a com-
mentary, since the longer expositions furnish the means of filling out the shorter notices, in thought at least, to the attentive
reader of the whole. They were not delivered continuously, nor all at the same place. Occasionally the author is led by the
circumstances of the time into long discussions of a controversial character, especially with respect to the Donatists, against
whose narrow and exclusive views he urges strongly the prophecies relating to the universality of the Church. Occasion-
ally a Psalm Is first reviewed briefly, so as to give a general clew to its interpretation, and then enlarged upon in several
discourses.
For the present translation, as far as the first thirty Psalms, the editors are indebted to a friend who conceals his
name; for the remainder of the volume, with part of the next which is to appear, to the Kev. J. E. Tweed, M.A., chaplain
of Christ Church, Oxford.
C. M.
Oxford, 1847.
1 Dated Oxford, Feast of St. Augustin of Canterbury, 1847. » i.e. Nicenc. — C.
ix
ADVERTISEMENT.
After the first two volumes edited by Mr. Tweed of Christ Church, the third volume (carrying the work down
to the end of Psalm lxxv.) appeared with this announcement signed by Mr. Marriott : " The whole of it, as well
as a few Psalms at the end of the former and the beginning of the following volume, is translated by T.
Scratton, Esq., M.A.,of Christ Church, Oxford." The fifth volume, appeared in April, 1853, with the name of
the Rev. H. M. Wilkins, M.A., of Merton College, as translator. In December, 1857, came forth the last
volume, with the following advertisement from the pen of Dr. Pusey : —
Thb first hundred pages of this volume were printed, when it pleased God to withdraw from all further toil our friend,
the Rev. C. Marriott, upon whose editorial labours the Library of the Fathers had for some years wholly depended. Full of
activity in the cause of truth and religious knowledge, full of practical benevolence, expanding himself, his strength, his
paternal inheritance, in works of piety and charity, in one night his labour was closed, and he was removed from active duty
to wait in stillness for his Lord's last call. His friends may perhaps rather thankfully wonder that God allowed one,
threatened in many ways with severe disease, to labour for Him so long and so variously, than think it strange that He
suddenly, and for them prematurely, allowed him thus far to enter into his rest. To those who knew him best, it has been
a marvel how, with health so frail, he was enabled in such various ways, and for so many years, to do active good in his gen-
eration. Early called, and ever obeying the call, he has been allowed both active duty and an early rest.
This volume, long delayed, has been completed by the Rev. H. Walford, Vice-Principal of St. Edmund's Hall. The
principal of St. Edmund Hall, Dr. Barrow, has, with great kindness, allowed himself to be referred to in obscure passages.
St. Augustin's Commentary on the Psalms, then, is now, by the blessing of God, completed for the first time in an
English garb. Although, as a commentary, it from time to time fails us, because it explains minutely and verbally a transla-
tion of Holy Scripture different from and inferior to our own, yet, on this very ground, it is the more valuable when the trans-
lations agree. For St. Augustin was so impressed with the sense of the depth of Holy Scripture, that when it seems to
him, on the surface, plainest, then he is the more assured of its hidden depth.1 True to this belief, St. Augustin pressed out
word by word of Holy Scripture, and that, always in dependence on the inward teaching of God the Holy Ghost who wrote
it, until he had extracted some fulness of meaning from it. More also, perhaps, than any other work of St. Augustin, this
commentary abounds in those condensed statements of doctrinal and practical truth which are so instructive, because at once
so comprehensive and so accurate.
May He under whose gracious influence this great work was written, be with its readers also, and make it now, as
heretofore, a treasure to this portion of His Church.
E. B. P.
Advent, 1857.
1 H«re Dr. Pusey quotes the saint's preface to Ps. cxix. See p. 560. — C.
CONTENTS.
PACE
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME v
ADVERTISEMENT ix
THE ENARRATIONS, OR EXPOSITIONS I
i. Book First, ending with Psalm xli 132
2. Book Second, ending with Psalm lxxii 333
3. Book Third, ending with Psalm lxxxix 441
4. Book Fourth, ending with Psalm cvi 532
5. Book Fifth, ending with Psalm cl. 683
ST. AUGUSTIN ON THE PSALMS.
PSALM I.
i. "Blessed is the man that hath not gone
away in the counsel of the ungodly" (ver. i).
This is to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord Man.' " Blessed is the man that hath
not gone away in the counsel of the ungodly,"
as " the man of earth did," 2 who consented to
his wife deceived by the serpent, to the trans-
gressing the commandment of God. " Nor stood
in the way of sinners." For He came indeed
in the way of sinners, by being born as sinners
are ; but He " stood " not therein, for that the
enticements of the world held Him not. " And
hath not sat in the seat of pestilence." He
willed not an earthly kingdom, with pride, which
is well taken for " the seat of pestilence ; " for
that there is hardly any one who is free from the
love of rule, and craves not human glory. For
a " pestilence " is disease widely spread, and in-
volving all or nearly all. Yet " the seat of pesti-
lence " may be more appropriately understood
of hurtful doctrine ; " whose word spreadeth as
a canker." 3 The order too of the words must
be considered: "went away, stood, sat." For
he " went away," when he drew back from God.
He " stood," when he took pleasure in sin. He
" sat," when, confirmed in his pride, he could
not go back, unless set free by Him, who neither
" hath gone away in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the
seat of pestilence."
2. " But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law will he meditate by day and by
night (ver. 2). The law is not made for a right-
eous man,"4 says the Apostle. But it is one
thing to be in the law, another under the law.
Whoso is in the law, acteth according to the law ;
whoso is under the law, is acted upon according
to the law : the one therefore is free, the other
a slave. Again, the law, which is written and
imposed upon the servant, is one thing ; the law,
■ Hominr Dominico. This term as applied to our Lord, St.
Augustin disallows in his Retractat. i. 19. [He would not have
objected to the expression of our translator, ' the Lord Man, as
above. It is the adjective Dominicus to which he objects, because
it is ambiguous, quasi Man oftht Lord. — C.J
2 1 Cor. xv. 47. 3 2 Tim. ii. 17. 4 1 Tim. 1. 9.
which is mentally discerned by him who needeth
not its " letter," is another thing. " He will
meditate by day and by night," is to be under-
stood either as without ceasing ; or " by day "
in joy, " by night " in tribulations. For it is said,
" Abraham saw my day, and was glad : " 5 and
of tribulation it is said, " my reins also have in-
structed me, even unto the night." 6
3. " And he shall be like a tree planted hard
by the running streams of waters " (ver. 3) ;
that is either Very " Wisdom," ' which vouchsafed
to assume man's nature for our salvation ; that
as man He might be " the tree planted hard by
the running streams of waters ; " for in this sense
can that too be taken which is said in another
Psalm, " the river of God is full of water." 8 Or,
by the Holy Ghost, of whom it is said, " He shall
baptize you in the Holy Ghost ; " » and again,
" If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and
drink ; " IO and again, " If thou knewest the gift
of God, and who it is that asketh water of thee,
thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would
have given thee living water, of which whoso
drinketh shall never thirst, but it shall be made
in him a well of water springing up into everlast-
ing life."" Or, "by the running streams of.
waters " may be by the sins of the people, be-
cause first the waters are called "peoples" in the
Apocalypse ; ,2 and again, by " running stream "
is not unreasonably understood " fall," which hath
relation to sin. That " tree " then, that is, our
Lord, from the running streams of water, that is,
from the sinful people's drawing them by the
way into the roots of His discipline, will "bring
forth fruit," that is, will establish Churches ; " in
His season," that is, after He hath been glorified
by His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven.
For then, by the sending of the Holy Ghost to
the Apostles, and by the confirming of their faith
in Him, and their mission to the world, He made
the Churches to " bring forth fruit." " His leaf
also shall not fall," that is, His Word shall not be
in vain. For, " all flesh is grass, and the glory of
man as the flower of grass ; the grass wkhereth,
5 John viii. 5, 6.
8 Ps. lxv. 9.
11 John iv. 10, 14.
6 Ps. xvi. 7.
9 Matt. iii. 11.
12 Rev. xvii. 15.
7 Prov. viii.
10 John vii. 37.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm II.
and the flower falleth, but the word of the Lord
abideth for ever.' And whatsoever He doeth
shall prosper," that is, whatsoever that tree shall
bear ; which " all " must be taken of fruit and
leaves, that is, deeds and words.
4. "The ungodly are not so," they are not so,
"but are like the dust which the wind cast-
eth forth from the face of the earth" (ver. 4).
" The earth " is here to be taken as that stedfast-
ness in God, with a view to which it is said,
" The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, yea,
I have a goodly heritage." * With a view to this
it is said, "Wait on the Lord and keep His ways,
and He shall exalt thee to inherit the earth." «
With a view to this it is said, " Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth."4 A
comparison too is derived hence, for as this
visible earth supports and contains the outer man,
so that earth invisible the inner man. " From
the face of" which "earth the wind casteth forth
the ungodly," that is, pride, in that it puffeth him
up. On his guard against which he, who was
inebriated by the richness of the house of the
Lord, and drunken of the torrent stream of its
pleasures, saith, " Let not the foot of pride come
against me." 5 From this earth pride cast forth
him who said, " I will place my seat in the north,
and I will be like the Most High." 6 From the
face of the earth it cast forth him also who,
after that he had consented and tasted of the
forbidden tree that he might be as God, hid
himself from the Face of God.' That his earth
has reference to the inner man, and that man 8
is cast forth thence by pride, may be particularly
seen in that which is written, " Why is earth
and ashes proud ? Because, in his life, he cast
forth his bowels." ° For, whence he hath been
cast forth, he is not unreasonably said to have cast
forth himself.
5. "Therefore the ungodly rise not in the
judgment" (ver. 5) : "therefore," namely, be-
cause " as dust they are cast forth from the face
of the earth." And well did he say that this
should be taken away from them, which in their
pride they court, namely, that they may judge :
so that this same idea is more clearly expressed
in the following sentence, " nor sinners in the
counsel of the righteous." For it is usual for
what goes before,10 to be thus repeated more
clearly. So that by " sinners " should be under-
stood the "ungodly;" what is before "in the
judgment," should be here "in the counsel of
the righteous." Or if indeed the ungodly are
one thing, and sinners another, so that although
every ungodly man is a sinner, yet every sinner
is not ungodly; "The ungodly rise not in the
' Isa. xL 6-8.
* Matt. v. 5.
' Gen. iii. ».
• Ecclus. x. 9.
* P». xvi. 5, 6.
* Pi. xxxvi. 11.
* Oxford hss. '
"> Oxford mss. "
3 Ps. xxxvii. 34.
* Isa. xiv. 13, 14.
the inner man."
what is darkly said."
judgment," that is, they shall rise indeed, but
not that they should be judged, for they are al-
ready appointed to most certain punishment.
But " sinners " do not rise " in counsel of the
just," that is, that they may judge, but perad-
venture that they may be judged ; so as of these
it were said, " The fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, he
shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall
be burned, he shall then suffer loss : but he
himself shall be saved ; yet so as by fire."
6. " For the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous" (ver. 6). As it is said, medicine
knows health, but knows not disease, and yet
disease is recognised by the art of medicine.
In like manner can it be said that " the Ix>rd
knoweth the way of the righteous," but the way
of the ungodly He knoweth not. Not that the
Lord is ignorant of anything, and yet He says to
sinners, " I never knew you." " "But the way
of the ungodly shall perish ; " is the same as
if it were said, the way of the ungodly the Lord
knoweth not. But it is expressed more plainly
that this should be not to be known of the Lord,
namely, to " perish ; " and this to be known of
the Lord, namely, to " abide ; " so as that to be
should appertain to the knowledge of God, but
to His not knowing not to be. For the Lord
saith, "I AM that I AM," and, "I AM hath
sent me." "
PSALM II.
1 . " Why do the heathen rage, and the people
meditate vain things?" (ver. 1). "The kings
of the earth have stood up, and the rulers taken
counsel together, against the Lord, and against
His Christ" (ver. 2). It is said, "why?" as
if it were said, in vain. For what they wished,
namely, Christ's destruction, they accomplished
not ; for this is spoken of our Lord's persecutors,
of whom also mention is made in the Acts of
the Apostles.'3
2. " Let us break their bonds asunder, and
cast away their yoke from us" (ver. 3). Al-
though it admits of another acceptation, yet is it
more fitly understood as in the person of those
who are said to " meditate vain things." So that
" let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away
their yoke from us," may be, let us do our en-
deavour, that the Christian religion do not bind
us, nor be imposed upon us.
3. " He that dwelleth in the heavens shall
laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall have
them in derision" (ver. 4). The sentence is
repeated ; for " He who dwelleth in the heavens,"
is afterwards put, " the Lord ; " and for " shall
11 Matt. vii. 33.
12 Exod. iii. 14. [Irenaeus, p. 419, vol. i. A. N. F.; also Tcrtull.
p. 682, vol. iii. A. N. F; same series elsewhere. — C.J
13 Acts iv. 36.
TSALM II.]
ON THE PSALMS.
laugh them to scorn," is afterwards put, "shall
have them in derision." Nothing of this how-
ever must be taken in a carnal sort, as if God
either laugheth with cheek, or derideth with nos-
tril ; but it is to be understood of that power
which He giveth to His saints, that they seeing
things to come, namely, that the Name and rule
of Christ is to pervade posterity and possess all
nations, should understand that those men
" meditate a vain thing." J For this power
whereby these things are foreknown is God's
" laughter" and " derision." " He that dwelleth
in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn." If by
" heavens " we understand holy souls, by these
God, as foreknowing what is to come, will
" laugh them to scorn, and have them in de-
rision."
4. " Then He shall speak unto them in His
wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure "
(ver. 5). For showing more clearly how He
will "speak unto them," he added, He will "vex
them ; " so that " in His wrath," is, " in His sore
displeasure." But by the " wrath and sore dis-
pleasure " of the Lord God must not be under-
stood any mental perturbation ; but the might
whereby He most justly avengeth, by the sub-
jection of all creation to His service. For that
is to be observed and remembered which is
written in the Wisdom of Solomon, " But Thou,
Lord of power, judgest with tranquillity, and with
great favour orderest us." ■ The " wrath " of
God then is an emotion which is produced in
the soul which knoweth the law of God, when
it sees this same law transgressed by the sinner.
For by this emotion of righteous souls many
things are avenged. Although the " wrath " of
God can be well understood of that darkening
of the mind, which overtakes those who trans-
gress the law of God.
5. " Yet am I set by Him as King upon Sion,
His holy hill, preaching His decree" (ver. 6).
This is clearly spoken in the Person of the very
Lord our Saviour Christ. But if Sion signify, as
some interpret, beholding, we must not under-
stand it of anything rather than of the Church,
where daily is the desire raised of beholding
the bright glory of God, according to that of the
Apostle, " but we with open face beholding the
glory of the Lord." 2 Therefore the meaning of
this is, Yet I am set by Him as King over His
holy Church ; which for its eminence and stabil-
ity He calleth a mountain. " Yet I am set by
Him as King." I, that is, whose " bands " they
were meditating " to break asunder," and whose
" yoke " to " cast away." " Preaching His de-
cree." Who doth not see the meaning of this,
seeing it is daily practised?
6. " The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art
' Wisd. xii. 18.
2 2 Cor. iii. 18.
My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee " (ver. 7).,
Although that day may also seem to be pro-
phetically spoken of, on which Jesus Christ was
born according to the flesh ;. and in eternity
there is nothing past as if it had ceased to be,
nor future as if it were not yet, but present only,
since whatever is eternal, always is ; yet as "to-
day " intimates presentiality, a divine interpre-
tation is given to that expression, " To-day have
I begotten Thee," whereby the uncorrupt and
Catholic faith proclaims the eternal general ion
of the Power and Wisdom of God, who is the
Only-begotten Son.
7. " Ask of Me,' and I shall give Thee the
nations for Thine inheritance" (ver. 8). This
has at once a temporal sense with reference to
the Manhood which He took on Himself, who
offered up Himself as a Sacrifice in the stead of
all sacrifices, who also maketh intercession for
us ; so that the words, " ask of Me," may be
referred to all this temporal dispensation, which
has been instituted for mankind, namely, that
the " nations " should be joined to the Name of
Christ, and so be redeemed from death, and
possessed by God. "I shall give Thee the
nations for Thine inheritance," which so possess
them for their salvation, and to bear unto Thee
spiritual fruit. " And the uttermost parts of the
earth for Thy possession." The same repeated,
" The uttermost parts of the earth," is put for
" the nations ; " but more clearly, that we might
understand all the nations. And " Thy posses-
sion " stands for " Thine inheritance."
8. " Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron,"
with inflexible justice, and " Thou shalt break
them like a potter's vessel " (ver. 9) ; that is,
" Thou shalt break " in them earthly lusts, and
the filthy doings of the old man, and whatso-
ever hath been derived and inured from the
sinful clay. " And now understand, ye kings "
(ver. 10). "And now;" that is, being now
renewed, your covering of clay worn out, that is,
the carnal vessels of error, which belong to your
past life, " now understand," ye who now are
" kings ; " that is, able now to govern all that is
servile and brutish in you, able now too to fight,
not as " they who beat the air, but chastening
your bodies, and bringing them into subjec-
tion." 3 " Be instructed, all ye who judge the
earth." • This again is a repetition ; " Be in-
structed " is instead of " understand ; " and " ye
who judge the earth " instead of " ye kings."
For He signifies the spiritual by " those who
judge the earth." For whatsoever we judge, is
below us ; and whatsoever is below the spiritual
man, is with good reason called " the earth ; "
because it is defiled with earthly corruption.
9. " Serve the Lord with fear ; " lest what is
5 I Cor. ix. 26, 27.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm III.
said, " Ye kings and judges of the earth," turn
into pride : " And rejoice with trembling " (ver.
n). Very excellently is "rejoice" added,
lest "serve the I-ord with fear " should seem to
tend to misery. But again, lest this same rejoicing
should run on to unrestrained inconsiderateness,
there is added " with trembling," that it might
avail for a warning, and for the careful guarding
of holiness. It can also be taken thus, "And
now ye kings understand ; " that is, And now
that I am set as King, be ye not sad, kings of
the earth, as if your excellency were taken from
you, but rather " understand and be instructed."
For it is expedient for you, that ye should be
under Him, by whom understanding and in-
struction are given you. And this is expedient
for you, that ye lord it not with rashness, but
that ye " serve the Lord " of all " with fear," and
" rejoice " in bliss most sure and most pure,
with all caution and carefulness, lest ye fall there-
from into pride.
10. " Lay hold of discipline," lest at any time
the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the right-
eous way" (ver. 12). This is the same as,
"understand," and, "be instructed." For to
understand and be instructed, this is to lay hold
of discipline. Still in that it is said, " lay hold
of," it is plainly enough intimated that there is
some protection and defence against all things
which might do hurt unless with so great care-
fulness it be laid hold of. " Lest at any time
the Lord be angry," is expressed with a doubt,
not as regards the vision of the prophet to whom
it is certain, but as regards those who are
warned ; for they, to whom it is not openly re-
vealed, are wont to think with doubt of the
anger of God. This then they ought to say to
themselves, let us " lay hold of discipline, lest
at any time the Lord be angry, and we perish
from the righteous way." Now, how " the Lord
be angry " is to be taken, has been said above.
And " ye perish from the righteous way." This
is a great punishment, and dreaded by those
who have had any perception of the sweetness
of righteousness ; for he who perisheth from the
way of righteousness, in much misery will wan-
der through the ways of unrighteousness.
11. "When His anger shall be shortly kin-
dled, blessed are all they who put their trust in
Him ; " that is, when the vengeance shall come
which is prepared for the ungodly and for sinners,
not only will it not light on those " who put their
trust in " the Lord, but it will even avail for the
foundation and exaltation of a kingdom for
them. For he said not, " When His anger shall
be shortly kindled," safe " are all they who put
their trust in Him," as though they should have
this only thereby, to be exempt from punish-
ment; but he said, " blessed ; " in which there
is the sum and accumulation of all good
things. Now the meaning of " shortly " I sup-
pose to be this, that it will be something sudden,
whilst sinners will deem it far off and long to
come,
PSALM HI.'
A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE FLED FROM THE FACE
OF ABESSALON HIS SON.
i. The words, "I slept, and took rest; and
rose, for the Lord will take me up," lead us to
believe that this Psalm is to be understood as in
the Person of Christ ; for they sound more ap-
plicable to the Passion and Resurrection of our
Lord, than to that history in which David's flight
is described from the face of his rebellious son.
And, since it is written of Christ's disciples,
" The sons of the bridegroom fast not as long as
the bridegroom is with them ; " ^ it is no wonder
if by his undutiful 4 son be here meant that un-
dutiful 4 disciple who betrayed Him. From
whose face although it may be understood
historically that He fled, when on his departure
He withdrew with the rest to the mountain ; yet
in a spiritual sense, when the Son of God, that
is the Power and Wisdom of God, abandoned
the mind of Judas ; when the Devil wholly oc-
cupied him ; as it is written, " The Devil entered
into his heart," s may it be well understood that
Christ fled from his face ; not that Christ gave
place to the Devil, but that on Christ's departure
the Devil took possession. Which departure, I
suppose, is called a flight in this Psalm, because
of its quickness ; which is indicated also by the
word of our Lord, saying, " That thou doest,
do quickly." s So even in common conver-
sation we say of anything that does not come
to mind, it has fled from me ; and of a man of
much learning we say, nothing flies from him.
Wherefore truth fled from the mind of Judas,
when it ceased to enlighten him. But Absalom,
as some interpret, in the Latin tongue signifies,
Patris pax, a father's peace. And it may seem
strange, whether in the history of the kings,
when Absalom carried on war against his father ;
or in the history of the New Testament, when
Judas was the betrayer of our Lord ; how " fa-
ther's peace " can be understood. But both in
the former place they who read carefully, see
that David in that war was at peace with his son,
who even with sore grief lamented his death,
saying, " O Absalom, my son, would God I had
died for thee ! " 6 And in the history of the
' [This reading is corrected by St. Jerome in his Hebraic Psalter,
and our Authorized Version " Kiss the Son " is sustained by the
best authorities. See a forcible elucidation in Bishop Wordsworth's
Cemmintary on Psalms. Ps. ii.— C]
* [On the place of this Psalm in the Ordt> Psaltttorum, see the
important principle laid down by Bishop Wordsworth, in his Intro-
duction to the Psalms , p. v. — C]
' Malt. ix. 15. 4 Impius. i John xiii. 27.
6 a Sam. xvui. 33.
Psalm III.]
ON THE PSALMS.
New Testament by that so great and so wonder-
ful forbearance of our Lord ; in that He bore so
long with him as if good, when He was not ig-
norant of his thoughts ; in that He admitted
him to the Supper in which He committed and
delivered to His disciples the figure of His
Body and Blood ; finally, in that He received
the kiss of peace at the very time of His be-
trayal ; it is easily understood how Christ showed
peace to His betrayer, although he was laid
waste by the intestine war of so abominable a
device. And therefore is Absalom called " fa-
ther's peace," because his father had the peace,
which he had not.
2. "O Lord, how are they multiplied that
trouble me !" (ver. i). So multiplied indeed
were they, that one even from the number of
His disciples was not wanting, who was added
to the number of His persecutors. " Many rise
up against me ; many say unto my soul, There
is no salvation for him in his God " (ver. 2). It
is clear that if they had had any idea that He
would rise again, assuredly they would not have
slain Him. To this end are those speeches,
" Let Him come down from the cross, if He be
the Son of God ; " and again, " He saved
others, Himself He cannot save." ' Therefore,
neither would Judas have betrayed Him, if he
had not been of the number of those who de-
spised Christ, saying, " There is no salvation for
Him in His God."
S 3. "But Thou, O EggLart mv taker."2 It
; is said to God in the ^riaturetoy man, for the
taking of man is, the Word made Flesh. " My
1 glory." Even He calls God his glory, whom
the Word of God so took, that God became one
with Him. Let the proud learn, who unwilling-
ly hear, when it is said to them, " For what hast
thou that thou didst not receive ? Now if thou
didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou
hadst not received it ? " ' " And the lifter up of my
head" (ver. 3). I think that this should be
here taken of the human mind, which is not un-
reasonably called the head of the soul;4 which
so inhered in, and in a sort coalesced with, the
supereminent excellency of the Word taking
man, that it was not laid aside by so great
humiliation of the Passion.
4. "With my voice have I cried unto the
Lord " (ver. 4) ; that is, not with the voice of
the body, which is drawn out with the sound of
the reverberation of the air ; but with the voice
of the heart, which to men speaks not, but with
God sounds as a cry. By this voice Susanna
was heard ; s and with this voice the Lord Him-
self commanded that prayer should be made in
Matt.
3 1 Cor. iv. 7.
42. 2 Susceptor.
* [1 Thess. v. 23. See Tcrtull. vol. iii. p. 450, A. N! F. ; also
Irenaeus, vol. i. p. 386, ibid. — C]
3 Sus. 44.
closets, 6 that is, in the recesses of the heart
noiselessly. Nor would one easily say that
prayer is not made with this voice, if no sound
of words is uttered from the body ; since even
when in silence we pray within the heart, if
thoughts interpose alien from the mind of one
praying, it cannot yet be said, " With my voice
have I cried unto the Lord." Nor is this
rightly said, save when the soul alone, taking to
itself nothing of the flesh, and nothing of the
aims of the flesh, in prayer, speaks to God,
where He only hears. But even this is called a
cry by reason of the strength of its intention.
" And He heard me out of His holy mountain."
We have the Lord Himself called a mountain
by the Prophet, as it is written, " The stone that
was cut out without hands grew to the size of a
mountain." 1 But this cannot be taken of His
Person, unless peradventure He would speak
thus, out of myself, as of His holy mountain
He heard me, when He dwelt in me, that is, in
this very mountain. But it is more plain and
unembarrassed, if we understand that God out
of His justice heard. For it was just that He
should raise again from the dead the Innocent
who was slain, and to whom evil had been rec-
ompensed for good, and that He should render
to the persecutor a meet reward, who repaid
Him evil for good. For we read, " Thy justice
is as the mountains of God." 8
5. "I slept, and took rest"9 (ver. 5). It
may be not unsuitably remarked, that it is ex-
pressly said, " I," to signify that of His own Will
He underwent death, according to that, " There-
fore doth My Father love Me, because I lay
down My life, that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from Me ; I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again." IO
Therefore, saith He, you have not taken Me as
though against My will, and slain Me ; but " I'
slept, and took rest ; and rose, for the Lord will
take me up." Scripture contains numberless in-
stances of sleep being put for death ; as the Apos-
tle says, " I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep." "
Nor need we make any question why it is
added, " took rest," seeing that it has already
been said, " I slept." Repetitions of this kind
are usual in Scripture, as we have pointed out
many in the second Psalm. But some copies
have, " I slept, and was cast into a deep sleep." ,2
And different copies express it differently, ac-
cording to the possible renderings of the Greek
words, eyo) Bi iKoi/j.-qOrju teal vTrvwaa. Unless per-
haps sleeping »' may be taken of one dying, but
6 Matt. vi. 6. 7 Dan. ii. 34,35.
8 Ps. xxxvi. 6. [See Tertullian, p. 364, A. N. F. vol. iii. — C]
9 Ego dormivi, et somnum cepi. In the Hebrew, also, / is
emphatic.
10 John x. 17, 18. " 1 Thess. iv. 13.
12 Dormivi, et soporatus sum. 13 Dormitio.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm III.
sleep ' of one dead : so that sleeping may be the
transition into sleep, as awakening is the transi-
tion into wakefulness. Let us not deem these
repetitions in the sacred writings empty orna-
ments of speech. " I slept, and took rest," is
therefore well understood as " I gave Myself
up to My Passion, and death ensued." " And
I rose, for the Lord will take Me up.'" This is
the more to be remarked, how that in one sen-
tence the Psalmist has used a verb of past and
future time. For he has said, both " I rose,"
which is the past, and " will take Me up," which
is the future ; seeing that assuredly the rising
again could not be without that taking up. But
in prophecy the future is well joined to the
past, whereby both are signified. Since things
which are prophesied of as yet to come in refer-
ence to time are future ; but in reference to the
knowledge of those who prophesy they are
already to be viewed as done. Verbs of the
present tense are also mixed in, which shall be
treated of in their proper place when they occur.
6. " I will not fear the thousands of people
that surround me" (ver. 6). It is written in
the Gospels how great a multitude stood around
Him as He was suffering, and on the cross.
" Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God " (ver. 7).
It is not said to God, " Arise," as if asleep or
lying down, but it is usual in holy Scripture to
attribute to God what He doeth in us ; not
indeed universally, but where it can be done suit-
ably ; as when He is said to speak, when by His
gift Prophets speak, and Apostles, or whatsoever
messengers of the truth. Hence that text,
" Would you have proof of Christ, who speaketh
in me? "3 For he doth not say, of Christ, by
whose enlightening or order I speak ; but he
attributes at once the speaking itself to Him,
by whose gift he spake.
7. " Since Thou hast smitten all who oppose
me without a cause." It is not to be pointed as
if it were one sentence, " Arise, O Lord, save
me, O my God ; since Thou hast smitten all
who oppose me without a cause." For He did
not therefore save Him, because He smote His
enemies ; but rather He being saved, He smote
them. Therefore it belongs to what follows, so
that the sense is this ; " Since Thou hast smitten
all who oppose me without a cause, Thou hast
broken the teeth of the sinners ; " that is, thereby
hast Thou broken the teeth of the sinners, since
Thou hast smitten all who oppose me. It is for-
sooth the punishment of the opposers, whereby
their teeth have been broken, that is, the words
of sinners rending with their cursing the Son of
God, brought to nought, as it were to dust ; so
> Somnus.
1. liu*,in Manyr understands thu of Christ and His resurrection.
A. N.F. vol. i. p. 175. — C]
J a Cor. aiii. 3.
that we may understand " teeth" thus, as words
of cursing. Of 4 which teeth the Apostle speaks,
" If ye bite one another, take heed that ye be
not consumed one of another." 5 The teeth of
sinners can also be taken as the chiefs of sinners ;
by whose authority each one is cut off from the
fellowship of godly livers, and as it were incor-
porated with evil livers. To these teeth are op-
posed the Church's teeth, by whose authority
believers are cut off from the error of the Gen-
tiles and divers opinions, and are translated into
that fellowship which is the body of Christ.
With these teeth Peter was told to eat the ani-
mals when they had been killed, that is, by kill-
ing in the Gentiles what they were, and changing
them into what he was himself. Of these teeth
too of the Church it is said, " Thy teeth are as a
flock of shorn sheep, coming up from the bath,
whereof every one beareth twins, and there is
not one barren among them."6 These are
they who prescribe rightly, and as they prescribe,
live ; who do what is written, " Let your works
shine before men, that they may bless your
Father which is in heaven." 7 For moved by
their authority, they believe God who speaketh
and worketh through these men ; and separated
from the world, to which they were once con-
formed, they pass over into the members of the
Church. And rightly therefore are they, through
whom such things are done, called teeth like to
shorn sheep ; for they have laid aside the bur-
dens of earthly cares, and coming up from the
bath, from the washing away of the filth of the
world by the Sacrament of Baptism, every one
beareth twins. For they fulfil the two command-
ments, of which it is said, " On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Proph-
ets ;" 8 loving God with all their heart, and with
all their soul, and with all their mind, and their
neighbour as themselves. "There is not one
barren among them," for much fruit they render
unto God. According to this sense then it is to be
thus understood, " Thou hast broken the teeth of
the sinners," that is, Thou hast brought the chiefs
of the sinners to nought, by smiting all who op-
pose Me without a cause. For the chiefs accord-
ing to the Gospel history persecuted Him, whilst
the lower people honoured Him.
8. " Salvation is of the Lord ; and upon Thy
people be Thy blessing" (ver. 8). In one sen-
tence the Psalmist has enjoined men what to
believe, and has prayed for believers. For when
it is said, " Salvation is of the Lord," the words
are addressed to men. Nor does it follow,
" And upon Thy people " be " Thy blessing," in
such wise as that the whole is spoken to men,
but there is a change into prayer addressed to
God Himself, for the very people to whom it
< Oxford mss. " De'
' Matt. v. 16.
5 Gal. v. 15. 6 Sol. Song iv. 2, vi. 6.
8 Matt. xxii. 40.
Psalm III.]
ON THE PSALMS.
was said, " Salvation is of the Lord." What else
then doth he say but this? Let no man presume
on himself, seeing that it is of the Lord to save
from the death of sin ; for, " Wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ
our Lord." ■ But do Thou, O Lord, bless Thy
people, who look for salvation from Thee.
9. This Psalm can be taken as in the Person
of Christ another way ; which is that whole
Christ should speak.2 I mean by whole, with
His body, of which He is the Head, according
to the Apostle, who says, " Ye are the body of
Christ, and the members."3 He therefore is
the Head of this body ; wherefore in another
place he saith, " But doing the truth in love, we
may increase in Him in all things, who is the
Head, Christ, from whom the whole body is
joined together and compacted." 4 In the
Prophet then at once, the Church, and her
Head (the Church founded amidst the storms
of persecution throughout the whole world,
which we know already to have come to pass) ,
speaks, " O Lord, how are they multiplied that
trouble me ! many rise up against me ; " wish-
ing to exterminate the Christian name. " Many
say unto my soul, There is no salvation for him
in his God." For they would not otherwise
hope that they could destroy the Church, branch-
ing out so very far and wide, unless they believed
that God had no care thereof. " But Thou, O
Lord, art my taker ; " in Christ of course. For
into that flesh 5 the Church too hath been taken
by the Word, " who was made flesh, and dwelt in
us ; " 6 for that " In heavenly places hath He made
us to sit together with Him." 7 When the Head
goes before, the other members will follow ;
for, " Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?"8 Justly then does the Church say,
" Thou art my taker. My glory ; " for she doth
not attribute her excellency to herself, seeing
that she knoweth by whose grace and mercy
she is what she is. " And the lifter up of my
head," of Him, namely, who, " the First-born
from the dead," ' ascended up into heaven.
" With my voice have I cried unto the Lord, and
He heard me out of His holy mountain." This
is the prayer of all the Saints, the odour of sweet-
ness, which ascends up in the sight of the Lord.
For now the Church is heard out of this moun-
tain, which is also her head ; or, out of that
justice of God, by which both His elect are set
free, and their persecutors punished. Let the
people of God also say, " I slept, and took rest ;
and rose, for the Lord will take me up ; " that they
1 Rom. vii. 24, 25.
2 [On this principle, which rules throughout this commentary,
see the author's remark on Ps. xcvi., infra. — C.j
3 1 Cor. xii. 27. * Eph. iv. 15, 16. * Homine.
6 John i. 14. 7 Eph. ii. 6. 8 Rom. viii. 35.
» Col. i. 18.
may be joined, and cleave to their Head."3 For
to this people is it said, " Awake thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall lay hold on thee." " Since they are taken
out of sinners, of whom it is said generally, " But
they that sleep, sleep in the night." ,2 Let them
say moreover, " I will not fear the thousands of
people that surround me ; " of the heathen verily
that compass me about to extinguish everywhere,
if they could, the Christian name. But how
should they be feared, when by the blood of the
martyrs in Christ, as by oil, the ardour of love is
inflamed? "Arise, O Lord, save me, O my
God." The body can address this to its own
Head. For at His rising the body was saved ;
who " ascended up on high, led captivity cap-
tive, gave gifts unto men." '3 For this is said by
the Prophet, in the secret purpose of God,'4 until
that ripe harvest '5 which is spoken of in the Gos-
pel, whose salvation is in His Resurrection, who
vouchsafed to die for us, shed out our Lord to
the earth. "Since Thou hast smitten all who
oppose me without a cause, Thou hast broken the
teeth of the sinners." Now while the Church
hath rule, the enemies of the Christian name
are smitten with confusion ; and, whether their
curses or their chiefs, brought to nought. Believe
then, O man, that " salvation is of the Lord :
and," Thou, O Lord, may " Thy blessing " be
" upon Thy people."
10. Each one too of us may say, when a mul-
titude of vices and lusts leads the resisting mind
in the law of sin, " O Lord, how are they mul-
tiplied that trouble me ! many rise up against
me." And, since despair of recovery generally
creeps in through the accumulation of vices, as
though these same vices were mocking the soul,
or even as though the Devil and his angels
through their poisonous suggestions were at work
to make us despair, it is said with great truth,
" Many say unto my soul, There is no salvation
for him in his God. But Thou, O Lord, art my
taker." For this is our hope, that He hath
vouchsafed to take the nature of man in Christ.
" My glory ; " according to that rule, that no one
should ascribe ought to himself. " And the
lifter up of my head ; " either of Him, who is
the Head of us all, or of the spirit of each sev-
eral one of us, which is the head of the soul
and body. For " the head of the woman is the
man, and the head of the man is Christ." ,6 But
the mind is lifted up, when it can be said already,
" With the mind I serve the law of God ; " '» that
the rest of man may be reduced to peaceable
submission, when in the resurrection of the flesh
10 [An Easter antiphon in the Western liturgies. Wordsworth,
apud he. Commentary on Psalms, p. 5. — C]
» Eph. v. 14. " 1 Thess. v. 7.
« Eph. iv. 8 ; Ps. lxviii. 18. ■« Pradistinatitmt.
■5 Matt. ix. 37. 1* 1 Cor. xi. 3.
17 Rom. vii. 25.
B
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IV.
" death is swallowed up in victory." ' " With my
voice I have cried unto the Lord ; " with that
most inward and intensive voice. "And He
heard me out of His holy mountain ; " » Him,
through whom He hath succoured us, through
whose mediation He heareth us. " I slept, and
took rest ; and rose, for the Lord will take me
up." Who of the faithful is not able to say this,
when he calls to mind the death of his sins, and
the gift of regeneration ? "I will not fear the
thousands of people that surround me." Besides
those which the Church universally hath borne
and beareth, each one also hath temptations, by
which, when compassed about, he may speak
these words, " Arise, O Lord ; save me, O my
God : " that is, make me to arise. " Since Thou
hast smitten all who oppose me without a cause : "
it is well in God's determinate ' purpose said of
the Devil and his angels ; who rage not only
against the whole body of Christ, but also against
each one in particular. " Thou hast broken the
teeth of the sinners." Each man hath those
that revile him, he hath too the prime authors of
vice, who strive to cut him off from the body
of Christ. But " salvation is of the Lord." Pride
is to be guarded against, and we must say, " My
soul cleaved after Thee." * " And upon Thy
people " be " Thy blessing : " that is, upon each
one of us.
PSALM IV.
TO THE END, A PSALM SONG TO 5 DAVID.
i. " Christ is the end of the law for righteous-
ness to every one that believeth." 6 For this
" end " signifies perfection, not consumption.
Now it may be a question, whether every Song
be a Psalm, or rather every Psalm a Song;
whether there are some Songs which cannot be
called Psalms, and some Psalms which cannot
be called Songs. But the Scripture must be
attended to, if haply " Song " do not denote a
joyful theme. But those are called Psalms
which are sung to the Psaltery ; which the his-
tory as a high mystery declares the Prophet
David to have used.? Of which matter this is
not the place to discourse ; for it requires pro-
longed inquiry, and much discussion. Now
meanwhile we must look either for the words
of the Lord Man 8 after the Resurrection, or of
man in the Church believing and hoping on
Him.
1 i Cor. xv. (4.
* [Here for the first time, comes in the word Selah, the Sursum
Corda of the Hebrews. Bishop Wordsworth notes the three up-
li/tinft which here precede. — C.]
1 Pmdeitinatione .
4 IV Ixiii. 8. ««oAA>j0t), Sept.
1 «is to r<Aof, if J/aA|ioi* wStj ry AaviS, Sept.
* Rom. x. 4. 1 \ Chron. xiii. 8 and xvi. 5.
* [Here again, and in all cases (verba Dominici hominis), this
phrase must be regarded as retracted. " Vbicunque hoc dixi,
dixiut mi Hollem, ' says the great bishop, ed. Mignc, vol. i. p.
617. But, as here rendered, it is correct. — C.j
2. " When I called, the God of my righteous-
ness heard me" (ver. 1). When I called, God
heard me, the Psalmist says, of whom is my
righteousness. " In tribulation Thou hast en-
larged me." Thou hast led me from the straits
of sadness into the broad ways of joy. For,
" tribulation and straitness is on every soul of
man that doeth evil." • But he who says, " We
rejoice in tribulations, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience ; " up to that where he says,
" Because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given
unto us ; " IO he hath no straits of heart, they be
heaped on him outwardly by them that per-
secute him. Now the change of person, for
that from the third person, where he says, " He
heard," he passes at once to the second, where
he says, " Thou hast enlarged me ; " if it be
not done for the sake of variety and grace, it is
strange why the Psalmist should first wish to
declare to men that he had been heard, and
afterwards address Him who heard him. Unless
perchance, when he had declared how he was
heard, in this very enlargement of heart he
preferred to speak with God ; that he might
even in this way show what it is to be enlarged
in heart, that is, to have God already shed
abroad in the heart, with whom he might hold
converse interiorly. Which is rightly under-
stood as spoken in the person of him who,
believing on Christ, has been enlightened ; but
in that of the very Lord Man, whom the Wis-
dom of God took, I do not see how this can be
suitable. For He was never deserted by It.
But as His very prayer against trouble is a sign
rather of our infirmity, so also of that sudden
enlargement of heart the same Lord may speak
for His faithful ones, whom He has personated
also when He said, " I was an hungred, and ye
gave Me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave
Me no drink," " and so forth. Wherefore here
also He can say, " Thou hast enlarged me," for
one of the least of His, holding converse with
God, whose " love " he has " shed abroad in his
heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.'"2
" Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer."
Why does he again ask, when already he de-
clared that he had been heard and enlarged?
It is for our sakes, of whom it is said, " But if
we hope for that we see not, we wait in pa-
tience ; " '3 or is it, that in him who has believed
that which is begun may be perfected ?
3. "O ye sons of men, how long heavy in
heart " (ver. 2). Let your ,4 error, says he, have
lasted at least up to the coming of the Son of
God ; why then any longer are ye heavy in
heart? When will ye make an end of crafty
9 Rom. ii, 9.
12 Rom. v. 5.
*< Oxford mss.
10 Rom. v. 3, 5.
13 Rom. viii. 25.
1 If your."
11 Matt. xxv. 42.
Psalm IV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
wiles, if now when the truth is present ye make
it not? "Why do ye love vanity, and seek a
lie?" Why would ye be blessed by the lowest
things ? Truth alone, from which all things are
true, maketh blessed. For, " vanity is of de-
ceivers, and all is vanity." ■ " What profit hath a
man of all his labour, wherewith he laboureth
under the sun?" Why then are ye held back
by the love of things temporal? Why follow
ye after the last things, as though the first, which
is vanity and a lie ? For you would have them
abide with you, which all pass away, as doth a
shadow.
4. " And know ye that the Lord hath magni-
fied his Holy One" (ver. 3). Whom but Him,
whom He raised up from below, and placed in
heaven at His right hand? Therefore doth he
chide mankind, that they would turn at length
from the love of this world to Him. But if the
addition of the conjunction (for he says, "and
know ye ") is to any a difficulty, he may easily
observe in Scripture that this maimer of speech
is usual in that language, in which the Prophets
spoke. For you often find this beginning,
" And " the Lord said unto him, " And " the
word of the Lord came to him. Which joining
by a conjunction, when no sentence has gone
before, to which the following one may be
annexed, peradventure admirably conveys to us,
that the utterance of the truth in words is con-
nected with that vision which goes on in the
heart. Although in this place it may be said,
that the former sentence, " Why do ye love
vanity, and seek a lie?" is as if it were written,
Do not love vanity, and seek a lie. And being
thus read, it follows in the most direct construc-
tion, "and know ye that the Lord hath magnified
His Holy One." But the interposition of the
Diapsalma forbids our joining this sentence
with the preceding one. For whether this be
a Hebrew word, as some would have it, which
means, so be it ; or a Greek word, which marks
a pause in the psalmody (so as that Psalma should
be what is sung in psalmody, but Diapsalma an
interval of silence in the psalmody ; that as the
coupling of voices in singing is called Sym-
psalma, so their separation Diapsalma, where
a certain pause of interrupted continuity is
marked) : whether I say it be the former, or
the latter, or something else, this at least is
probable, that the sense cannot rightly be con-
tinued and joined, where the Diapsalma inter-
venes.2
5. "The Lord will hear me, when I cry unto
Him." I believe that we are here warned,
that with great earnestness of heart, that is,
with an inward and incorporeal cry, we should
1 Eccles. i. 2.
* [See p. 18, supra. Also A. N. F. vol. v. p. 201. St. Augustin
seems to have been acquainted with Hippolytus. — C]
implore help of God. For as we must give
thanks for enlightenment in this life, so must
we pray for rest after this life. Wherefore in
the person, either of the faithful preacher of the
Gospel, or of our Lord Himself, it may be taken,
as if it were written, the Lord will hear you,
when you cry unto Him.
6. "Be ye angry, and sin not" (ver. 4).
For the thought occurred, Who is worthy to be
heard ? or how shall the sinner not cry in vain
unto the Lord? Therefore, "Be ye angry,"
saith he, " and sin not." Which may be taken
two ways : either, even if ye be angry, do not
sin ; that is, even if there arise an emotion in the
soul, which now by reason of the punishment of
sin is not in our power, at least let not the
reason and the mind, which is after God regen-
erated within, that with the mind we should
serve the law of God, although with the flesh we
as yet serve the law of sin,3 consent thereunto ;
or, repent ye, that is, be ye angry with yourselves
for your past sins, and henceforth cease to sin.
" What you say in your hearts : " there is un-
derstood, " say ye : " so that the complete sen-
tence is, " What ye say in your hearts, that say
ye ; " that is, be ye not the people of whom it
is said, " with their lips they honour Me, but
their heart is far from Me. 4 In your chambers
be ye pricked." This is what has been ex-
pressed already "in heart." For this is the
chamber, of which our Lord warns us, that we
should pray within, with closed doors.5 But,
" be ye pricked," refers either to the pain of
repentance, that the soul in punishment should
prick itself, that it be not condemned and tor-
mented in God's judgment ; or, to arousing,
that we should awake to behold the light of
Christ, as if pricks were made use of. But
some say that not, " be ye pricked," but, " be
ye opened," is the better reading ; because in the
Greek Psalter it is Karavvyr]T€, which refers to
that enlargement of the heart, in order that the
shedding abroad of love by the Hoiy Ghost
may be received.
7. " Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and
hope in the Lord " (ver. 5 ) . He says the
same in another Psalm, " the sacrifice for God
is a troubled spirit."6 Wherefore that this is
the sacrifice of righteousness which is offered
through repentance it is not unreasonably here
understood. For what more righteous, than
that each one should be angry with his own sins,
rather than those of others, and that in self-
punishment he should sacrifice himself unto
God ? Or are righteous works after repentance
the sacrifice of righteousness? For the inter-
position of Diapsalma.! not unreasonably perhaps
intimates even a transition from the old life to
3 Rom. vii. 25.
' Ps. li. 17.
* Isa. xxix. 13. 5 Matt. vi. 6.
» [After verse 4. — C]
IO
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IV.
the new life : that on the old man being de-
stroyed or weakened by repentance, the sacrifice
of righteousness, according to the regeneration
of the new man, may be offered to God ; when
the soul now cleansed offers and places itself on
the altar of faith, to be encompassed by heavenly
fire, that is, by the Holy Ghost. So that this
may be the meaning, "Offer the sacrifice of
righteousness, and hope in the Lord ; " that is,
live uprightly, and hope for the gift of the Holy
Ghost, that the truth, in which you have believed,
may shine upon you.
8. But yet, "hope in the Lord," is as yet
expressed without ' explanation. Now what is
hoped for, but good things? But since each
one would obtain from God that good, which he
loves ; and they are not easy to be found who
love interior goods, that is, which belong to the
inward man, which alone should be loved, but
the rest are to be used for necessity, not to be
enjoyed for pleasure ; excellently did he subjoin,
when he had said, "hope in the Lord " (ver. 6),
"Many say, Who showeth us good things?"
This is the speech, and this the daily inquiry of
all the foolish and unrighteous ; whether of those
who long for the peace and quiet of a worldly
life, and from the frowardness of mankind find
it not ; who even in their blindness dare to find
fault with the order of events, when involved in
their own deservings they deem the times worse
than these which are past : or, of those who
doubt and despair of that future life, which is
promised us ; who are often saying, Who knows
if it's true ? or, who ever came from below, to
tell us this? Very exquisitely then, and briefly,
he shows (to those, that is, who have interior
sight), what good things are to be sought; an-
swering their question, who say, " Who showeth
us good things ? " " The light of Thy counte-
nance," saith he, " is stamped on us, O Lord."
This light is the whole and tme good of man,
which is seen not with the eye, but with the
mind. But he says, " stamped on us," as a pen-
ny is stamped with the king's image. For man
was made after the image and likeness of God,2
which he defaced by sin : therefore it is his
true and eternal good, if by a new birth he be
stamped. And I believe this to be the bearing
of that which some understand skilfully; I
mean, what the Lord said on seeing Caesar's
tribute money, "Render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's ; and to God the things that
are God's." ' As if He had said, In like manner
as Caesar exacts from you the impression of his
image, so also does God : that as the tribute
money is rendered to him, so should the soul to
God, illumined and stamped with the light of
His countenance. (Ver. 7.) "Thou hast put
■ Ctauti.
1 Gen. i. 26.
3 Matt. xxii. as.
gladness into my heart." Gladness then is not
to be sought without by them, who, being still
heavy in heart, " love vanity, and seek a lie ; "
but within, where the light of God's countenance
is stamped. For Christ dwelleth in the inner
man/ as the Apostle says ; for to Him doth it
appertain to see truth, since He hath said, " I
am the truth." • And again, when He spake
in the Apostle, saying, " Would you receive a
proof of Christ, who speaketh in me ? " 6 He
spake not of course from without to him, but in
his very heart, that is, in that chamber where we
are to pray.
9. But men (who doubtless are many) who
follow after things temporal, know not to say
aught else, than, " Who showeth us good
things? " when the true and certain good within
their very selves they cannot see. Of these ac-
cordingly is most justly said, what he adds next :
" From the time of His corn, of wine, and oil,
they have been multiplied." For the addition of
His, is not superfluous. For the corn is God's :
inasmuch as He is " the living bread which came
down from heaven." 7 The wine too is God's :
for, " they shall be inebriated," he says, " with the
fatness of thine house." 8 The oil too is God's :
of which it is said, " Thou hast fattened my head
with oil." But those many, who say, " Who
'showeth us good things? " and who see not that
the kingdom of heaven is within them : these,
" from the time of His corn, of wine, and oil, are
multiplied." For multiplication does not always
betoken plentifulness, and not, generally, scan-
tiness : when the soul, given up to temporal
pleasures, burns ever with desire, and cannot be
satisfied ; and, distracted with manifold and
anxious thought, is not permitted to see the
simple good. Such is the soul of which it is
said, " For the corruptible body presseth down
the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth
down the mind that museth on many things." IO
A soul like this, by the departure and succession
of temporal goods, that is, " from the time of
His corn, wine, and oil," filled with numberless
idle fancies, is so multiplied, that it cannot do
that which is commanded, " Think on the Lord in
goodness, and in simplicity of heart seek Him." "
For this multiplicity is strongly opposed to that
simplicity. And therefore leaving these, who
are many, multiplied, that is, by the desire of
things temporal, and who say, "Who showeth
us good things?" which are to be sought not
with the eyes without, but with simplicity of
heart within, the faithful man rejoices and says,
" In peace, together, I will sleep, and take rest "
(ver. 8). For such men justly hope for all
manner of estrangement of mind from things
* Eph. iii. i6( 17.
7 John vi. 51
10 Wis- '
Visd. i
i John xiv. 6.
8 Ps. xxxvi. 8.
» Wisd. i. 1.
6 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
9 Ps. xxiii. 5.
Psalm V.]
ON THE PSALMS.
II
mortal, and forgetfulness of this world's miseries ;
which is beautifully and prophetically signified
under the name of sleep and rest, where the
most perfect peace cannot be interrupted by
any tumult. But this is not had now in this
life, but is to be hoped for after this life. This
even the words themselves, which are in the
future tense, show us. For it is not said, either,
I have slept, and taken rest ; or, I do sleep, and
take rest; but, "I will sleep, and take rest."
Then shall " this corruptible put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall put on immortality ; then
shall death be swallowed up in victory." ' Hence
it is said, " But if we hope for that we see not,
we wait in patience."2
10. Wherefore, consistently with this, he adds
the last words, and says, " Since Thou, O Lord,
in singleness hast made me dwell in hope."
Here he does not say, wilt make ; but, " hast
made." In whom then this hope now is, there
will be assuredly that which is hoped for. And
well does he say, " in singleness." For this may
refer in opposition to those many, who being
multiplied from the time of His corn, of wine,
and oil, say, " Who showeth us good things ? "
For this multiplicity perishes, and singleness is
observed among the saints : of whom it is said
in the Acts of the Apostles, " and of the multi-
tude of them that believed, there was one soul,
and one heart." 3 In singleness, then, and sim-
plicity, removed, that is, from the multitude
and crowd of things, that are born and die, we
ought to be lovers of eternity, and unity, if we
desire to cleave to the one God and our Lord.
PSALM V.
i. The title of the Psalm is, "For her who
receiveth the inheritance." The Church then
is signified, who receiveth for her inheritance
eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ ; that
she may possess God Himself, in cleaving to
whom she may be blessed, according to that,
" Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess
the earth." * What earth, but that of which it is
said, " Thou art my hope, my portion in the
land of the living"?5 And again more clearly,
" The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance
and of my cup."6 And conversely the word
Church is said to be God's inheritance according
to that, " Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the
heathen for thine inheritance." 7 Therefore is
God said to be our inheritance, because He
feedeth and sustaineth 8 us : and we are said to
be God's inheritance, because He ordereth and
ruleth us. Wherefore it is the voice of the
Church in this Psalm called to her inheritance,
1 i Cor. xv. 54.
* Matt. v. 5.
1 Ps. ii. 8.
.2 Rom. viii. 25.
S Ps. cxlii. 5.
8 Contmet.
3 Acts iv. 32.
6 Ps. xvi. 5.
that she too may herself become the inheritance
of the Lord.
2. " Hear my words, O Lord" (ver. i). Be-
ing called she calleth upon the Lord ; that the
same Lord being her helper, she may pass through
the wickedness of this world, and attain unto
Him. " Understand my cry." The Psalmist
well shows what this cry is ; how from within,
from the chamber of the heart, without the
body's utterance,9 it reaches unto God : for the
bodily voice is heard, but the spiritual is under-
stood. Although this too maybe God's hearing,
not with carnal ear, but in the omnipresence of
His Majesty.
3. " Attend Thou to the voice of my sup-
plication ; " that is, to that voice, which he
maketh request that God would understand : of
which what the nature is, he hath already
intimated, when he said, " Understand my cry.
Attend Thou to the voice of my supplication,
my King, and my God" (ver. 2). Although
both the Son is God, and the Father God, and
the Father and the Son together One God ;
and if asked of the Holy Ghost, we must give no
other answer than that He is God ; and when
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost
are mentioned together, we must understand
nothing else, than One God ; nevertheless
Scripture is wont to give the appellation of King
to the Son. According then to that which is
said, " By Me man cometh to the Father," '°
rightly is it first, " my King ; " and then, " my
God." And yet has not the Psalmist said,
Attend Ye ; but, " Attend Thou." For the
Catholic faith preaches not two or three Gods,
but the Very Trinity, One God. Not that the
same Trinity can be together, now the Father,
now the Son, now the Holy Ghost, as Sabellius
believed : but that the Father must be none but
the Father, and the Son none but the Son, .
and the Holy Ghost none but the Holy Ghost, and
this Trinity but One God. Hence when the
Apostle had said, " Of whom are all things, by
wnom are all things, in whom are all things," " he
is believed to have conveyed an intimation of
the Very Trinity ; and yet he did not add, to
Them be glory ; but, " to Him be glory."
4. "Because I will pray unto Thee (ver. 3).
O Lord, in the morning Thou wilt hear my
voice." What does that, which he said above,
" Hear Thou," mean, as if he desired to be heard
immediately? But now he saith, " in the morn-
ing Thou wilt hear ; " not, hear Thou : and, " I
will pray unto Thee ; " not, I do pray unto
Thee : and, as follows, " in the morning I will
stand by Thee, and will see ; " not, I do stand
by Thee, and do see. Unless perhaps his former
prayer marks the invocation itself: but being in
9 Strefitu.
10 John xiv. 6.
11 Rom. xi. 36.
12
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm V.
darkness amidst the storms of this world, he
perceives that he does not see what he desires,
and yet does not cease to hope, " For hope that
is seen, is not hope." ' Nevertheless, he under-
stands why he does not see, because the night is
not yet past, that is, the darkness which our sins
have merited. He says therefore, " Because I
will pray unto Thee, O Lord ; " that is, because
Thou art so mighty to whom I shall make
my prayer, " in the morning Thou wilt hear my
voice." Thou art not He, he says, that can be
seen by those, from whose eyes the night of sins
is not yet withdrawn : when the night then of
my error is past, and the darkness gone, which
by my sins I have brought upon myself, then
"Thou wilt hear my voice." Why then did he
say above not, " Thou wilt hear," but " hear
Thou " ? Is it that after the Church cried out,
" hear Thou," and was not heard, she perceived
what must needs pass away to enable her to be
heard ? Or is it that she was heard above, but
doth not yet understand that she was heard,
because she doth not yet see by whom she hath
been heard ; and what she now says, " In the
morning Thou wilt hear," she would have thus
taken, In the morning I shall understand that I
have been heard? Such is that expression,
" Arise, O Lord," 2 that is, make me arise. But
this latter is taken of Christ's resurrection : but
at all events that Scripture, " The Lord your
God proveth you, that He may know whether ye
love Him,"3 cannot be taken in any other sense,
than, that ye by Him may know, and that it
may be made evident to yourselves, what prog-
ress ye have made in His love.
5. "In the morning I will stand by Thee, and
will see" (ver. 3). What is, "I will stand,"
but " I will not lie down " ? Now what else is
to lie down, but to take rest on the earth, which
is a seeking happiness in earthly pleasures ? "I
will stand by," he says, " and will see." We
must not then cleave to things earthly, if we
would see God, who is beheld by a clean heart.
" For Thou art not a God who hast pleasure in
iniquity. The malignant man shall not dwell near
Thee, nor shall the unrighteous abide before
Thine eyes. Thou hast hated all that work
iniquity, Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie.
The man of blood, and the crafty man, the Lord
will abominate " (vers. 4-6). Iniquity, malignity,
lying, homicide, craft, and all the like, are the
night of which we speak : on the passing away
of which, the morning dawns, that God may be
seen. He has unfolded the reason, then, why he
will stand by in the morning, and see : " For,"
he says, " Thou art not a God who hast pleasure
in iniquity." For if He were a God who had
pleasure in iniquity, He could be seen even by
1 Rom. viii. 34.
' Pi. iii. 7.
3 Deut. xiii. 3.
the iniquitous, so that He would not be seen in
the morning, that is, when the night of iniquity
is over.
6. " The malignant man shall not dwell near
Thee : " that is, he shall not so see, as to cleave
to Thee. Hence follows, " Nor shall the un-
righteous abide before Thine eyes." For their
eyes, that is, their mind is beaten back by the
light of truth, because of the darkness of their
sins ; by the habitual practice of which they are
not able to sustain the brightness of right under-
standing. Therefore even they who see some-
times, that is, who understand the truth, are yet
still unrighteous, they abide not therein through
love of those things, which turn away from the
truth. For they carry about with them their
night, that is, not only the habit, but even the
love, of sinning. But if this night shall pass
away, that is, if they shall cease to sin, and this
love and habit thereof be put to flight, the morn-
ing dawns, so that they not only understand, but
also cleave to the truth.
7. " Thou hast hated all that work iniquity."
God's hatred may be understood from that form
of expression, by which every sinner hates the
truth. For it seems that she too hates those,
whom she suffers not to abide in her. Now they
do not abide, who cannot bear the truth. " Thou
wilt destroy all that speak a lie." For this is the
opposite to truth. But lest any one should sup-
pose that any substance or nature is opposite to
truth, let him understand that " a lie " has rela-
tion to that which is not, not to that which is.
For if that which is be spoken, truth is spoken :
but if that which is not be spoken, it is a lie.4
Therefore saith he, " Thou wilt destroy all that
speak a lie ; " because drawing back from that
which is, they turn aside to that which is not.
Many lies indeed seem to be for some one's
safety or advantage, spoken not in malice, but in
kindness : such was that of those midwives in
Exodus,* who gave a false report to Pharaoh, to
the end that the infants of the children of Israel
might not be slain.6 But even these are praised
not for the fact, but for the disposition shown ;
since those who only lie in this way, will attain
in time to a freedom from all lying. For in
those that are perfect, not even these lies are
found. For to these it is said, " Let there be
in your mouth, yea, yea ; nay, nay ; whatsoever
is more, is of evil." ? Nor is it without reason
written in another place, " The mouth that lieth
slayeth the soul : " 8 lest any should imagine that
the perfect and spiritual man ought to lie for this
4 [Yet on this apparently harmless principle has been built up the
art of lying, in the Liguorian casuistry: He who lays his hand on a
box or table, and swears " The man is not here," speaks a material
truth, and hence is judged innocent. See Theologna Moralis S.
Alfhons. de Ligorio, torn. ii. p. 35 et seqq., Paris, ed. 1852. — C.]
3 Exod. i. 19.
6 See his treatises on lying and against lying.
' Matt. v. 37. 8 Wisd. i. 11.
Psalm V.]
ON THE PSALMS.
13
temporal life, in the death of which no soul is
slain, neither his own, nor another's. But since
it is one thing to lie, another to conceal the
truth (if indeed it be one thing to say what is
false, another not to say what is true), if haply
one does not wish to give a man up even to this
visible death, he should be prepared to conceal
what is true, not to say what is false ; so that he
may neither give him up, nor yet lie, lest he slay
his own soul for another's body. But if he can-
not yet do this, let him at all events admit only
lies of such necessity, that he may attain to be
freed even from these, if they alone remain, and
receive the strength of the Holy Ghost, whereby
he may despise all that must be suffered for the
truth's sake. In fine, there are two kinds of
lies, in which there is no great fault,1 and yet
they are not without fault, either when we are, in
jest, or when we lie that we may do good. That
first kind, in jest, is for this reason not very hurt-
ful, because there is no deception. For he to
whom it is said knows that it is said for the sake
of the jest. But the second kind is for this rea-
son the more inoffensive, because it carries with
it some kindly intention. And to say truth, that
which has no duplicity, cannot even be called a
lie. As if, for example, a sword be intrusted to
any one, and he promises to return it, when he
who intrusted it to him shall demand it : if he
chance to require his sword when in a fit of
madness, it is clear it must not be returned then,
lest he kill either himself or others, until sound-
ness of mind be restored to him. Here then
is no duplicity, because he, to whom the sword
was intrusted, when he promised that he would
return it at the other's demand, did not imagine
that he could require it when in a fit of madness.
But even the Lord concealed the truth, when
He said to the disciples, not yet strong enough,
"I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now : " 2 and the Apostle Paul,
when he said, " I could not speak unto you as
unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." 3 Whence it
is clear that it is not blamable, sometimes not
to speak what is true. But to say what is false,
is not found to have been allowed to the perfect.
8. " The man of blood, and the crafty man,
the Lord will abominate." What he said above,
" Thou hast hated all that work iniquity, Thou
wilt destroy all that speak a lie," may well seem
to be repeated here : so that one may refer " the
man of blood " to " the worker of iniquity," and
" the crafty man " to the " lie." For it is craft,
when one thing is done, another pretended. He
used a-j apt word too, when he said, " will abom-
inate." For the disinherited are usually called
1 [Lax language, which has greatly hindered strict conscientious-
ness in moral teachers. See Meynck's Moral and Devotional
Theology of Rome, pp. 68-71, London, 1857. Compare our author,
De Mendacio, and Retractations, ed. Migne, i. pp. 630, 659. — C]
2 John xvi. 12. 3 j Cor. iii. 1,
abominated. Now this Psalm is, " for her who
receiveth the inheritance ; " and she adds the
exulting joy of her hope, in saying, " But I,
in the multitude of Thy mercy, will enter into
Thine house" (ver. 7). "In the multitude of
mercy : " perhaps he means in the multitude
of perfected and blessed men, of whom that city
shall consist, of which the Church is now in
travail, and is bearing few by few. Now that
many men regenerated and perfected, are rightly
called the multitude of God's mercy, who can
deny ; when it is most truly said, " What is man
that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man
that Thou visitest him ? 4 I will enter into Thine
house : " as a stone into a building, I suppose,
is the meaning. For what else is the house of
God than the Temple of God, of which it is said,
" for the temple of God is holy,* which temple
ye are"? Of which building He is the corner-
stone,6 whom the Power and Wisdom of God
coeternal with the Father assumed.
9. " I will worship at Thy holy temple, in Thy
fear." " At the temple," we understand as,
" near " the temple. For he does not say, I
will worship " in " Thy holy temple ; but, " I
will worship at Thy holy temple." It must be
understood too to be spoken not of perfection,
but of progress toward perfection : so that the
words, " I will enter into Thine house," should
signify perfection. But that this may come to a
happy issue, "I will" first, he says, "worship
at Thy holy temple." And perhaps on this
account he added, " in Thy fear ; " which is a
great defence to those that are advancing toward
salvation. But when any one shall have arrived
there, in him comes to pass that which is written,
" perfect love casteth out fear." » For they do
not fear Him who is now their friend, to whom
it is said, "henceforth I will not call you ser-
vants, but friends," 8 when they have been
brought through to that which was promised.
10. " O Lord, lead me forth in Thy justice
because of mine enemies" (ver. 8). He has
here sufficiently plainly declared that he is on
his onward road, that is, in progress toward
perfection, not yet in perfection itself, when he
desires eagerly that he may be led forth. But,
" in Thy justice," not in that which seems so to
men. For to return evil for evil seems justice :
but it is not His justice of whom it is said, " He
maketh His sun to rise on the good and on the
evil : " for even when God punishes sinners, He
does not inflict His evil on them, but leaves them
to their own evil. " Behold," the Psalmist says,
" he travailed with injustice, he hath conceived
toil, and brought forth iniquity : he hath opened
a ditch, and digged it, and hath fallen into the
pit which he wrought : his pains shall be turned
* Ps. viii. 4.
7 1 John iv. 18.
5 1 Cor. iii. 17.
8 John xv. 15.
6 Eph. ii. 20.
H
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm V.
on his own head, and his iniquity shall descend
on his own pate." ' When then God punishes,
He punishes as a judge those that transgress the
law, not by bringing evil upon them from Him-
self, but driving them on to that which they have
chosen, to fill up the sum of their misery. But
man, when he returns evil for evil, does it with
an evil will : and on this account is himself first
evil, when he would punish evil.
ii. " Direct in Thy sight my way." Nothing
is clearer, than that he here sets forth that time,
in which he is journeying onward. For this is a
way which is traversed not in any regions of the
earth, but in the affections of the heart. " In
Thy sight," he says, " direct my way : " that is,
where no man sees ; who are not to be trusted
in their praise or blame. For they can in no
wise judge of another man's conscience, wherein
the way toward God is traversed. Hence it is
added, " for truth is not in their mouth " (ver.
9). To whose judgment of course then there
is no trusting, and therefore must we fly within
to conscience, and the sight of God. "Their
heart is vain." How then can truth be in their
mouth, whose heart is deceived by sin, and the
punishment of sin? Whence men are called
back by that voice, " Wherefore do ye love
vanity, and seek a lie?"
12. " Their throat is an open sepulchre." It
may be referred to signify gluttony, for the sake
of which men very often lie by flattery. And
admirably has he said, "an open sepulchre : " for
this gluttony is ever gaping with open mouth, not
as sepulchres, which, on the reception of corpses,
are closed up. This also may be understood
hereby, that with lying and blind flattery men
draw to themselves those whom they entice to
sin ; and as it were devour them, when they
turn them to their own way of living. And
when this happens to them, since by sin they
die, those by whom they are led along, are
rightly called open sepulchres : for themselves
too are in a manner lifeless, being destitute of
the life of truth ; and they take in to themselves
dead men, whom having slain by lying words
and a vain heart, they turn unto themselves.
" With their own tongues they dealt craftily : "
that is, with evil tongues. For this seems to be
signified, when he says " their own." For the
evil have evil tongues, that is, they speak evil,
when they speak craftily. To whom the Lord
saith, " How can ye, being evil, speak good
things?"1
13. " Judge them, O God : let them fall from
their own thoughts " (ver. 10). It is a proph-
ecy, not a curse. For he does not wish that it
should come to pass ; but he perceives what
will come to pass. For this happens to them,
1 P». rii. 14, 15, 16.
« Matt. xii. 34.
not because he appears to have wished for it,
but because they are such as to deserve that it
should happen. For so also what he says after-
wards, " Let all that hope in Thee rejoice," he
says by way of prophecy ; since he perceives that
they will rejoice. Likewise is it said propheti-
cally, " Stir up Thy strength, and come : " ' for he
saw that He would come. Although the words,
" Let them fall from their own thoughts," may
be taken thus also, that it may rather be believed
to be a wish for their good by the Psalmist, whilst
they fall from their evil thoughts, that is, that
they may no more think evil. But what follows,
" drive them out," forbids this interpretation.
For it can in no wise be taken in a favourable
sense, that one is driven out by God. Where-
fore it is understood to be said prophetically, and
not of ill will ; when this is said, which mustneces-
sarily happen to such as chose to persevere in
those sins, which have been mentioned. " Let
them," therefore, " fall from their own thoughts,"
is, let them fall by their self-accusing thoughts,
" their own conscience also bearing witness," as
the Apostle says, " and their thoughts accusing
or excusing, in the revelation of the just judg-
ment of God." *
14. " According to the multitude of their un-
godlinesses drive them out : " that is, drive them
out far away. For this is " according to the mul-
titude of their ungodlinesses," 5 that they should
be driven out far away. The ungodly then are
driven out from that inheritance, which is pos-
sessed by knowing and seeing God : as diseased
eyes are driven out from the shining of the light,
when what is gladness to others is pain to them.
Therefore these shall not stand in the morning,6
and see. And that expression is as great a pun-
ishment, as that which is said, " But for me it is
good to cleave to the Lord," ? is a great reward.
To this punishment is opposed, " Enter thou into
the joy of Thy Lord ; " s for similar to this expul-
sion is, " Cast him into outer darkness." »
15. "Since they have embittered Thee, O
Lord : I am," saith He, " the Bread which came
down from heaven ; " IO again, " Labour for the
meat which wasteth not;"" again, "Taste and
see that the Lord is sweet." " But to sinners
the bread of truth is bitter. Whence they hate the
mouth of him that speaketh the truth. These
then have embittered God, who by sin have fallen
into such a state of sickliness, that the food of
truth, in which healthy souls delight, as if it were
bitter as gall, they cannot bear.
16. "And let all rejoice that hope in Thee ; "
those of course to whose taste the Lord is sweet.
3 Ps._ Ixxx. 2. 4 Rom. ii. 15, 16.
* It is not possible to preserve in the translation the cognate
words, multitudinem and multum : " hoc est enim secundum mul-
titudintm impietatum eorum, ut multum expellantur."
6 Ps. v. 3. 7 Ps. lxxiii. 38. 8 Matt. xxv. 21.
« Matt. xxv. 30. ■<> John vi. 51. » John vi. 37.
,a Ps. xxxiv. 8.
Psalm VI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
15
" They will exult for evermore, and Thou wilt
dwell in them " (ver. n). This will be the ex-
ultation for evermore, when the just become
the Temple of God, and He, their Indweller, will
be their joy. " And all that love Thy name shall
glory in Thee : " as when what they love is pres-
ent for them to enjoy. And well is it said, " in
Thee," as if in possession of the inheritance, of
which the title of the Psalm speaks : when they
too are His inheritance, which is intimated by,
"Thou wilt dwell in them." From which good
they are kept back, whom God, according to
the multitude of their ungodlinesses, driveth out.
17. "For Thou wilt bless the just man"
(ver. 12). This is blessing, to glory in God,
and to be inhabited by God. Such sanctifica-
tion is given to the just. But that they may be
justified, a calling goes before : which is not of
merit, but of the grace of God. " For all have
sinned, and want the glory of God." « " For whom
He called, them He also justified ; and whom He
justified, them He also glorified." 2 Since then
calling is not of our merit, but of the goodness
and mercy of God, he went on to say, " O Lord,
as with the shield of Thy good will Thou hast
crowned us." For God's good will goes before
our good will, to call sinners to repentance.
And these are the arms whereby the enemy is
overcome, against whom it is said, " Who will
bring accusation against God's elect?" Again,
" if God be for us, who can be against us ? Who
spared not His Only Son, but delivered Him up
for us all." 3 " For if, when we were enemies,
Christ died for us ; much more being reconciled,
shall we be saved from wrath through Him." 4
This is that unconquerable shield, whereby the
enemy is driven back, when he suggests despair
of our salvation through the multitude of tribula-
ions and temptations.
18. The whole contents of the Psalm, then, are
a prayer that she may be heard, from the words,
" hear my words, O Lord," unto, " my King, and
my God." Then follows a view of those things
which hinder the sight of God, that is, a knowl-
edge that she s is heard, from the words, " be-
cause I shall pray unto Thee, O Lord, in the
morning Thou wilt hear my voice," unto, " the
man of blood and the crafty man the Lord will
abominte." Thirdly, she hopes that she, who is
to be the house of God, even now begins to draw
near to Him in fear, before that perfection which
casteth out fear, from the words, " but I in the
multitude of Thy mercy," unto, " I will worship
at Thy holy temple in Thy fear." Fourthly, as
she is progressing and advancing amongst those
very things which she feels to hinder her, she
prays that she may be assisted within, where no
man seeth, lest she be turned aside by evil
1 Rom. iii. 23.
* Rom. v. 10.
2 Rom. viii. 30. 3 Rom. viii. 33, 31, 3a.
s i.e.t the Church.
tongues, for the words, " O Lord, lead me forth
in Thy justice because of my enemies," unto,
" with their tongues they dealt craftily." Fifthly,
is a prophecy of what punishment awaits the
ungodly, when the just man shall scarcely be
saved ; and of what reward the just shall obtain,
who, when they were called, came, and bore all
things manfully, till they were brought to the end,
from the words, " judge them, O God," unto the
end of the Psalm.
PSALM VI.
TO THE END, IN THE HYMNS OF THE EIGHTH,6 A
PSALM TO DAVID.'
i. " Of the eighth," seems here obscure. For
the rest of this title is more clear. Now it has
seemed to some to intimate the day of judg-
ment, that is, the time of the coming of our
Lord, when He will come to judge the quick
and dead. Which coming, it is believed, is to
be, after reckoning the years from Adam, seven
thousand years : so as that seven thousand years
should pass as seven days, and afterwards that
time arrive as it were the eighth day. But since
it has been said by the Lord, " It is not yours
to know the times, which the Father hath put
in His own power : " 8 and, " But of the day
and that hour knoweth no man, no, neither
angel, nor Power, neither the Son, but the
Father alone : " 9 and again, that which is writ-
ten, " that the day of the Lord cometh as a
thief," '° shows clearly enough that no man should
arrogate to himself the knowledge of that time,
by any computation of years. For if that day
is to come after seven thousand years, every
man could learn its advent by reckoning the
years. What comes then of the Son's even not
knowing this? Which of course is said with
this meaning, that men do not learn this by the
Son, not that He by Himself doth not know it :
according to that form of speech, " the Lord
your God trieth you that He may know ; " " that
is, that He may make you know : and, " arise,
O Lord ; " 12 that is, make us arise. When there-,
fore the Son is thus said not to know this day ;
not because He knoweth it not, but because He
causeth those to know it not, for whom it is not
expedient to know it, that is, He doth not show
it to them ; what does that strange presumption
mean, which, by a reckoning up of years, expects
the day of the Lord as most certain after seven
thousand years ? 'J
2. Be we then willingly ignorant of that which
the Lord would not have us know : and let us
6 LXX. itnip T»js 6-ySbijs. [Sec Hippolytus, A. N. F. vol. v. p.
200. — C]
? [The first of the Seven Penitential Psalms, which are Psalms
vi., xxxiL.xxxviii., li.f cii., cxxx., cxliii. — C]
8 Acts i. 7. 9 Mark xiti. 32. I0 1 Thess. v. 9.
" Deut. xiii. 3. " Ps. iii. 7.
13 [Sec City of God, this series, vol. ii. p. 426 et sego. — C.J
i6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm VI.
inquire what this title, " of the eighth," means.
The day of judgment may indeed, even without
any rash computation of years, be understood by
the eighth, for that immediately after the end of
this world, life eternal being attained, the souls
of the righteous will not then be subject unto
times : and, since all times have their revolution
in a repetition of those seven days, that per-
adventure is called the eighth day, which will
not have this variety. There is another reason,
which may be here not unreasonably accepted,
why the judgment should be called the eighth,
because it will take place after two generations,
one relating to the body, the other to the soul,
For from Adam unto Moses the human race
lived of the body, that is, according to the
flesh : which is called the outward and the old
man,' and to which the Old Testament was given,
that it might prefigure the spiritual things to
come by operations, albeit religious, yet carnal.
Through this entire season, when men lived
according to the body, " death reigned," as the
Apostle saith, " even over those that had not
sinned." Now it reigned " after the similitude
of Adam's transgression," 2 as the same Apostle
saith ; for it must be taken of the period up to
Moses, up to which time the works of the law,
that is, those sacraments of carnal observance,
held even those bound, for the sake of a certain
mystery, who were subject to the One God.
But from the coming of the Lord, from whom
there was a transition from the circumcision of
the flesh to the circumcision of the heart, the
call was made, that man should live according to
the soul, that is, according to the inner man, who
is also called the " new man "3 by reason of the
new birth and the renewing of spiritual conver-
sation. Now it is plain that the number four has
relation to the body, from the four well known
elements of which it consists, and the four quali-
ties of dry, humid, warm, cold. Hence too it
is administered by four seasons, spring, summer,
autumn, winter. All this is very well known.
For of the number four relating to the body we
have treated elsewhere somewhat subtilly, but
obscurely : which must be avoided in this dis-
course, which we would have accommodated to
the unlearned. But that the number three has
relation to the mind may be understood from
this, that we are commanded to love God after
a threefold manner,4 with the whole heart,
with the whole soul, with the whole mind : 5
of each of which severally we must treat, not
in the Psalms, but in the Gospels : for the pres-
ent, for proof of the relation of the number
three to the mind, I think what has been said
1 Rom. vi. 6; Eph. iv. 33.
3 Col. iii. 10.
4 [On the tripartite nature of 1
pp.463, 474.- C.l
» Deut. vi. 5; Matt. xxu. 37.
2 Rom. v. 14.
: Tertull. A. N. F. vol. iii.
enough. Those numbers then of the body
which have relation to the old man and the Old
Testament, .being past and gone, the numbers
too of the soul, which have relation to the new
man and the New Testament, being past and
gone, a septenary so to say being passed ; be-
cause everything is done in time, four having
been distributed to the body, three to the mind ;
the eighth will come, the day of judgment :
which assigning to deserts their due, will transfer
at once the saint, not to temporal works, but
to eternal life ; but will condemn the ungodly to
eternal punishment.
3. In fear of which comdemnation the Church
prays in this Psalm, and says, " Reprove me not,
O Lord, in Thine anger" (ver. i). The Apostle
too mentions the anger of the judgment ; " Thou
treasurest up unto thyself," he says, "anger
against the day of the anger of the just judg-
ment of God." 6 In which he would not be re-
proved, whosoever longs to be healed in this life.
" Nor in Thy rage chasten me." " Chasten," seems
rather too mild a word ; for it availeth toward
amendment. For for him who is reproved,
that is, accused, it is to be feared lest his
end be condemnation. But since " rage " seems
to be more than " anger," it may be a difficulty,
why that which is milder, namely, chastening, is
joined to that which is more severe, namely, rage.
But I suppose that one and the same thing is
signified by the two words. For in the Greek
dy/Ms, which is in the first verse, means the same
as opyrj, which is in the second verse.' But
when the Latins themselves too wished to use
two distinct words, they looked out for what
was akin to " anger," and " rage " 8 was used.
Hence copies vary. For in some " anger " is
found first, and then " rage : " in others, for
"rage," "indignation" or "choler" is used. But
whatever the reading, it is an emotion of the soul
urging to the infliction of punishment. Yet this
emotion must not be attributed to God, as if to a
soul, of whom it is said, " but Thou, O Lord of
power, judgest with tranquillity." 9 Now that
which is tranquil, is not disturbed. Disturbance
then does not attach to God as judge : but what
is done by His ministers, in that it is done by
His laws, is called His anger. In which anger,
the soul, which now prays, would not only not
be reproved, but not even chastened, that is,
amended or instructed. For in the Greek it
is, wcuStvoT/s, that is, instruct. Now in the day
of judgment all are " reproved " that hold not
the foundation, which is Christ. But they are
amended, that is, purged, who " upon this foun-
dation build wood, hay, stubble. For they shall
suffer loss, but shall be saved, as by fire." '°
6 Rom. ii. 5.
7 [Compare Trench on Synonyms of the New Testament, p.
178, ed. New York, 1854. — C.
8 Furor. 9 Wisd. xiC 18,
10 1 Cor. iii. tif ta, 13, 15.
Psalm VI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
17
What then does he pray, who would not be
either reproved or amended in the anger of the
Lord? what else but that he may be healed?
For where sound health is, neither death is to be
dreaded, nor the physician's hand with caustics
or the knife.
4. He proceeds accordingly to say, " Pity
me, O Lord, for I am weak : heal me, O Lord,
for my bones are troubled" (ver. 2), that is,
the support of my soul, or strength : for this is the
meaning of " bones." The soul therefore says,
that her strength is troubled, when she speaks of
bones. For it is not to be supposed, that the
soul has bones, such as we see in the body.
Wherefore, what follows tends to explain it, " and
my soul is troubled exceedingly" (ver. 3), lest
because he mentioned bones, they should be un-
derstood as of the body. " And Thou, O Lord,
how long?" Who does not see represented
here a soul struggling with her diseases ; but long
kept back by the physician, that she may be
convinced what evils she has plunged herself
into through sin ? For what is easily healed, is
not much avoided : but from the difficulty of
the healing, there will be the more careful keep-
ing of recovered health. God then, to whom it
is said, "And Thou, O Lord, how long?" must
not be deemed as if cruel : but as a kind con-
vincer of the soul, what evil she hath procured for
herself. For this soul does not yet pray so per-
fectly, as that it can be said to her, " Whilst
thou art yet speaking I will say, Behold, here I
am." ' That she may at the same time also
come to know, if they who do turn meet with so
great difficulty, how great punishment is pre-
pared for the ungodly, who will not turn to God :
as it is written in another place, " If the righteous
scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and un-
godly appear? " 2
5. "Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul"
(ver. 4). Turning herself she prays that God
too would turn to her : as it is said, " Turn ye
unto Me, and I will turn unto you, saith the
Lord." 3 Or is it to be understood according to
that way of speaking, " Turn, O Lord," that is,
make me turn, since the soul in this her turning
feels difficulty and toil ? For our perfected turn-
ing findeth God ready, as says the Prophet,
" We shall find Him ready as the dawn." •* Since
it was not His absence who is everywhere pres-
ent, but our turning away that made us lose Him ;
" He was in this world," it is said, " and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not." s If, then, He was in this world, and
the world knew Him not, our impurity doth not
endure the sight of Him. But whilst we are
turning ourselves, that is, by changing our old
life are fashioning our spirit ; we feel it hard and
1 Isa Ixv. 24.
< Hos. vi. 3, LXX.
2 1 Pet. iv. 18.
' John i. 10
3 Zech.
toilsome to be wrested back from the darkness
of earthly lusts, to the serene and quiet and tran-
quillity of the divine light. And in such difficulty
we say, " Turn, O Lord," that is, help us, that
that turning may be perfected in us, which findeth
Thee ready, and offering Thyself for the fruition
of them that love Thee. And hence after he
said, " Turn, O Lord," he added, " and deliver
my soul : " cleaving as it were to the entangle-
ments of this world, and suffering, in the very act
of turning, from the thorns, as it were, of rending
and tearing desires. " Make me whole," he says,
" for Thy pity's sake." He knows that it is not
of his own merits that he is healed: for to him
sinning, and transgressing a given command, was
just condemnation due. Heal me therefore, he
says, not for my merit's sake, but for Thy pity's
sake.
6. " For in death there is no one that is mind-
ful of Thee " (ver. 5). He knows too that now
is the time for turning unto God : for when this
life shall have passed away, there remaineth but
a retribution of our deserts.6 " But in hell who
shall confess to Thee ? " 7 That rich man, of
whom the Lord speaks, who saw Lazarus in rest,
but bewailed himself in torments, confessed in
hell, yea so as to wish even to have his brethren
warned, that they might keep themselves from
sin, because of the punishment which is not be-
lieved to be in hell. Although therefore to no
purpose, yet he confessed that those torments
had deservedly lighted upon him ; since he even
wished his brethren to be instructed, lest they
should fall into the same. What then is, " But
in hell who will confess to Thee ? " Is hell to be
understood as that place, whither the ungodly
will be cast down after the judgment, when by
reason of that deeper darkness they will no more
see any light of God, to whom they may confess
aught ? For as yet that rich man by raising his
eyes, although a vast gulf lay between, could
still see Lazarus established in rest : by comparing
himself with whom, he was driven to a confession
of his own deserts. It may be understood also,
as if the Psalmist calls sin, that is committed in
contempt of God's law, death : so as that we
should give the name of death to the sting of
death, because it procures death. " For the
sting of death is sin." 8 In which death this is
to be unmindful of God, to despise His law and
commandments : so that by hell the Psalmist
would mean that blindness of soul which over-
takes and enwraps the sinner, that is, the dying.
" As they did not think good," the Apostle says,
* [St. Augustin, whatever he may have imagined of the fire that
is to purify at the last day (i Cor. iii. 13-15), knew nothing of an
intermediate purgatory. Compare A. N. F. vol. viii. pp. 139, 390,
for apocryphal opinions and a misleading note. Consult (same
series) vol. iii. p. 428, and v. p. 222, notes 1 and 7, with p. 223, note
1. — C]
7 Luke xvi. 8 1 Cor. xv. 56.
i8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[FSALM VI.
" to retain God in " their " knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind." ' From this
death, and this hell, the soul earnestly prays that
she may be kept safe, whilst she strives to turn to
God, and feels her difficulties.
7. Wherefore he goes on to say, "I have
laboured in my groaning." And as if this availed
but litde, he adds, " 1 will wash each night my
couch" (ver. 6). That is here called a couch,
where the sick and weak soul rests, that is, in
bodily gratification and in every worldly pleasure.
Which pleasure, whoso endeavours to withdraw
himself from it, washes with tears. For he sees
that he already condemns carnal lusts ; and yet
his weakness is held by the pleasure, and willingly
lies down therein, from whence none but the
soul that is made whole can rise. As for what
he says, " each night," he would perhaps have it
taken thus : that he who, ready in spirit, per-
ceives some light of truth, and yet, through
weakness of the flesh, rests sometime in the
pleasure of this world, is compelled to suffer as
it were days and nights in an alternation of
feeling : as when he says, " With the mind I
serve the law of God," he feels as it were day ;
again when he says, " but with the flesh the law
of sin," * he declines into night : until all night
passeth away, and that one day comes, of which
it is said, " In the morning I will stand by Thee,
and will see."3 For then he will stand, but now
he lies down, when he is on his couch ; which
he will wash each night, that with so great
abundance of tears he may obtain the most
assured remedy from the mercy of God. " I will
drench my bed with tears." It is a repetition.4
For when he says, " with tears," he shows with
what meaning he said above, "I will wash."
For we take " bed " here to be the same as
" couch " above. Although, " I will drench," is
something more than, " I will wash : " since any-
thing may be washed superficially, but drench-
ing penetrates to the more inward parts ; which
here signifies weeping to the very bottom of the
heart. Now the variety of tenses which he uses ;
the past, when he said, " I have laboured in my
groaning;" and the future, when he said, "I
will wash each night my couch ; " the future
again, "I will drench my bed with tears;" this
shows what every man ought to say to himself,
when he labours in groaning to no purpose. As
if he should say, It hath not profited when I
have done this, therefore I will do the other.
8. " Mine eye is disordered by anger " (ver.
7) : is it by his own, or God's anger, in which
he maketh petition that he might not be re-
proved, or chastened ? But if anger in that
• Rom. i. »8.
2 Rom. vii. 35.
* lot. Auguitin was the inventor of what is now called " The
Silent Comforter." for the invalid. This Psalm, with the six other
Penitential Psalms, he caused to be set up before his dying eyes. See
Vita S. A •/. auctort Fouidio, ed. Migne, vol. i. p. 63. — C.J
place intimate the day of judgment, how can it
be understood now? Is it a beginning of it,
that men here suffer pains and torments, and
above all the loss of the understanding of the
truth ; as I have already quoted that which is
said, " God gave them over to a reprobate
mind " ? ' For such is the blindness of the mind.
Whosoever is given over thereunto, is shut out
from the interior light of God : but not wholly
as yet, whilst he is in this life. For there is
"outer darkness," 5 which is understood to belong
rather to the day of judgment ; that he should
rather be wholly without God, whosoever whilst
there is time refuses correction. Now to be
wholly without God, what else is it, but to be
in extreme blindness? If indeed God "dwell
in inaccessible light," 6 whereinto they enter, to
whom it is said, " Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord." 7 It is then the beginning of this anger,
which in this life every sinner suffers. In fear
therefore of the day of judgment, he is in trial and
grief ; lest he be brought to that, the disastrous
commencement of which he experiences now.
And therefore he did not say, mine eye is extin-
guished, but, " mine eye is disordered by anger."
But if he mean that his eye is disordered by his
own anger, there is no wonder either in this.
For hence perhaps it is said, " Let not the sun
go down upon your wrath ; " 8 because the mind,
which, from her own disorder, is not permitted
to see God, supposes that the inner sun, that
is, the wisdom of God, suffers as it were a setting
in her.
9. " I have grown old in all mine enemies."
He had only spoken of anger (if it were yet of
his own anger that he spoke) : but thinking on
his other vices, he found that he was entrenched
by them all. Which vices, as they belong to the
old life and the old man, which we must put off,
that we may put on the new man,' it is well said,
" I have grown old." But " in all mine enemies,"
he means, either amidst these vices, or amidst
men who will not be converted to God. For
these, even if they know them not, even if they
bear with them, even if they use the same
tables and houses and cities, with no strife arising
between them, and in frequent converse together
with seeming concord : notwithstanding, by the
contrariety of their aims, they are enemies to
those who turn unto God. For seeing that the
one love and desire this world, the others wish
to be freed from this world, who sees not that
the first are enemies to the last? For if they
can, they draw the others into punishment with
them. And it is a great grace, to be conversant
daily with their words, and not to depart from
the way of God's commandments. For often
the mind which is striving to go on to God-ward,
* Matt. xxv. 30.
8 Eph. iv. a6.
6 1 Tim. vi. 16.
9 Col. iti. 9, 10.
7 Matt. xxv. 21, 33.
Psalm VI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
19
being rudely handled in the very road, is
alarmed ; and generally fulfils not its good in-
tent, lest it should offend those with whom it
lives, who love and follow after other perishable
and transient goods. From such every one that
is whole is separated, not in space, but in soul.
For the body is contained in space, but the
soul's space is her affection.
10. Wherefore after the labour, and groaning,
and very frequent showers of tears, since that can-
not be ineffectual, which is asked so earnestly of
Him, who is the Fountain of all mercies, and it
is most truly said, " the Lord is nigh unto them
that are of a broken heart : " ' after difficulties so
great, the pious soul, by which we may also un-
derstand the Church, intimating that she has
been heard, see what she adds : " Depart from
me, all ye that work iniquity ; for the Lord hath
heard the voice of my weeping" (ver. 8). It
is either spoken prophetically, since they will
depart, that is, the ungodly will be separated
from the righteous, when the day of judgment
arrives, or, for this time present. For although
both are equally found in the same assemblies,
yet on the open floor the wheat is already sepa-
rated from the chaff, though it be hid among the
chaff. They can therefore be associated to-
gether, but cannot be carried away by the wind
together.
11. " For the Lord hath heard the voice of my
weeping ; The Lord hath heard my supplication ;
the Lord hath received my prayer" (ver. 9).
The frequent repetition of the same sentiments
shows not, so to say, the necessities of the
narrator, but the warm feeling of his joy. For
they that rejoice are wont so to speak, as that it
is not enough for them to declare once for all
the object of their joy. This is the fruit of that
groaning in which there is labour, and those tears
with which the couch is washed, and - bed
drenched : for, " he that sows in tears, shall reap
in joy : " 2 and, " blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted."
12. " Let all mine enemies be ashamed and
vexed" (ver. 10). He said above, "depart
from me all ye : " which can take place, as it has
been explained, even in this life : but as to what
he says, " let them be ashamed and vexed," I do
not see how it can happen, save on that day
when the rewards of the righteous and the pun-
ishments of the sinners shall be made manifest.
For at present so far are the ungodly from being
ashamed, that they do not cease to insult us.
And for the most part their mockings are of such
avail, that they make the weak to be ashamed of
the name of Christ. Hence it is said, " Whoso-
ever shall be ashamed of Me before men, of him
will I be ashamed before My Father."3 But
Ps. xxxiv. 18.
Matt. x. 33; Luke ix. 26.
2 Ps. cxxvi. 5.
now whosoever would fulfil those sublime com-
mands, to disperse, to give to the poor, that his
righteousness may endure for ever ; 4 and selling
all his earthly goods, and spending them on the
needy, would follow Christ, saying, " We brought
nothing into this world, and truly we can carry
nothing out ; having food and raiment, let us be
therewith content ; " 5 incurs the profane raillery
of those men, and by those who will not be
made whole, is called mad ; and often to avoid
being so called by desperate men, he fears to do,
and puts off that, which the most faithful and
powerful of all physicians hath ordered. It is
not then at present that these can be ashamed,
by whom we have to wish that we be not made
ashamed, and so be either called back from our
proposed journey, or hindered, or delayed. But
the time will come when they shall be ashamed,
saying as it is written, " These are they whom we
had sometimes in derision, and a parable of re-
proach : we fools counted their life madness, and
their end to be without honour : how are they
numbered among the children of God, and their
lot is among the saints? Therefore have we
erred from the way of truth, and the light of
rightousness hath not shined into us, nor the sun
risen upon us : we have been filled with the way
of wickedness and destruction, and have walked
through rugged deserts, but the way of the Lord
we have not known. What hath pride profited
us, or what hath the vaunting of riches brought
us? All those things are passed away like a
shadow." 6
13. But as to what he says, "Let them be
turned and confounded," who would not judge
it to be a most righteous punishment, that they
should have a turning unto confusion, who would
not have one unto salvation? After this he
added, " exceeding quickly." For when the
day of judgment shall have begun to be no longer
looked for, when they shall have said, " Peace,
then shall sudden destruction come upon them." i
Now whensoever it come, that comes very quickly,
of whose coming we give up all expectation ; and
nothing makes the length of this life be felt but
the hope of living. For nothing seems more
quick, than all that has already passed in it.
When then the day of judgment shall come, then
will sinners feel how that all the life which pass-
eth away is not long. Nor will that any way
possibly seem to them to have come tardily,
which shall have come without their desiring, or
rather without their believing. Although it can
too be taken in this place thus, that inasmuch
as God has heard, so to say, her groans, and her
long and frequent tears, she may be understood
to be freed from her sins, and to have tamed
every disordered impulse of carnal affection :
* Ps. cxti. 9.
7 1 Tbess. v. 3.
J x Tim. vi. 7, 8.
<■ Wisd. v. 3-9.
20
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm VII.
as she saith, " Depart from me, all ye that work
iniquity, for the Lord hath heard the voice of
my weeping : " and when she has had this happy
issue, it is no marvel if she be already so perfect
as to pray for her enemies. The words then,
" Let all mine enemies be ashamed, and vexed,"
may have this meaning ; that they should repent
of their sins, which cannot be effected without
confusion and vexation. There is then nothing
to hinder us from taking what follows too in this
sense, " let them be turned and ashamed," that
is, let them be turned to God, and be ashamed
that they sometime gloried in the former dark-
ness of their sins ; as the Apostle says, " For
what glory had ye sometime in those things of
which ye are now ashamed ? " ■ But as to what
he added, " exceeding quickly," it must be re-
ferred either to the warm affection of her wish,
or to the power of Christ; who converteth to
the faith of the Gospel in such quick time the
nations, which in their idols' cause did persecute
the Church.
PSALM VII.
A PSALM TO DAVID HIMSELF, WHICH HE SUNG TO
THE LORD, FOR THE WORDS OF CHUSI, SON OF
JEMINI.2
i. Now the story which gave occasion to this
prophecy may be easily recognised in the second
book of Kings.3 For there Chusi, the friend of
king David, went over to the side of Abessalon,
his son, who was carrying on war against his
father, for the purpose of discovering and report-
ing the designs which he was taking against his
father, at the instigation of Achitophel, who had
revolted from David's friendship, and was instruct-
ing by his counsel, to the best of his power,
the son against the father. But since it is not the
story itself which is to be the subject of considera-
tion in this Psalm, from which the prophet hath
taken a veil of mysteries, if we have passed over
to Christ, let the veil be taken away.4 And first
let us inquire into the signification of the very
names, what it means. For there have not been
wanting interpreters, who investigating these
same words, not carnally according to the let-
ter, but spiritually, declare to us that Chusi
should be interpreted silence ; and Gemini, right-
handed; Achitophel, brother's ruin. Among
which interpretations, Judas, that traitor, again
meets us, that Abessalon should bear his image,
according to that interpretation of it as a father's
peace ; in that his father was full of thoughts of
peace toward him : although he in his guile had
war in his heart, as was treated of in the third
Psalm. Now as we find in the Gospels that the
1 Rom. vi. ai.
» [St* Neale's note on this title. Commentary on the Psalmt,
J. i p. .3,. -CI
' a Sam. xv. 34-37. < a Cor. iii. 16.
disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ are called
sons,5 so in the same Gospels we find they are
called brethren also. For the Lord on the res-
urrection saith, " Go and say to My brethren." 6
And the Apostle calls Him " the first begotten
among many brethren." The ruin then of that
disciple, who betrayed Him, is rightly understood
to be a brother's ruin, which we said is the inter-
pretation of Achitophel. Now as to Chusi, from
the interpretation of silence, it is rightly under-
stood that our Lord contended against that guile
in silence, that is, in that most deep secret,
whereby " blindness happened in part to Israel," i
when they were persecuting the Lord, that the
fulness of the Gentiles might enter in, and " so
all Israel might be saved." When the Apostle
came to this profound secret and deep silence,
he exclaimed, as if struck with a kind of awe of
its very depth, " O the depth of the riches of the
wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearch-
able are His judgments, and His ways past find-
ing out ! For who hath known the wind of the
Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?"8
Thus that great silence he does not so much
discover by explanation, as he sets forth its
greatness in admiration. In this silence the
Lord, hiding the sacrament of His adorable pas-
sion, turns the brother's voluntary ruin, that is,
His betrayer's impious wickedness, into the order
of His mercy and providence : that what he with
perverse mind wrought for one Man's destruction,
He might by providential overruling dispose for
all men's salvation. The perfect soul then,
which is already worthy to know the secret of
God, sings a Psalm unto the Lord, she sings " for
the words of Chusi," because she has attained
to know the words of that silence : for among
unbelievers and persecutors there is that silence
and secret. But among His own, to whom it is
said, " Now I call you no more servants ; for the
servant knoweth not what his lord doeth ; but I
have called you friends, for all things that I have
heard of My Father I have made known unto
you : ' among His friends, I say, there is not
the silence, but the words of the silence, that is, the
meaning of that silence set forth and manifested.
Which silence, that is, Chusi, is called the son of
Gemini, that is, righthanded. For what was
done for the Saints was not to be hidden from
them. And yet He saith, " Let not the left hand
know what the right hand doeth." IO The per-
fect soul then, to which that secret has been made
known, sings in prophecy " for the words of
Chusi," that is, for the knowledge of that same
secret. Which secret God at her right hand,
that is, favourable " and propitious unto her, has
5 Matt. ix. 15. 6 John xx. 17. 7 Rom. xi. 25.
8 Rom. xi. 33, 34. 9 John xv. 15. *° Matt. vi. 3.
11 It is difficult to preserve in translation the double meaning of
dexter as " righthanded " and " favourable." [We find a correspond-
ing ambiguity, however, in " sinister," as an English word. — C]
Psalm VII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
21
wrought. Wherefore this silence is called the
Son of the right hand, which is, " Chusi, the son
of Gemini."
2. " O Lord my God, in Thee have I hoped :
save me from all them that persecute me, and
deliver me " (ver. i). As one to whom, already
perfected, all the war and enmity of vice being
overcome, there remaineth no enemy but the
envious devil, he says, " Save me from all them
that persecute me, and deliver me (ver. 2) :
lest at any time he tear my soul as a lion." The
Apostle says, "Your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he
may devour." ■ Therefore when the Psalmist
said in the plural number, " Save me from all
them that persecute me : " he afterwards intro-
duced the singular, saying, " lest at any time he
tear my soul as a lion." For he does not say,
lest at any time they tear : he knew what enemy
and violent adversary of the perfect soul re-
mained. " Whilst there be none to redeem, nor
to save : " that is, lest he tear me, whilst Thou
redeemest not, nor savest. For, if God redeem
not, nor save, he tears.2
3. And that it might be clear that the already
perfect soul, which is to be on her guard against
the most insidious snares of the devil only, says
this, see what follows. " O Lord my God, if
I have done this " (ver. 3). What is it that he
calls "this"? Since he does not mention the
sin by name, are we to understand sin generally ?
If this sense displease us, we may take that to
be meant which follows : as if we had asked,
what is this that you say, " this " ? He answers,
" If there be iniquity in my hands." Now then
it is clear that it is said of all sin, " If I have re-
paid them that recompense me evil" (ver. 4).
Which none can say with truth, but the perfect.
For so the Lord says, " Be ye perfect, as your
Father which is in heaven ; who maketh His
sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and
raineth on the just and the unjust." 3 He then
who repayeth not them that recompense evil, is
perfect. When therefore the perfect soul prays
" for the words of Chusi, the son of Jemini," that
is, for the knowledge of that secret and silence,
which the Lord, favourable to us and merciful,
wrought for our salvation, so as to endure, and
with all patience bear, the guiles of this betray-
er : as if He should say to this perfect soul, ex-
plaining the design of this secret, For thee
ungodly and a sinner, that thine iniquities might
be washed away by My blood-shedding, in great
silence and great patience I bore with My be-
trayer ; wilt not thou imitate me, that thou too
mayest not repay evil for evil? Considering
1 1 Pet. v. 8.
2 [This Psalm is the first of those which our author calls fugitivi.
They are seven, as follows: Psalms xxxiv., lii., Hv., lvi., lvii., lix.,
cxlii. — C]
3 Matt. v. 43, 45.
then, and understanding what the Lord has done
for him, and by His example going on to per-
fection, the Psalmist says, " If I have repaid
them that recompense me evil : " that is, if I
have not done what Thou hast taught me by
Thy example : " may I therefore fall by mine
enemies empty." And he says well, not, If I
have repaid them that do me evil ; but, who
" recompense." For who so recompenseth, had
received somewhat already. Now it is an in-
stance of greater patience, not even to repay
him evil, who after receiving benefits returns
evil for good, than if without receiving any pre-
vious benefit he had had a mind to injure. If
therefore he says, " I have repaid them that
recompense me evil : " that is, If I have not
imitated Thee in that silence, that is, in Thy
patience, which Thou hast wrought for me,
" may I fall by mine enemies empty." For he
is an empty boaster, who, being himself a man,
desires to avenge himself on a man ; and whilst
he openly seeks to overcome a man, is secretly
himself overcome by the devil, rendered empty
by vain and proud joy, because he could not, as
it were, be conquered. The Psalmist knows
then where a greater victory may be obtained,
and where " the Father which seeth in secret
will reward." * Lest then he repay them that
recompense evil, he overcomes his anger rather
than another man, being instructed too by those
writings, wherein it is written, " Better is he that
overcometh his anger, than he that taketh a
city." 5 " If I have repaid them that recom-
pense me evil, may I therefore fall by my
enemies empty." He seems to swear by way
of execration, which is the heaviest kind of oath,
as when one says, If I have done so and so,
may I suffer so and so. But swearing in a
swearer's mouth is one thing, in a prophet's
meaning another. For here he mentions what
will really befall men who repay them that rec-
ompense evil ; not what, as by an oath, he would
imprecate on himself or any other.
4. " Let the enemy " therefore " persecute my
soul and take it" (ver. 5). By again naming
the enemy in the singular number, he more and
more clearly points out him whom he spoke of
above as a lion. For he persecutes the soul, and
if he has deceived it, will take it. For the limit
of men's rage is the destruction of the body ; but
the soul, after this visible death, they cannot keep
in their power : whereas whatever souls the devil
shall have taken by his persecutions, he will keep.
" And let him tread my life upon the earth : "
that is, by treading let him make my life earth,
that is to say, his food. For he is not only called
a lion, but a serpent too, to whom it was said,
" Earth shalt thou eat." 6 And to the sinner was
* Malt. vi. 6.
5 Prov. xvi. 32.
6 Gen. lii. 14.
22
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm VII.
it said, " Earth thou art, and into earth shalt thou
go." ' " And let him bring down my glory to the
dust." This is that dust which " the wind cast-
eth forth from the face of the earth," * to wit, vain
and silly boasting of the proud, puffed up, not of
solid weight, as a cloud of dust carried away by
the wind. Justly then has he here spoken of the
glory, which he would not have brought down to
dust. For he would have it solidly established in
conscience before God, where there is no boast-
ing. " He that glorieth," saith the Apostle, " let
him glory in the Lord." 3 This solidity is brought
down to the dust, if one through pride despising
the secrecy of conscience, where God only proves
a man, desires to glory before men. Hence
comes what the Psalmist elsewhere says, " God
shall bruise the bones of them that please men."4
Now he that has well learnt or experienced the
steps in overcoming vices, knows that this vice
of empty glory is either alone, or more than all,
to be shunned by the perfect. For that by which
the soul first fell, she overcomes the last. " For
the beginning of all sin is pride : " and again,
" The beginning of man's pride is to depart from
God." s
5. "Arise, O Lord, in Thine anger" (ver. 6).
Why yet does he, who we say is perfect, incite
God to anger? Must we not see, whether he
rather be not perfect, who, when he was being
stoned, said, " O Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge "?6 Or does the Psalmist pray thus not
against men, but against the devil and his angels,
whose possession sinners and the ungodly are ?
He then does not pray against him in wrath, but
in mercy, whosoever prays that that possession
may be taken from him by that Lord "who
justifieth the ungodly." 1 For when the ungodly
is justified, from ungodly he is made just, and
from being the possession of the devil he passes
into the temple of God. And since it is a pun-
ishment that a possession, in which one longs to
have rule, should be taken away from him : this
punishment, that he should cease to possess those
whom he now possesses, the Psalmist calls the
anger of God against the devil. "Arise, O
Lord, in Thine anger." " Arise " (he has used
it as "appear"), in words, that is, human and
obscure ; as though God sleeps, when He is un-
recognised and hidden in His secret workings.
" Be exalted in the borders of mine enemies."
He means by borders the possession itself, in
which he wishes that God should be exalted,
that is, be honoured and glorified, rather than the
devil, while the ungodly are justified and praise
God. " And arise, O Lord my God, in the com-
mandment that Thou hast given : " that is, since
Thou hast enjoined humility, appear in humility ;
1 Gen. iii. 10.
* Pi. liii. J.
» Rom. ir. 5.
« Pi. i. 4.
< Ecclut. x. 13, ia.
• 1 Cor. i. 31.
6 Acta vii. 60.
and first fulfil what Thou hast enjoined ; that men
by Thy example overcoming pride may not be
possessed of the devil, who against Thy com-
mandments advised to pride, saying, " Eat, and
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
gods." 8
6. " And the congregation of the people shall
surround Thee." This may be understood two
ways. For the congregation of the people can
be taken, either of them that believe, or of
them that persecute, both of which took place in
the same humiliation of our Lord : in contempt
of which the multitude of them that persecute
surrounded Him ; concerning which it is said,
" Why have the heathen raged, and the people
meditated vain things?"' But of them that
believe through His humiliation the multitude so
surrounded Him, that it could be said with the
greatest truth, "blindness in- part is happened
unto Israel, that the fulness of the Gentiles might
come in : " 10 and again, " Ask of me, and I will
give Thee the Gentiles for Thine inheritance,
and the boundaries of the earth for Thy posses-
sion." " "And for their sakes return Thou on
high : " that is, for the sake of this congregation
return Thou on high : which He is understood to
have done by His resurrection and ascension into
heaven. For being thus glorified He gave the
Holy Ghost, which before His exaltation could
not be given, as it is written in the Gospel, " for
the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that
Jesus was not yet glorified." " Having then re-
turned on high for the sake of the congregation
of the people, He sent the Holy Ghost : by
whom the preachers of the Gospel being filled,
filled the whole world with Churches.
7. It can be taken also in this sense : " Arise,
O Lord, in Thine anger, and be exalted in the
borders of mine enemies : " that is, arise in Thine
anger, and let not mine enemies understand
Thee ; so that to " be exalted," should be this,
become high, '3 that Thou tnayest not be under-
stood ; which has reference to the silence spoken
of above. For it is of this exaltation thus said in
another Psalm, " And He ascended upon Cheru-
bim, and flew : " and, " He made darkness His
secret place." '* In which exaltation, or conceal-
ment, when for their sins' desert they shall not
understand Thee, who shall crucify Thee, " the
congregation " of believers " shall surround
Thee." For in His very humiliation He was
exalted, that is, was not understood. So that,
" And arise, O Lord my God, in the command-
ment that Thou hast given : " may have refer-
ence to this, that is, when Thou showest Thyself,
be high or deep that mine enemies may not un-
* Gen. iii. 5. 9 Ps. ii. I,
» P«. ii. 8. » John vii. 39.
13 Alius. Ita twofold meaning of "
capable of being preserved in translation.
14 P». xviii. 10, xi.
10 Rom. xi. 25.
high" and "deep" is not
Psalm VII]
ON THE PSALMS.
23
derstand Thee. Now sinners are the enemies
of the just man, and the ungodly of the godly
man. " And the congregation of the people
shall surround Thee : " that is, by this very cir-
cumstance, that those who crucify Thee under-
stand Thee not, the Gentiles shall believe on
Thee, and so " shall the congregation of the peo-
ple surround Thee." But what follows, if this be
the true meaning, has in it more pain, that it
begins already to be perceived, than joy that
it is understood. For it follows, " and for their
sakes return Thou on high," that is, and for the
sake of this congregation of the human race,
wherewith the Churches are crowded, return
Thou on high, that is, again cease to be under-
stood. What then is, " and for their sakes," but
that this congregation too will offend Thee, so
that Thou mayest most truly foretell and say,
" Thinkest Thou when the Son of man shall
come, He will find faith on the earth ? " ■
Again, of the false prophets, who are understood
to be heretics, He says, " Because of their in-
iquity the love of many shall wax cold." 2 Since
then even in the Churches, that is, in that con-
gregation of peoples and nations, where the
Christian name has most widely spread, there
shall be so great abundance of sinners, which is
already, in great measure, perceived ; is not that
famine of the word 3 here predicted, which has
been threatened by another prophet also? Is it
not too for this congregation's sake, who, by
their sins, are estranging from themselves the
light of truth, that God returns on high, that is,
so that faith, pure and cleansed from the cor-
ruption of all perverse opinions, is held and re-
ceived, either not at all, or by the very few of
whom it was said, " Blessed is he that shall en-
dure to the end, the same shall be saved"?4
Not without cause then is it said, " and for the
sake of this " congregation " return Thou on
high : " that is, again withdraw into the depth
of Thy secrecy, even for the sake of this con-
gregation of the peoples, that hath Thy name,
and doeth not Thy deeds.
8. But whether the former exposition of this
place, or this last be the more suitable, without
prejudice to anyone better, or equal, or as good,
it follows very consistently, " the Lord judgeth
the people." For whether He returned on high,
when, after the resurrection, He ascended into
heaven, well does it follow, "The Lord judgeth
the people : " for that He will come from thence
to judge the quick and the dead. Or whether
He return on high, when the understanding of
the truth leaves sinful Christians, for that of His
coming it has been said, " Thinkest thou the
Son of Man on His coming will find faith on
the earth? " « " The Lord " then "judgeth the
1 Lulte xviii. 8.
* Mark xiii. 13.
3 Matt. xxiv. 13.
5 Amos viii. iz.
people." What Lord, but Jesus Christ ? " For
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed
all judgment unto the Son."* Wherefore this
soul which prayeth perfectly, see how she fears
not the day of judgment, and with a truly secure
longing says in her prayer, "Thy kingdom
come : judge me," she says, " O Lord, according
to my righteousness." In the former Psalm a
weak one was entreating, imploring rather the
mercy of God, than mentioning any desert of
his own : since the Son of God came " to call
sinners to repentance." 6 Therefore he had
there said, " Save me, O Lord, for Thy mercy's
sake ; " ? that is, not for my desert's sake. But
now, since being called he hath held and kept
the commandments which he received, he is
bold to say, " Judge me, O Lord, according to
my righteousness, and according to my harm-
lessness, that is upon me." This is true harm-
lessness, which harms not even an enemy.
Accordingly, well does he require to be judged
according to his harmlessness, who could say
with truth, " If I have repaid them that recom-
pense me evil." As for what he added, " that
is upon me," it can refer not only to harmless-
ness, but can be understood also with reference
to righteousness ; that the sense should be this,
Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteous-
ness, and according to my harmlessness, which
righteousness and harmlessness is upon me. By
which addition he shows that this very thing,
that the soul is righteous and harmless, she has
not by herself, but by God who giveth bright-
ness and light. For of this he says in another
Psalm, " Thou, O Lord, wilt light my candle." 8
And of John it is said, that " he was not the
light, but bore witness of the light." 9 " He
was a burning and shining candle." '° That light
then, whence souls, as candles, are kindled,
shines forth not with borrowed, but with original,
brightness, which light is truth itself. It is then
so said, "According to my righteousness, and
according to my harmlessness, that is upon me,"
as if a burning and shining candle should say,
Judge me according to the flame which is upon
me, that is, not that wherewith " I am myself,
but that whereby I shine enkindled of thee.
9. " But let the wickedness of sinners be con-
summated" (ver. 9). He says, "be consum-
mated," be completed, according to that in the
Apocalypse, " Let the righteous become more
righteous, and let the filthy be filthy still." '2
For the wickedness of those men appears con-
summate, who crucified the Son of God ; but
greater is theirs who will not live uprightly, and
hate the precepts of truth, for whom the Son
of God was crucified. " Let the wickedness of
s John v. 22.
8 Ps. xviii. 28.
" Al. that which.
6 Matt. ix. 13.
9 John i. 8.
13 Rev. xxii. 11.
1 Ps. vi. 4.
10 John v. 35.
24
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm VII.
sinners," then he says, " be consummated," that
is, arrive at the height of wickedness, that just
judgment may be able to come at once. But
since it is not only said, " Let the filthy be filthy
still ; " but it is said also, " Let the righteous be-
come more righteous ; " he joins on the words,
" And Thou shalt direct the righteous, O God,
who searcheth the hearts and reins." How
then can the righteous be directed but in secret ?
when even by means of those things which, in
the commencement of the Christian ages, when
as yet the saints were oppressed by the persecu-
tion of the men of this world, appeared marvel-
lous to men, now that the Christian name has
begun to be in such high dignity, hypocrisy, that
is pretence, has increased ; of those, I mean,
who by the Christian profession had rather please
men than God. How then is the righteous man
directed in so great confusion of pretence, save
whilst God searcheth the hearts and reins ; see-
ing all men's thoughts, which are meant by the
word heart ; and their delights, which are under-
stood by the word reins? For the delight ir
things temporal and earthly is rightly ascribed
to the reins ; for that it is both the lower part of
man, and that region where the pleasure of car-
nal generation dwells, through which man's
nature is transferred into this life of care, and
deceiving joy, by the succession of the race.
God then, searching our heart, and perceiving
that it is there where our treasure is, that is, in
heaven ; searching also the reins, and perceiv-
ing that we do not assent to flesh and blood, but
delight ourselves in the Lord, directs the right-
eous man in his inward conscience before Him,
where no man seeth, but He alone who per-
ceiveth what each man thinketh, and what de-
lighteth each. For delight is the end of care ;
because to this end does each man strive by care
and thought, that he may attain to his delight.
He therefore seeth our cares, who searcheth the
heart. He seeth too the ends of cares, that is
delights, who narrowly searcheth the reins ; that
when He shall find that our cares incline neither
to the lust of the flesh, nor to the lust of the
eyes, nor to the pride of life,' all which pass away
as a shadow, but that they are raised upward to
the joys of things eternal, which are spoilt by no
change, He may direct the righteous, even He,
the God who searcheth the hearts and reins.
For our works, which we do in deeds and words,
may be known unto men ; but with what mind
they are done, and to what end we would attain
by means of them, He alone knoweth, the God
who searcheth the hearts and reins.
10. " My righteous help is from the Lord,
whomaketh whole the upright in heart "(ver. 10).
The offices of medicine are twofold, one the curing
1 l John ii. io.
infirmity, the other the preserving health. Ac-
cording to the first it was said in the preceding
Psalm, " Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am
weak ; " 2 according to the second it is said in this
Psalm, " If there be iniquity in my hands, if I
have repaid them that recompense me evil, may
I therefore 3 fall by my enemies empty." For
there the weak prays that he may be delivered,
here one already whole that he may not change
for the worse. According to the one it is there
said, " Make me whole for Thy mercy's sake ; "
according to this other it is here said, " Judge me,
O Lord, according to my righteousness." For
there he asks for a remedy to escape from dis-
ease ; but here for protection from falling into
disease. According to the former it is said,
'• Make me whole, O Lord, according to Thy
mercy : " according to the latter it is said, " My
righteous help is from the Lord, who maketh
whole the upright in heart." Both the one and
the other maketh men whole ; but the former re-
•noves them from sickness into health, the latter
preserves them in this health. Therefore there
the help is merciful, because the sinner hath
no desert, who as yet longeth to be justified,
" believing on Him who justifieth the ungodly ; " *
but here the help is righteous, because it is given
to one already righteous. Let the sinner then
who said, " I am weak," say in the first place,
" Make me whole, O Lord, for Thy mercy's sake ; "
and here let the righteous man, who said, " If I
have repaid them that recompense me evil," say,
" My righteous help is from the Lord, who maketh
whole the upright in heart." For if he sets forth
the medicine, by which we may be healed when
weak, how much more that by which we may be
kept in health. For if " while we were yet sin-
ners, Christ died for us, how much more being now
justified shall we be kept whole from wrath through
Him." s
ii. "My righteous help is from the Lord,
who maketh whole the upright in heart.'" God,
who searcheth the hearts and reins, directeth the
righteous ; but with righteous help maketh He
whole the upright in heart. He doth not as He
searcheth the hearts and reins, so make whole the
upright in heart and reins ; for the thoughts are
both bad in a depraved heart, and good in an up-
right heart ; but delights which are not good be-
long to the reins, for they are more low and
earthly ; but those that are good not to the reins,
but to the heart itself. Wherefore men cannot
be so called upright in reins, as they are called
upright in heart, since where the thought is, there
at once the delight is too ; which cannot be, un-
less when things divine and eternal are thought of.
" Thou hast given," he says, " joy in my heart,"
when he had said, " The light of Thy countenance
' Ps. vi. a.
* Rom. v.
8,9-
3 At. deservedly.
* Rom. iv. 5.
TSALM VII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
25
has been stamped on us, O Lord." ■ For although
the phantoms of things temporal, which the mind
falsely pictures to itself, when tossed by vain and
mortal hope, to vain imaginations oftentimes
bring a delirious and maddened joy ; yet this de-
light must be attributed not to the heart, but to
the reins ; for all these imaginations have been
drawn from lower, that is, earthly and carnal
things. Hence it comes, that God, who searcheth
the hearts and reins, and perceiveth in the heart
upright thoughts, in the reins no delights, afford-
eth righteous help to the upright in heart, where
3heavenly delights are coupled with clean thoughts.
And therefore when in another Psalm he had said,
" Moreover even to-night my reins have chided
me ; " he went on to say as touching help, " I
foresaw the Lord alway in my sight, for He is on my
right hand, that I should not be moved." 3 Where
he shows that he suffered suggestions only from
the reins, not delights as well ; for he had suffered
these, then he would of course be moved. But
he said, " The Lord is on my right hand, that I
should not be moved ; " and then he adds,
" Wherefore was my heart delighted ; " that the
reins should have been able to chide, not delight
him. The delight accordingly was produced not in
the reins, but there, where against the chiding of
the reins God was foreseen to be on the right
hand, that is, in the heart.
12." God the righteous judge, strong 4 (in endu-
rance) and long-suffering " (ver. n). What God
is judge, but the Lord, who judgeth the people?
He is righteous ; who " shall render to every man
according to his works." s He is strong (in en-
durance) ; who, being most powerful, for our sal-
vation bore even with ungodly persecutors. He
is long-suffering ; who did not immediately, after
His resurrection, hurry away to punishment, even
those that persecuted Him, but bore with them,
that they might at length turn from that ungod-
liness to salvation : and still He beareth with
them, reserving the last penalty for the last judg-
ment, and up to this present time inviting sinners
to repentance. " Not bringing in anger every
day." Perhaps " bringing in anger " is a more
significant expression than being angry (and so
we find it in the Greek6 copies) ; that the an-
ger, whereby He punisheth, should not be in
Him, but in the minds of those ministers who
obey the commandments of truth through whom
orders are given even to the lower ministries,
who are called angels of wrath, to punish sin :
whom even now the punishment of men delights
not for justice' sake, in which they have no
pleasure, but for malice' sake. God then doth
not " bring in anger every day," that is, He doth
not collect His ministers for vengeance every
1 Ps. iv. 7, 6. 2 SitfircTHtr.
* Fortis. 5 Matt. xvi. 27.
b IJ.fi ipyTjV indytov, LXX.
3 Ps. J
day. For now the patience of God inviteth to
repentance : but in the last time, when men
" through their hardness and impenitent heart
shall have treasured up for themselves anger in
the day of anger, and revelation of the right-
eous judgment of God, » then He will brandish
His sword."
13. " Unless ye be converted," He says, " He
will brandish His sword" (ver. 12). The Lord
Man Himself may be taken to be God's double-
edged sword, that is, His spear, which at His first
coming He will not brandish, but hideth as it were
in the sheath of humiliation : but He will bran-
dish it, when at the second coming to judge the
quick and dead, in the manifest splendour of
His glory, He shall flash light on His righteous
ones, and terror on the ungodly. For in other
copies, instead of, " He shall brandish His sword,"
it has been written, " He shall make bright His
spear : " by which word I think the last coming
of the Lord's glory most appropriately signified :
seeing that is understood of His person, which
another Psalm has, " Deliver, O Lord, my soul
from the ungodly, 8 Thy spear from the enemies
of Thine hand. He hath bent His bow, and
made it ready." The tenses of the words must
not be altogether overlooked, how he has spoken
of "the sword" in the future, " He will bran-
dish ; " of " the bow " in the past, " He hath
bent : " and these words of the past tense follow
after. '
14. " And in it He hath prepared the instru-
ments of death : He hath wrought His arrows for
the burning" (ver. 13). That bow then I would
readily take to be the Holy Scripture, in which
by the strength of the New Testament, as by a
sort of string, the hardness of the Old has been
bent and subdued. From thence the Apostles
are sent forth like arrows, or divine preachings
are shot. Which arrows " He has wrought for
the burning," arrows, that is, whereby being
stricken they might be inflamed with heavenly
love. For by what other arrows was she stricken,
who saith, " Bring me into the house of wine,
place me among perfumes, crowd me among
honey, for I have been wounded with love " ? '°
By what other arrows is he kindled, who, desir-
ous of returning to God, and coming back from
wandering, asketh for help against crafty tongues,
and to whom it is said, " What shall be given
thee, or what added to thee against the crafty
tongue ? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with dev-
astating coals : " " that is, coals, whereby, when
thou art stricken and set on fire, thou mayest
burn with so great love of the kingdom of
heaven, as to despise the tongues of all that
it.'je'i
9 [So St. Jerome also understood the Hebrew in his strict ver-
sion. — C]
10 Sol. Song ii. 4, 5,
11 Ps. cxx. 3, 4.
26
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm VIL
resist thee, and would recall thee from thy pur-
pose, and to deride their persecutions, saying,
" Who shall separate me from the love of Christ ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? For
I am persuaded," he says, " that neither death,
nor life, nor angel, nor principality, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor power, nor
height, nor depth, nor other creature, shall be
able to separate me from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ' Thus for the burn-
ing hath He wrought His arrows. For in the
Greek copies it is found thus, " He hath wrought
His arrows for the burning." But most of the
Latin copies 2 have " burning arrows." But
whether the arrows themselves burn, or make
others burn, which of course they cannot do
unless they burn themselves, the sense is com-
plete.
15. But since he has said that the Lord has
prepared not arrows only, but " instruments of
death " too, in the bow, it may be asked, what
are " instruments of death " ? Are they, per-
adventure, heretics? For they too, out of the
same bow, that is, out of the same Scriptures,
light upon souls not to be inflamed with love,
but destroyed with poison : which does not
happen but after their deserts : wherefore even
this dispensation is to be assigned to the Divine
Providence, not that it makes men sinners, but
that it orders them after they have sinned. For
through sin reaching them with an ill purpose,
they are forced to understand them ill, that this
should be itself the punishment of sin : by whose
death, nevertheless, the sons of the Catholic
Church are, as it were by certain thorns, so to
say, aroused from slumber, and make progress
toward the understanding of the holy Scriptures.
" For there must be also heresies, that they
which are approved," he says, " may be made
manifest among you : " 3 that is, among men,
seeing they are manifest to God. Or has He
haply ordained the same arrows to be at once
instruments of death for the destruction of un-
believers, and wrought them burning, or for the
burning, for the exercising of the faithful ? For
that is not false that the Apostle says, "To
the one we are the savour of life unto life, to the
other the savour of death unto death ; and who
is sufficient for these things ? " 4 It is no wonder
then if the same Apostles be both instruments
of death in those from whom they suffered
persecution, and fiery arrows to inflame the hearts
of believers.
16. Now after this dispensation righteous
judgment will come : of which the Psalmist so
1 Rom. viii. 35, 38. 39.
3 [Not to the Vulgate
He refer* to the African (old Italic)' Psalters. But see Scrivener, p.
ot to the Vulgate nor St. Jerome, which follow the Greek.
speaks, as that we may understand that each
man's punishment is wrought out of his own sin,
and his iniquity turned into vengeance : that we
may not suppose that that tranquillity and inef-
fable light of God brings forth from Itself the
means of punishing sin ; but that it so ordereth
sins, that what have been delights to man in
sinning, should be instruments to the Lord
avenging. "Behold," he says, "he hath travailed
with injustice." Now what had he conceived,
that he should travail with injustice ? " He hath
conceived," he says, " toil." Hence then comes
that, " In toil shalt thou eat thy bread." 5 Hence
too that, " Come unto Me all ye that toil and
are heavy laden ; for My yoke is easy, and My
burden light." 6 For toil will never cease, except
one love that which cannot be taken away
against his will. For when those things are
loved which we can lose against our will, we
must needs toil for them most miserably ; and
to obtain them, amid the straitnesses of earthly
cares, whilst each desires to snatch them for
himself, and to be beforehand with another,
or to wrest it from him, must scheme injustice.
Duly then, and quite in order, hath he travailed
with injustice, who has conceived toil. Now he
bringeth forth what, save that with which he hath
travailed, although he has not travailed with
that which he conceived ? For that is not born,
which is not conceived ; but seed is conceived,
that which is formed from the seed is born.
Toil is then the seed of iniquity, but sin the
conception of toil, that is, that first sin, to
"depart from God."7 He then hath travailed
with injustice, who hath conceived toil. " And
he hath brought forth iniquity." "Iniquity" is
the same as " injustice : " he hath brought forth
then that with which he travailed. What follows
next?
1 7. " He hath opened a ditch, and digged it "
(ver. 15). To open a ditch is, in earthly mat-
ters, that is, as it were in the earth, to prepare
deceit, that another fall therein, whom the un-
righteous man wishes to deceive. Now this
ditch is opened when consent is given to the evil
suggestion of earthly lusts : but it is digged
when after consent we press on to actual work
of deceit. But how can it be, that iniquity
should rather hurt the righteous man against
whom it proceeds, than the unrighteous heart
whence it proceeds? Accordingly, the stealer
of money, for instance, while he desires to in-
flict painful harm upon another, is himself
maimed by the wound of avarice. Now who,
even out of his right mind, sees not how great is
the difference between these men, when one
suffers the loss of money, the other of inno-
cence? " He will fall " then " into the pit which
307, ad ed. — C]
3 1 Cor. xi. 19,
4 a Cor. ii. 16.
5 Gen. iii. 17.
6 Matt. xi. 28, 30.
7 Ecclus. x. 13.
Psalm VIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
27
he hath made." As it is said in another Psalm,
" The Lord is known in executing judgments ;
the sinner is caught in the works of his own
hands." "
18. " His toil shall be turned on his head, and
his iniquity shall descend on his pate "(ver. 16).
For he had no mind to escape sin : but was
brought under sin as a slave, so to say, as the
Lord saith, "Whosoever sinneth is a slave."2
His iniquity then will be upon him, when he is
subject to his iniquity ; for he could not say to
the Lord, what the innocent and upright say,
" My glory, and the lifter up of my head."3 He
then will be in such wise below, as that his
iniquity may be above, and descend on him ; for
that it weigheth him down and burdens him, and
suffers him not to fly back to the rest of the
saints. This occurs, when in an ill regulated
man reason is a slave, and lust hath dominion.
19. " I will confess to the Lord according to
His justice" (ver. 17). This is not the sinner's
confession : for he says this, who said above most
truly, " If there be iniquity in my hands : " but
it is a confession of God's justice, in which we
speak thus, Verily, O Lord, Thou art just, in that
Thou both so protectest the just, that Thou en-
lightenest them by Thyself; and so orderest sin-
ners, that they be punished not by Thine, but
by their own malice. This confession so praises
the Lord, that the blasphemies of the ungodly
can avail nothing, who, willing to excuse their
evil deeds, are unwilling to attribute to their
own fault that they sin, that is, are unwilling to
attribute their fault to their fault. Accordingly
they find either fortune or fate to accuse, or the
devil, to whom He who made us hath willed
that it should be in our power to refuse consent :
or they bring in another nature, which is not of
God : wretched waverers, and erring, rather than
confessing to God, that He should pardon them.
For it is not fit that any be pardoned, except
he says, I have sinned. He, then, that sees the
deserts of souls so ordered by God, that while
each has his own given him, the fair beauty of
the universe is in no part violated, in all things
praises God : and this is not the confession of
sinners, but of the righteous. For it is not the
sinner's confession when the Lord says, " I con-
fess to Thee, O Lord of heaven and earth, be-
cause Thou hast hid these things from the wise,'
and revealed them to babes." 4 Likewise in
Ecclesiasticus it is said, " Confess to the Lord
in all His works : and in confession ye shall say
this, All the works of the Lord are exceeding
good." 5 Which can be seen in this Psalm, if
any one with a pious mind, by the Lord's help,
distinguish between the rewards of the righteous
and the penalties of the sinners, how that in
1 Ps. ix. 16.
* Matt. xt. 25.
2 John viii. 34. 3 Ps.
5 Ecclus. xxxix. 14, 15, 16.
4J.3.
these two the whole creation, which God made
and rules, is adorned with a beauty wondrous and
known to few. Thus then he says, " I will con-
fess to the Lord according to His justice," as
one who saw that darkness was not made by
God, but ordered nevertheless. For God said,
" Let light be made, and light was made."6 He
did not say, Let darkness be made, and dark-
ness was made : and yet He ordered it. And
therefore it is said, " God divided between the
light, and the darkness : and God called the light
day, and the darkness He called night." 7 This
is the distinction, He made the one and ordered
it : but the other He made not, but yet He
ordered this too. But now that sins are signified
by darkness, so is it seen in the Prophet, who
says, "And thy darkness shall be as the noon
day : " 8 and in the Apostle, who says, " He that
hateth his brother is in darkness : " 9 and above all
that text, " Let us cast off the works of darkness,
and let us put on the armour of light." '° Not
that there is any nature of darkness. For all
nature, in so far as it is nature, is compelled to be.
Now being belongs to light : not-being to dark-
ness. He then that leaves Him by whom he
was made, and inclines to that whence he was
made, that is, to nothing, is in this sin en-
darkened : and yet he does not utterly perish,
but he is ordered among the lowest things.
Therefore after the Psalmist said, " I will confess
unto the Lord : " that we might not understand
it of confession of sins, he adds lastly, " And I
will sing to the name of the Lord most high."
Now singing has relation to joy, but repentance
of sins to sadness.
20. This Psalm can also be taken in the per-
son of the Lord Man : if only that which is there
spoken in humiliation be referred to our weak-
ness, which He bore."
PSALM VIII.
TO THE END, FOR THE WINE-PRESSES, A PSALM
OF DAVID HIMSELF.'2
I. He seems to say nothing of wine-presses in
the text of the Psalm of which this is the title.
By which it appears, that one and the same
thing is often signified in Scripture by many and
various similitudes. We may then take wine-
presses to be Churches, on the same principle by
which we understand also by a threshing-floor
the Church. For whether in the threshing-floor,
or in the wine-press, there is nothing else done
but the clearing the produce of its covering ;
which is necessary, both for its first growth.
6 Gen. i. 3. 7 Gen. i. 4, 5. * Isa. lviii. 10.
9 1 John 11. 11. ,0 Rom. xiii. is".
11 [On the continuity of the first seven Psalms, see Bishop Words-
worth s Commentary , p. 10. ed. London. 1867. — C.J
12 See on Ps. Ixxxiv. < [The octave of Ps. i., ana understood by
the Fathers of the ascension of Christ. It was probably sung at the
Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. — C]
28
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm VKI.
and increase, and arrival at the maturity either
of the harvest or the vintage. Of these cover-
ings or supporters then ; that is, of chaff, on
the threshing-floor, the corn ; and of husks, in the
presses, the wine is stripped : as in the Churches,
from the multitude of worldly men, which is col-
lected together with the good, for whose birth
and adaptatingto the divine word that multitude
was necessary, this is effected, that by spiritual
love they be separated through the operation of
God's ministers. For now so it is that the good
are, for a time, separated from the bad, not in
space, but in affection : although they have con-
verse together in the Churches, as far as respects
bodily presence. But another time will come,
the corn will be stored up apart in the granaries,
and the wine in the cellars. " The wheat," saith
he, " He will lay up in garners ; but the chaff
He will burn with fire unquenchable." ■ The
same thing may be thus understood in another
similitude : the wine He will lay up in cellars,
but the husks He will cast forth to cattle : so that
by the bellies of the cattle we may be allowed by
way of similitude to understand the pains of
hell.
2. There is another interpretation concerning
the wine-presses, yet still keeping to the meaning
of Churches. For even the Divine Word may
be understood by the grape : for the Lord even
has been called a Cluster of grapes ; which they
that were sent before by the people of Israel
brought from the land of promise hanging on a
staff, crucified as it were.2 Accordingly, when
the Divine Word maketh use of, by the necessity
of declaring Himself, the sound of the voice,
whereby to convey Himself to the ears of the
hearers ; in the same sound of the voice, as it
were in husks, knowledge, like the wine, is en-
closed : and so this grape comes into the ears,
as into the pressing machines of the wine-
pressers. For there the separation is made, that
the sound may reach as far as the ear ; but
knowledge be received in the memory of those
that hear, as it were in a sort of vat ; whence it
passes into discipline of the conversation and
habit of mind, as from the vat into the cellar :
where if it do not through negligence grow sour,
it will acquire soundness by age. For it grew
sour among the Jews, and this sour vinegar they
gave the Lord to drink.3 For that wine, which
from the produce of the vine of the New Testa-
ment the Lord is to drink with His saints in the
kingdom of His Father,4 must needs be most
sweet and most sound.
3. " Wine-presses " are also usually taken for
martyrdoms, as if when they who have confessed
the name of Christ have been trodden down
by the blows of persecution, their mortal remains
1 Luke iii. 17.
4 Matt. xxvi. 29.
3 Numb. xiii. 23.
3 John xix. 29.
as husks remained on earth, but their souls flowed
forth into the rest of a heavenly habitation.
Nor yet by this interpretation do we depart from
the fruitfulness of the Churches. It is sung then,
" for the wine-presses," for the Church's estab-
lishment ; when our Lord after His resurrection
ascended into heaven. For then He sent the
Holy Ghost : by whom the disciples being ful-
filled preached with confidence the Word of God,
that Churches might be collected.
4. Accordingly it is said, " O Lord, our Lord,
how admirarble is Thy Name in all the earth ! "
(ver. 1). I ask, how is His Name wonderful in
all the earth ? The answer is, " For Thy glory
has been raised above the heavens." So that the
meaning is this, O Lord, who art our Lord, how
do all that inhabit the earth admire Thee ! for
Thy glory hath been raised from earthly humilia-
tion above the heavens. For hence it appeared
who Thou wast that descendedst, when it was by
some seen, and by the rest believed, whither it was
that Thou ascendedst.
5. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
Thou hast made perfect praise, because of Thine
enemies" (ver. 2). I cannot take babes and
sucklings to be any other than those to whom
the Apostle says, " As unto babes in Christ I have
given you milk to drink, not meat." 5 Who were
meant by those who went before the Lord prais-
ing Him, of whom the Lord Himself used this
testimony, when He answered the Jews who bade
Him rebuke them, " Have ye not read, out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast made
perfect praise ? " 6 Now with good reason He says
not, Thou hast made, but, " Thou hast made per-
fect praise." For there are in the Churches also
those who now no more drink milk, but eat meat :
whom the same Apostle points out, saying, " We
speak wisdom among them that are perfect ; " *
but not by those only are the Churches perfected ;
for if there were only these, little consideration
would be had of the human race. But consider-
ation is had, when they too, who are not as yet ca-
pable of the knowledge of things spiritual and
eternal, are nourished by the faith of the tempo-
ral history, which for our salvation after the Patri-
archs and Prophets was administered by the most
excellent Power and Wisdom of God, even in the
Sacrament of the assumed Manhood, in which
there is salvation for every one that believeth ; to
the end that moved by Its authority each one may
obey Its precepts, whereby being purified and
" rooted and grounded in love," he may be able
to run with Saints, no more now a child in milk,
but a young man in meat, " to comprehend the
breadth, the length, the height, and depth, to
know also the surpassing knowledge of the love
of Christ."8
5 1 Cor iii. r, a.
8 Eph. ui. 17-19.
6 Matt. xxi. 16.
7 x Cor. ii. 6.
TSALM VIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
29
6. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
Thou hast made perfect praise, because of Thine
enemies." By enemies to this dispensation,
which has been wrought through Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, we ought generally to understand
all who forbid belief in things unknown,1 and
promise certain knowledge : 2 as all heretics do,
and they who in the superstition ot the Gentiles
are called philosophers. Not that the promise
of knowledge is to be blamed ; but because they
deem the most healthful and necessary step .of
faith is to be neglected, by which we must needs
ascend to something certain, which nothing but
that which is eternal can be. Hence it appears
that they do not possess even this knowledge,
which in contempt of faith they promise ; seeing
that they know not so useful and necessary a step
thereof. " Out of the mouth," then " of babes
and sucklings Thou hast made perfect praise,"
Thou, our Lord, declaring first by the Apostle,
" Except ye believe, ye shall not understand ; " '
and saying by His own mouth, " Blessed are they
that have notseen, and shall believe." 4 " Because
of the enemies : " against whom too that is said,
" I confess to Thee, O Lord of heaven and earth,
because Thou hast hid these things from the wise,
and revealed them unto babes." 5 " From the
wise," he saith, not the really wise, but those who
deem themselves such. " That Thou mayest de-
stroy the enemy and the defender." Whom but
the heretic ? 6 For he is both an enemy and a
defender, who when he would assault the Chris-
tian faith, seems to defend it. Although the
philosophers too of this world may be well taken
as the enemies and defenders : forasmuch as the
_Son of God is the Power and Wisdom of God,
by which every one is enlightened who is made
wise by the truth : of which they profess them-
selves to be lovers, whence too their name of
philosophers ; and therefore they seem to defend
it, while they are its enemies, since they cease
not to recommend noxious superstitions, that
the elements of this world should be worshipped
and revered.
7. " For I shall see Thy heavens, the works of
Thy fingers " (ver. 3). We read that the law
was written with the finger of God, and given
through Moses, His holy servant : by which fin-
! ger of God many understand the Holy Ghost.7
' Wherefore if, by the fingers of God, we are right
I in understanding these same ministers filled with
the Holy Ghost, by reason of this same Spirit
which worketh in them, since by them all holy
Scripture has been completed for us ; we under-
1 t Cor. ii. 6-10. 2 See " On Profit of Believing."
3 Isa. vi. 0; Acts xiii. 27-41. * John xx. 29. 5 Matt. xi. 25.
6 See on Ps. cii., and St. Greg, on Job, Intr. § 15.
7 Exod. xxxi. 18, xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 10. [The " arm of the
Lord " is understood by the Fathers of the Son : so also the "right
hand of the Lord." The "finger" (proceeding from head and
hand) is understood of the Holy Spirit. So the Latin hymn,
"Dextrae Dei tu Digitus." — C]
stand consistently with this, that, in this place,
the books of both Testaments are called " the
heavens." Now it is said too of Moses himself,
by the magicians of king Pharaoh, when they were
conquered by him, " This is the finger of God." 8
And what is written, " The heavens shall be rolled
up as a book." 9 Although it be said of thisaethe-
real heaven, yet naturally, according to the same
image, the heavens of books are named by alle-
gory. " For I shall see," he says, " the heavens,!
the works of Thy fingers : " that is, I shall dis-i
cern and understand the Scriptures, which Thou, )
by the operation of the Holy Ghost, hast written 4
by Thy ministers.
8. Accordingly the heavens named above also
may be interpreted as the same books, where he
says, " For Thy glory hath been raised above the
heavens : " so that the complete meaning should
be this, " For Thy glory hath been raised above
the heavens ; " for Thy glory hath exceeded the
declarations of all the Scriptures :- " Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast made
perfect praise," that they should begin by be-
lief in the Scriptures, who would arrive at the
knowledge of Thy glory : which hath been raised
above the Scriptures, in that it passeth by and
transcends the announcements of all words and
languages. Therefore hath God lowered the
Scriptures even to the capacity of babes and
sucklings, as it is sung in another Psalm, " And
He lowered the heaven, and came down : " 10 and
this did He because of the enemies, who through
pride of talkativeness, being enemies of the cross
of Christ, even when they do speak some truth,
still cannot profit babes and sucklings. So is the
enemy and defender destroyed, who, whether he
seem to defend wisdom, or even the name of
Christ, still, from the step of this faith," assaults
that truth, which he so readily makes promise of.
Whereby too he is convicted of not possessing it ;
since by assaulting the step thereof, namely faith,
he knows not how one should mount up thereto.
Hence then is the rash and blind promiser of
truth, who is the enemy and defender, destroyed,
when the heavens, the works of God's fingers, are
seen, that is, when the Scriptures, brought down
even to the slowness of babes, are understood ;
and by means of the lowness of the faith of the
history, which was transacted in time, they raise
them, well nurtured and strengthened, unto the
grand height of the understanding of things eter-
nal, up to those things which they establish."
For these heavens, that is, these books, are the
works of God's fingers ; for by the operation of
the Holy Ghost in the Saints they were com-
pleted. For they that have regarded their own
glory rather than man's salvation, have spoken
8 Exod. viit. 19. 9 Isa. xxxiv. 4. See Rev. vi. 14.
10 Ps. xviii. 9. n Al. step of faith.
12 Oxford mss. " and establish them in it," for'' up," etc.
3Q
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[FSALM VIII.
without the Holy Ghost, in whom are the bowels
of the mercy of God.
9. " For I shall see the heavens, the works of
Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou
hast ordained." The moon and stars are or-
dained in the heavens ; since both the Church
jinjvgrsaj, to signify which the moon is often put,
anofChurches in the several places particularly,
which I imagine to be intimated by the name of
stars, are established in the same Scriptures, which
wel>elieve to be expressed by the word heavens.'
But why the moon justly signifies the Church,
will be rriore seasonably considered in another
Psalm, where it is said, " The sinners have bent
their bow, that they may shoot in the obscure
moon the upright in heart."2
10. " What is man, that Thou art mindful of
him ? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him ? "
(ver. 4). It may be asked, what distinction there
is between man and son of man. For if there
were none, it would not be expressed thus, " man,
or son of man," disjunctively. For if it were
written thus, " What is man, that Thou art mind-
ful of him, and son of man, that Thou visitest
him?" it might appear to be a repetition of the
word " man." But now when the expression is,
" man or son of-man," a distinction is more
clearly intimated. This is certainly to be re-
membered, that every son of man is a man ; al-
though every man cannot be taken to be a son
of man. Adam, for instance, was a man, but
not a son of man. Wherefore we may from hence
consider and distinguish what is the difference
in this place between man and son of man ;
namely, that they who bear the image of the
earthy man, who is not a son of man, should be
signified by the name of men ; but thatjhey who
bear the image of the heavenly Man,3 should be
rather called sons of men ; for the former again
is called the old man,4 and the latter the new ;
but the new is born of the old, since spiritual
regeneration is begun by a change of an earthy
and worldly life ; 5 and therefore the latter is called
son of man. " Man " then in this place is earthy,
but " son of man " heavenly ; and the former is
far removed from God, but the latter present
with God ; and therefore is He mindful of the
former, as in far distance from Him ; but the
latter He visiteth, with whom being present He
enlighteneth him with His countenance. For
" salvation is far from sinners ; " 6 and, " The light
of Thy countenance hath been stamped upon us,
O Lord." » So in another Psalm he saith, that
men in conjunction with beasts are made whole
together with these beasts, not by any present
inward illumination, but by the multiplication of
1 [Here is intimated Augustin's idea of the Catholic Church, in
which individual national churches hold their own autonomies. — C. 1
* Ps. xi. a. * 1 Cor. xv. 40.
. -/. 40.
* Oxford mss. " called man. and the old man."
5 Eph. iv. 32, 34.
'Ps.
cxtx. 155.
' Ps. iv. 6.
the mercy of God, whereby His goodness reach-
eth even to the lowest things ; for the wholeness
of carnal men is carnal, as of the beasts ; but
separating the sons of men from those whom be-
ing men he joined with cattle, he proclaims that
they are made blessed, after a far more exalted
method, by the enlightening of the truth itself,
and by a certain inundation of the fountain of
life. For he speaketh thus : " Men and beasts
Thou wilt make whole, O Lord, as Thy mercy
hath been multiplied, O God. But the sons of
men shall put their trust in the covering of Thy
wings. They shall be inebriated with the rich-
ness of Thine house, and of the torrent of Thy
pleasures Thou shalt make them drink. For
with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light
shall we see light. Extend Thy mercy to them
that know Thee." 8 Through the multiplication
of mercy then He is mindful of man, as of beasts ;
for that multiplied mercy reacheth even to them
that are afar off; but He visiteth the son of man,
over whom, placed under the covering of His
wings, He extendeth mercy, and in His light
giveth light, and maketh him drink of His pleas-
ures, and inebriateth him with the richness of
His house, to forget the sorrows and the wander-
ings of his former conversation. This son of man,
that is, the new man, the repentance of the old
man begets with pain and tears. He, though new,
is nevertheless called yet carnal, whilst he is fed
with milk ; " I would not speak unto you as unto
spiritual, but as unto carnal," says the Apostle.
And to show that they were already regenerate,
he says, " As unto babes in Christ, I have given
you milk to drink, not meat." And when he
relapses, as often happens, to the old life, he
hears in reproof that he is a man ; " Are ye not
men," he says, "and walk as men?" 9
n. Therefore was the son of man first visited
in the person of the very Lord Man, born of the
Virgin Mary. Of whom, by reason of the very
weakness of the flesh, which the Wisdom of God
vouchsafed to bear, and the humiliation of the
1 Passion, it is justly said, "Thou hast lowered
Him a little lower than the Angels" (ver. 5).
But that glorifying is added, in which He rose
and ascended up into heaven ; " With glory," he
says, "and with honour hast Thou crowned
Him ; and hast set Him over the works of Thine
hands" (ver. 6). Since even Angels are the
works of God's hands, even over Angels we un-
derstand the Only-begotten Son to have been
set ; whom we hear and believe, by the humilia-
tion of the carnal generation and .passion, to
have been lowered a little lower than the, Angels.
12. "Thou hast put," he says, "all things in
subjection under His feet." When he says, "all
things," he excepts nothing. And that he might
• Ps. xxxvi. 6-10.
9 1 Cor. tit. if a, 3.
Psalm VIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
31
not be allowed to understand it otherwise, the
Apostle enjoins it to be believed thus, when he
says, " He being excepted which put all things
under Him." ' And to the Hebrews he uses
this very testimony from this Psalm, when he
would have it to be understood that all things
are in such sort put under our Lord Jesus Christ,
as that nothing should be excepted.2 And yet he
does not seem, as it were, to subjoin any great
thing, when he says, " All sheep and oxen, yea,
moreover, the beasts of the field, birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea, which walk through
the paths of the sea " (ver. 7 ) . P'or, leaving
the heavenly excellencies and powers, and all the
hosts of Angels, leaving even man himself, he
seems to have put under Him the beasts merely ;
unless by sheep and oxen we understand holy
souls, either yielding the fruit of innocence, or
even working that the earth may bear fruit, that
is, that earthly men may be regenerated unto
spiritual richness. By these holy souls then we
ought to understand not those of men only, but
of all Angels too, if we would gather from
hence that all things are put under our Lord
Jesus Christ. For there will be no creature that
will not be put under Him, under whom the pre-
eminent3 spirits, that I may so speak, are put.
But whence shall we prove that sheep can be
interpreted even, not of men, but of the blessed
spirits of the angelical creatures on high? May
we from the Lord's saying that He had left
ninety and nine sheep in the mountains, that is,
in the higher regions, and had come down for
one?4 For if we take the one lost sheep to be
the human soul in Adam, since Eve even was
made out of his side,* for the spiritual handling
and consideration of all which things this is not
the time, it remains that, by the ninety and nine
left in the mountains, spirits not human, but
angelical, should be meant. For as regards the
oxen, this sentence is easily despatched ; since
men themselves are for no other reason called
oxen, but because by preaching the Gospel of
the word of God they imitate Angels, as where
it is said, " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that
treadeth out the corn." 6 How much more
easily then do we take the Angels themselves, the
messengers of truth, to be oxen, when Evangel-
ists by the participation of their title are called
oxen ? " Thou hast put under " therefore, he
says, " all sheep and oxen," that is, all the holy
spiritual creation ; in which we include that of
holy men, who are in the Church, in those wine-
presses to wit, which are intimated under the
other similitude of the moon and stars.?
13. " Yea moreover," saith he, " the beasts of
« 1 Cor. xv. 27. * Heb. ii. 8.
* Primates. * Matt, xviii. 12: Luke xv. 4.
5 Gen. ii. 2i, 22. 6 1 Cor. ix. 9; 1 Tim. v. 18.
7 [See p. 37, and p. 30, note I, supra. — C.J
the field." 8 The addition of " moreover " is by
no means idle. First, because by beasts of the
plain may be understood both sheep and oxen :
so that, if goats are the beasts of rocky and
mountainous regions, sheep may be well taken
to be the beasts of the field. Accordingly had
it been written even thus, " all sheep and oxen
and beasts of the field ; " it might be reasona-
bly asked what beasts of the plain meant, since
even sheep and oxen could be taken as such.
But the addition of" moreover" besides, obliges
us, beyond question, to recognise some differ-
ence or another. But under this word, " more-
over," not only "beasts of the field," but also
" birds of the air, and fish of the sea, which
walk through the paths of the sea" (ver. 8), are
to be taken in. What is then this distinction?
Call to mind the " wine-presses," holding husks
and wine ; and the threshing-floor, containing
chaff and corn ; and the nets, in which were
enclosed good fish and bad ; and the ark of
Noah, in which were both unclean and clean
animals : ' and you will see that the Churches for
a while, now in this time, unto the last time of
judgment, contain not only sheep and oxen, that
is, holy laymen and holy ministers, but " more-
over beasts of the field, birds of the air, and
birds of the sea, that walk through the paths of
the sea." For the beasts of the field were very
fitly understood, as men rejoicing in the pleasure
of the flesh where they mount up to nothing
high, nothing laborious. For the field is also
" the broad way, that leadeth to destruction : " '°
and in a field is Abel slain." Wherefore there is
cause to fear, lest one coming down from the
mountains of God's righteousness (" for thy
righteousness," he says, " is as the mountains of
God"'2) making choice of the broad and easy
paths of carnal pleasure, be slain by the devil.
See now too " the birds of heaven," the proud,
of whom it is said, "They have set their mouth
against the heaven." '3 See how they are carried
on high by the wind, " who say, We will magnify
our tongue, our lips are our own, who is our
Lord ? " '* Behold too the fish of the sea, that is,
the curious ; who walk through the paths of the
sea, that is, search in the deep after the tem-
poral things of this world : which, like paths in
the sea, vanish and perish, as quickly as the
water comes together again after it has given
room, in their passage, to ships, or to whatso-
ever walketh or swimmeth. For he said not
merely, who walk the paths of the sea ; but
" walk through," he said ; showing the very de-
termined earnestness of those who seek after
vain and fleeting things. Now these three kinds
• Campi.
9 See on title
'° Matt. vii. i
12 Ps. XXXvi
Matt. iii. 12, xiii. 47
13. " Gen. iv. 8.
. 6. ,3 Ps. lxxiii. g.
Gen. vit.8.
»« Ps. xii. 4.
32
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IX.
of vice, namely, the pleasure of the flesh, and
pride, and curiosity, include all sins. And they
appear to me to be enumerated by the Apostle
John, when he says, " Love not the world ; for
all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." '
For through the eyes especially prevails curiosity.
To what the rest indeed belong is clear. And
that temptation of the Lord Man was threefold :
by food, that is, by the lust of the flesh, where it
is suggested, " command these stones that they
be made bread : " * by vain boasting, where, when
stationed on a mountain, all the kingdoms of
this earth are shown Him, and promised if He
would worship : 3 by curiosity, where, from the
pinnacle of the temple, He is advised to cast
Himself down, -for the sake of trying whether He
would be borne up by Angels.4 And accord-
ingly after that the enemy could prevail with
Him by none of these temptations, this is said
of him, " When the devil had ended all his
temptation." 5 With a reference then to the
meaning of the wine-presses, not only the wine,
but the husks too are put under His feet; to
wit, not only sheep and oxen, that is, the holy
souls of believers, either in the- laity, or in the
ministry ; but moreover both beasts of pleasure,
and birds of pride, and fish of curiosity. All
which classes of sinners we see mingled now
in the Churches with the good and holy. May
He work then in His Churches, and separate the
wine from the husks : let us give heed, that we
be wine, and sheep or oxen ; not husks, or
beasts of the field, or birds of heaven, or fish of
the sea, which walk through the paths of the
sea. Not that these names can be understood
and explained in this way only, but the explana-
tion of them must be according to the place
where they are found. For elsewhere they have
other meanings. And this rule must be kept to
in every allegory, that what is expressed by the
similitude should be considered agreeably to
the meaning of the particular place : for this
is the manner of the Lord's and the Apostles'
teaching. Let us repeat then the last verse, which
is also put at the beginning of the Psalm, and let
us praise God, saying, " O Lord our Lord, how
wonderful is Thy name in all the earth ! " For
fitly, after the matter of the discourse, is the
return made to the heading, whither all that
discourse must be referred.
PSALM IX.
i. The inscription of this Psalm is, "To the
end for the hidden things of the Son, a Psalm
of David himself." 6 As to the hidden things of
' i John ii. 15. 16. 'Matt. iv. 3. 3 Matt. iv. 8, 9.
« Matt, iv. 6. S I.uke iv. 13.
* [This title is only conjecturally elucidated by expositors. Here
• rises the confusion of numbering the Psalms: the Septuacint and
Vulgate making the fallowing Psalm all one with tail. — C]
the Son there may be a question : but since he
has not added whose, the very only-begotten
Son of God should be understood. For where
a Psalm has been inscribed of the son of David,7
" When," he says, " he fled from the face of
Absalom his son ; " although his name even was
mentioned, and therefore there could be no ob-
scurity as to whom it was spoken of: yet it is
not merely said, from the face of son Absalom ;
but " his " is added. But here both because
" his " is not added, and much is said of the
Gentiles, it cannot properly be taken of Absalom.8
For the war which that abandoned one waged
with his father, no way relates to the Gentiles,
since there the people of Israel only were divided
against themselves. This Psalm is then sung
for the hidden things of the only-begotten Son
of God-.' For the Lord Himself too, when,
without addition, He uses the word Son, would
have Himself, the Only-begotten to be under-
stood ; as where He says, " If the Son shall make
you free, then shall ye be free indeed." '° For
He said not, the Son of God ; but in saying
merely, Son, He gives us to understand whosa
Son it is. Which form of expression nothing
admits of, save His excellency of whom we so
speak, that, though we name Him not, He can
be understood. For so we say, it rains, clears
up, thunders, and such like expressions ; and
we do not add who does it all ; for that the
excellency of the doer spontaneously presents
itself to all men's minds, and does not want
words. What then are the hidden things of the
Son ? By which expression we must first under-
stand that there are some things of the Son
manifest, from which those are distinguished
which are called hidden. Wherefore since we
believe two advents of the Lord, one past,
which the Jews understood not : the other
future, which we both hope for ; and since the
one which the Jews understood not, profited
the Gentiles; "For the hidden things of the
Son " is not unsuitably understood to be spoken
of this advent, in which " blindness in part is
happened to Israel, that the fulness of the Gen-
tiles might come in." "
For notice of two judgments is conveyed to us
throughout the Scriptures, if any one will give
heed to them, one hidden, the other manifest.
The hidden one is passing now, of which the
Apostle Peter says, " The time is come that
judgment should begin from the house of the
Lord." '2 The hidden judgment accordingly is
the pain, by which now each man is either
exercised to purification, or warned to conver-
sion, or if he despise the calling and discipline
7 Ps. iii. 8 1 Sam. xv.
9 fit is the first of the alphabetical Psalms, which are: Ps. ix.( x.,
xxv., xxxiv.j cxi., cxii., cxix., cxlv. Of these, only four are ascribed
to David: viz., ix.f xxv., xxxiv., and cxlv. — C.]
10 John viii. 36. " Rom. xi. 25. " 1 Pet. iv. 17.
Psalm IX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
33
of God, is blinded unto damnation. But the
manifest judgment is that in which the Lord, at
His coming, will judge the quick and the dead,
all men confessing that it is He by whom both
rewards shall be assigned to the good, and pun-
ishments to the evil. But then that confession
will avail, not to the remedy of evils, but to the
accumulation of damnation. Of these two judg-
ments, the one hidden, the other manifest, the
Lord seems to me to have spoken, where He says,
" Whoso believeth on Me hath .passed from
death unto life, and shall not come into judg-
ment; " ' into the manifest judgment, that is.
For that which passes from death unto life by
means of some affliction, whereby " He scourgeth
every son whom He receiveth," 2 is the hidden
judgment. " But whoso believeth not," saith
He, " hath been judged already : " 3 that is, by
this hidden judgment hath been already pre-
pared for that manifest one. These two judg-
ments we read of also in Wisdom, whence it is
written, " Therefore unto them, as to children
without the use of reason, Thou didst give a
judgment to mock them ; But they that have
not been corrected by this judgment have felt
a judgment worthy of God." * Whoso then are
not corrected by this hidden judgment of God,
shall most worthily be punished by that manifest
one. . . .
2. "I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, with
my whole heart" (ver. i). He doth not, with a
whole heart, confess unto God, who doubteth
of His Providence in any particular : but he who
sees already the hidden things of the wisdom of
God, how great is His invisible reward, who
saith, " We rejoice in tribulations ; " 5 and how
all torments, which are inflicted on the body, are
either for the exercising of those that are con-
verted to God, or for warning that they be con-
verted, or for just preparation of the obdurate
unto their last damnation : and so now all things
are referred to the governance of Divine Prov-
idence, which fools think done as it were by
chance and at random, and without any Divine
ordering. " I will tell all Thy marvels." He
tells all God's marvels, who sees them performed
not only openly on the body, but invisibly in-
deed too in the soul, but far more sublimely and
excellently. For men earthly, and led wholly
by the eye, marvel more that the dead Lazarus
rose again in the body, than that Paul the perse-
cutor rose again in soul.5 But since the vis-
ible miracle calleth the soul to the light, but the
invisible enlighteneth the soul that comes when
called, he tells all God's marvels, who, by be-
lieving the visible, passes on to the understand-
ing of the invisible.
* Wisd. xii. 25, 26.
6 John xi. ; Acts ix
2 Heb. xii. 6.
3 John iii. 18,
* Rom. v. 3.
3. " I will be glad and exult in Thee " (ver.
2). Not any more in this world, not in pleasure
of bodily dalliance, not in relish of palate and
tongue, not in sweetness of perfumes, not in
joyousness of passing sounds, not in the various-
ly coloured forms of figure, not in vanities of
men's praise, not in wedlock and perishable off-
spring, not in superfluity of temporal wealth, not
in this world's getting, whether it extend over
place and space, or be prolonged in time's suc-
cession : but, " I will be glad and exult in
Thee," namely, in the hidden things of the Son,
where " the light of Thy countenance hath been
stamped on us, O Lord : " ' for, " Thou wilt hide
them," saith he, " in the hiding place of Thy
countenance." 8 He then will be glad and exult
in Thee, who tells all Thy marvels. And He
will tell all Thy marvels (since it is now spoken
of prophetically), "who came not to do His
own will, but the will of Him who sent Him." '
4. For now the Person of the Lord begins to
appear speaking in this Psalm. For it follows,
" I will sing to Thy Name, O Most High, in
turning mine enemy behind." His enemy then,
where was he turned back ? Was it when it was
said to him, " Get thee behind, Satan " ? '° For
then he who by tempting desired to put himself
before, was turned behind, by failing in deceiv-
ing Him who was tempted, and by availing
nothing against Him. For earthly men are be-
hind : but the heavenly man is preferred before,
although he came after. For " the first man is
of the earth, earthy : the second Man is from
heaven, heavenly."" But from this stock he
came by whom it was said, " He who cometh
after me is preferred before me." I2 And the Apos-
tle forgets " those things that are behind, and
reaches forth unto those things that are before." '*
The enemy, therefore, was turned behind, after
that he could not deceive the heavenly Man be-
ing tempted ; and he turned himself to earthy
men, where he can have dominion. . . . For in
truth the devil is turned behind, even in the per-
secution of the righteous, and he, much more to
their advantage, is a persecutor, than if he went
before as a leader and a prince. We most sing
then to the Name of the Most High in turning the
enemy behind : since we ought to choose rather to
fly from him as a persecutor, than to follow him as
a leader. For we have whither we may fly and
hide ourselves in the hidden things of the Son ;
seeing that " the Lord hath been made a refuge
for us." '4
5. "They will be weakened, and perish from
Thy face" (ver. 3). Who will be weakened
and perish, but the unrighteous and ungodly?
" They will be weakened," while they shall avail
» Ps. iv. 6.
10 Matt. xvi. 33.
" Phil. iii. 13.
8 Ps. xxxi. 20.
11 1 Cor. xv. 47.
»< Ps. xc. I.
9 John vi. 38.
12 John i. 15.
34
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IX.
nothing ; " and they shall perish," because the
ungodly will not be ; " from the face " of God,
that is, from the knowledge of God, as he per-
ished who said," But now I live not, but Christ
liveth in me." ' But why will the ungodly " be
weakened and perish from thy face ? " " Because,"
he saith, " Thou hast made my judgment, and
my cause : " that is, the judgment in which I
seemed to be judged, Thou hast made mine ;
and the cause in which men condemned me
just and innocent, Thou hast made mine. For
such things served1 Him for our deliverance :
as sailors too call the wind theirs, which they
take advantage of for prosperous sailing.
6. " Thou satest on the throne Who judgest
equity" (ver. 4). Whether the Son say this to
the Father, who said also, " Thou couldest have
no power against Me, except it were given thee
from above," 3 referring this very thing, that the
Judge of men was judged for men's advantage,
to the Father's equity and His own hidden
things : or whether man say to God, " Thou sat-
est on the throne Who judgest equity," giving
the name of God's throne to his soul, so that
his body may peradventure be the earth, which
is called God's " footstool : " 4 for " God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself:"5
or whether the soul of the Church, perfect now
and without spot and wrinkle,6 worthy, that is,
of the hidden things of the Son, in that " the
King hath brought her into His chamber," 7 say
to her spouse, " Thou satest upon the throne
Who judgest equity," in that Thou hast risen
from the dead, and ascended up into heaven,
and sittest at the right hand of the Father :
whichsoever, I say, of those opinions, whereunto
this verse may be referred, is preferred, it trans-
gresses not the rule of faith.
7. " Thou hast rebuked the heathen, and the
ungodly hath perished" (ver. 5). We take
this to be more suitably said to the Lord Jesus
Christ, than said by Him. For who else hath
rebuked the heathen, and the ungodly perished,
save He, who after that He ascended up into
heaven, sent the Holy Ghost, that, filled by Him,
the Apostles should preach the word of God
with boldness, and freely reprove men's sins?
At which rebuke the ungodly perished ; because
the ungodly was justified and was made godly.
" Thou hast effaced their name for the world,8
and for the world's world. The name of the
ungodly hath been effaced. For they are not
called ungodly who believe in the true God.
Now their name is effaced " for the world," that
is, as long as the course of the temporal world
endures. " And for the world's world." What
■ Gal. ii. 30.
4 Its. Ixvi. 1.
8 Militaverunt.
5 2 Cor. v. 19.
3 John xix. 11.
6 tph. v. 37.
7 Song of Sol. i. 4.
• Or ' unto the age." strcitlntii. The meaning of " age," as in
it expression " world without end," is the primary one in Latin.
is " the world's world," but that whose image
and shadow, as it were, this world possesses?
For the change of seasons succeeding one an-
other, whilst the moon is on the wane, and again
on the increase, whilst the sun each year returns
to his quarter, whilst spring, or summer, or
autumn, or winter passes away only to return, is
in some sort an imitation of eternity. But this
world's world is that which abides in immutable
eternity. As a verse in the mind, and a verse
in the voice 1 the former is understood, the lat-
ter heard ; and the former fashions the latter ;
and hence the former works in art and abides,
the latter sounds in the air and passes away.
So the fashion of this changeable world is de-
fined by that world unchangeable which is called
the world's world. And hence the one abides
in the art, that is, in the Wisdom and Power of
God : but the other is made to pass in the gov-
ernance of creation. If after all it be not a
repetition, so that after it was said " for the
world," lest it should be understood of this world
that passeth away, it were added " for the
world's world." For in the Greek copies it is
thus, cis tov alCoi'a, Kal ets tov aiuiva tov aluivoi.
Which the Latins have for the most rendered,
not, " for the world, and for the world's world ; " '
but, " for ever, and for the world's world," '° that
in the words " for the world's world," the words
" for ever," should be explained. "The name,"
then, " of the ungodly Thou hast effaced for
ever," for from henceforth the ungodly shall
never be. And if their name be not prolonged
unto this world, much less unto the world's
world. "
8. " The swords of the enemy have failed at
the end" (ver. 6). Not enemies in the plural,
but this enemy in the singular. Now what
enemy's swords have failed but the devil's ? Now
these are understood to be divers erroneous
opinions, whereby as with swords he destroys
souls. In overcoming these swords, and in bring-
ing them to failure, that sword is employed, of
which it is said in the seventh Psalm, " If ye be
not converted, He will brandish His sword."12
And peradventure this is the end, against which
the swords of the enemy fail ; since up to it
they are of some avail. Now it worketh secretly,
but in the last judgment it will be brandished
openly. By it the cities are destroyed. For so
it follows, " The swords of the enemy have failed
at the end : and Thou hast destroyed the cities."
Cities indeed wherein the devil rules, where crafty
and deceitful counsels hold, as it were, the place
of a court, on which supremacy attend as officers
and ministers the services of all the members,
9 hi strati it in et in stn alum sttculi. [African Psalter, probably.
-C]
10 In aternum et in sacnlum sercnii. [So the Vulgate. — C]
11 [Jerome reads: In sempiternum et jngiter. — C.J
12 Ps. vii. J2,
Psalm IX]
ON THE PSALMS.
35
the eyes for curiosity, the ears for lasciviousness,
or for whatsoever else is gladly listened to that
bears on evil, the hands for rapine or any other
violence or pollution soever, and all the other
members after this manner serving the tyrannical
supremacy, that is, perverse counsels. Of this
city the commonalty, as it were, are all soft affec-
tions and disturbing emotions of the mind, stir-
ring up daily seditions in a man. So then where
a king, where a court, where ministers, where
commonalty are found, there is a city. Now
again would such things be in bad cities, unless
they were first in individual men, who are, as it
were, the elements and seeds of cities. These
cities He destroys, when on the prince being
shut out thence, of whom it was said, " The
prince of this world " has been "cast out," ' these
kingdoms are wasted by the word of truth, evil
counsels are laid to sleep, vile affections tamed,
the ministries of the members and senses taken
captive, and transferred to the service of right-
eousness and good works : that as the Apostle
says, " Sin should no more reign in " our " mortal
body,"2 and so forth. Then is the soul at peace,
and the man is disposed to receive rest and
blessedness. " Their memorial has perished
with uproar : " with the uproar, that is, of the
ungodly. But it is said, " with uproar," either
because when ungodliness is overturned, there
is uproar made : for none passeth to the high-
est place, where there is the deepest silence,
but he who with much uproar shall first have
warred with his own vices : or " with uproar," is
said, that the memory of the ungodly should
perish in the perishing even of the very uproar,
in which ungodliness riots.
9. " And the Lord abideth for ever" (ver. 7).
" Wherefore " then " have the heathen raged,
and the people imagined vain things against the
Lord, and against His anointed : " 3 for " the Lord
abideth for ever. He hath prepared His seat
in judgment, and He shall judge the world in
equity." He prepared His seat when He was
judged. For by that patience Man purchased
heaven, and God in Man profited believers. And
this is the Son's hidden judgment. But seeing
He is also to come openly and in the sight of
all to judge the quick and the dead, He hath
prepared His seat in the hidden judgment : and
He shall also openly "judge the world in
equity : " that is, He shall distribute gifts pro-
portioned to desert, setting the sheep on His
right hand, and the goats on His left.4 " He
shall judge the people with justice "(ver. 8). This
is the same as was said above, " He shall judge
the world in equity." Not as men judge who
see not the heart, by whom very often worse men
are acquitted than are condemned : but " in
1 John xii. 31.
* Matt. xxv. 33.
3 Rom. vi. 12.
3 Ps.
equity " and " with justice " shall the Lord judge,
" conscience bearing witness, and thoughts ac-
cusing, or else excusing." 5
10. "And the Lord hath become a refuge
to the poor" (ver. 9). Whatsoever be the
persecutions of that enemy, who hath been
turned behind, what harm shall he do to them
whose refuge the Lord hath become? But this
will be, if in this world, in which that one has an
office of power, they shall choose to be poor,
by loving nothing which either here leaves a man
while he lives and loves, or is left by him when
he dies. For to such a poor man hath the Lord
become a refuge, " an Helper in due season, in
tribulation." Lo, He maketh poor, for " He
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." 6 For
what " an Helper in due season " is, he explained
by adding " in tribulation." For the soul is not
turned to God, save when it is turned away from
this world : nor is it more seasonably turned away
from this world, except toils and pains be min-
gled with its trifling and hurtful and destructive
pleasures.
n . " And let them who know Thy Name,
hope in Thee " (ver. 10), when they shall have
ceased hoping in wealth, and in the other en-
ticements of this world. For the soul indeed
that seeketh where to fix her hope, when she is
torn away from this world, the knowledge of
God's Name seasonably receives. For the mere
Name of God hath now been published every-
where : but the knowledge of the name is, when
He is known whose name it is. For the name
is not a name for its own sake, but for that
which it signifies. Now it has been said, " The
Lord is His Name." 7 Wherefore whoso willingly
submits himself to God as His servant, hath
known this name. " And let them who know
Thy Name hope in Thee " (ver. 10), Again,
the Lord saith to Moses, " I am That I am ; and
Thou shalt say to the children of Israel, I AM,
hath sent me." 8 " Let them " then " who know
Thy Name, hope in Thee ; " that they may not
hope in those things which flow by in time's
quick revolution, having nothing but " will be "
and " has been." For what in them is future,
when it arrives, straightway becomes the past ;
it is awaited with eagerness, it is lost with pain.
But in the nature of God nothing will be, as if it
were not yet ; or hath been, as if it were no
longer : but there is only that which is, and
this is eternity. Let them cease then to hope in
and love things temporal, and let them apply
themselves to hope eternal, who know His name
who said, " I am That I am ; " and of whom it
was said, " I AM hath sent me." 8 " For Thou
hast not forsaken them that seek Thee, O Lord."
Whoso seek Him, seek no more things transient
5 Rom. ii. 15.
8 Ex. iii. 14.
<■ Heb. xii. 6.
7 Jcr. xxxiii. a.
36
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IX.
and perishable ; " For no man can serve two
masters." '
12. " Sing to the Lord, who dwelleth in Sion"
(ver. n), is said to them, whom the Lord for-
sakes not as they seek Him. He dwelleth in
Sion, which is interpreted watching, and which
beareth the likeness of the Church that now is ;
as Jerusalem beareth the likeness of the Church
that is to come, that is, the city of Saints already
enjoying life angelical ; for Jerusalem is by in-
terpretation the vision of peace.1 Now watching
goes before vision, as this Church goes before
that one which is promised, the city immortal
and eternal. But in time it goes before, not in
dignity : because more honourable is that whither
we are striving to arrive, than what we practise,
that we may attain to arrive ; now we practise
watching, that we may arrive at vision. But
again this same Church which now is, unless the
Lord inhabit her, the most earnest watching
might run into any sort of error. And to this
Church it was said, " For the temple of God is
holy, which temple ye are : " J again, " that Christ
may dwell in the inner man in your hearts by
faith." * It is enjoined us then, that we sing to
the Lord who dwelleth in Sion, that with one
accord we praise the Lord, the Inhabitant of
the Church. " Show forth His wonders among the
heathen." It has both been done, and will not
cease to be done.
13. " For requiring their blood He hath re-
membered" (ver. 12). As if they, who were
sent to preach the Gospel, should make answer
to that injunction which has been mentioned,
" Show forth His wonders among the heathen,"
and should say, "O Lord, who hath believed
our report? " 5 and again, " For Thy sake we are
killed all the day long ; " 6 the Psalmist suitably
goes on to say, That Christians not without great
reward of eternity will die in persecution, " for
requiring their blood He hath remembered."
But why did he choose to say, "their blood"?
Was it, as if one of imperfect knowledge and
less faith should ask, How will they " show them
forth," seeing that the infidelity of the heathen
will rage against them ; and he should be
answered, " For requiring their blood He hath
remembered," that is, the last judgment will
come, in which both the glory of the slain and
the punishment of the slayers shall be made
manifest? But let no one suppose "He hath
remembered " to be so used, as though forget-
fulness can attach to God ; but since the judg-
ment will be after a long interval, it is used in
accordance with the feeling of weak men, who
think God hath forgotten, because He doth not
act so speedily as they wish. To such is said
* Man. vi. 14.
* x Cor. iii. 17
* Pi. xliv. aa.
' See more fully on P«. li. 18 (Lat. 1. ao).
4 Eph. iii. 17. SIia.U.1,
what follows also, " He hath not forgotten the
cry of the poor : " that is, He hath not, as you
suppose, forgotten. As if they should on hear-
ing, " He hath remembered," say, Then He had
forgotten ; No, " He hath not forgotten," says
the Psalmist, " the cry of the poor."
14. But I ask, what is that cry of the poor,
which God forgetteth not? Is it that cry, the
words whereof are these, " Pity me, O Lord, see
my humiliation at the hands of my enemies"?
(ver. 13). Why then did he not say, Pity " us "
0 Lord, see our humiliation at the hands of
" our " enemies, as if many poor were crying ;
but as if one, Pity " me," O Lord ? Is it
because One intercedeth for the Saints, "who"
first " for our sakes became poor, though He
was rich ; " ' and it is He who saith, " Who
exaltest me from the gates of death (ver. 14),
that I may declare all Thy praises in the gates
of the daughter of Sion " ? For man is exalted
in Him, not that Man only which He beareth,
which is the Head of the Church ; but which-
soever one of us also is among the other mem-
bers, and is exalted from all depraved desires ;
which are the gates of death, for that through
them is the road to death. But the joy in the
fruition is at once death itself, when one gains
what he hath in abandoned wilfulness coveted :
for " coveting is the root of all evil : " 8 and there-
fore is the gate of death, for " the widow that
liveth in pleasures is dead." 9 At which pleas-
ures we arrive through desires as it were through
the gates of death. But all highest purposes are
the gates of the daughter of Sion, through which
we come to the vision of peace in the Holy
Church. ... Or haply are the gates of death
the bodily senses and eyes, which were opened
when the man tasted of the forbidden tree,10 . . .
and are the gates of the daughter of Sion the
sacraments and beginnings of faith, which are
opened to them that knock, that they may arrive
at the hidden things of the Son? . . .
15. Then follows, "I will exult for Thy sal-
vation : " that is, with blessedness shall I be
holden by Thy salvation, which is our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God. There-
fore says the Church, which is here in affliction
and is saved by hope, as long as the hidden judg-
ment of the Son is, in hope she says, " I will exult
for Thy salvation : " for now she is worn down
either by the roar of violence around her, or by
the errors of the heathen. " The heathen are
fixed in the corruption, which they made " (ver.
15). Consider ye how punishment is reserved
for the sinner, out of his own works ; and how
they that have wished to persecute the Church,
have been fixed in that corruption, which they
thought to inflict. For they were desiring to
7 a Cor. viii. o.
>° Gen. iii, 7.
8 z Tim. vi. xo.
9 1 Tim. v. 6.
Psalm X]
ON THE PSALMS.
37
kill the body, whilst they themselves were dying
in soul. " In that snare which they hid, has
their foot been taken." The hidden snare is
crafty devising. The foot of the soul is well
understood to be its love : which, when depraved,
is called coveting or lust ; but when upright, love
or charity. . . . And the Apostle says, "That
being rooted and grounded in love, ye may be
able to take in." l The foot then of sinners,
that is, their love, is taken in the snare, which
they hide : for when delight shall have followed
on to deceitful dealing, when God shall have
delivered them over to the lust of their heart ;
that delight at once binds them, that they dare
not tear away their love thence and apply it to
profitable objects ; for when they shall make the
attempt, they will be pained in heart, as if desir-
ing to free their foot from a fetter : and giving
way under this pain they refuse to withdraw
from pernicious delights. " In the snare " then
" which they have hid," that is, in deceitful coun-
sel, " their foot hath been taken," that is, their
love, which through deceit attains to that vain
joy whereby pain is purchased.
»6. "The Lord is known executing judg-
ments" (ver. 16). These are God's judgments.
Not from that tranquillity of His blessedness,
nor from the secret places of wisdom, wherein
blessed souls are received, is the sword, or fire,
or wild beast, or any such thing brought forth,
whereby sinners may be tormented : but how are
they tormented, and how does the Lord do
judgment? "In the works," he says, "of his
own hands hath the sinner been caught."
17. Here is interposed, "The song of the
diapsalma " (ver. 16) : as it were the hidden
joy, as far as we can imagine, of the separation
which is now made, not in place, but in the af-
fections of the heart, between sinners and the
righteous, as of the corn from the chaff, as yet
on the floor. And then follows, " Let the sin-
ners be turned into hell" (ver. 17) : that is, let
them be given into their own hands, when they
are spared, and let them be ensnared in deadly
delight. "All the nations that forget God."
Because " when they did not think good to re-
tain God in their knowledge, God gave them
over to a reprobate mind." *
18. " For there shall not be forgetfulness of
the poor man to the end " (ver. 18) ; who now
seems to be in forgetfulness, when sinners are
thought to flourish in this world's happiness, and
the righteous to be in travail : but " the pa-
tience," saith He, " of the poor shall not perish
for ever." Wherefore there is need of patience
now to bear with the evil, who are already sep-
arated in will, till they be also separated at the
last judgment.
1 Eph. iii. 17, 18.
• Rom. i. 28.
19. "Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail"
(ver. 19). The future judgment is prayed for:
but before it come, " Let the heathen," saith he,
" be 'judged in Thy sight : " that is, in secret ;
which is called in God's sight, with the knowl-
edge of a few holy and righteous ones. " Place
a lawgiver over them, O Lord." (ver. 20). He
seems to me to point out Antichrist : of whom
the Apostle says, " When the man of sin shall
be revealed." J " Let the heathen know that
they are men." That they who will be set free
by the Son of God, and belong to the Son of
Man, and be sons of men, that is, new men,
may serve man, that is, the old man the sin-
ner, " for that they are men."
20. And because it is believed that he is to
arrive at so great a pitch of empty glory, and he
will be permitted to do so great things, both
against all men and against the Saints of God,
that then some weak ones shall indeed think
that God cares not for human affairs, the Psalm-
ist interposing a diapsalma, adds as it were the
voice of men groaning and asking why judgment
is deferred.4
PSALM X.s
" Why, O Lord," saith he, " hast Thou with-
drawn afar off ?" (ver. 1). Then he who thus
inquired, as if all on a sudden he understood, or
as if he asked, though he knew, that he might
teach, adds, " Thou despisest in due seasons, in
tribulations : " that is, Thou despisest season-
ably, and causest tribulations to inflame men's
minds with longing for Thy coming. For that
fountain of life is sweeter to them that have
much thirst. Therefore he hints the reason of
the delay, saying, " Whilst the ungodly vaunteth
himself, the poor man is inflamed" (ver. 2).
Wondrous it is and true with what earnestness of
good hope the little ones are inflamed unto an
upright living by comparison with sinners. In
which mystery it comes to pass, that even her-
esies are permitted to exist ; not that heretics
themselves wish this, but because Divine Provi-
dence worketh this result from their sins, which
both maketh and ordaineth the light ; but order-
eth only the darkness, that by comparison there-
with the light may be more pleasant, as by
comparison with heretics the discovery of truth is
more sweet. For so, by this comparison, the
approved, who are known to God, are made
manifest among men.
1. "They are taken in their thoughts, which
they think : " that is, their evil thoughts become
chains to them. But how become they chains?
» a Thess. ii. 3.
* [For light on this interpretation, see Neale, Commentary, p.
160.— C]
3 The two Psalms are combined in the Vulgate. But here the
verses begin again, treating this as " Ps. x. secundum Hebraos."
[And so our English version. — C]
38
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm X.
" For the sinner is praised," saith he, " in the
desires of his soul" (ver. 3). The tongues of
flatterers bind souls in sin. For there is pleas-
ure in doing those things, in which not only is no
reprover feared, but even an approver heard.
" And he that does unrighteous deeds is blessed."
Hence " are they taken in their thoughts, which
they think."
2. " The sinner hath angered the Lord " (ver.
4). Let no one congratulate the man that
prospers in his way, to whose sins no avenger is
nigh, and an approver is by. This is the greater
anger of the Lord. For the sinner hath angered
the Lord, that he should suffer these things, that
is, should not suffer the scourging of correction.
" The sinner hath angered the Lord : according
to the multitude of His anger He will not search
it out." Great is His anger, when He searcheth
not out, when He as it were forgetteth and
marketh not sin, and by fraud and wickedness
man attains to riches and honours : which will
especially be the case in that Antichrist, who
will seem to man blessed to that degree, that he
will even be thought God.' But how great this
anger of God is, we are taught by what follows.
3. "God is not in his sight, his ways are
polluted in all time" (ver. 5). He that knows
what in the soul gives joy and gladness, knows
how great an ill it is to be abandoned by the
light of truth : since a great ill do men reckon
the blindness of their bodily eyes, whereby this
light is withdrawn. How great then the punish-
ment he endures, who through the prosperous
issue of his sins is brought to that pass, that God
is not in his sight, and that his ways are polluted
in all time, that is, his thoughts and counsels are
unclean ! " Thy judgments are taken away from
his face." For the mind conscious of evil,
whilst it seems to itself to suffer no punishment,
believes that God doth not judge, and so are
God's judgments taken away from its face ;
while this very thing is great condemnation.
" And he shall have dominion over all his ene-
mies." For so is it delivered, that he will over-
come all kings, and alone obtain the kingdom ;
since too according to the Apostle, who preaches
concerning him, " He shall sit in the temple
of God, exalting himself above all that is wor-
shipped and that is called God." '
4. And seeing that being delivered over to
the lust of his own heart, and predestinated to
extreme' condemnation, he is to come, by
wicked arts, to that vain and empty height and
rule ; therefore it follows, " For he hath said in
his heart, I shall not move from generation to
generation without evil" (ver. 6) : that is, my
fame and my name will not pass from this gen-
eration to the generation of posterity, unless by
' [Compare Hippolytui, A. N. F. vol. v. pp. 205-210 CI
» 3 The»». ii 4. 1 Ultima.
evil arts I acquire so lofty a principality, that
posterity cannot be silent concerning it. For a
mind abandoned and void of good arts, and
estranged from the light of righteousness, by bad
arts devises a passage for itself to a fame so last-
ing, as is celebrated even in posterity. And
they that cannot be known for good, desire that
men should speak of them even for ill, provided
that their name spread far and wide. And this
I think is here meant, " I shall not move from
generation to generation without evil." There is
too another interpretation, if a mind vain and full
of error supposes that it cannot come from the
mortal generation to the generation of eternity,
but by bad arts : which indeed was also reported
of Simon, when he thought that he would gain
heaven by wicked arts, and pass from the lTuman
generation to the generation divine by magic.4
Where then is the wonder, if that man of sin
too, who is to fill up all the wickedness and un-
godliness, which all false prophets have begun,
and to do such " great signs ; that, if it were pos-
sible, he should deceive the very elect," 5 shall
say in his heart, " I shall not move from gen-
eration to generation without evil "?
5. " Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitter-
ness and deceit " (ver. 7). For it is a great curse
to seek heaven by such abominable arts, and to
get together such earnings for acquiring the
eternal seat. But of this cursing his mouth is
full. For this desire shall not take effect, but
within his mouth only will avail to destroy him,
who dared promise himself such things with
bitterness and deceit, that is, with anger and
insidiousness, whereby he is to bring over the
multitude to his side. " Under his tongue is
toil and grief." Nothing is more toilsome than
unrighteousness and ungodliness : upon which
toil follows grief; for that the toil is not only
without fruit, but even unto destruction. Which
toil and grief refer to that which he hath said
in his heart, " I shall not be moved from gener-
ation to generation without evil." And there-
fore, " under his tongue," not on his tongue,
because he will devise these things in silence,
and to men will speak other things, that he may
appear good and just, and a son of God.
6. " He lieth in ambush with the rich" (ver.
8). What rich, but those whom he will load with
this world's gifts? And he is therefore said to
lie in ambush with them, because he will display
their false happiness to deceive men ; who,
when with a perverted will they desire to be
such as they, and seek not the good things eter-
nal, will fall into his snares. " That in the dark
he may kill the innocent." " In the dark," 6
I suppose, is said, where it is not easily under-
stood what should be sought, or what avoided.
* Acts viii. 9.
S Matt. xxiv. 24.
' /»,
ultit.
Psalm X.]
ON THE PSALMS.
39
Now to kill the innocent, is of an innocent to
make one guilty.
7. " His eyes look against the poor," for he
is chiefly to persecute the righteous, of whom it is
said, " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven"' (ver. 9). "He
lieth in wait in a secret place, as a lion in his
den." By a lion in a den, he means one in whom
both violence and deceit will work. For the first
persecution of the Church was violent, when by
proscriptions, by torments, by murders, the
Christians were compelled to sacrifice : another
persecution is crafty, which is now conducted
by heretics of any kind and false brethren :
there remains a third, which is to come by Anti-
christ, than which there is nothing more peril-
ous ; for it will be at once violent and crafty.
Violence he will exert in empire, craft in mira-
cles. To the violence, the word " lion " refers ;
to craft, the words " in his den." And these
are again repeated with a change of order.
" He lieth in wait," he says, " that he may catch
the poor ; " this, hath reference to craft : but
what follows, " To catch the poor whilst he
draweth him," is put to the score of violence.
For " draweth " means, he bringeth him to him-
self by violence, by whatever tortures he can.
8. Again, the two which follow are the same.
" In his snare he will humble him," is craft (ver.
10). " He shall decline and fall, whilst he shall
have domination over the poor," is violence.
For a " snare " naturally points to " lying
in wait : " but domination most openly con-
veys the idea of terror. And well does he say,
" He will humble him in his snare." For when
he shall begin to do those signs, the more won-
derful they shall appear to men, the more those
Saints that shall be then will be despised, and,
as it were, set at nought : he, whom they shall
resist by righteousness and innocence, shall
seem to overcome by the marvels that he does.
But " he shall decline and fall, whilst he shall
have domination over the poor ; " that is, whilst
he shall inflict whatsoever punishments he will
upon the servants of God that resist him.
9. But how shall he decline, and fall? "For
he hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten ;
He turneth away His face, that He see not unto
the end" (ver. 11). This is declining, and the
most wretched fall, while the mind of a man
prospers as it were in its iniquities, and thinks
that it is spared ; when it is being blinded, and
kept for an extreme and timely vengeance : of
which the Psalmist now speaks : "Arise, O Lord
God, let Thine hand be exalted" (ver. 12) : that
is, let Thy power be made manifest. Now he
had said above, "Arise, O Lord, let not man pre-
vail, let the heathen be judged in Thy sight : "2
1 Matt. v. 3.
* Ps. ix. 19.
that is, in secret, where God alone seeth. This
comes to pass when the ungodly have arrived
at what seems great happiness to men : over
whom is placed a lawgiver, such as they had de-
served to have, of whom it is said, " Place a law-
giver over them, O Lord, let the heathen know
that they are men."3 But now after that hidden
punishment and vengeance it is said, " Arise, O
Lord God, let Thine hand be exalted ; " not of
course in secret, but now in glory most manifest.
" That Thou forget not the poor unto the end ; "
that is, as the ungodly think, who say, " God
hath forgotten, He turneth away His face, that
He should not see unto the end." Now they
deny that God seeth unto the end, who say that
He careth not for things human and earthly, for
the earth is as it were the end of things ; in that
it is the last element, in which men labour in
most orderly sort, but they cannot see the order
of their labours, which specially belongs to the
hidden things of the Son. The Church then
labouring in such times, like a ship in great waves
and tempests, awaketh the Lord as if He were
sleeping, that He should command the winds,
and calm should be restored.4 He says there-
fore, " Arise, O Lord God, let Thine hand be
exalted, that Thou forget not the poor unto the
end."
10. Accordingly understanding now the mani-
fest judgment, and in exultation at it, they say,
"Wherefore hath the ungodly angered God?"
(ver. 13) ; that is, what hath it profited him to
do so great evil? " For he said in his heart, He
will not require it." Then follows, " For Thou
seest toil and considerest anger, to deliver them
into Thine hands" (ver. 14). This sentence
looks for distinct explanation, wherein if there
shall be error it becomes obscure. For thus has
the ungodly said in his heart, God will not require
it, as though God regarded toil and anger, to
deliver them into His hands ; that is, as though
He feared toil and anger, and for this reason
would spare them, lest their punishment be too
burdensome to Him, or lest He should be dis-
turbed by the storm of anger : as men generally
act, excusing themselves of vengeance, to avoid
toil or anger.
11. "The poor hath been left unto Thee."
For therefore is he poor, that is, hath despised
all the temporal goods of this world, that Thou
only mayest be his hope. " Thou wilt be a helper
to the orphan," that is, to him to whom his father
this world, by whom he was born after the flesh,
dies, and who can already say, " The world hath
been crucified unto me, and I unto the world." '
For of such orphans God becomes the Father.
The Lord teaches us in truth that His disciples
do become orphans, to whom He saith, " Call
3 Ps. ix. 20.
4 Matt. viii. 24-36.
5 Gal. vi. 14.
40
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm X.
no man father on earth." ' Of which He first
Himself gave an example in saying, " Who is my
mother, and who my brethren ? " 2 Whence some
most mischievous heretics 3 would assert that He
had no mother ; and they do not see that it fol-
lows from this, if they pay attention to these
words, that neither had His disciples fathers.
For as He said, " Who is my mother? " so He
taught them, when He said, " Call no man your
father on earth."
12. " Break the arm of the sinner and of the
malicious" (ver. 15) ; of him, namely, of whom
it was said above, " He shall have dominion over
all his enemies." He called his power then, his
arm ; to which Christ's power is opposed, of
which it is said, " Arise, O Lord God, let Thine
hand be exalted. His fault shall be required,
and he shall not be found because of it ; " 4 that
is he shall be judged for his sins, and himself
shall perish because of his sin. After this, what
wonder if there follow, " The Lord shall reign for
ever and world without end ; ye heathen shall
perish out of His earth"? (ver. 16). He uses
heathen for sinners and ungodly.
13. " The Lord hath heard the longing of the
poor "(ver. 17): that longing wherewith they
were burning, when in the straits and tribulations
of this world they desired the day of the Lord.
" Thine ear hath heard the preparation of their
heart." This is the preparation of the heart, of
which it is sung in another Psalm, " My heart is
prepared, O God, my heart is prepared : " ' of
which the Apostle says, " But if we hope for what
we see not, we do with patience wait for it." 6
Now, by the ear of God, we ought, according to
a general rule of interpretation, to understand
not a bodily member, but the power whereby He
heareth ; and so (not to repeat this often) by
whatever members of His are mentioned, which
in us are visible and bodily, must be understood
powers of operation. For we must not suppose
it anything bodily, in that 1 the Lord God hears
not the sound of the voice, but the preparation of
the heart.
14. "To judge for the orphan and the
humble" (ver. 18) : that is, not for him who is
conformed to this world, nor for the proud. For
it is one thing to judge the orphan, another to
judge for the orphan. He judges the orphan
even, who condemns him ; but he judges for the
orphan, who delivers sentence for him. " That
man add not further to magnify himself upon
earth." For they are men, of whom it was
said, " Place a lawgiver over them, O Lord : let
the heathen know that they are men." 8 But he
1 Matt, xxiii 9. * Matt. xii. 48.
' [Mnnichees. See A. N. F. vol. vi p. 252. — C]
* LXX. var. lect. 61' aiiriivt " because of it." These wod
be marked as part of the text, as some mss. are pointed.
» P«. Ivii. 7.
6 Rom. viii. 25. » Al wherewith. • Ps. i
too, who in this same passage is understood to
be placed over them, will be man, of whom it is
now said, " That man add not further to magnify
himself upon earth : " namely, when the Son of"
Man shall come to judge for the orphan, who
hath put off from himself the old man, and thus,
as it were, buried his father.
15. After the hidden things then of the Son,
of which, in this Psalm, many things have been
said, will come the manifest things of the Son,
of which a little has been now said at the end of
the same Psalm. But the title is given from the
former, which here occupy the larger portion.
Indeed, the very day of the Lord's advent may
be rightly numbered among the hidden things
of the Son, although the very presence of the
Lord itself will be manifest. For of that day it
is said, that no man knoweth it, neither angels,
nor powers, nor the Son of man.9 What then so
hidden, as that which is said to be hidden even
to the Judge Himself, not as regards knowledge,
but disclosure? But concerning the hidden
things of the Son, even if any one would not wish
to understand the Son of God, but of David
himself, to whose name the whole Psalter is
attributed, for the Psalms we know are called the
Psalms of David, let him give ear to those words
in which it is said to the Lord, " Have mercy
on us, O Son of David : " '° and so even in this
manner let him understand the same Lord
Christ, concerning whose hidden things is the
inscription of this Psalm. For so likewise is it
said by the Angel : " God shall give unto Him
the throne of His father David." " Nor to this
understanding of it is the sentence opposed in
which the same Lord asks of the Jews, " If Christ
be the Son of David, how then doth he in spirit
call Him Lord, saying. The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit Thou on my right hand, until I put
Thine enemies under Thy feet." ,2 For it was
said to the unskilled, who although they looked
for Christ's coming, yet expected Him as man,
not as the Power and Wisdom of God. He
teacheth then, in that place, the most true and
pure faith, that He is both the Lord of king
David, in that He is the Word in the beginning,
God with God,'3 by which all things were made ;
and Son, in that He was made to him of the
seed of David according to the flesh. For He
doth not say, Christ is not David's Son, but if ye
already hold that He is his Son, learn how He
is his Lord : and do not hold in respect of Christ
that He is the Son of Man, for so is He David's
Son ; ** and leave out that He is the Son of God,
for so is He David's Lord. '5
>° Matt. xx. 30.
,a Matt. xxii. 43, 44.
!4 Rom. i. 3.
" hidden things" compare Isa. xlv. 15 with 1 Pet. i
Psalm XI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
41
PSALM XI.'
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.2
i. This title does not require a fresh consider-
ation : for the meaning of, " to the end," has
already been sufficiently handled.3 Let us then
look to the text itself of the Psalm, which to me
appears to be sung against the heretics,4 who, by
rehearsing and exaggerating the sins of many in
the Church, as if either all or the majority among
themselves were righteous, strive to turn and
snatch us away from the breasts of the one True
Mother Church : affirming that Christ is with
them, and warning us as if with piety and ear-
nestness, that by passing over to them we may go
over to Christ, whom they falsely declare they
have. Now it is known that in prophecy Christ,
among the many names in which notice of Him
is conveyed in allegory, is also called a moun-
tain.5 We must accordingly answer these people,
and say, " I trust in the Lord : how say ye to my
soul, Remove into the mountains as a sparrow?"
(ver. i). I keep to one mountain wherein I
trust, how say ye that I should pass over to you,
as if there were many Christs? Or if through
pride you say that you are mountains, I had
indeed need to be a sparrow winged with the
powers and commandments of God : but these
very things hinder my flying to these mountains,
and placing my trust in proud men. I have a
house where I may rest, in that I trust in the
Lord. For even " the sparrow hath found her a
house," 6 and, "The Lord hath become a refuge
to the poor." 7 Let us say then with all confi-
dence, lest while we seek Christ among heretics
we lose Him, " In the Lord I trust : how say ye
to my soul, Remove into the mountains as a
sparrow? "
2. " For, lo, sinners have bent the bow, they
have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that
they may in the obscure moon shoot at the
upright in heart" (ver. 2). These be the ter-
rors of those who threaten us as touching sinners,
that we may pass over to them as the righteous.
" Lo," they say, " the sinners have bent the
bow : " the Scriptures, I suppose, by carnal inter-
pretation of which they emit envenomed sentences
from them. " They have prepared their arrows
in the quiver : " the same words, that is, which
they will shoot out on the authority of Scripture,
they have prepared in the secret place of the
heart. " That they may in the obscure moon 8
shoot at the upright in heart : " that when they
see, from the Church's light being obscured by the
1 I.at. x.
2 [It has been most aptly supposed that this Psalm is based on
Lot's escape to the mountain. Gen. xix. 20. The imagery of the
Psalm strikingly corresponds with his story. — C]
3 See on Ps. iv. * Donatists. 5 See on Ps. iii. 3.
6 Ps. Ixxxiv. 3. 7 Ps ix. 9.
8 [This appears to be from the African Psalter, following the
Sept. — C]
multitude of the unlearned and the carnal, that
they cannot be convicted, they may corrupt good
manners by evil communications.? But against
all these terrors we must say, " In the Lord I
trust."
3. Now I remember that I promised to con-
sider in this Psalm with what suitableness the
moon signifies the Church.10 There are two
probable opinions concerning the moon : but of
these which is the true, I suppose it either im-
possible or very difficult for a man to decide.
For when we ask whence the moon has her light,
some say that it is her own, but that of her globe
half is bright, and half dark : and when she re-
volves in her own orbit, that part wherein she is
bright gradually turns towards the earth, so as
that it may be seen by us ; and that therefore at
first her appearance is as if she were horned.
. . . According to this opinion the moon in
allegory signifies the Church, because in its
spiritual part the Church is bright, but in its car-
nal part is dark : and sometimes the spiritual
part is seen by good works, but sometimes it
lies hid in the conscience, and is known to God
alone, since, in the body alone is it seen by
men. . . . But according to the other opinion
also the moon is understood to be the Church,
because she has no light of her own, but is
lighted by the only-begotten Son of God, who
in many places of holy Scripture is allegorically
called the Sun." Whom certain heretics '2 being
ignorant of, and not able to discern Him, en-
deavour to turn away the minds of the simple to
this corporeal and visible sun, which is the com-
mon light of the flesh of men and flies, and some
they do pervert, who as long as they cannot be-
hold with the mind the inner light of truth, will
not be content with the simple Catholic faith ;
which is the only safety to babes, and by which
milk alone they can arrive in assured strength at
the firm support of more solid food. Whichever
then of these two opinions be the true, the moon
in allegory is fitly understood as the Church. Or
if in such difficulties as these, troublesome rather
than edifying, there be either no satisfaction or
no leisure to exercise the mind, or if the mind it-
self be not capable of it, it is sufficient to regard
the moon with ordinary '3 eyes, and not to seek
out obscure causes, but with all men to perceive
her increasings and fulnesses and wanings ; and if
she wanes to the end that she may be renewed,
even to this rude multitude she sets forth the
image of the Church, in which the resurrection
of the dead is believed.
4. Next we must enquire, what in this Psalm
is meant by " the obscure moon," in which sin-
ners have prepared to shoot at the upright in
9 1 Cor. xr. 33.
>° [See on Ps. vm. p. 30, SHpra. — C.J
11 Mai. iv. a, etc. u Manichces.
13 Popularibus.
42
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XI.
heart ? For not in one way only may the moon
be said to be obscure : for when her monthly
course is finished, and when her brightness is
interrupted by a cloud, and when she is eclipsed
at the full, the moon may be called obscure. It
may then be understood first of the persecutors
of the Martyrs, for that they wished in the ob-
scure moon to shoot at the upright in heart;
whether it be yet in the time of the Church's
youth, because she had not yet shone forth in
greatness on the earth, and conquered the dark-
ness of heathen superstitions ; or by the tongues
of blasphemers and such as defame the Christian
name, when the earth was as it were beclouded,
the moon, that is, the Church, could not be
clearly seen ; or when by the slaughter of the
Martyrs themselves and so great effusion of blood,
as by that eclipse and obscuration, wherein the
moon seems to exhibit a bloody face, the weak
were deterred from the Christian name ; in which
terror sinners shot out words crafty and sacrile-
gious to pervert even the upright in heart. And
secondly, it can be understood of these sinners,
whom the Church contains, because at that time,
taking the opportunity of this moon's obscurity,
they committed many crimes, which are now
tauntingly objected to us by the heretics, where-
as their founders are said to have been guilty of
them.' But howsoever that be which was done
in the obscure moon, now that the Catholic name
is spread and celebrated throughout the whole
world, what concern of mine is it to be disturbed
by things unknown ? For " in the Lord I trust ; "
nor do I listen to them that say to my soul, " Re-
move into the mountains as a sparrow. For, lo,
sinners have bent the bow, that they may in the
obscure moon shoot at the upright in heart."
Or if the moon seem even 2 now obscure to them,
because they would make it uncertain which is
the Catholic Church, and they strive to convict
her by the sins of those many carnal men whom
she contains ; what concern is this to him, who
says in truth, " In the Lord I trust " ? By which
word every one shows that he is himself wheat,
and endures the chaff with patience unto the time
of winnowing.
5. " In the Lord," therefore, " I trust." Let
them fear who trust in man, and cannot deny that
they are of man's party, by whose grey hairs they
swear ; and when in conversation it is demanded
of them, of what communion they are, unless they
say that they are of his party, they cannot be rec-
ognised. ... Or perhaps you will say that it is
written, " Ye shall know them by their works " ? 3
I see indeed marvellous works the daily violences
1 He alludes 10 the charge of having surrendered the Holy
Scriptures, alleged by the Donatists as the ground of their separation.
See Ep. 76, $ a, and 105, § a. " We would prove to you," he says,
"that those were rather the betrayers who condemned Caecilianus
(Bishop of Carthage) and his companions on a false charge of be-
trayal; " referring to the municipal records. — Ben.
2 So Oxford mss. ' Matt. vii. 16.
of the Circumcelliones,4 with the bishops and
presbyters for their leaders, flying about in every
direction, and calling their terrible clubs " Is-
raels ; " which men now living daily see and feel.
But for the times of Macarius,5 respecting which
they raise an invidious cry,6 most men have not
seen them, and no one sees them now : and any
Catholic who saw them could say, if he wished to
be a. servant of God, " In the Lord I trust.". . .
6. Let the Catholic soul then say, " In the
Lord I trust ; how say ye to my soul, Remove
into the mountains as a sparrow? For, lo, the
sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared
their arrows in the quiver, that they may in the
obscure moon shoot at the upright in heart : "
and from them let her turn her speech to the
Lord, and say, " For they have destroyed what
Thou hast perfected"' (ver. 3). And this let
her say not against these only, but against all
heretics. For they have all, as far as in them
lies, destroyed the praise which God hath per-
fected out of the mouth of babes and sucklings,8
when they disturb the little ones with vain and
scrupulous questions, and suffer them not to be
nourished with the milk of faith. As if then it
were said to this soul, why do they say to you,
" Remove into the mountains as a sparrow ; "
why do they frighten you with sinners, who
" have bent the bow, to shoot in the obscure
moon at the upright in heart " ? She answers,
Therefore it is they frighten me, " because they
have destroyed what Thou hast perfected."
Where but in their conventicles, where they
nourish not with milk, but kill with poison the
babes and ignorant of the interior light. " But
what hath the Just done?"9 If Macarius, if
Caecilianus, offend you, what hath Christ clone to
you, who said, " My peace I give unto you, My
peace I leave with you ; " IO which ye with your
abominable dissensions have violated ? What
hath Christ done to you? who with such ex-
ceeding patience endured His betrayer, as to
give to him, as to the other Apostles, the first
Eucharist consecrated " with His own hands, and
blessed with His own mouth.'2 What hath Christ
done to you? who sent this same betrayer,
whom He called a devil,'3 who before betraying
the Lord could not show good faith even to the
Lord's purse,'4 with the other disciples to preach
the kingdom of heaven ; "s that He might show
that the gifts of God come to those that with
^ < [i.e., " Circum cellas rusticorum rentes." Concerning these
miscreants, see enough in Smith's popular Student's Ecclesiastical
History, vol. i. p. 250. — C]
3 Of the mission of Macarius and Paulus into Africa by Constans,
about a.d. 348, and the complaint of persecution, sec S. Optatus,
lib. 3, and St. Augustin. Ep. 44, etc. — Ben.
6 De quibits intv'diam Jaciunt.
1 [Here Jerome reads: Quia leges dissipata sunt: Justus quid
operatus est f—C]
8 Ps. viii. 3.
9 [" Delivered just Lot." 2 Pet. it. 7; Acts xxii. t4- — C]
10 John xiv. 27. n Confectam. I2 Luke xxii. 19, 21.
" John vi. 70. U John xii. 6. '5 Man. x. 5-7.
Psalm XI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
43
faith receive them, though he, through whom
they receive them, be such as Judas was.
7. " The Lord is in His holy temple " (ver. 4),
yea in such wise as the Apostle saith, " For the
temple of God is holy, which " temple " ye
are." ■ " Now if any man shall violate the temple
of God, him shall God destroy." He violateth
the temple of God, who violateth unity : for he
" holdeth not the head, from which the whole
body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supplieth 2 according to
the working after the measure of every part
maketh increase of the body to the edifying of
itself in love." 3 The Lord is in this His holy
temple ; which consisteth of His many members,
fulfilling each his own separate duties, by love
built up into one building. Which temple he
violateth, who for the sake of his own pre-emi-
nence separateth himself from the Catholic so-
ciety. " The Lord is in His holy temple ; the
Lord, His seat is in heaven." If you take heaven
to be the just man, as you take the earth to be
the sinner, to whom it was said, " Earth thou art,
and unto earth shalt thou go ; " 4 the words,
" The Lord is in His hory temple " you will un-
derstand to be repeated, whilst it is said, " The
Lord, His seat is in heaven."
8. " His eyes look upon the poor." s His to
Whom the poor man hath been left, and Who hath
been made a refuge to the poor.6 And therefore
all the seditions and tumults within these nets,7
until they be drawn to shore, concerning which
heretics upbraid us to their own ruin and our
correction, are caused by those men, who will
not be Christ's poor. But do they turn away
God's eyes from such as would be so ? " For
His eyes look upon the poor." Is it to be feared
lest, in the crowd of the rich, He may not be able
to see the few poor, whom He brings up in safe
keeping in the bosom of the Catholic Church ?
" His eyelids question the sons of men." Here
by that rule I would wish to take " the sons of
men " 8 of those that from old men have been
regenerated by faith. For these, by certain ob-
scure passages of Scripture, as it were the closed
eyes of God, are exercised that they may seek :
and again, by certain clear passages, as it were
the op^n eyes of God, are enlightened that they
may rejoice. And this frequent closing and open-
ing in the holy Books are as it were the eyelids
of God ; which question, that is, which try the
" sons of men 5 " who are neither wearied with
x 1 Cor Hi. 17.
* *ia ir-iTtjs d<£ijy T>J9 eirixoprryias. Per ontnem factum sub-
ministrqtionis.
3 Col. ii. 19; Eph. iv. 16. * Gen. Hi. to.
5 [Here, too, is a striking correspondence with Gen. xviii. 21:
" I will go down and see." — C.]
6 Ps. x. 14, ix. o 7 Matt. xiii. 47.
8 Cf. S. Aug. Ps. viii. 4, § 10, on the words, " What is man, that
Thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? "
and Ps ix. 20, § 19, on the words, " Let the heathen know that they
the obscurity of the matter, but exercised ; nor
puffed up by knowledge, but confirmed.
9. "The Lord questioneth the righteous and
ungodly " (ver. 5 ) . Why then do we fear lest the
ungodly should be any hurt to us, if so be they
do with insincere heart share the sacraments with
us, seeing that He " questioneth the righteous
and the ungodly." " But whoso loveth iniquity,
hateth his own soul :" that is, not him who be-
lieveth God, and putteth not his hope in man,
but only his own soul doth the lover of iniquity
hurt.
10. " He shall rain snares upon the sinners "
(ver. 6). If by clouds are understood prophets
generally, whether good or bad, who are also
called false prophets : false prophets are so or-
dered by the Lord God, that by them He may
rain snares upon sinners.9 For no one, but the
sinner, falls into a following of them, whether by
way of preparation for the last punishment, if he
shall choose to persevere in sin ; or to dissuade
from pride, if in time he shall come to seek God
with a more sincere intent. But if by clouds are
understood good and true prophets only ; by these
too it is clear that God raineth snares upon sin-
ners, although by them He watereth also the
godly unto fruitfulness. "To some," saith the
Apostle, " we are the savour of life unto life ; to
some the savour of death unto death." '° For not
prophets only, but all who with the word of God
water souls, may be called clouds. Who when
they are understood amiss, God raineth snares up-
on sinners ; but when they are understood aright,
He maketh the hearts of the godly and believing
fruitful. As, for instance, the passage, " and they
two shall be in one flesh," " if one interpret it
with an eye to lust, He raineth a snare upon the
sinner. But if you understand it, as he who
says, "But I speak concerning Christ and the
Church," " He raineth a shower on the fertile
soil. Now both are effected by the same cloud,
that is, holy Scripture. Again the Lord says,
" Not that which goeth into your mouth defileth
you, but that which cometh out." "3 The sinner
hears this, and makes ready his palate for glut-
tony : the righteous hears it, and is guarded
against the superstitious distinction in meats.
Here then also out of the same cloud of Scrip-
ture, according to the several desert of each,
upon the sinner the rain of snares, upon the
righteous the rain of fruitfulness, is poured.
11. " Fire and brimstone and the blast of the
tempes't is the portion of their cup." This is
their punishment and end, by whom the name
of God is blasphemed ; that first they should be
wasted by the fire of their own lusts, then by
the ill savour of their evil deeds cast off from the
company of the blessed, at last carried away
9 Matt. xxiv. 24.
12 Eph. v 32.
10 2 Cor. H. 16.
IJ Matt. XV. IX.
11 Eph. v. 31.
44
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XII.
and overwhelmed suffer penalties unspeakable.
For this is the portion of their cnp : as of the
righteous, "Thy cup inebriating how excellent is
it ! for they shall be inebriated with the rich-
ness of Thine house." ' Now I suppose a
cup is mentioned for this reason, that we should
not suppose that anything is done by God's
providence, even in the very punishments of
sinners, beyond moderation and measure. And
therefore as if he were giving a reason why this
should be, he added, " For the Lord is right-
eous, and hath loved righteousnesses" (ver. 7).
The plural not without meaning, but only be-
cause he speaks of men, is as that righteousnesses
be understood to be used for righteous men. For
in many righteous men there seem, so to say, to
be righteousnesses, whereas there is one only
righteousness of God whereof they all partici-
pate. Like as when one face looks upon many
mirrors, what in it is one only, is by those many
mirrors reflected manifoldly. Wherefore he re-
curs to the singular, saying, " His face hath seen
equity." Perhaps, " His face hath seen equity,"
is as if it were said, Equity hath been seen in
His face, that is, in knowledge of Him. For
God's face is the power by which He is made
known to them that are worthy. Or at least,
" His face hath seen equity," because He doth
not allow Himself to be known by the evil, but
by the good ; and this is equity.
12. But if any one wpuld understand the
moon of the synagogue, let him refer the Psalm
to the Lord's passion, and of the Jews say, " For
they have destroyed what Thou hast perfected ; " *
and of the Lord Himself, " But what hath the
Just done?" whom they accused as the de-
stroyer of the Law : whose precepts, by their
corrupt living, and by despising them, and by
setting up their own, they had destroyed, so that
the Lord Himself may speak as Man, as He is
wont, saying, " In the Lord I trust ; how say ye
to my soul, Remove into the mountains as a
sparrow ? " » by reason, that is, of the fear of
those who desire to apprehend and crucify Him
Since the interpretation is not unreasonable of
sinners wishing to "shoot at the upright in
heart," « that is, those who believed in Christ, " in
the obscure moon," that is, the Synagogue filled
with sinners. To this too the words, " The Lord
is in His holy temple ; the Lord, His seat is in
heaven," 5 are suitable ; that is, the Word in Man,
or the very Son of Man who is in heaven.6
" His eyes look upon the poor ; " either on
Him whom He assumed as God, or for whom
He suffered as Man. " His eyelids question the
sons of men." The closing and opening of the
eyes, which is probably meant by the word eye-
lids, we may take to be His death and resurrec-
1 Pi. xxxvi. 8.
' Pi. xi. i.
* Pi. xi. 3.
» Pi. xi. 4.
3 Ps. xi. 1.
6 John iii. 13.
tion, whereby He tried the sons of men His
disciples, terrified at His passion, and gladdened
by the resurrection. " The Lord questioneth
the righteous and ungodly," 7 even now from out
of Heaven governing the Church. " But whoso
loveth iniquity, hateth his own soul." Why it is so,
what follows teaches us. For " He shall rain
snares upon the sinners : " 8 which is to be taken
according to the exposition above given, and so
on with all the rest to the end of the Psalm.
PSALM XII.9
TO THE END, FOR THE EIGHTH, A PSALM OF DAVID.
i. It has been said on the sixth Psalm, '° that
" the eighth " may be taken as the day of judg-
ment. " For the eighth " may also be taken " for
the eternal age ; " for that after the time present,
which is a cycle of seven days, it shall be given
to the Saints.
2. "Save me, O Lord, for the holy hath
failed ; " that is, is not found : as we speak when
we say, Corn fails, or, Money fails. " For the
truths have been minished from among the sons
of men" (ver. i). The truth is one, whereby
holy souls are enlightened : but forasmuch as
there are many souls, there may be said in them
to be many truths : as in mirrors there are seen
many reflections from one face.
3. " He hath talked vanity each man to his
neighbour" (ver. 2). By neighbour we must
understand every man : for that there is no one
with whom we should work evil ; " and the love
of our neighbour worketh no evil." " " Deceit-
ful lips, with a heart and a heart they have spoken
evil things." I2 The repetition, " with a heart and
a heart," signifies a double heart.
4. " May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips "
(ver. 3). He says "all," that no one may sup-
pose himself excepted : as the Apostle says,
" Upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the
Jew first, and of the Greek." '3 " The tongue
speaking great things : " the proud tongue.
5. " Who have said, We will magnify our
tongue, our lips are our own, who is Lord over
us? " (ver. 4). Proud hypocrites are meant, put-
ting confidence in their speech to deceive men,
and not submitting themselves to God.
6. " Because of the wretchedness of the needy
and the sighing of the poor, now I will arise,
saith the Lord"'4 (ver. 5). For so the Lord
Himself in the Gospel pitied His people, because
they had no ruler, when they could well obey.
Whence too it is said in the Gospel, " The har-
1 Ps. xi. 5. « Ps. xi. 6. * Lat. XI.
*° [A. N. F., vol. i. p. 63, note 2. The world created in seven
days; and the Fathers take the eighth to mean the new creation, or
" regeneration." Matt. xix. 28, with which compare Acts iii. 21. — C]
" Rom. xiii. 10. " LXX. Al. «a«a. " Rom. ii. o.
14 [Here the Anglican Psalter is inimitable for rhythm anrf pathos
and for its archaic charm: "Now for the comfortless troubles' sake
of the needy, and because of the deep sighing of the poor, I will up,
saith the Lord." — C. J
Psalm XIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
45
vest is plenteous, but the labourers are few." ■
But this must be taken as spoken in the person
of God the Father, who, because of the needy
and the poor, that is, who in need and poverty
were lacking spiritual good things, vouchsafed to
send His own Son. From thence begins His
sermon on the mount to Matthew, where He says,
" Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." 3 " I will place in salvation."
He does not say what He would place : but, " in
salvation," must be understood as, in Christ ;
according to that, " For mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation." 3 And hence He is understood
to have placed in Him what appertains to the
taking away the wretchedness of the needy, and
the comforting the sighing of the poor. " I will
deal confidently in Him : " according to that in
the Gospel, " For He taught them as one having
authority, and not as their scribes." 4
7. "The words of the Lord" are "pure words"
(ver. 6). This is in the person of the Prophet
himself, " The words of the Lord " are " pure
words." He says " pure," without the alloy of
pretence. For many preach the truth impurely ; 5
for they sell it for the bribe of the advantages of
this life. Of such the Apostle says, that they
declared Christ not purely. " Silver tried by the
fire for the earth." 6 These words of the Lord
by means of tribulations approved to sinners.
" Purified seven times : " by the fear of God,
by godliness, by knowledge, by might, by counsel,
by understanding, by wisdom.7 For seven steps
also of beatitude there are, which the Lord goes
over, according to Matthew, in the same sermon
which He spake on the Mount, " Blessed " are
" the poor in spirit, blessed the meek, blessed
they that mourn, blessed they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, blessed the merci-
ful, blessed the pure in heart, blessed the peace-
makers." 8 Of which seven sentences, it may be
observed how all that long sermon was spoken.
For the eighth where it is said, " Blessed " are
" they which suffer persecution for righteousness'
sake," 9 denotes the fire itself, whereby the silver
is proved seven times. And at the termination
of this sermon it is said, " For He taught them as
one having authority, and not as their scribes." 4
Which refers to that which is said in this Psalm,
" I deal confidently in Him."
8. " Thou, O Lord, shalt preserve us, and
keep us from this generation to eternity "
(ver. 7) : here as needy and poor, there as
wealthy and rich.
9. " The ungodly walk in a circle round
about " (ver. 8) : that is, in the desire of things
1 Matt. ix. 37. 2 Matt. v. 3. 3 Luke ii. 30.
4 Matt. vii. 29. 5 Phil. i. 16.
6 [Or, "from the earth." So St. Jerome. The earthen crucible
may be the figure. — C]
7 Isa. xi. 2. 8 Matt. v. 3-9. 9 Matt, v 10,.
temporal, which revolves as a wheel in a repeated
circle of seven days ; and therefore they do not
arrive at the eighth, that is, at eternity, for which
this Psalm is entitled.10 So too it is said by Sol-
omon, " For the wise king is the winnower of
the ungodly, and he bringeth on them the wheel
of the wicked. — After Thine height Thou hast
multiplied the sons of men." " For there is in
temporal things too a multiplication, which turns
away from the unity of God. Hence " the cor-
ruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the
earthy tabernacle presseth down the mind that
museth upon many things." ,2 But the righteous
are multiplied " after the height of God," when
" they shall go from strength to strength." »i
PSALM XIII.-4
UNTO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID.
i. " For Christ is the end of the law to every
one that believeth." 'I " How long, O Lord, wilt
Thou forget me unto the end?" (ver. i) that
is, put me off as to spiritually understanding
Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, and the true
end of all the aim of the soul. " How long dost
Thou turn away Thy face from me?" As God
doth not forget, so neither doth He turn His
face away : but Scripture speaks after our man-
ner. Now God is said to turn away His face,
when He doth not give to the soul, which as yet
hath not the pure eye of the mind, the knowl-
edge of Himself.
2. " How long shall I place counsel in my
soul?" (ver. 2). There is no need of counsel
but in adversity. Therefore " How long shall I
place counsel in my soul ? " is as if it were said,
How long shall I be in adversity ? Or at least it
is an answer, so that the meaning is this, So long,
O Lord, wilt Thou forget me to the end, and so
long turn away Thy face from me, until I shall
place counsel in mine own soul : so that except a
man place counsel in his own soul to work mercy
perfectly, God will not direct him to the end,
nor give him that full knowledge of Himself,
which is " face to face." " Sorrow in my heart
through the day?" How long shall I have, is
understood. And " through the day " signifies
continuance, so that day is taken for time : from
which as each one longs to be free, he has
sorrow in his heart, making entreaty to rise to
things eternal, and not endure man's day.
3. " How long shall mine enemy be exalted
over me? " either the devil, or carnal habit.
IO [So the Septuagint and Vulgate, " in a cycle " Contrasted by
the Fathers with the straightforward march of the (Prov. iv. 18) just.
This Psalm was used by the Hebrews on the iightk day, for circum-
cision. — C.]
" Prov. xx. 26. See LXX. ■ Wisd. ix. 15.
13 Ps. Ixxxiv. 7.
N Lat. XII. [Regarded by the critics as a link between Ps. xii.
and xiv. — C]
13 Rom. x. 4.
46
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XIV.
4. " Look on me, and hear me, O Lord my
God " (ver. 3). " Look on me," refers to what
was said, " How long " dost " Thou turn away
Thy face from me." "Hear," refers to what
was said, " How long wilt Thou forget me to the
end? Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in
death." The eyes of the heart must be under-
stood, that they be not closed by the pleasurable
eclipse of sin.
5. " Lest at any time mine enemy say, I have
prevailed against him " (ver. 4) . The devil's
mockery is to be feared. "They that trouble
me will exult, if I be moved ; " the devil and
his angels ; who exulted not over that righteous
man, Job, when they troubled him ; because he
was not moved, that is, did not draw back from
the stedfastness of his faith.'
6. "But I have hoped in Thy mercy" (ver. 5).
Because this very thing, that a man be not
moved, and that he abide fixed in the Lord, he
should not attribute to self: lest when he glories
that he hath not been moved, he be moved by
this very pride. " My heart shall exult in Thy
salvation ; " in Christ, in the Wisdom of God.
" I will sing * to the Lord who hath given me
good things ; " spiritual good things, not belong-
ing to man's day. " And I will chant ' to the
name of the Lord most high " (ver. 6) ; that is, I
give thanks with joy, and in most due order em-
ploy my body, which is the song of the spiritual
soul. But if any distinction is to be marked
here, " I will sing " with the heart, "I will chant"
with my works ; " to the Lord," that which He
alone seeth, but " to the name of the Lord," that
which is known among men, which is serviceable
not for Him, but for us.
PSALM XlV.t
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. What "to the end" means, must not be
too often repeated. " For Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth ; " s as the Apostle saith. We believe
on Him, when we begin to enter on the good
road : we shall see Him, when we shall get to
the end. And therefore is He the end.
2. " The fool hath said in his heart, There is no
God " (ver. 1 ) . For not even have certain sacri-
legious and abominable philosophers, who enter-
tain perverse and false notions of God, dared to
say, " There is no God." Therefore it is, hath
said " in his heart ; " for that no one dares to say
it, even if he has dared to think it. " They are
corrupt, and become abominable in their affec-
tions : " that is, whilst they love this world and
love not God ; these are the affections which
corrupt the soul, and so blind it, that the fool
1 Job ii 3.
* Ltt. XIII.
« CitntaSe.
> Rom. x. 4.
3 Psallam.
can even say, " in his heart, There is no God.
For as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind." 6 " There is none that doeth goodness,
no not up to one." " Up to one," can be under-
stood either with that one, so that no man be
understood : or besides one, that the Lord
Christ may be excepted. As we say, This field
is up to the sea ; we do not of course reckon
the sea together with the field. And this is the
better interpretation, so that none be understood
to have done goodness up to Christ ; for that
no man can do goodness, except He shall have
shown it. And that is true ; for until a man
know the one God, he cannot do goodness.
3. " The Lord from heaven looked out upon
the sons of men, to see if there be one under-
standing, or seeking after God" (ver. 2). It
may be interpreted, upon the Jews ; as he may
have given them the more honourable name of
the sous of men, by reason of their worship of
the One God, in comparison with the Gentiles ;
of whom I suppose it was said above, " The fool
hath said in his heart, There is no God," etc.
Now the Lord looks out, that He may see, by
His holy souls : which is the meaning of, " from
heaven." For by Himself nothing is hid from
Him.
4. " All have gone out of the way, they have
together become useless : " that is, the Jews
have become as the Gentiles, who were spoken
of above. " There is none that doeth good, no
not up to one " (ver. 3), must be interpreted as
above. " Their throat is an open sepulchre." »
Either the voracity of the ever open palate is
signified : or allegorically those who slay, and as
it were devour those they have slain, into whom
they instil the disorder of their own conversation.
Like to which with the contrary meaning is that
which was said to Peter, " Kill and eat ; " 8 that he
should convert the Gentiles to his own faith and
good conversation. " With their tongues they
have dealt craftily." Flattery is the companion
of the greedy and of all bad men. " The poison
of asps is under their lips." By " poison," he
means deceit ; and " of asps," because they will
not hear the precepts of the law, as asps " will
not hear the voice of the charmer ; " » which is
said more clearly in another Psalm. " Whose
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : " this is,
" the poison of asps." " Their feet are swift to
shed blood." He here shows forth the habit of
ill doing. " Destruction and unhappiness " are
6 Rom. i. 28.
1 [Here the author quotes the African' Psalter, no doubt, from
which the three verses have passed into, the Vulgate. They are in
the Septuagint, from which St. Paul quotes them (Rom. iii. 13-18) ;
but St. Jerome omits them, as not in the Hebrew of his day. They
are, nevertheless, to be found in other parts of the original, and the
Fissage may be compiled from Ps. v. 10, cxl. 3, x. 7, xxxvi. 1 ; from
rov. i. 16 and Isa. lix. 7 come the clauses, " their feet/' etc. — C]
» Acts x. 13. » Ps. lviii. j.
Psalm XV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
47
" in their ways." For all the ways of evil men
are full of toil and misery. Hence the Lord,
cries out, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart. For My yoke is
easy and My burden light." ' " And the way of
peace have they not known : " that way, namely,
which the Lord, as I said, mentions, in the
easy yoke and light burden. "There is no fear
of God before their eyes." These do not say,
" There is no God ; " but yet they do not fear
God.
5. "Shall not all, who work iniquity, know?"
(ver. 4). He threatens the judgment. "Who
devour My people as the food of bread : " that
is, daily. For the food of bread is daily food.
Now they devour the people, who serve their
own ends out of them, not referring their minis-
try to the glory of God, and the salvation of
those over whom they are.
6. "They have not called upon the Lord."
For he doth not really call upon Him, who longs
for such things as are displeasing to Him.
" There they trembled for fear, where no fear
was" (ver. 5) : that is, for the loss of things
temporal. For they said, " If we let Him thus
alone, all men will believe on Him ; and the
Romans will come, and take away both our place
and nation." 2 They feared to lose an earthly
kingdom, where no fear was ; and they lost the
kingdom of heaven, which they ought to have
feared. And this must be understood of all
temporal goods, the loss of which when men
fear, they come not to things eternal.
7. " For God is in the just generation." It
refers to what went before, so that the sense is,
" shall not all they that work iniquity know that
the Lord is in the just generation ; " 3 that is, He
is not in them who love the world. For it is
unjust to leave the Maker of the worlds, and
" serve the creature more than the Creator." 4
Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, for
the Lord is his hope " (ver. 6) : that is, ye have
despised the humble coming of the Son of God,
because ye saw not in Him the pomp of the
world : that they, whom he was calling, should
put their hope in God alone, not in the things
that pass away.
8. " Who will give salvation to Israel out of
Sion?" (ver. 7). Who but He whose humilia-
tion ye have despised? is understood. For He
will come in glory to the judgment of the quick
and the dead, and the kingdom of the just : that,
forasmuch as in that humble coming " blindness
hath happened in part unto Israel, that the ful-
ness of the Gentiles might enter in," 5 in that
1 Matt. xi. 28-30. 2 John xi. 48.
3 Thus far the sentence is quoted from the Oxford MSS.
< Rom. i. 35. 5 Rom. xi. 25.
other should happen what follows, " and so all
Israel should be saved." For the Apostle too
takes that testimony of Isaiah, where it is said,
"There shall come out of Sion He who shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob : " 6 for the
Jews, as it is here, " Who shall give salvation to
Israel out of Sion?" "When the Lord shall
turn away the captivity of His people, Jacob
shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." » It is
a repetition, as is usual : for I suppose, " Israel
shall be glad," is the same as, "Jacob shall
rejoice."
PSALM XV.8
A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. Touching this title there is no question.
" O Lord, who shall sojourn in Thy tabernacle ? "
(ver. 1). Although tabernacle be sometimes
used even for an everlasting habitation : yet
when tabernacle is taken in its proper meaning,
it is a thing of war. Hence soldiers are called
tent-fellows,9 as having their tents together. This
sense is assisted by the words, " Who shall so-
journ? " For we war with the devil for a time,
and then we need a tabernacle wherein we may
refresh ourselves. Which specially points out
the faith of the temporal Dispensation, which
was wrought for us in time through the Incarna-
tion of the Ix>rd. " And who shall rest in Thy
holy mountain?" Here perhaps he signifies at
once the eternal habitation itself,'" that we should
understand by " mountain " the supereminence
of the love of Christ in life eternal."
2. " He who walketh without stain, and work-
eth righteousness" (ver. 2). Here he has laid
down the proposition; in what follows he sets
it forth in detail.
3. " Who speaketh the truth in his heart."
For some have truth on their lips, and not in
their heart. As if one should deceitfully point
out a road, knowing that there were robbers
there, and should say, If you go this way, you
will be safe from robbers ; and it should turn out
that in fact there were no robbers found there :
he has spoken the truth, but not in his heart.
For he supposed it to be otherwise, and spoke
the truth in ignorance. Therefore it is not
enough to speak the truth, unless it be so also
in heart. " Who hath practised no deceit in his
tongue " (ver. 3). Deceit is practised with
the tongue, when one thing is professed with the
mouth, another concealed in the breast. " Nor
clone evil to his neighbour." It is well known
that by " neighbour," every man should be un-
6 Isa. lix. 20.
7 [A prophetic protysis of the Captivity; but stretching forward
to the final restoration, in our author's view. — C]
• Lat. XIV. 1 Contubernales. "> a Cor v. I, i.
11 [This Psalm is called by some of the Fathers M the Ladder of
Jacob," by which the righteous ascend to God. It is the octave of
Ps. viii., which is appropriate to the ascension of humanity in
Christ. -C]
48
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XVI.
derstood. " And hath not entertained slander
against his neighbour," that is, hath not readily
or rashly given credence to an accuser.
4. " The malicious one hath been brought to
nought in his sight" ' (ver. 4). This is perfec-
tion, that the malicious one have no force against
a man ; and that this be " in his sight ; " that is,
that he know most surely that the malicious is
not, save when the mind turns itself away from
the eternal and immutable form2 of her own
Creator to the form of the creature, which was
made out of nothing. " But those that fear the
Lord, He glorifieth : " the Lord Himself, that
is. Now " the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom." 3 As then the things above belong
to the perfect, so what he is now going to say
belongs to beginners.
5. " Who sweareth unto his neighbour, and
deceiveth him not." " Who hath not given his
money upon usury, and hath not taken rewards
against the innocent" (ver. 5). These are no
great things : but he who is not able to do even
this, much less able is he to speak the truth in
his heart, and to practise no deceit in his tongue,
but as the truth is in the heart, so to profess and
have it in his mouth, " yea, yea ; nay, nay ; " 4
and to do no evil to his neighbour, that is, to
any man ; and to entertain no slander against
his neighbour : all which are the virtues of the
perfect, in whose sight the malicious one hath
been brought to nought. Yet he concludes even
these lesser things thus, " Whoso doeth these
things shall not be moved for ever : " that is, he
shall attain unto those greater things, wherein is
great and unshaken stability. For even the very
tenses are, perhaps not without cause, so varied,
as that in the conclusion above the past tense
should be used, but in this the future. For there
it was said, "The malicious one hath been
brought to nought in his sight : " but here,
"shall not be moved for ever."
PSALM XVI.s
THE INSCRIPTION OF THE TITLE, OF DAVID
HIMSELF.6
i. Our King in this Psalm speaks in the
character of the human » nature He assumed,
of whom the royal title at the time of His pas-
sion was eminently set forth.
2. Now He saith as follows; "Preserve me,
O Lord, for in Thee have I hoped" (ver. 1) :
" I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God, for"
Thou requirest not my goods" (ver. 2) : for
« [Malignut in the Vulgate, which the Anglican Psalter does not
follow here. — C]
1 Sfeeie. ' Ps. cxi 10; Ecclus. i. 14; Prov. i. 7.
« Matt. v. 17. 5 Lat. XV. '
* V* Micktam of David," which Bishop Wordsworth derives
from Ca/Aam, and illustrates by Job xix. 33. — C.J
7 Sutctptionis kumana.
with my goods Thou dost not look to be made
blessed.
3. "To the saints who are on His earth"
(ver. 3) : to the saints who have placed their
hope in the land of the living, the citizens of
the heavenly Jerusalem, whose spiritual conver-
sation is, by the anchor of hope, fixed in that
country, which is rightly called God's earth ;
although as yet in this earth too they be con-
versant in the flesh. " He hath wonderfully ful-
filled all My wishes in them." To those saints
then He hath wonderfully fulfilled all My wishes
in their advancement, whereby they have per-
ceived, how both the humanity of My divinity
hath profited them that I might die, and the
divinity of the humanity that I might rise again.
4. " Their infirmities have been multiplied " 8
(ver. 4) : their infirmities have been multiplied
not for their destruction, but that they might
long for the Physician. " Afterwards they made
haste." Accordingly after infirmities multiplied
they made haste, that they might be healed.
" I will not gather together their assemblies by
blood." For their assemblies shall not be car-
nal, nor will I gather them together as one pro-
pitiated by the blood of cattle.? " Nor will I
be mindful of their names within My lips."
But by a spiritual change what they have been
shall be forgotten ; nor by Me shall they be any
more called either sinners, or enemies, or men ;
but righteous, and My brethren, and sons of
God through My peace.
5. "The Lord is the portion of Mine inherit-
ance, and of My cup" (ver. 5). For together
with Me they shall possess the inheritance, the
Lord Himself. Let others choose for them-
selves portions, earthly and temporal, to enjoy :
the portion of the Saints is the Lord eternal.
Let others drink of deadly pleasures, the por-
tion of My cup is the Lord. In that I say,
" Mine," I include the Church : for where the
Head is, there is the body also. For into the
inheritance will I gather together their assem-
blies, and by the inebriation of the cup I will
forget their old names. " Thou art He who
will restore to Me My inheritance : " that to
these too, whom I free, may be known "the
glory wherein I was with Thee before the world
was made." IO For Thou wilt not restore to Me
that which I never lost, but Thou wilt restore to
these, who have lost it, the knowledge of that
glory : in whom because I am, Thou wilt restore
to Me.
6. " The lines have fallen to me in glorious
places" (ver. 6). The boundaries of my pos-
session have fallen in Thy glory as it were by
lot, like as God is the possession of the Priests
and Levites." " For Mine inheritance is glorious
8 So Oxford mss.
11 Numb, xviii. ao.
9 Isa. i. ii, 12.
10 John xvii. 5.
Psalm XVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
49
to Me." " For Mine inheritance is glorious,"
not to all, but to them that see ; in whom be-
cause I am, "it is to Me."
7. " I will bless the Lord, who hath given
Me understanding " (ver. 7) : whereby this in-
heritance may be seen and possessed. " Yea
moreover too even unto night my reins have
chastened Me." Yea besides understanding,
even unto death, My inferior part, the assump-
tion of flesh, hath instructed Me, that I might
experience the darkness of mortality, which that
understanding hath not.
8. " I foresaw the Lord in My sight always "
(ver. 8). But coming into things that pass away,
I removed not Mine eye from Him who abideth
ever, foreseeing this, that to Him I should return
after passing through the things temporal. " For
He is on My right hand, that I should not be
moved." For He favoureth Me, that I should
abide fixedly in Him.
9. " Wherefore My heart was glad, and My
tongue exulted" (ver. 9). Wherefore both in
My thoughts is gladness, and in my words exul-
tation. " Moreover too My flesh shall rest in
hope." Moreover too My flesh shall not fail
unto destruction, but shall sleep in hope of the
resurrection.
10. "For Thou wilt not leave My soul in
hell" (ver. 10). For Thou wilt neither give
My soul for a possession to those parts below.
" Neither wilt Thou grant Thine Holy One to
see corruption." Neither wilt Thou suffer that
sanctified body, whereby others are to be also
sanctified, to see corruption. " Thou hast made
known to Me the paths of life" (ver. 11).
Thou hast made known through Me the paths
of humiliation, that ' men might return to life,
from whence they fell through pride ; in whom
because I am, "Thou hast made known to Me."
" Thou wilt fill Me with joy with Thy counte-
nance." Thou wilt fill them with joy, that they
should seek nothing further, when they shall see
Thee " face to face ; " in whom because I am,
"Thou wilt fill Me." " Pleasure is at Thy right
hand even to the end." Pleasure is in Thy
favour and mercy in this life's journey, leading
on even to the end of the glory of Thy coun-
tenance.2
PSALM XVII.3
A PRAYER OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. This prayer must be assigned to the Per-
son of the Lord, with the addition of the Church,
which is His body.
2. " Hear My righteousness, O God, consider
My supplication" (ver. 1). "Hearken unto
My prayer, not in deceitful lips : " not going
1 Oxford mss. " that by it."
2 [Compare Acts ii. 25 a..4 xiii. 34. — C.l
3 Lat. XVI.
forth to Thee in deceitful lips. " Let My judg-
ment from Thy countenance go forth " (ver. 2).
From the enlightening of the knowledge of Thee,
let Me judge truth. Or at least, let My judg-
ment go forth, not in deceitful lips, from Thy
countenance, that is, that I may not in judging
utter aught else than I understand in Thee.
" Let Mine eyes see equity : " the eyes, of course,
of the heart.
3. " Thou hast proved and visited Mine heart
in the night-season" (ver. 3). For this Mine
heart hath been proved by the visitation of tribu-
lation. " Thou hast examined Me by fire, and
iniquity hath not been found in Me." Now not
night only, in that it is wont to disturb, but fire
also, in that it burns, is this tribulation to be
called ; whereby when I was examined I was
found righteous.
4. " That My mouth may not speak the works
of men" (ver. 4). That nothing may proceed
out of My mouth, but what relates to Thy glory
and praise ; not to the works of men, which
they do beside Thy will. " Because of the words
of Thy lips." 4 Because of the words of Thy
peace, or of Thy prophets. " I have kept hard
ways." I have kept the toilsome ways of human
mortality and suffering.
5. " To perfect My steps in Thy paths " (ver.
5). That the love of the Church might be per-
fected in the strait ways, whereby she arrives at
Thy rest. " That My footsteps be not moved."
That the signs of My way, which, like footsteps,
have been imprinted on the Sacraments and
Apostolical writings, be not moved, that they
may mark them who would follow Me. Or at
least, that I may still abide fixedly in eternity,
after that I have accomplished the hard ways,
and have finished My steps in the straits of Thy
paths.
6. " I have cried out, for Thou hast heard
Me, O God" (ver. 6). With a free and strong
effort have I directed My prayers unto Thee :
for that I might have this power, Thou hast
heard Me when praying more weakly. " Incline
Thine ear to Me, and hear My words." Let not
Thy hearing forsake My humiliation.
7. " Make Thy mercies marvellous" (ver. 7).
Let not Thy mercies be disesteemed, lest they
be loved too little.
8. " Who savest them that hope in Thee from
such as resist Thy right hand : " from such as
resist the favour, whereby Thou favourest Me.
" Keep Me, O Lord, as the apple of Thine eye "
(ver. 8) : which seems very little and minute :
yet by it is the sight of the eye directed, whereby
the light is Jistinguished from the darkness ; as
by Christ's humanity, the divinity of the Judg-
ment s distinguishing between the righteous and
* See on Ps. xlv. 2: " the word of grace, the kiss of grace."
3 At. " the judgment of Godhead."
5<>
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XVIH.
sinners. " In the covering of Thy wings protect
Me." In the defence of Thy love and mercy
protect Me. " From the face of the ungodly
who have troubled Me " (ver. 9).
9. " Mine enemies have compassed about My
soul ; " " they have shut up their own fat " (ver.
10). They have been covered wiih their own
gross joy, after that their desire hath been sati-
ated with wickedness. " Their mouth hath
spoken pride." And therefore their mouth
spoke pride, in saying, "Hail, King of the
Jews," ' and other like words.
10. " Casting Me forth they have now com-
passed Me about" (ver. n). Casting Me forth
outside the city, they have now compassed Me
about on the Cross. " Their eyes they have de-
termined to turn down on the earth." The bent
of their heart they have determined to turn down
on these earthly things : deeming Him, who was
slain, to endure a mighty evil, and themselves,
that slew Him, none.
11. " As a lion ready for prey, have they taken
Me" (ver. 12). They have taken Me, like that
adversary who " walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour." 2 " And as a lion's whelp
dwelling in secret places." And as his whelp,
the people to whom it was said, " Ye are of your
father the devil : " ' meditating on the snares,
whereby they might circumvent and destroy the
just One.
12. "Arise, O Lord, prevent them, and cast
them down" (ver. 13). Arise, O Lord, Thou
whom they suppose to be asleep, and regardless
of men's iniquities ; be they blinded before by
their own malice, that vengeance may prevent
their deed ; and so cast them down.
13. "Deliver My soul from the ungodly."
Deliver My soul, by restoring Me after the death,
which the ungodly have inflicted on Me. " Thy
weapon : from the enemies of Thine hand "
(ver. 14). For My soul is Thy weapon, which
Thy hand, that is, Thy eternal Power, hath taken
to subdue thereby the kingdoms of iniquity, and
divide the righteous from the ungodly. This
weapon then " deliver from the enemies of Thine
hand," that is, of Thy Power, that is, from Mine
enemies. " Destroy them, O Lord, from off the
earth, scatter them in their life." O Lord, de-
stroy them from off the earth, which they inhabit,
scatter them throughout the world in this life,
which only they think their life, who * despair of
life eternal. " And by Thy hidden things their
belly hath been filled." Now not only this visi-
ble punishment shall overtake them, but also
their memory hath been filled with sins, which
as darkness are hidden from the light of Thy
truth, that they should forget God. " They have
been filled with swine's flesh." They have been
filled with uncleanness, treading under foot the
pearls of God's words. " And they have left
the rest to their babes : " crying out, " This sin
be upon us and upon our children." 5
14. " But I shall appear in Thy righteousness
in Thy sight" (ver. 15). But I, Who have not
appeared to them that, with their filthy and
darkened heart, cannot see the light of wisdom,
" shall appear in Thy righteousness in Thy sight."
" I shall be satiated, when Thy glory shall be
manifested." And when they have been satiated
with their uncleanness, that they could not know
Me, I shall be satiated, when Thy glory shall
be manifested, in them that know Me. In that
verse indeed where it is said, " filled with swine's
flesh," some copies have, " filled with children : "
for from the ambiguity of the Greek6 a double
interpretation has resulted. Now by " children "
we understand works ; and as by good children,
good works, so by evil, evil.
TO THE END,
PSALM XVIII.7
FOR THE SERVANT OF THE LORD,
DAVID HIMSELF.
1 Matt, xxvii. ao.
* Al. " because they."
1 1 Pet. v. 8.
1 John 1
1. That is, for the strong of hand, Christ in His
Manhood.8 " The words of this song which he
spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord
delivered him out of the hands of his enemies,
and of the hand of Saul ; and he said, On the
day when the Lord delivered him out of the
hands of his enemies and of the hand of Saul : "
namely, the king of the Jews, whom they had
demanded for themselves.' For as " David " is
said to be by interpretation, strong of hand ; so
" Saul " is said to be demanding. Now it is well
known, how that People demanded for them-
selves a king, and received him for their king,
not according to the will of God, but according
to their own will.
2. Christ, then, and the Church, that is, whole
Christ, the Head and the Body, saith here, " I
will love Thee, O Lord, My strength " (ver. 1).
I will love Thee, O Lord, by whom I am strong.10
3. " O Lord, My stay, and My refuge, and My
deliverer" (ver. 2). O Lord, who hast stayed
Me, because I sought refuge with Thee : and I
sought refuge, because Thou hast delivered Me.
" My God is My helper ; and I will hope in
Him." My God, who hast first afforded me the
help of Thy call, that I might be able to hope
in Thee. " My defender, and the horn of My
salvation, and My redeemer." My defender,
because I have not leant upon Myself, lifting up
as it were the horn of pride against Thee ; but
have found Thee a horn indeed, that is, the sure
5 Matt, xxvii. 25.
6 viiay, ii "v, ueiW, various readings. — Ben.
7 Lat. XVII. * Secundum Hominem'.
9 1 Sam. viii, 5. »° [2 Sam. xxii. — C.J
Psalm XVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
51
height of salvation : and that I might find it,
Thou redeemedst Me.
4. " With praise will I call upon the Lord, and
I shall be safe from Mine enemies" (ver. 3).
Seeking not My own but the Lord's glory, I will
call upon Him, and there shall be no means
whereby the errors of ungodliness can hurt Me.
5. " The pains of death," that is, of the flesh,
have " compassed Me about. And the over-
flowings of ungodliness have troubled Me "
(ver. 4). Ungodly troubles' stirred up for a
time, like torrents of rain which will soon sub-
side, have come on to trouble Me.
6. " The pains of hell compassed Me about "
(ver. 5). Among those that compassed Me
about to destroy Me, were pains of envy, which
work death, and lead on to the hell of sin.
" The snares of death prevented Me." They
prevented Me, so that they wished to hurt Me
first, which shall afterwards be recompensed
unto them. Now they seize unto destruction
such men as they have evilly persuaded by
the boast of righteousness : in the name but not
in the reality of which they glory against the
Gentiles.
7. " And in Mine oppression I called upon
the Lord, and cried unto My God. And He
heard My voice from His holy temple " (ver. 6).
He heard from My heart, wherein He dwelleth,
My voice. " And My cry in His sight entered
into His ears ; " and My cry, which I utter, not
in the ears of men, but inwardly before Him
Himself, " entered into His ears."
8. " And the earth was moved and trembled "
(ver. 7). When the Son of Man was thus glori-
fied, sinners were moved and trembled. " And
the foundations of the mountains were troubled."
And the hopes of the proud, which were in this
life, were troubled. " And were moved, for God
was wroth with them." That is, that the hope
of temporal goods might have now no more
establishment in the hearts of men.
9. "There went up smoke in His wrath"
(ver. 8). The tearful supplication of penitents
went up, when they came to know God's threat-
enings against the ungodly. " And fire burneth
from His face." And the ardour of love after
repentance burns by the knowledge of Him.
"Coals were kindled from Him." They, who
were already dead, abandoned by the fire of
good desire and the light of righteousness, and
who remained in coldness and darkness, re-
enkindled and enlightened, have come to life
again.
10. "And He bowed the heaven, and came
down" (ver. 9). And He humbled the just
One, that He might descend to men's infirmity.
"And darkness under His feet." And the un-
1 Or, " crowds."
godly, who savour of things earthly, in the
darkness of their own malice, knew not Him :
for the earth under His feet is as it were His
footstool.
11. "And He mounted above the cherubim,
and did fly" (ver. 10). And He was exalted
above the fulness of knowledge, that no man
should come to Him but by love : for " love is
the fulfilling of the law." 2 And full soon He
showed to His lovers that He is incomprehen-
sible, lest they should suppose that He is com-
prehended by corporeal imaginations. " He
flew above the wings of the winds." But that
swiftness, whereby He showed Himself to be
incomprehensible, is above the powers of souls,
whereon as upon wings they raise themselves
from earthly fears into the air of liberty.
12. "And hath made darkness His hiding
place" (ver. n). And hath settled the ob-
scurity of the Sacraments, and the hidden hope
in the heart of believers, where He may lie hid,
and not abandon them. In this darkness too,
wherein "we yet walk by faith, and not by
sight," 3 as long as " we hope for what we see
not, and with patience wait for it."4 Round
about Him is His tabernacle." Yet they that
believe Him turn to Him and encircle Him ;
for that He is in the midst of them, since He is
equally the friend of all, in whom as in a taber-
nacle He at this time dwells. " Dark water in
clouds of air." Nor let any one on this account,
if he understand the Scripture, imagine that he
is already in that light, which will be when we
shall have come out of faith into sight : for in
the prophets and in all the preachers of the word
of God there is obscure teaching.
13. "In respect of the brightness in His
sight" (ver. 12) : in comparison with the bright-
ness, which is in the sight of His manifestation.
" His clouds have passed over." The preach-
ers of His word are not now bounded by the
confines of Judaea, but have passed over to
the Gentiles. " Hail and coals of fire." Reproofs
are figured,5 whereby, as by hail, the hard hearts
are bruised : but if a cultivated and genial soil,
that is, a godly mind, receive them, the hail's
hardness dissolves into water, that is, the terror
of the lightning-charged,6 and as it were frozen,
reproof dissolves into satisfying doctrine ; and
hearts kindled by the fire of love revive. All
these things in His clouds have passed over to
the Gentiles.
14. " And the Lord hath thundered from
heaven" (ver. 13). And in confidence of the
Gospel the Lord hath sounded forth from the
heart of the just One. " And the Highest gave
His voice ; " that we might entertain it, and in
2 Rom. xiii. 10. 3 2 Cor. v 7. * Rom. viii. 25.
3 Read " full lightning-charged reproofe."
6 Fulgurata.
52
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XVIII.
the depth of human things, might hear things
heavenly.
15. "And He sent out His arrows, and scat-
tered them" (ver. 14). And He sent out
Evangelists traversing straight paths on the wings
of strength, not in their own power, but His by
whom they were sent. And " He scattered
them," to whom they were sent, that to some
of them they should be " the savour of life unto
life, to others the savour of death unto death." «
"And He multiplied lightnings, and troubled
them." And He multiplied miracles, and
troubled them.
16. "And the fountains of water were seen.
And the fountains of water springing up into
everlasting life,"2 which were made in the
preachers, were seen. " And the foundations
of the round world were revealed" (ver. 15).
And the Prophets, who were not understood,
and upon whom was to be built the world of
believers in the Lord, were revealed. " At Thy
chiding, O Lord : " crying out, " The kingdom
of God is come nigh unto you." 3 " At the blast-
ing of the breath of Thy displeasure ; " saying,
" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." 4
1 7. " He hath sent down from on high, and
hath fetched Me" (ver. 16) : by calling out of
the Gentiles for an inheritance " a glorious
Church, not having spot, or wrinkle." s •' He
hath taken Me out of the multitude of waters."
He hath taken Me out of the multitude of
peoples.
18. " He hath delivered Me from My strongest
enemies" (ver. 17). He hath delivered Me
from Mine enemies, who prevailed to the afflict-
ing and overturning of this temporal life of
Mine. " And from them which hate Me ; for
they are too strong for Me : " as long as I am
under them knowing not God.
19. "They have prevented Me in the day of
My affliction" (ver. 18). They have first in-
jured Me, in the time when I am bearing a
mortal and toilsome body. " And the Lord
hath become My stay." And since the stay of
earthly pleasure was disturbed and torn up by
the bitterness of misery, the Lord hath become
My stay.
20. " And hath brought Me forth into a broad
place" (ver. 19). And since I was enduring
the straits of the flesh, He brought Me forth
into the spiritual breadth of faith. " He hath
delivered Me, because He desired Me." Before
that I desired Him, He delivered Me from My
most powerful enemies (who were envious of
Me when I once desired Him), and from them
that hated Me, because I do desire Him.
21. "And the Lord shall reward Me accord-
ing to My righteousness " (ver. 20). And the
1 2 Cor. ii. 16.
* Luke xiii. 5.
1 John iv. 14.
Eph. v. 27.
9 Luke x. 9.
Lord shall reward Me according to the righteous-
ness of My good will, who first showed mercy,
before that I had the good will. " And accord-
ing to the cleanness of My hands He will rec-
ompense Me." And according to the cleanness
of My deeds He will recompense Me, who hath
given Me to do well by bringing Me forth into
the broad place of faith.
22. "Because I have kept the ways of the
Lord " (ver. 21). That the breadth of good
works, that are by faith, and the long-suffering
of perseverance should follow after.
23. ;< Nor have I walked impiously apart from
My God." " For all His judgments are6 in My
sight " (ver. 22). " For" with persevering con-
templation I weigh " all His judgments," that is,
the rewards of the righteous, and the punish-
ments of the ungodly, and the scourges of such
as are to be chastened, and the trials of such as
are to be proved. " And I have not cast out
His righteousness from Me : " as they do that
faint under their burden of them, and return to
their own vomit.
24. " And I shall be undefiled with Him, and
I shall keep Myself from Mine iniquity" (ver. 23).
25. "And the Lord shall reward Me accord-
ing to My righteousness" (ver. 24). Accord-
ingly not only for the breadth of faith, which
worketh by love ; but also for the length of
perseverance, will the Lord reward Me accord-
ing to My righteousness. " And according to
the cleanness of My hands in the sight of His
eyes." Not as men see, but " in the sight of
His eyes." For " the things that are seen are
temporal ; but the things that are not seen
are eternal : " 7 whereto the height of hope
appertains.
26. "With the holy Thou shalt be holy"
(ver. 25). There is a hidden depth also, where-
in Thou art known to be holy with the holy, for
that Thou makest holy. "And with the harm-
less Thou shalt be harmless." For Thou harmest
no man, but each one is bound by the bands of
his own sins.8
27. "And with the chosen Thou shalt be
chosen" (ver. 26). And by him whom Thou
choosest, Thou art chosen. " And with the fro-
ward Thou shalt be froward." And with the
froward Thou seemest froward : for they say,
" The way of the Lord is not right : " 9 and their
way is not right.
28. " For Thou wilt make whole the humble
people" (ver. 27). Now this seems froward to
the froward, that Thou wilt make them whole
that confess their sins. " And Thou wilt humble
the eyes of the proud." But them that are "igno-
rant of God's righteousness, and seek to establish
their own," IO Thou wilt humble.
6 Oxford MSS
8 Prov. v. 23.
' are always."
9 Ezek, xviii. 25.
' 2 Cor. iv. 18.
10 Rom. x. 3.
Psalm XVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
53
29. " For thou wilt light My candle, O Lord "
(ver. 28). For our light is not from ourselves ;
but "Thou wilt light my candle, O Lord. O
my God, Thou wilt enlighten my darkness." For
we through our sins are darkness ; but " Thou,
O my God, wilt enlighten my darkness."
30. " For by Thee shall I be delivered from
temptation" (ver. 29). For not by myself, but
by Thee, shall I be delivered from temptation.
"And in my God shall I leap over the wall."
And not in myself, but in my God shall I leap
over the wall, which sin has raised between men
and the heavenly Jerusalem.
31. " My God, His way is undefiled "(ver. 30).
My God cometh not unto men, except they shall
have purified the way of faith, whereby He may
come to them ; for that " His way is undefiled."
"The words of the Lord have been proved by
fire." The words of the Lord are tried by the
fire of tribulation. " He is the Protector of them
that hope in Him." And all that hope not in
themselves, but in Him, are not consumed by
that same tribulation. For hope followeth faith.
32. "For who is God, but the Lord?" (ver. 31)
whom we serve. " And who God, but our God ? "
And who is God, but the Lord? whom after
good service we sons shall possess as the hoped-
for inheritance.
33. " God, who hath girded me with strength "
(ver. 32). God, who hath girded me that I
might be strong, lest the loosely flowing folds of
desire hinder my deeds and steps. " And hath
made my way undefiled." And hath made the
way of love, whereby I may come to Him, unde-
filed, as the way of faith is undefiled, whereby
He comes to me.
34. "Who hath made my feet perfect like
harts' feet" (ver. 3^). Who hath made my
love perfect to surmount the thorny and dark
entanglements of this world. " And will set me
up on high." And will fix my aim on the heav-
enly habitation, that " I may be filled with all
the fulness of God." '
35. "Who teacheth my hands for battle"
(ver. 34). Who teacheth me to work for the
overthrow of mine enemies, who strive to shut
the kingdom of heaven against us. " And Thou
hast made mine arms as a bow of steel." And
Thou hast made my earnest striving after good
works unwearied.
36. " And Thou hast given me the defence
of my salvation, and Thy right hand hath held
me up" (ver. 35). And the favour of Thy grace
hath held me up. "And Thy discipline hath
directed me to the end." And Thy correction,
not suffering me to wander from the way, hath
directed me that whatsoever I do, I refer to that
end, whereby I may cleave to Thee. " And this
x Ephes. Hi. 19.
Thy discipline, it shall teach me." And that
same correction of Thine shall teach me to attain
to that, whereunto it hath directed me.
37. " Thou hast enlarged my steps under me "
(ver. 36). Nor shall the straits of the flesh
hinder me ; for Thou hast enlarged my love,
working in gladness even with these mortal things
and members which are under me. " And my
footsteps have not been weakened." And either
my goings, or the marks which I have imprinted
for the imitation of those that follow, have not
been weakened.
38. " I will follow up mine enemies, and seize
them" (ver. 37). I will follow up my carnal
affections, and will not be seized by them, but
will seize them, so that they may be consumed.
" And I will not turn, till they fail." And from
this purpose I will not turn myself to rest, till
they fail who make a tumult about me.
39. " I will break them, and they shall not be
able to stand" (ver. 38) : and they shall not
hold out against me. " They shall fall under my
feet." When they are cast down, I will place
before me the loves2 whereby I walk for ever-
more.
40. " And Thou hast girded me with strength
to the war" (ver. 39). And the loose desires
of my flesh hast Thou bound up with strength,
that in such a fight I may not be encumbered.
" Thou hast supplanted under me them that rose
up against me." Thou hast caused them to be
deceived, who followed upon me, that they should
be brought under me, who desired to be over me.
41. "And thou hast given mine enemies the
back to me" (ver. 40). And thou hast turned
mine enemies, and hast made them to be a back
to me, that is, to follow me. " And Thou hast
destroyed them that hate me." But such other
of them as have persisted in hatred, Thou hast
destroyed.
42. " They have cried out, and there was none
to save them" (ver. 41). For who can save
them, whom Thou wouldest not save ? " To the
Lord, and He did not hear them." Nor did
they cry out to any chance one, but to the Lord :
and He did not judge them worthy of being
heard, who depart not from their wickedness.
43. " And I will beat them as small as dust
before the face of the wind " (ver. 42). And I
will beat them small ; for dry they are, receiving
not the shower of God's mercy ; that borne aloft
and puffed up with pride they may be hurried
along from firm and unshaken hope, and as it
were from the earth's solidity and stability. " As
the clay of the streets 1 will destroy them." In
their wanton and loose course along the broad
ways of perdition, which many walk, will I de-
stroy them.
* See p. 37. " The foot of sinners; that is, their love."
54
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XIX.
44. " Thou wilt deliver Me from the contra-
dictions of the people" (ver. 43). Thou wilt
deliver Me from the contradictions of them who
said, " If we send Him away, all the world will
go after Him." '
45. "Thou shalt make Me the head of the
Gentiles. A people whom I have not known
have served Me." The people of the Gentiles,
whom in bodily presence I have not visited, have
served Me. " At the hearing of the ear they
have obeyed Me" (ver. 44). They have not
seen Me with the eye : but, receiving my preach-
ers, at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed
Me.
46. "The strange children have lied unto
Me." Children, not to be called Mine, but
rather strange children, to whom it is rightly
said, " Ye are of your father the devil," 2 have
lied unto Me. "The strange children have
waxen old" (ver. 45). The strange children,
to whom for their renovation I brought the new
Testament, have remained in the old man. " And
they have halted from their own paths." And
like those that are weak in one foot, for holding
the old they have rejected the new Testament,
they have become halt, even in their old Law,
rather following their own traditions, than God's.
For they brought frivolous charges of unwashen
hands,3 because such were the paths, which them-
selves had made and worn by long use, in wan-
dering from the ways of God's commands.
47. "The Lord liveth, and blessed be my
God." " But to be carnally minded is death : " *
for " the Lord liveth, and blessed be my God.
And let the God of my salvation be exalted "
(ver. 46). And let me not think after an earthly
fashion of the God of my salvation ; nor look
from Him for this earthly salvation, but that on
high.
48. " O God, who givest Me vengeance, and
subduest the people under Me" (ver. 47). O
God, who avengest Me by subduing the people
under Me. " My Deliverer from My angry ene-
mies : " the Jews crying out, " Crucify Him,
Crucify Him." »
49. " From them that rise up against Me Thou
wilt exalt Me " (ver. 48). From the Jews that
rise up against Me in My passion, Thou wilt
exalt Me in My resurrection. " From the unjust
man Thou wilt deliver Me." From their unjust
rule Thou wilt deliver Me.
50. "For this cause will I confess to Thee
among the Gentiles, O Lord" (ver. 49). For
this cause shall the Gentiles confess to Thee
through Me, O Lord. " And I will sing unto
Thy Name." And Tnou shalt be more widely
known by My good deeds.
• John xi. 48, xii. 19.
* Matt. xt. a.
1 John xix. 6.
8 John viii. 44.
4 Rom. viii. 6.
51. "Magnifying the salvation of His King"
(ver. 50). God, who magnifieth, so as to make
wonderful, the salvation, which His Son giveth
to believers.6 " And showing mercy to His
Christ : " God, who showeth mercy to His Christ :
" To David and to His seed for evermore : " to
the Deliverer Himself strong of hand, who hath
overcome this world ; and to them whom, as
believers in the Gospel, He hath begotten for
evermore. What things soever are spoken in
this Psalm which cannot apply to the Lord
Himself personally, that is to the Head of the
Church, must be referred to the Church. For
whole Christ speaks here, in whom are all His
members.
PSALM XIX.'
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. It is a well-known title ; nor does the Lord
Jesus Christ say what follows, but it is said of
Him.
2. " The heavens tell out the glory of God "
(ver. 1). The righteous Evangelists, in whom,
as in the heavens, God dwelleth, set forth the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the glory
wherewith the Son glorified the Father upon
earth. " And the firmament showeth forth the
works of His hands." And the firmament
showeth forth the deeds of the Lord's power,
that now made heaven by the assurance of the
Holy Ghost, which before was earth by fear.
3. "Day unto day uttereth word" (ver. 2).
To the spiritual the Spirit giveth out the fulness
of the unchangeable Wisdom of God, the Word
which in the beginning is God with God.8 " And
night unto night announceth knowledge." And
to the fleshly, as to those afar off, the mortality
of the flesh, by conveying faith, announceth
future knowledge.
4. " There is no speech nor language, in which
their voices are not heard " (ver. 3). In which
the voices of the Evangelists have not been
heard, seeing that the Gospel was preached in
every tongue.
5. " Their sound is gone out into all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world"'
(ver. 4).
6. " In the sun hath He set His tabernacle."
Now that He might war against the powers of
temporal error, the Lord, being about to send
not peace but a sword on earth,'0 in time, or in
manifestation, set so to say His military dwelling,
that is, the dispensation of His incarnation.
" And He as a bridegroom coming forth out of
His chamber" (ver. 5). And He, coming forth
* [The epigraph of this Psalm in s Sam. xxiii. 1-5 seems to con-
nect with I*a. Tv. 3, and so with Acts xiii. 34. — CI
1 Lat. XVIII. » John i. 1.
9 [Rom. x. 18. " And therefore are tve evtti speaking here?
says our author in his second homily (omitted) on this Psalm. — C.J
10 Matt. x. 34.
Psalm XIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
55
out of the Virgin's womb, where God was united
to man's nature as a bridegroom to a bride.
" Rejoiced as a giant to run His way." Rejoiced
as One exceeding strong, and surpassing all other
men in power incomparable, not to inhabit, but
to run His way. For, " He stood not in the
way of sinners. " '
7. " His going forth is from the highest heaven "
(ver. 6). From the Father is His going forth,
not that in time, but from everlasting, whereby
He was born of the Father. " And His meet-
ing is even to the height of heaven." And in
the fulness of the Godhead He meets even to
an equality with the Father.' "And there is
none that may hide himself from His heat."
But whereas, " the Word was even made flesh,
and dwelt in us," 3 assuming our mortality, He
permitted no man to excuse himself from the
shadow of death ; for the heat of the Word
penetrated even it.
8. " The law of the Lord is undefiled, con-
verting souls " (ver. 7). The law of the Lord,
therefore, is Himself who came to fulfil the law,
not to destroy it ; 4 an undefiled law, " Who did
no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," s
not oppressing souls with the yoke of bondage,
but converting them to imitate Him in liberty.
" The testimony of the Lord is sure, giving wis-
dom to babes." " The testimony of the Lord
is sure ; " for, " no man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will re-
veal Him," 6 which things have been hidden from
the wise and revealed to babes ; 7 for, " God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the
humble."8
9. " The statutes of the Lord are right, re-
joicing the heart " (ver. 8). All the statutes of
the Lord are right in Him who taught not what
He did not ; that they who should imitate Him
might rejoice in heart, in those things which they
should do freely with love, not slavishly with
fear. " The commandment of the Lord is lucid,
enlightening the eyes." "The commandment
of the Lord is lucid," with no veil of carnal ob-
servances, enlightening the sight of the inner
man.
10. " The fear of the Lord is chaste, enduring
forever" (ver. 9). "The fear of the Lord;"
not that distressing' fear under the law, dread-
ing exceedingly the withdrawal of temporal
goods, by the love of which the soul commits
fornication ; but that chaste fear wherewith the
Church, the more ardently she loves her Spouse,
the more carefully does she take heed of offend-
ing Him, and therefore, " perfect love casteth "
not " out " this " fear," '° but it endureth for ever.
1 Ps. Li.
3 Vid. in Psalm Iviii (lix. E. V.). Enarrat. i. § 10.
3 John i. 14. * Matt. v. 17. 5 1 Pet. ii. a
6 Matt, xi- 27. 7 Luke x. ai. I Jas. iv. 6
» Pxnalis. I0 1 John iv. 18.
11. "The judgments of the Lord are true,
justified together." The judgments of Him, who
"judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg-
ment unto the Son," " are justified in truth un-
changeably. For neither in His threatenings nor
His promises doth God deceive any man, nor
can any withdraw either from the ungedly His
punishment, or from the godly His reward. " To
be desired more than gold, and much precious
stone" (ver. 10). Whether it be "gold and
stone itself much," or " much precious," or
" much to be desired ; " still, the judgments of
God are to be desired more than the pomp
of this world ; by desire of which it is brought
to pass that the judgments of God are not de-
sired, but feared, or despised, or not believed.
But if any be himself gold and precious stone,
that he may not be consumed by fire, but received
into the treasury of God, more than himself does
he desire the judgments of God, whose will he
preferreth to his own. " And sweeter than honey
and the honey comb." And whether one be
even now honey, who, disenthralled already from
the chains of this life, is awaiting the day when
he may come up to God's feast ; or whether he
be yet as the honey comb, wrapped about with
this life as it were with wax, not mixed and be-
come one with it, but filling it, needing some
pressure of God's hand, not oppressing but ex-
pressing it, whereby from life temporal it may be
strained out into life eternal : to such an one the
judgments of God are sweeter than he himself
is to himself, for that they are " sweeter than
honey and the honey comb."
12. " For Thy servant keepeth them"(ver. n).
For to him who keepeth them not the day of the
Lord is bitter. " In keeping them there is great
reward." Not in any external benefit, but in
the thing itself, that God's judgments are kept, is
there great reward ; great because one rejoiceth
therein.
13. "Who understandeth sins?" (ver. 12).
But what sort of sweetness can there be in sins,
where there is no understanding ? For who can
understand sins, which close the very eye, to
which truth is pleasant, to which the judgments
of God are desirable and sweet? yea, as darkness
closes the eye, so do sins the mind, and suffer it
not to see either the light, or itself.
14. " Cleanse me, O Lord, from my secret
faults." From the lusts which lie hid in me,
cleanse me, O Lord. " And from the " faults
"of others preserve Thy servant" (ver. 13).
Let me not be led astray by others. For he is
not a prey to the faults of others, who is cleansed
from his own. Preserve therefore from the lusts
of others, not the proud man, and him who
would be his own master, but, Thy servant. " If
11 John v. aa.
56
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XX.
they get not the dominion over me, then shall
I be undented." If neither my own secret sins,
nor those of others, get the dominion over me,
then shall I be undented. For there is no third
source of sin, but one's own secret sin, by which
the devil fell, and another's sin, by which man is
seduced, so as by consenting to make it his own.
" And I shall be cleansed from the great offence."
What but pride ? for there is none greater than
apostasy from God, which is " the beginning of
the pride of man." ' And he shall indeed be
undefined, who is free from this offence also ; for
this is the last to them who are returning to God,
which was the first as they departed from Him.
15. "And the words of my mouth shall be
pleasing, and the meditation of my heart is
always in Thy sight " (ver. 14). The meditation
of my heart is not after the vain glory of pleasing
men, for now there is pride no more, but in Thy
sight alway, who regardest a pure conscience.
" O Lord, my Helper, and my Redeemer " 2
(ver. 15). O Lord, my Helper, in my approach
to Thee ; for Thou art my Redeemer, that I
might set out unto Thee : lest any attributing to
his own wisdom his conversion to Thee, or to his
own strength his attaining to Thee, should be
rather driven back by Thee, who resistest the
proud ; for he is not cleansed from the great
offence, nor pleasing in Thy sight, who redeem-
est us that we may be converted, and helpest us
that we may attain unto Thee.
PSALM XX.J
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID.
i. This is a well-known title; and it is not
Christ who speaks ; but the prophet speaks to
Christ, under the form of wishing, foretelling
things to come.'1
2. " The Lord hear Thee in the day of trou-
ble " (ver. 1). The Lord hear Thee in the day
in which Thou saidst, " Father glorify Thy Son." s
" The name of the God of Jacob protect Thee."
For to Thee belongeth the younger people.
Since " the elder shall serve the younger." 6
3. " Send Thee help from the Holy, and from
Sion defend Thee " (ver. 2). Making for Thee
a sanctified Body, the Church, from watching ?
safe, which waiteth when Thou shalt come from
the wedding.
4. " Be mindful of all Thy sacrifice " (ver. 3) .
Make us mindful of all Thy injuries and despite-
ful treatment, which Thou hast borne for us.
" And be Thy whole burnt offering made fat."
1 Ecclus. x. la.
• [Here the word i« rendered " Redeemer" in the Septuagint,
and i» the same in the Hebrew as in Job xix. 3<. — C.l
' Lai. XIX. 5 '
* [This and the next Psalm are a prelude to the great Psalm of
the expiation which is to follow. — C A
» John xvii. 5 and xii. a8. 6 Gen. xxv. 33; Rom. ix. 13.
' Sion, ' " beholding," p. 13, ver. 6.
And turn the cross, whereon Thou wast wholly
offered up to God, into the joy of the resurrec-
tion.
5. " Diapsalma. The Lord render to Thee
according to Thine Heart " (ver. 4). The Lord
render to Thee, not according to their heart,
who thought by persecution they could destroy
Thee ; but according to Thine Heart, wherein
Thou knewest what profit Thy passion would
have.8 "And fulfil all Thy counsel." "And
fulfil all Thy counsel," not only that whereby
Thou didst lay down Thy life for Thy friends,9
that the corrupted grain might rise again to more
abundance ; IO but that also whereby " blindness
in part hath happened unto Israel, that the ful-
ness of the Gentiles might enter in, and so all
Israel might be saved." "
6. "We will exult in Thy salvation" (ver. 5).
We will exult in that death will in no wise hurt
Thee ; for so Thou wilt also show that it cannot
hurt us either. " And in the name of the Lord
our God will we be magnified." And the con-
fession of Thy name shall not only not destroy
us, but shall even magnify us.
7. " The Lord fulfil all Thy petitions." The
Lord fulfil not only the petitions which Thou
madest on earth, but those also whereby Thou
intercedest for us in heaven. " Now have I
known that the Lord hath saved his Christ"
(ver. 6). Now hath it been shown to me in
prophecy, that the Lord will raise up His Christ
again. " He will hear Him from His holy
heaven." He will hear Him not from earth
only, where He prayed to be glorified ; u but
from heaven also, where interceding for us at the
Right Hand of the Father,'3 He hath from thence
shed abroad the Holy Spirit on them that believe
on Him. " In strength is the safety of His right
hand." Our strength is in the safety of His
favour, when even out of tribulation He giveth
help, that " when we are weak, then we may be
strong." I4 " For vain is " that " safety of man," '5
which comes not of His right hand but of His
left : for thereby are they lifted up to great
pride, whosoever in their sins have secured a
temporal safety.
8. "Some in chariots, and some in horses"
(ver. 7). Some are drawn away by the ever
moving succession of temporal goods ; and some
are preferred to proud honours, and in them
exult : " But we will exult in the name of the
Lord our God." But we, fixing our hope on
things eternal, and not seeking our own glory,
will exult in the name of the Lord our God.
9. "They have been bound, and fallen"
(ver. 8). And therefore were they bound by
the lust of temporal things, fearing to spare the
8 John xii. 33. 9 John xv. 13.
11 Rom. xi. 35, 36. 12 John xvii. 1.
M a Cor. xii. 10. U Pi. Ix. 11.
10 John xii. 34.
*3 Heb. vii. 35.
Psalm XXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
57
Lord, lest they should lose their place by " the
Romans : " ' and rushing violently on the stone
of offence and rock of stumbling, they fell from
the heavenly hope : to whom the blindness in
part of Israel hath happened, being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish
their own.2 " But we are risen, and stand up-
right." But we, that the Gentile people might
enter in, out of the stones raised up as children
to Abraham,3 who followed not after righteous-
ness, have attained to it, and are risen ; 4 and not
by our own strength, but being justified by faith,
we stand upright.
10. " O Lord, save the King : " that He, who
in His Passion hath shown us an example of
conflict, should also offer up our sacrifices, the
Priest raised from the dead, and established in
heaven. " And hear us in the day when we
shall call on Thee" (ver. 9). And as He now
offereth for us, " hear us in the day when we
shall call on Thee."
PSALM XXI.s
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. The title is a familiar one; the Psalm is
of Christ.6
2. "O Lord, the King shall rejoice in Thy
strength" (ver. 1). O Lord, in Thy strength,
whereby the Word was made flesh, the Man
Christ Jesus shall rejoice. " And shall exult
exceedingly in Thy salvation." And in that,
whereby Thou quickenest all things, shall exult
exceedingly.
3. " Thou hast given Him the desire of His
soul " (ver. 2). He desired to eat the Passover,7
and to lay down His life when He would, and
again when He would to take it; and Thou
hast given it to Him.8 " And hast not deprived
Him of the good pleasure of His lips." " My
peace," saith He, " I leave with you : " 9 and it
was done.
4. "For Thou hast presented Him with the
blessings of sweetness" (ver. 3). Because He
had first quaffed the blessing of Thy sweetness,
the gall of our sins did not hurt Him. " Dia-
psalma. Thou hast set a crown of precious
stone on His Head." '° At the beginning of His
discoursing precious stones were brought, and
compassed Him about;" His disciples, from
whom the commencement of His preaching
should be made.
5. " He asked life ; and Thou gavest Him : "
He asked a resurrection, saying, " Father, glorify
1 John xi. 48.
3 Matt. iti. 9.
2 Rom. xi. 25 ; Rom. x. 3.
* Rom. ix. 30.
5 Lat. XX.' 6 [Prophetic of His ascension. — C]
7 Luke xxii. 15. 8 John x. 18. 9 John xiv. 27.
10 [Rev. xix. 12. Our author agrees with the Septuagint and the
Vulgate here, as to " precious stone." Jerome gives coronam
obrizam. Gr. 60pi»£oi'. — C]
11 Matt. v. 1. [Compare Mai. iii. 17. — C]
Thy Son ; " ,J and Thou gavest it Him, " Length
of days for ever and ever" (ver. 4). The pro-
longed ages of this world which the Church was
to have, and after them an eternity, world with-
out end.
6. " His glory is great in Thy salvation "
(ver. 5). Great indeed is His glory in the sal-
vation, whereby Thou hast raised Him up again.
" Glory and great honour shalt Thou lay upon
Him." But Thou shalt yet add unto Him glory
and great honour, when Thou shalt place Him
in heaven at Thy right hand.
7. " For Thou shalt give Him blessing for ever
and ever." This is the blessing which Thou
shalt give Him for ever and ever: "Thou shalt
make Him glad in joy together with Thy coun-
tenance " (ver. 6). According to His manhood,
Thou shalt make Him glad together with Thy
countenance, which He lifted up to Thee.
8. " For the King hopeth in the Lord." For
the King is not proud, but humble in heart, he
hopeth in the Lord. "And in the mercy of the
Most Highest He shall not be moved" (ver. 7).
And in the mercy of the Most Highest His
obedience even unto the death of the Cross shall
not disturb His humility.
9. " Let Thy hand be found by all Thine
enemies." Be Thy power, O King, when Thou
comest to judgment, found by all Thine enemies ;
who in Thy humiliation discerned it not. " Let
Thy right hand find out all that hate Thee "
(ver. 8). Let the glory, wherein Thou reignest
at the right hand of the Father, find out for
punishment in the day of judgment all that hate
Thee ; for that now they have not found it.
10. " Thou shalt make them like a fTery
oven : " Thou shalt make them on fire within,
by the consciousness of their ungodliness : " In
the time of Thy countenance : " in the time of
Thy manifestation. " The Lord shall trouble
them in His wrath, and the fire shall devour
them" (ver. 9). And then, being troubled by
the vengeance of the Lord, after the accusation
of their conscience, they shall be given up to
eternal fire, to be devoured.
n." Their fruit shalt Thou destroy out of the
earth." Their fruit, because it is earthly, shalt
Thou destroy out of the earth. "And their
seed from the sons of men" (ver. 10). And
their works ; or, whomsoever they have seduced,
Thou shalt not reckon among the sons of men,
whom Thou hast called into the everlasting
inheritance.
12." Because they turned evils against Thee."
Now this punishment shall be recompensed to
them, because the evils which they supposed
to hang over them by Thy reign, they turned
against Thee to Thy death. " They imagined a
12 John xvii. x.
58
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXII.
device, which they were not able to establish "
(ver. n). They imagined a device, saying, " It
is expedient that one die for all : " ' which they
were not able to establish, not knowing what
they said.
13. "For Thou shalt set them low." For
Thou shalt rank them among those from whom
in degradation and contempt Thou wilt turn
away. " In Thy leavings 2 Thou shalt make ready
their countenance" (ver. 12). And in these
things that Thou leavest, that is, in the desires
of an earthly kingdom, Thou shalt make ready
their shamelessness for Thy passion.
14. "Be Thou exalted, O Lord, in Thy
strength" (ver. 13). Be Thou, Lord, whom in
humiliation they did not discern, exalted in Thy
strength, which they thought weakness. " We
will sing and praise Thy power." In heart and
in deed we will celebrate and make known Thy
marvels.
PSALM XXII.'
TO THE END, FOR THE TAKING UP OF THE MORN-
ING, A PSALM OF DAVID.4
i. "To the end," for His own resurrection,
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaketh.5 For
in the morning on the first day of the week was
His resurrection, whereby He was taken up, into
eternal life, " Over whom death shall have no
more dominion."6 Now what follows is spoken
in the person of The Crucified. For from the
head of this Psalm are the words, which He
cried out, whilst hanging on the Cross, sustain-
ing also the person of the old man, whose mor-
tality He bare. For our old man was nailed
together with Him to the Cross.7
2. "O God, my God, look upon me, why
hast Thou forsaken8 me far from my salvation?"
(ver. 1 ) . Far removed from my salvation :
for " salvation is far from sinners." » " The words
of my sins." For these are not the words of
righteousness, but of my sins. For it is the old
man nailed to the Cross that speaks, ignorant
even of the reason why God hath forsaken him :
or else it may be thus, The words of my sins are
far from my salvation.
3. " My God, I will cry unto Thee in the day-
time, and Thou wilt not hear" (ver. 2). My
God, I will cry unto Thee in the prosperous cir-
cumstances of this life, that they be not changed ;
and Thou wilt not hear, because I shall cry unto
Thee in the words of my sins. "And in the
night-season, and not to my folly." And so in
1 John xi. 50.
8 [/* religuiis tuu
' Lat. XXI.
tuts. So Vulgate. — C]
[This was read on the anniversary of our Lord's passion, as
appears from the (omitted) Second Exposition. — C]
» John xx. 1-17. * Rom. vi. o. » Rom. vi. 6.
■ Vid. Ps. xxxvii. % 6 and xliii. i a, and Enarr. i. Ps. Iviii. § a,
and F.p. 149. [Off. S. August, ed. Migne, torn. iv. pp. 300, 483,
691, etc. — C]
9 Ps. cxix. 155.
the adversities of this life will I cry to Thee for
prosperity ; and in like manner Thou wilt not
hear. And this Thou doest not to my folly, but
rather that I may have wisdom to know what
Thou wouldest have me cry for, not with the
words of sins out of longing for life temporal,
but with the words of turning to Thee for life
eternal.
4. " But Thou dwellest in the holy place, O
Thou praise of Israel" (ver. 3). But Thou
dwellest in the holy place, and therefore wilt not
hear the unclean words of sins. The " praise "
of him that seeth Thee ; not of him who hath
sought his own praise in tasting of the forbidden
fruit, that on the opening of his bodily eyes he
should endeavour to hide himself from Thy
sight.
5. "Our Fathers hoped in Thee." All the
righteous, namely, who sought not their own
praise, but Thine. " They hoped in Thee, and
Thou deliveredst them " (ver. 4).
6. " They cried unto Thee, and were saved."
They cried unto Thee, not in the words of sins,
from which salvation is far ; and therefore were
they saved. " They hoped in Thee, and were not
confounded " (ver. 5). " They hoped in Thee,"
and their hope did not deceive them. For they
placed it not in themselves.
7. " But I am a worm, and no man " (ver. 6) .
But I, speaking now not in the person of Adam,
but I in My own person, Jesus Christ, was born
without human generation in the flesh, that I
might be as man beyond men ; that so at least
human pride might deign to imitate My humility.
" The scorn of men, and outcast of the people."
In which humility I was made the scorn of men,
so as that it should be said, as a reproachful
railing, " Be thou His disciple : " IO and that the
people despise Me.
8. " All that saw Me laughed Me to scorn "
(ver. 7). All that saw Me derided Me. "And
spake with the lips, and shook the head." "
And they spoke, not with the heart, but with the
lips.
9. For they shook their head in derision, say-
ing, " He trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver
Him : " ,2 " let Him save Him, since He desireth
Him" (ver. 8). These were their words; but
they were spoken "with the lips."
10. "Since Thou art He who drew Me out
of the womb" (ver. 9). Since Thou art He
who drew Me, not only out of that Virgin womb
(for this is the law of all men's birth, that they
be drawn out of the womb), but also out of the
womb of the Jewish nation ; by the darkness
whereof he is covered, and not yet born into the
light of Christ, whosoever places his salvation in
the carnal observance of the Sabbath, and of cir-
cumcision, and the like. " My hope from My
10 John ix. 38. « Matt, xxvii. 39.
12 Matt, xxvii. 43.
Psalm XXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
59
mother's breasts." "My hope," O God, not
from the time when I began to be fed by the
milk of the Virgin's breasts ; for it was even be-
fore ; but from the breasts of the Synagogue, as
I have said, out of the womb, Thou hast drawn
Me, that I should not suck in the customs of the
flesh.
it. "I have been strengthened in Thee from
the womb" (ver. 10). It is the womb of the
Synagogue, which did not carry Me, but threw
Me out : but I fell not, for Thou heldest me.
" From My mother's womb Thou art My God."
From My mother's womb : My mother's womb
did not cause that, as a babe, I should be for-
getful of Thee.
12. "Thou art My God," "depart not from
Me ; for trouble is hard at hand " (ver. 1 1 ) . Thou
art, therefore, My God, depart not from Me ;
for trouble is nigh unto Me ; for it is in My
body. " For there is none to help." For who
helpeth, if Thou helpest not?
13. " Many calves came about Me." The
multitude of the wanton populace came about
Me. "Fat bulls closed Me in" (ver. 12).
And their leaders, glad at My oppression, " closed
Me in."
14. "They opened their mouth upon Me"
(ver. 13). They opened their mouth upon Me,
not out of Thy Scripture, but of their own lusts.
" As a ravening and roaring lion." As a lion,
whose ravening is, that I was taken and led ; and
whose roaring, "Crucify, Crucify."'
15. "I was poured out like water, and all My
bones were scattered " (ver. 14). "I was poured
out like water," when My persecutors fell : and
through fear, the stays of My body, that is, the
Church, My disciples were scattered from Me.2
" My heart became as melting wax, in the midst
of my belly." My wisdom, which was written
of Me in the sacred books, was, as if hard and
shut up, not understood : but after that the fire
of My Passion was applied, it was, as if melted,
manifested, and entertained in the memory of
My Church.
16. "My strength dried up as a potsherd"
(ver. 15). My strength dried up by My Pas-
sion ; not as hay, but a potsherd, which is made
stronger by fire. " And My tongue cleaved to
My jaws." And they, through whom I was
soon to speak, kept My precepts in their hearts.
" And Thou broughtest Me down to the dust of
death." And to the ungodly appointed to death,
whom the wind casteth forth as dust from the
face of the earth,3 Thou broughtest Me down.
1 7. " For many dogs came about Me "
(ver. 16). For many came about Me barking,
not for truth, but for custom. " The council of
the malignant came about Me." The council
1 John xix. 6.
* Matt. xxvi. 56.
3 Ps.
of the malignant besieged Me.4 " They pierced
My hands and feet." They pierced with nails My
hands and feet.
18. " They numbered distinctly all My bones "
(ver. 17). They numbered distinctly all My
bones, while extended on the wood of the Cross.
" Yea, these same regarded, and beheld Me."
Yea, these same, that is, unchanged, regarded"
and beheld Me.
19. "They divided My garments for them-
selves, and cast the lot upon My vesture"5
(ver. 18).
20. " But Thou, O Lord, withhold not Thy
help far from Me" (ver. 19). But Thou, O
Lord, raise Me up again, not as the rest of men,
at the end of the world, but immediately.
" Look to My defence." " Look," that they in
no wise hurt Me.
at. " Deliver My soul from the sword."
" Deliver My soul " from the tongue of dissen-
sion. " And My only One from the hand of
the dog " (ver. 20). And from the power of the
people, barking after their custom, deliver My
Church.
22. "Save Me from the lion's mouth : " save
Me from the mouth of the kingdom of this world :
" and my humility from the horns of the uni-
corns " 6 (ver. 21). And from the loftiness of
the proud, exalting themselves to special pre-
eminence, and enduring no partakers, save My
humility.
23. " I will declare Thy name to My brethren " 7
(ver. 22). I will declare Thy name to the hum-
ble,8 and to My Brethren that love one another
as they have been beloved by Me.9 " In the
midst of the Church will I sing of Thee." In
the midst of the Church will I with rejoicing
preach Thee.
24. " Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him."
" Ye that fear the Lord," seek not your own
praise, but " praise Him." " All ye seed of
Jacob, magnify Him" (ver. 23). All ye seed
of him whom the elder shall serve, magnify Him.
25. " Let all the seed of Israel fear Him."
Let all who have been born to a new life, and
restored to the vision of God "fear Him."
"Since He hath not despised, nor disregarded
the prayer of the poor man " (ver. 24). Since
He hath not despised the prayer, not of him
who, crying unto God in the words of sins was
loath to overpass a vain life, but the prayer of
the poor man, not swollen up with transitory
pomps. " Nor hath He turned away His face
* These seven words from the Oxford MS.
5 [The garments he elsewhere makes the sacraments, his
vesture the undivided unity of the Church. See his Second Exposi-
tion, here omitted. — C]
° [The original Hebrew seems to me a foreshadowing of the
Romans, as Peres (Dan. v. 28) points to the Persians. — C J
7 [Here he makes Part II. to begin; i.e., the triumph over death
and the grave. — C]
8 Or, " to My Brethren that are humble, and," etc.
9 John xvii. 6, ai.
6o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXIII.
from Me." As from him who said, I will cry
unto Thee, but Thou wilt not hear. " And when
I cried unto Him He heard Me."
26. "With Thee is My praise" (ver. 25).
For I seek not Mine own praise," for Thou art
My praise, who dwellest in the holy place ; and,
praise of Israel, Thou hearest The Holy One
now beseeching Thee. "In the great Church
I will confess Thee." In the Church of the
whole world " I will confess Thee." " I will offer
My vows in the sight of them that fear Him."
I will offer the sacraments of My Body and
Blood in the sight of them that fear Him.
27. "The poor shall eat, and be filled"
(ver. 26). The humble and the despisers of the
world shall eat, and imitate Me. For so they
will neither desire this world's abundance, nor
fear its want. " And they shall praise the Lord,
who seek Him." For the praise of the Lord is
the pouring out of that fulness. " Their hearts
shall live for ever and ever." For that food is
the food of the heart.
28. "All the borders of the earth shall re-
member themselves, and be turned to the Lord "
(ver. 27). They shall remember themselves:
for, by the Gentiles, born in death and bent on
outward things, God had been forgotten ; and
then shall all the borders of the earth be turned
to the Lord. "And all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship in His sight." And all
the kindreds of the nations shall worship in their
own consciences.
29. " For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He
shall rule over the nations" (ver. 28). For the
kingdom is the Lord's, not proud men's : and
He shall rule over the nations.
30. " All the rich of the earth have eaten, and
worshipped"2 (ver. 29). The rich of the earth
too have eaten the Body of their Lord's humilia-
tion, and though they have not, as the poor, been
filled even to imitation, yet they have worshipped.
" In His sight shall fall all that descend to earth."
For He alone seeth how all they fall, who aban-
doning a heavenly conversation, make choice,
on earth, to appear happy to men, who see not
their fall.
31. "And My Soul shall live to Him." And
My Soul, which in the contempt of this world
seems to men as it were to die, shall live, not to
itself, but to Him. "And My seed shall serve
Him" (ver. 30). And My deeds, or they who
through Me believe on Him, shall serve Him.
32. "The generation to come shall be declared
to the Lord " (ver. 31). The generation of the
New Testament shall be declared to the honour
of the Lord. "And the heavens shall declare
1 John viii. 50.
,'IHe
. ^re the African Psalter reads, "divite: ttrrtr," the counterpart
of pauptrci in ver. i6. Would this had been followed in our English,
which makes a ludicrous transition in this sublime prophecy. — C.J
His righteousness." And the Evangelists shall
declare His righteousness. " To a people that
shall be born, whom the Lord hath made." To
a people that shall be born to the Lord through
faith.
PSALM XXIII.3
A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. The Church speaks to Christ : "The Lord
feedeth me, and I shall lack nothing" (ver. 1).
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Shepherd, " and I
shall lack nothing."
2. " In a place of pasture there hath He placed
me" (ver. 2). In a place of fresh pasture,
leading me to faith,4 there hath He placed me
to be nourished. " By the water of refreshing
hath He brought me up." By the water of
baptism, whereby they are refreshed who have
lost health and strength, hath He brought me up.
3. " He hath converted my soul : He hath
led me forth in the paths of righteousness, for
His Name's sake" (ver. 3). He hath brought
me forth in the narrow ways, wherein few walk,
of His righteousness ; not for my merit's sake,
but for His Name's sake.
4. " Yea, though I walk in the midst of the
shadow of death" (ver. 4). Yea, though I walk
in the midst of this life, which is the shadow of
death. 5 "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with
me." I will fear no evil, for Thou dwellest in my
heart by faith : and Thou art now with me, that
after the shadow of death I too may be with
Thee. " Thy rod and Thy staff, they have com-
forted me." Thy discipline, like a rod for a
flock of sheep, and like a staff for children of
some size, and growing out of the natural into
spiritual life, they have not been grievous to me ;
rather have they comforted me : because Thou
art mindful of me.
5. "Thou hast prepared a table in my sight,
against them that trouble me" (ver. 5). Now
after the rod, whereby, whilst a little one, and
living the natural life, I was brought up among
the flock in the pastures ; after that rod, I say,
when I began to be under the staff, Thou hast
prepared a table in my sight, that I should no
more be fed as a babe with milk,6 but being older
should take meat, strengthened against them that
trouble me. " Thou hast fattened my head with
oil." Thou hast gladdened my mind with spirit-
ual joy. " And Thy inebriating cup, how excel-
lent is it ! " And Thy cup yielding forgetfulness
of former vain delights, how excellent is it !
6. "And Thy mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life : " that is, as long as I live in this
mortal life, not Thine, but mine. " That I may
* Lat. XXII. * Pascua incipientis.
5 [Note this very comprehensive comment on the real meaning of
the valley. —C.J
6 1 Cor. iii. a.
Psalm XXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
61
dwell in the house of the Lord ' for length of days "
(ver. 6). Now Thy mercy shall follow nie not
here only, but also that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord for ever.
PSALM XXIV."
A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF, ON THE FIRST DAY
OF THE WEEK.5
1. A Psalm of David himself, touching the
glorifying and resurrection of the Lord, which
took place early in the morning on the first day
of the week, which is now called the Lord's Day.
2. " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
thereof, the compass of the world, and all they
that dwell therein" (ver. i) ; when the Lord,
being glorified, is announced for the believing of
all nations ; and the whole compass of the world
becomes His Church. " He hath founded it
above the seas." He hath most firmly estab-
lished it above all the waves of this world, that
they should be subdued by it, and should not
hurt it. "And hath prepared it above the
rivers" (ver. 2). The rivers flow into the sea,
and men of lust lapse into the world : these also
the Church, which, when worldly lusts have been
conquered by the grace of God, hath been pre-
pared by love for the reception of immortality,
subdues.
3. " Who shall ascend into the mount of the
Lord ? " Who shall ascend to the height of the
righteousness of the Lord ? " Or who shall stand
in His holy place ? " (ver. 3). Or who shall abide
in that place, whither He shall ascend,4 founded
above the seas, and prepared above the rivers ?
4. " The innocent of hand, and the pure in
heart " (ver. 4) . Who then shall ascend thither,
and abide there, but the guiltless in deed, and
pure in thought? "Who hath not received his
soul in vain." Who hath not reckoned his soul
among things that pass away, but feeling it to be
immortal, hath longed for an eternity stedfast
and unchangeable. "And hath not sworn in
deceit to his neighbour." And therefore without
deceit, as things eternal are simple and undeceiv-
ing, hath so behaved himself to his neighbour.
5. "This man shall receive blessing from the
Lord, and mercy from the God of his salvation " 5
(ver. s).
6. " This is the generation of them that seek
the Lord " (ver. 6). For thus are they born that
seek Him. " Of them that seek the face of the
God of Jacob.6 Diapsalma." Now they seek
1 [He applies the figures of ver. 5 and here to the Lord's Table, the
chrism {i.e., confirmation), and the Church in time and eternity. — C .1
* Lat. XXIII.
3 [Surely a foretokening of our Sunday. — C]
* At. "hath ascended.
* [Light, resurrection, and sanctification are the glories of the
Lord's Day, and " this man " inherits all this. — C.l
6 [" Cod of Jacob." So the Vulgate, after the Septuagint. — C]
the face of God, who gave the pre-eminence to
the younger born.7
7. " Take away your gates, ye princes " (ver.
7). All ye, that seek rule among men, remove,
that they hinder not, the entrances which ye have
made, of desire and fear. " And be ye lift up,
ye everlasting gates." And be ye lift up, ye
entrances of eternal life, of renunciation of the
world, and conversion to God. " And the King
of glory shall come in." And the King, in whom
we may glory without pride, shall come in :
who having overcome the gates of death, and
having opened for Himself the heavenly places,
fulfilled that which He said, " Be of good cheer,
for I have overcome the world." 8
8. "Who is this King of glory?" Mortal
nature is awe-struck in wonder, and asks, " Who
is this King of glory ? " " The Lord strong and
mighty." He whom thou didst deem weak
and overwhelmed. " The Lord mighty in battle "
(ver. 8). Handle the scars, and thou wilt find
them made whole, and human weakness re-
stored to immortality. The glorifying of the
Lord, which was owing to earth, where It warred
with death, hath been paid.
9. " Take away your gates, ye princes." '
Let us go hence straightway into heaven.
Again, let the Prophet's trumpet cry aloud,
" Take away too, ye princes of the air, the gates,
which ye have in the minds of men who
' worship the host of heaven.' " '° " And be ye
lift up, ye everlasting gates." And be ye lift
up, ye doors of everlasting righteousness, of
love, and chastity, through which the soul loveth
the One True God, and goeth not a-whoring
with the many that are called gods. " And the
King of glory shall come in" (ver. 9). "And
the King of glory shall come in," that He may
at the right hand of the Father intercede for us.
10. "Who is this King of glory?" What!
dost thou too, prince of the power of this air,"
marvel and ask, " Who is this King of glory ? "
" The Lord of powers, He is the King of glory "
(ver. 10). Yea, His Body now quickened, He
who was tempted marches above thee ; He who
was tempted by the angel, the deceiver, goes
above all angels. Let none of you put himself
before us and stop our way, that he may be
worshipped as a god by us : neither principal-
ity, nor angel, nor power, separateth us from
the love of Christ.'2 It is good to trust in the
Lord, rather than to trust in a prince ; '3 that he
who glorieth, should glory in the Lord.14 These
indeed are powers in the administration of this
world, but " the Lord of powers, He is the King
of glory."
7 Rom. ix. 13. 8 John xvi. 33.
9 [" Ye princes." So Septuagint and Vulgate. — C]
10 a Kings xvii. 16. " Eph. ii. 2. " Rom. viii. 39.
" Ps. cxviii. 9. ■** 1 Cor. i. 31.
62
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXV.
PSALM XXV.'
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF.*
i. Christ speaks, but in the person of the
Church : for what is said has reference rather to
the Christian People turned unto God.
2. "Unto Thee, O Lord, have I lift up my
soul" (ver. i) : with spiritual longing have I
lift up the soul, that was trodden down on the
earth with carnal longings. " O my God, in
Thee I trust, I shall not be ashamed " (ver. 2).
0 my God, from trusting in myself I was
brought even to this weakness of the flesh ; and
1 who on abandoning God wished to be as God,
fearing death from the smallest insect, was in
derision ashamed for my pride ; now, therefore,
" in Thee I trust, I shall not be ashamed."
3. " And let not my enemies mock me."
And let them not mock me, who by ensnaring
me with serpent-like and secret suggestions, and
prompting me with "Well done, well done,"
have brought me down to this. " For all that wait
upon Thee shall not be confounded " (ver. 3).
4. " Let them be confounded who do vain
things unrighteously." Let them be confounded
who act unrighteously for the acquiring things
that pass away. " Make Thy ways, O Lord,
known to me, and teach me Thy paths " (ver. 4) :
not those which are broad, and lead the many to
destruction ; 3 but Thy paths, narrow, and known
to few, teach Thou me.
5. " In Thy truth guide me : " avoiding error.
" And teach me : " for by myself I know nothing,
but falsehood. " For Thou art the God of my
salvation ; and for Thee have I waited all the
day" (ver. 5). For dismissed by Thee from
Paradise, and having taken my journey into a
far country,* I cannot by myself return, unless
Thou meetest the wanderer : for my return hath
throughout the whole tract of this world's time
waited for Thy mercy.
6. " Remember Thy compassions, O Lord "
(ver. 6). Remember the works of Thy mercy,
O Lord; for men deem of Thee as though
Thou hadst forgotten. " And that Thy mercies
are from eternity." And remember this, that
Thy mercies are from eternity. For Thou never
wast without them, who hast subjected even
sinful man to vanity indeed, but in hope ; * and
not deprived him of so many and great con-
solations of Thy creation.
7. " Remember not the offences of my youth
and of my ignorance" (ver. 7). The offences
of my presumptuous boldness and of my igno-
rance reserve not for vengeance, but let them be
as if forgotten by Thee. "According to Thy
mercy, be mindful of me, O God." Be mindful
> Lat XXIV.
3 Matt. vii. 13.
« f Alphabetical Psalm.— C]
* Luke av. 13. 5 Rom. viii. ao.
indeed of me, not according to the anger of
which I am worthy, but according to Thy mercy
which is worthy of Thee. " For Thy goodness,
O Lord." Not for my deservings, but for Thy
goodness, O Lord.
8. " Gracious and upright is the Lord " (ver.
8). The Lord is gracious, since even sinners
and the ungodly He so pitied, as to forgive all
that is past ; but the Lord is upright too, who
after the mercy of vocation and pardon, which is
of grace without merit, will require merits meet
for the last judgment. "Wherefore He will
establish a law for them that fail in the way."
For He hath first bestowed mercy to bring them
into the way.
9. " He will guide the meek in judgment."
He will guide the meek, and will not confound
in the judgment those that follow His will, and
do not, in withstanding It, prefer their own.
"The gentle He will teach His ways" (ver. 9).
He will teach His ways, not to those that desire
to run before, as if they were better able to rule
themselves ; but to those who do not exalt the
neck, nor lift the heel, when the easy yoke and
the light burden is laid upon them.6
10. " All the ways of the Lord are mercy and
truth " (ver. 10). And what ways will He teach
them, but mercy wherein He is placable, and
truth wherein He is incorrupt ? Whereof He hath
exhibited the one in forgiving sins, the other in
judging deserts. And therefore " all the ways of
the Lord " are the two advents of the Son of God,
the one in mercy, the other in judgment. He
then attaineth unto Him holding on His ways,
who seeing himself freed by no deserts of his
own, lays pride aside, and henceforward bewares
of the severity of His trial, having experienced
the clemency of His help. " To them that seek
His testament and His testimonies." For they
understand the Lord as merciful at His first ad-
vent, and as the Judge at His second, who in
meekness and gentleness seek His testament,
when with His Own Blood He redeemed us to a
new life ; and in the Prophets and Evangelists,
His testimonies.
11. "For Thy Name's sake, O Lord, Thou
wilt be favourable to my sin ; for it is manifold "
(ver. 11). Thou hast not only forgiven my sins,
which I committed before I believed ; but also to
my sin, which is manifold, since even in the way
there is no lack of stumbling, Thou wilt be made
favourable by the sacrifice of a troubled spirit.'
12. "Who is the man that feareth the Lord?"
from which fear he begins to come to wisdom.
" He shall establish a law for him in the way,
which he hath chosen" (ver. 12). He shall
establish a law for him in the way, which in his
6 Matt. xi. 30.
' [Here our author, as did St. Chrysostom, treats true contrition
as completed by pardon, without sacramental absolution. — C]
Psalm XXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
63
freedom he has taken, that he may not sin now
with impunity.
13. " His soul shall dwell in good, and his seed
shall, by inheritance, possess the earth "(ver. 13) .
And his work shall possess the stable inherit-
ance of a renewed body.
14. " The Lord is the stay of them that fear
Him" (ver. 14). Fear seems to belong to the
weak, but the Lord is the stay of them that fear
Him. And the Name of the Lord, which hath
been glorified throughout the whole world, is a
stay to them that fear Him. " And His testa-
ment, that it may be manifested unto them."
And He maketh His testament to be manifested
unto them, for the Gentiles and the bounds of
the earth are Christ's inheritance.
15. " Mine eyes are ever unto the Lord ; for
He shall pluck my feet out of the snare " (ver.
15). Nor would I fear the dangers of earth,
while I look not upon the earth : for He upon
whom I look, will pluck my feet out of the snare.
16. " Look upon me, and have mercy upon
me; for I am single and poor" (ver. 16). For
I am a single people, keeping the lowliness of
Thy single Church, which no schisms or heresies
possess.
1 7. " The tribulations of my heart have been
multiplied" (ver. 17). The tribulations of my
heart have been multiplied by the abounding of
iniquity and the waxing cold of love.1 " O bring
Thou me out of my necessities." Since I must
needs bear this, that by enduring unto the end I
may be saved, bring Thou me out of my necessi-
ties.
18. "See my humility and my travail" (ver.
18). See my humility, whereby I never, in the
boast of righteousness, break off from unity ;
and my travail, wherein I bear with the unruly
ones that are mingled with me. " And forgive
all my sins." And, propitiated by these sacri-
fices, forgive all my sins, not those only of youth
and my ignorance before I believed, but those
also which, living now by faith, I commit through
infirmity, or the darkness of this life.
19. "Consider mine enemies, how they are
multiplied" (ver. 19). For not only without,
but even within, in the Church's very communion,
they are not wanting. " And with an unrighteous
hate they hate me." And they hate me who
love them.
20. " Keep my soul, and deliver me." Keep
my soul, that I turn not aside to imitate them ;
and draw me out from the confusion wherein
they are mingled with me. " Let me not be
confounded, for I have put my trust in Thee "
(ver. 20). Let me not be confounded, if haply
they rise up against me : for not in myself, but
in Thee have I put my trust.
1 Matt. xxiv. xa.
21. "The innocent and the upright have
cleaved to me, for I have waited for Thee, O
Lord " (ver. 21). The innocent and the upright,
not in bodily presence only, as the evil, are min-
gled with me, but in the agreement of the heart
in the same innocence and uprightness cleave to
me : for I have not fallen away to imitate the
evil ; but I have waited for Thee, expecting the
winnowing of Thy last harvest.2
22. "Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his
troubles " (ver. 22). " Redeem Thy people, O
God," whom Thou hast prepared to see Thee,
out of his troubles, not those only which he
bears without, but those also which he bears
within.
PSALM XXVI.J
OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. It may be attributed to David himself,
not the Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus, but
the whole Church now perfectly established in
Christ.
2. " Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in
my innocence" (ver. 1). Judge me, O Lord,
for, after the mercy which Thou first showedst 4
me, I have some desert of my innocence, the
way whereof I have kept. "And trusting in
the Lord I shall not be moved." And yet not
even so trusting in myself, but in the Lord, I
shall abide in Him.
3. " Prove me, O Lord, and try me " (ver. 2).
Lest, however, any of my secret sins should be
hid from me, prove me, O Lord, and try me,
making me known, not to Thee from whom
nothing is hid, but to myself, and to men.
" Burn my reins and my heart." Apply a remedial
purgation, as it were fire, to my pleasures and
thoughts. " For Thy mercy is before mine eyes "
(ver. 3). For, that I be not consumed by that
fire, not my merits, but Thy mercy, whereby
Thou hast brought me on to such a life, is before
my eyes. "And I have been pleasing in Thy
truth." And since my own falsehood hath been
displeasing to me, but Thy truth pleasing, I have
myself been pleasing also with it and in it.
4. " I have not sat with the council of vanity "
(ver. 4). I have not chosen to give my heart
to them who endeavour to provide, what is impos-
sible, how they may be blessed in the enjoyment
of things transitory. " And I will not enter in
with them that work wickedly." And since this
is the very cause of all wickedness, therefore I
will not have my conscience hid, with them that
work wickedly.
5. " I have hated the congregation of evil
doers." But to arrive at this council of vanity,
congregations of evil doers are formed, which I
have hated. " And I will not sit with the un-
" [So the dying Jacob, Gen. xlix. 18. — C. ]
* Prarogasti.
3 Lat. XXV.
64
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXVII.
godly" (ver. 5). And, therefore, with such a
council, with the ungodly, I will not sit, that is,
I will not place my consent.' "And I will not
sit with the ungodly."
6. " I will wash mine hands amid the inno-
cent" (ver. 6). I will make clean my works
among the innocent: among the innocent will
I wash mine hands, with which I shall embrace
Thy glorious gifts.2 " And I will compass Thy
altar, O Lord." J
7. " That I may hear the voice of Thy praise."
That I may learn how to praise Thee. " And
that I may declare all Thy wondrous works "
(ver. 7). And after I have learnt, I may set
forth all Thy wondrous works.
8. " O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy
house : " of Thy Church. " And the place of
the habitation of Thy glory " (ver. 8) : where
Thou dwellest, and art glorified.
9. " Destroy not my soul with the ungodly "
(ver. 9). Destroy not then, together with them
that hate Thee, my soul, which hath loved the
beauty of Thy house. " And my life with the
men of blood." And with them that hate their
neighbour. For Thy house is beautified with the
two commandments.4
10. " In whose hands is wickedness." De-
stroy me not then with the ungodly and the
men of blood, whose works are wicked. " Their
right hand is full of gifts" (ver. 10). And that
which was given them to obtain eternal salvation,
they have converted into the receiving this world's
gifts, " supposing that godliness is a trade." 5
11. "But I have walked in mine innocence:
deliver me, and have mercy on me" (ver. 11).
Let so great a price of my Lord's Blood avail for
my complete deliverance : and in the dangers of
this life let not Thy mercy leave me.
12. "My foot hath stood in uprightness."
My Love hath not withdrawn from Thy righteous-
ness. " In the Churches I will bless Thee, O
Lord" (ver. 12). I will not hide Thy bless-
ing, O Lord, from those whom Thou hast called ;
for next to the love of Thee I join the love of
my neighbour.
PSALM XXVII.6
OF DAVID HIMSELF, BEFORE HE WAS ANOINTED.7
i. Christ's young soldier speaketh, on his
coming to the faith. " The Lord is my light, and
my salvation: whom shall I fear?" (ver. 1).
The Lord will give me both knowledge of Him-
self, and salvation : who shall take me from Him ?
1 Placitum non collocabo.
into 1
-C]
' [We are " made unto our Goi, priests. " — C.J
4 [Matt. xxii. 40.
• Lat. XXVI.
2 Sublimits tuts,
■tests." — C.J
* 1 Tim. vi. 5.
' [In the Second Exposition he dwells on the spiritual chrism,
from which the Son of David is called Christ ; affirms that Chris-
tians partake of the tame anointing; speaking of confirmation as
their sacramental anointing and what it implies. — C.J
" The Lord is the Protector of my life : of whom
shall I be afraid? " The Lord will repel all the
assaults and snares of mine enemy : of no man
shall I be afraid.
2. " Whilst the guilty approach unto me to eat
up my flesh" (ver. 2). Whilst the guilty come
near to recognise and insult me, that they may
exalt themselves above me in my change for the
better ; that with their reviling tooth they may
consume not me, but rather my fleshly desires.
" Mine enemies who trouble me." Not they only
who trouble me, blaming me with a friendly
intent, and wishing to recall me from my purpose,
but mine enemies also. " They became weak,
and fell." 8 Whilst then they do this with the
desire of defending their own opinion, they
became weak to believe better things, and began
to hate the word of salvation, whereby I do what
displeases them.
3. " If camps stand together against me, my
heart will not fear." But if the multitude of gain-
sayers conspire to stand together against me, my
heart will not fear, so as to go over to their side.
" If war rise up against me, in this will I trust "
(ver. 3). If the persecution of this world arise
against me, in this petition, which I am ponder-
ing, will I place my hope.
4. " One have I asked of the Lord, this will
I require." For one petition have I asked the
Lord, this will I require. " That I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life "
(ver. 4). That as long as I am in this life,
no adversities may exclude me from the number
of them who hold the unity and the truth of the
Lord's faith throughout the world. " That I may
contemplate the delight of the Lord." With
this end, namely, that persevering in the faith,
the delightsome vision may appear to me, which
I may contemplate face to face. " And I shall
be protected, His temple." And death being
swallowed up in victory, I shall be clothed with
immortality, being made His temple.'
5. " For He hath hidden me in His taberna-
cle in the day of my evils" (ver. 5). For He
hath hidden me in the dispensation of His In-
carnate Word in the time of temptations, to
which my mortal life is exposed. " He hath pro-
tected me in the secret place of His tabernacle."
He hath protected me, with the heart believing
unto righteousness.
6. " On a rock hath He exalted me." And
that what I believed might be made manifest
for salvation, He hath made my confession to be
conspicuous in His own strength. " And now,
lo ! He hath exalted mine head above mine ene-
mies " (ver. 6). What doth He reserve for me
• [A minute prophecy. John xviii. 6. — O]
9 [The Old Latin of this charming verse seems to have read,
"One hope have I desired," etc. See Cyprian, A. N. F. vol. v.
p. 501. — C]
Psalm XXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
65
at the last, when even now the body is dead be-
cause of sin, lo ! I feel that my mind serves
the law of God, and is not led captive under the
rebellious law of sin ? " I have gone about, and
have sacrificed in His tabernacle the sacrifice of
rejoicing." I have considered the circuit of the
world, believing on Christ ; and in that for us
God was humbled in time, I have praised Him
with rejoicing : for with such sacrifice He is well
pleased. " I will sing and give praises to the
Lord." In heart and in deed I will be glad in
the Lord.
7. " Hear my voice, O Lord, wherewith I have
cried unto Thee" (ver. 7). Hear, Lord, my
interior voice, which with a strong intention I
have addressed to Thy ears. " Have mercy
upon me, and hear me." Have mercy upon me,
and hear me therein.
8. " My heart hath said to Thee, I have sought
Thy countenance" (ver. 8). For I have not
exhibited myself to men ; but in secret, where
Thou alone hearest, my heart hath said to Thee ;
I have not sought from Thee aught without Thee
as a reward, but Thy countenance. " Thy coun-
tenance, O Lord, will I seek." In this search
will I perseveringly persist : for not aught that
is common, but Thy countenance, O Lord, will
I seek, that I may love Thee freely, since noth-
ing more precious do I find.
9. "Turn not away Thy face from me"
(ver. 9) : that I may find what I seek. "Turn
not aside in anger from Thy servant : " lest, while
seeking Thee, I fall in with somewhat else. For
what is more grievous than this punishment to
one who loveth and seeketh the truth of Thy
countenance? "Be Thou my Helper." How
shall I find it, if Thou help me not? "Leave
me not, neither despise me, O God my Saviour."
Scorn not that a mortal dares to seek the Eter-
nal ; for Thou, God, dost heal the wound of my
sin.
10. " For my father and my mother have left
me" (ver. 10). For the kingdom of this world
and the city of this world, of which I was born
in time and mortality, have left me seeking Thee,
and despising what they promised, since they
could not give what I seek. " But the Lord
took me up." But the Lord, who can give me
Himself, took me up.
n. " Appoint me a law, O Lord, in Thy way "
(ver. 11). For me then who am setting out
toward Thee, and commencing so great a pro-
fession, of arriving at wisdom, from fear, appoint,
O Lord, a law in Thy way, lest in my wandering
Thy rule abandon me. " And direct me in the
right path because of mine enemies." And di-
rect me in the right way of its straits. For it is
not enough to begin, since enemies cease not
until the end is attained.
12. "Deliver me not up unto the souls of
them that trouble me" (ver. 12). Suffer not
them that trouble me to be satiated with my
evils. " For unrighteous witnesses have risen up
against me." For there have risen up against
me they that speak falsely of me, to remove and
call me back from Thee, as if I seek glory of
men. " And iniquity hath lied unto itself."
Therefore iniquity hath been pleased with its own
lie. For me it hath not moved, to whom be-
cause of this there hath been promised a greater
reward in heaven.
13. "I believe to see the good things of the
Lord in the land of the living" (ver. 13). And
since my Lord hath first suffered these things,
if I too despise the tongues of the dying (" for
the mouth that lieth slayeth the soul" ■), I be-
lieve to see the good things of the Lord in the
land of the living, where there is no place for
falsity.
14. "Wait on the Lord, quit thyself like a
man : and let thy heart be strong, yea wait on
the Lord" (ver. 14). But when shall this be?
It is arduous for a mortal, it is slow to a lover :
but listen to the voice, that deceiveth not, of
him that saith, " Wait on the Lord." Endure
the burning of the reins manfully, and the burn-
ing of the heart stoutly. Think not that what
thou dost not as yet receive is denied thee. That
thou faint not in despair, see how it is said,
" Wait on the Lord." 2
PSALM XXVIII.3
OF DAVID HIMSELF.
i. It is the Voice of the Mediator Himself,
strong of hand in the conflict of the Passion.
Now what He seems to wish for against His
enemies, is not the wish of malevolence, but the
declaration of their punishment ; as in the Gos-
pel,4 with the cities, in which though He had
performed miracles, yet they had not believed
on Him, He doth not wish in any evil will what
He saith, but predicteth what is impending over
them.
2. " Unto Thee, O Lord, have I cried ; 5 My
God, be not silent from me " (ver. 1 ) . Unto
Thee, O Lord, have I cried ; My God, separate
not the unity of Thy Word from that which as
Man I am. " Lest at any time Thou be silent
from me : and I shall be like them that go down
into the pit." For from this, that the Eternity
of Thy Word ceaseth not to unite Itself to Me,
it comes that I am not such a man as the rest of
men, who are born into the deep misery of this
■ Wisd. i. It.
2 JOn the first three verses of this Psalm, see Origen, A. N. F.
vol. iv. pp. 333, 575, 649. Compare Cyprian, A. N. F. vol. iv.
p. 501. — C.l
3 Lat. XXVII. „ < Matt. xi. 20-24.
5 f The Greek and Vulgate omit the epithet of the Hebrew, " My
Rock, which is the link with the Psalm foregoing (ver. 5), and the
key to other parallels. St. Jerome renders \\tfortti mens. — C]
66
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXIX.
world : where, as if Thou art silent, Thy Word
is not recognised. " Hear, O Lord, the voice of
my supplication, whilst I pray unto Thee, whilst
I hold up my hands to Thy holy temple "(ver. 2).
Whilst I am crucified for their salvation, who on
believing become Thy holy temple.
3. " Draw not My Soul away with sinners, and
destroy me not with them that work iniquity, with
them that speak peace with their neighbours "
(ver. 3). With them that say unto Me, "We
know that Thou art a Master come from God." '
" But evil in their hearts." But they speak evil
in their hearts.
4. " Give unto them according to their works "
(ver. 4). Give unto them according to their
works, for this is just. " And according to the
malice of their affections." ' For aiming at evil,
they cannot discover good. " According to the
works of their hands give Thou unto them."
Although what they have done may avail for
salvation to others, yet give Thou unto them
according to the works of their wills. " Pay
them their recompense." Because, for the truth
which they heard, they wished to recompense
deceit ; let their own deceit deceive them.
5. " For they have not had understanding in
the works of the Lord " (ver. 5). And whence
is it clear that this hath befallen them ? From
this forsooth, " for they have not had under-
standing in the works of the Lord." This very
thing, in truth, hath been, even now, their rec-
ompense, that in Him whom they tempted with
malicious intent as a Man, they should not rec-
ognise God, with what design the Father sent
Him in the Flesh. " And the works of His
hands." Nor be moved by those visible works,
which are laid out before their very eyes.
" Thou shalt destroy them, and not build them
up." Let them do Me no hurt, nay, nor again
in their endeavour to raise engines against My
Church, let them aught avail.
6. " Blessed be the Lord, for He hath heard
the voice of My prayer " (ver. 6).
7. "The Lord My Helper and My Protector"
(ver. 7). The Lord helping Me in so great
sufferings, and protecting Me with immortality
in My resurrection. " In Him hath My Heart
trusted, and I have been helped." i' And My
Flesh hath flourished again : " that is, and My
Flesh hath risen again. " And of my will I will
confess unto Him." Wherefore, the fear of
death being now destroyed, not by the necessity
of fear under the Law, but with a free will with
the Law, shall they who believe on Me, confess
unto Him; and because I am in them, I will
confess.
8. "The Lord is the strength of His people "
(ver. 8). Not that people "ignorant of the
> John iii. 3.
* At. ajfcctationum, " aims.'*
righteousness of God, and willing to establish
their own." J For they thought not themselves
strong in themselves : for the Lord is the strength
of His people, struggling in this life's difficulties
with the devil. " And the protector of the sal-
vation of His Christ." That, having saved them
by His Christ, after the strength of war, He may
protect them at the last with the immortality of
peace.
9. " Save Thy people, and bless Thine inher-
itance" (ver. 9). I intercede therefore, after
My Flesh hath flourished again, because Thou
hast said, " Desire of Me, and I will give Thee
the heathen for Thine inheritance ; "* " Save Thy
people, and bless Thine inheritance : " for " all
Mine are Thine." 5 " And rule them, and set
them up even for ever." And rule them in this
temporal life, and raise them from hence into
life eternal.
PSALM XXIX.6
A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF, OF THE CONSUMMA-
TION OF THE TABERNACLE.
i. A Psalm of the Mediator Himself, strong
of hand, of the perfection of the Church in this
world, where she wars in time against the devil.
2. The Prophet speaks, " Bring unto the Lord,
O ye Sons of God, bring unto the Lord the
young of rams" (ver. 1). Bring unto the Lord
yourselves, whom the Apostles, the leaders of
the flocks, have begotten by the Gospel.7
"Bring unto the Lord glory and honour" (ver.
2). By your works let the Lord be glorified and
honoured. " Bring unto the Lord glory to His
name." Let Him be made known gloriously
throughout the world. " Worship the Lord in
His holy court." Worship the Lord in your
heart enlarged and sanctified. For ye are His
regal holy habitation.
3. " The Voice of the Lord is upon the
waters" (ver. 3). The Voice of Christ is upon
the peoples. " The God of majesty hath thun-
dered." The God of majesty, from the cloud
of the flesh, hath awfully preached repentance.
" The Lord is upon many waters." The Lord
Jesus Himself, after that He sent forth His Voice
upon the peoples, and struck them with awe,
converted them to Himself, and dwelt in them.
4. "The Voice of the Lord is in power"
(ver. 4). The Voice of the Lord now in them
themselves, making them powerful. " The Voice
of the Lord is in great might." The Voice of
the Lord working great things in them.
5. "The Voice of the Lord breaking the
cedars " (ver. 5). The Voice of the Lord hum-
bling the proud in brokenness of heart. " The
Lord shall break the cedars of Libanus." The
Lord by repentance shall break them that are
3 Rom x. 3.
» Lat. XXVIII.
* Ps ii. 8.
7 1 Cor. iv. 15.
5 John xvii. xo.
Psalm XXX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
67
lifted on high by the splendour of earthly nobility,
when to confound them He shall have " chosen
the base things of this world," ' in the which to
display His Divinity.
6. " And shall bruise them as the calf of
Libanus " (ver. 6). And when their proud ex-
altation hath been cut off, He will lay them low
after the imitation of His Own humility, who
like a calf was led to slaughter2 by the nobility
of this world. " For the kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers agreed together against the
Lord, and against His Christ."3 "And the Be-
loved is as the young of the unicorns." For
even He the Beloved, and the Only One of the
Father, "emptied Himself" of His glory; and
was made man,4 like a child of the Jews, that
were " ignorant of God's righteousness," 5 and
proudly boasting of their own righteousness as
peculiarly theirs.
7. " The Voice of the Lord cutting short the
flame of fire " (ver. 7). The Voice of the Lord,
without any harm to Himself, passing through
all the exciud ardour of them that persecute
Him, or dividing the furious rage of His perse-
cutors, so that some should say, " Is not this
haply the very Christ ; " others, " Nay ; but He
deceiveth the people : " 6 and so cutting short
their mad tumult, as to pass some- over into His
love, and leave others in their malice.
8. " The Voice of the Lord moving the wilder-
ness " (ver. 8). The Voice of the Lord moving
to the faith the Gentiles once " without hope,
and without God in the world ; " 7 where no
prophet, no preacher of God's word, as it were,
no man had dwelt. " And the Lord will move
the desert of Cades." And then the Lord will
cause the holy word of His Scriptures to be fully
known, which was abandoned by the Jews who
understood it not.
9. "The Voice of the Lord perfecting the
stags"3 (ver. 9). For the Voice of the Lord
hath first perfected them that overcame and re-
pelled the envenomed tongues. 9 " And will
reveal the woods." And then will He reveal to
them the darknesses of the Divine books, and.
the shadowy depths of the mysteries, where they
may feed with freedom. " And in His temple
doth every man speak of His glory." And in
His Church all born again to an eternal hope
praise God, each for His own gift, which He
hath received from the Holy Spirit.
10. "The Lord inhabiteth the deluge" (ver.
10). The Lord therefore first inhabiteth the
deluge of this world in His Saints, kept safely in
1 1 Cor. i. 28
« Phil. ii. 7.
1 Eph. "
2 Isa. liii. 7.
5 Rom. x. 3.
3 Ps. ii. 2.
6 John vii. 41, 12.
fc.ph. 11. 12.
8 [Jerome's Hebraic version reads, Vox Domini obstetricans
cervas, which the Authorized English follows. — C]
9 Plin. Hitt. Nat. viii. 32 and xxviii. 9 says, that they bring ser-
rnts out of their holes with their breath, and kill and eat them. See
Greg. Mor. xxx. 36.
the Church, as in the ark. " And the Lord shall
sit a King for ever." And afterward He will
sit reigning in them for ever.
n. "The Lord will give strength to His
people " IO (ver. 1 1 ) . For the Lord will give
strength to His people fighting against the
storms and whirlwinds of this world, for peace
in this world He hath not promised them."
" The Lord will bless His people in peace."
And the same Lord will bless His people, afford-
ing them peace in Himself; for, saith He, " My
peace I give unto you, My peace I leave with
you." "
PSALM XXX.'3
TO THE END, THE PSALM OF THE CANTICLE '« OF
THE DEDICATION OF THE HOUSE, OF DAVID
HIMSELF.
i. To the end, a Psalm of the joy of the
Resurrection, and the change, the renewing of
the body to an immortal state, and not only
of the Lord, but also of the whole Church. For
in the.former Psalm the tabernacle was finished,
wherein we dwell in the time of war : but now
the house is dedicated, which will abide in
peace everlasting.
2. It is then whole Christ who speaketh.
" I will exalt Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast taken
Me up" (ver. i). I will praise Thy high
Majesty, O Lord, for Thou hast taken Me up.
" Thou hast not made Mine enemies to rejoice
over Me." And those, who have so often en-
deavoured to oppress Me with various persecu-
tions throughout the world, Thou hast not made
to rejoice over Me.
3. " O Lord, My God, I have cried unto
Thee, and Thou hast healed Me" (ver. 2). O
Lord, My God, I have cried unto Thee, and I
no longer bear about a body enfeebled and sick
by mortality.
4. " O Lord, Thou hast brought back My
Soul from hell, and Thou hast saved Me from
them that go down into the pit" (ver. 3).
Thou hast saved Me from the condition of pro-
found darkness, and the lowest slough of corrupt-
ible flesh.
5. "Sing to the Lord, O ye saints of His."
The prophet seeing these future things, rejoiceth,
and saith, " Sing to the Lord, O ye saints of His.
And make confession of the remembrance of
His holiness" (ver. 4). And make confession
to Him, that He hath not forgotten the sanc-
tification, wherewith He hath sanctified you,
although all this intermediate period belong to
your desires.
6. " For in His indignation is wrath " (ver. 5).
|° [This Psalm was referred to Pentecost by the Jews, and to the
giving of the law. Heb. xii. :8-ai. — C]
" John xvi. 33. « John xiv. 27. » Lat. XXIX.
l* [A shir, or *' song." So Psalm xvtii. —shirah, the only two
instances in the first division of the Psalter, forty-one Psalms. — C.J
68
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXI.
For He hath avenged against you the first sin,
for which you have paid by death. " And life
in His will." And life eternal, whereunto you
could not return by any strength of your own,
hath He given, because He so would. " In the
evening weeping will tarry." Evening began,
when the light of wisdom withdrew from sinful
man, when he was condemned to death : from
this evening weeping will tarry, as long as God's
people are, amid labours and temptations, await-
ing the day of the Lord. " And exultation in
the morning." Even to the morning, when
there will be the exultation of the resurrection,
which hath shone forth by anticipation in the
morning resurrection of the Lord.
7. " But I said in my abundance, I shall not
be moved for ever " (ver. 6). But I, that people
which was speaking from the first, said in mine
abundance, suffering now no more any want, " I
shall not be moved for ever."
8. " O Lord, in Thy will Thou hast afforded
strength unto my beauty" (ver. 7). But that
this my abundance, O Lord, is not of myself,
but that in Thy will Thou hast afforded strength
unto my beauty, I have learnt from this, " Thou
turnedst away Thy Face from me, and I became
troubled ; " for Thou hast sometimes turned
away Thy Face from the sinner, and I became
troubled, when the illumination of Thy knowl-
edge withdrew from me.
9. " Unto Thee, O Lord, will I cry, and unto
my God will I pray" (ver. 8). And bringing to
mind that time of my trouble and misery, and as
it were established therein, I hear the voice of
Thy First-Begotten, my Head, about to die for
me, and saying, " Unto Thee, O Lord, will I cry,
and unto My God will I pray."
10. "What profit" is there "in My bloody
whilst I go down to corruption?" (ver. 9)
What profit is there in the shedding of My blood,
whilst I go down to corruption? "Shall dust
confess unto Thee?" For if I shall not rise
immediately, and My body shall become corrupt,
"shall dust confess unto Thee?" that is, the
crowd of the ungodly, whom I shall justify by
My resurrection? "Or declare Thy truth?"
Or for the salvation of the rest declare Thy
truth?
11. "The Lord hath heard, and had mercy
on Me, the Lord hath become My helper."
Nor did " He suffer His holy One to see cor-
ruption" ' (ver. 10).
12. " Thou hast turned My mourning into joy
to Me " (ver. 11). Whom I, the Church, having
received, the First- Begotten from the dead,2 now
in the dedication of Thine house, say, "Thou
hast turned my mourning into joy to me. Thou
hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with
1 Pf. xvi. 10.
' Rev. L 5.
gladness." Thou hast torn off the veil of my
sins, the sadness of my mortality ; and hast
girded me with the first robe, with immortal
gladness.
13. "That my glory should sing unto Thee,
and I should not be pricked " (ver. 12). That
now, not my humiliation, but my glory should
not lament, but should sing unto Thee, for that
now out of humiliation Thou hast exalted me ;
and that I should not be pricked with the
consciousness of sin, with the fear of death, with
the fear of judgment. " O Lord, my God, I
will confess unto Thee for ever." And this is
my glory, O Lord, my God, that I should confess
unto Thee for ever, that I have nothing of
myself, but that all my good is of Thee, who
art " God, All in all." s
PSALM XXXI.t
TO THE END, A PSALM OF DAVID HIMSELF, AN
ECSTASY.5
i. To the end a Psalm of David Himself, the
Mediator strong of hand in persecutions. For
the word ecstasy, which is added to the title,
signifies a transport of the mind, which is pro-
duced either by a panic, or by some revelation.
But in this Psalm the panic of the people of God
troubled by the persecution of all the heathen,
and by the failing of faith throughout the world,
is principally seen. But first the Mediator Him-
self speaks : then the People redeemed by His
Blood gives thanks : at last in trouble it speaks
at length, which is what belongs to the ecstasy ;
but the Person of the Prophet himself is twice
interposed, near the end, and at the end.
2. " In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted, let Me
not be put to confusion for ever" (ver. 1).
In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted, let Me never
be confounded, whilst they shall insult Me as
one like other men. " In Thy righteousness
rescue Me, and deliver Me." And in Thy
righteousness rescue Me from the pit of death,
and deliver Me out of their company.
3. " Bend down Thine ear unto Me " (ver. 2).
Hear Me in My humiliation, nigh at hand unto
Me. " Make haste to deliver Me." Defer not
to the end of the world, as with all who believe
on Me, My separation from sinners. " Be unto
Me a God who protecteth Me." Be unto Me
God, and Protector. " And a house of refuge,
that Thou mayest save Me." And as a house,
wherein taking refuge I may be saved.
4. " For Thou art My strength, and My
refuge" (ver. 3). For Thou art unto Me My
strength to bear My persecutors, and My refuge
3 1 Cor. xv. 28. [This Psalm was used at Easter and Pentecost.
Compare Cyprian, vol. v. p. 525, A. N. F. — C]
* Lat. XXX.
3 [Borrowed from the Septuagint, where it is anticipated from
ver. 22. See p. 70, infra. — C.J
Psalm XXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
69
to escape them. "And for Thy Name's sake
Thou shalt be My guide, and shalt nourish Me."
And that by Me Thou mayest be known to all
the Gentiles, I will in all things follow Thy will ;
and, by assembling, by degrees, Saints unto Me,
Thou shalt fulfil My body, and My perfect
stature.
5. "Thou shalt bring Me out of this trap,
which they have hidden for Me" (ver. 4).
Thou shalt bring Me out of these snares, which
they have hidden for Me. " For Thou art My
Protector."
6. " Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit "
(ver. s ) . To Thy power I commend My Spirit,
soon to receive It back. " Thou hast redeemed
Me, O Lord God of truth." Let the people too,
redeemed by the Passion of their Lord, and joy-
ful in the glorifying of their Head, say, " Thou
hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth."
7. "Thou hatest them that hold to vanity
uselessly" (ver. 6). Thou hatest them that
hold to the false happiness of the world. " But
I have trusted in the Lord."
8. " I will be glad, and rejoice in Thy mercy : "
which doth not deceive me. " For Thou hast re-
garded My humiliation : " wherein Thou hast sub-
jected me to vanity in hope.1 " Thou hast saved
my soul from necessities" (ver. 7). Thou
hast saved my soul from the necessities of fear,
that with a free love it may serve Thee.
9. " And hast not shut me up into the hands
of the enemy " (ver. 8). And hast not shut me
up", that I should have no opening for recovering
unto liberty, and be given over for ever into the
power of the devil, ensnaring me with the desire
of this life, and terrifying me with death. " Thou
hast set my feet in a large room." The resurrec-
tion of my Lord being known, and mine own
being promised me, my love, having been brought
out of the straits of fear, walks abroad in con-
tinuance, into the expanse of liberty.
10. " Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am
troubled" (ver.o). But what is this unlooked-
for cruelty of the persecutors, striking such dread
into me? " Have mercy on me, O Lord." For
I am now no more alarmed for death, but for
torments and tortures. "Mine eye hath been
disordered by anger." I had mine eye upon
Thee, that Thou shouldest not abandon me :
Thou art angry, aid hast disordered it. " My
soul, and my belly." By the same anger my
soul hath been disturbed, and my memory,
whereby I retained what my God hath suffered
for me, and what He hath promised me.
11. "For my life hath failed in pain"
(ver. 10). For my life is to confess Thee, but
it failed in pain, when the enemy had said, Let
them be tortured until they deny Him. " And
1 Rom. viii. 20.
my years in groanings." The time that I pass
in this world is not taken away from me by death,
but abides, and is spent in groanings. " My
strength hath been weakened by want." I want
the health of this body, and racking pains come
on me : I want the dissolution of the body, and
death forbears to come : and in this want my
confidence hath been weakened. "And my
bones have been disturbed." And my stedfast-
ness hath been disturbed.
12. "I have been made a reproach above all
mine enemies" (ver. n). All the wicked are
my enemies ; and nevertheless they for their
wickednesses are tortured only till they confess :
I then have overpassed their reproach, I, whose
confession death doth not follow, but racking
pains follow upon it. " And to my neighbours
too much." This hath seemed too much .to
them, who were already drawing near to know
Thee, and to hold the faith that I hold. " And
a fear to mine acquaintance." And into my
very acquaintance I struck fear by the example
of my dreadful tribulation. " They that did see
me, fled without from me." Because they did
not understand my inward and invisible hope,
they fled from me into things outward and
visible.
13. "I have been forgotten, as one dead from
the heart" (ver. 12). And they have forgotten
me, as if I were dead from their hearts. " I
have become as a lost vessel." I have seemed
to myself to be lost to all the Lord's service,
living in this world, and gaining none, when all
were afraid to join themselves unto me.
14. " For I have heard the rebuking of many
dwelling by in a circuit " (ver. 13). For I have
heard many rebuking me, in the pilgrimage of
this world near me, following the circuit of time,
and refusing to return with me to the eternal
country. " Whilst they were assembling them-
selves together against me, they conspired that
they might take my soul." That my soul, which
should by death easily escape from their power,
might consent unto them, they imagined a de-
vice, whereby they would not suffer me even to
die.
15. "But I have hoped in Thee, O Lord; I
have said, Thou art my God" (ver. 14). For
Thou hast not changed, that Thou shouldest not
save, Who dost correct.
16. " In Thy hands " are " my lots " (ver. 15).
In Thy power are my lots. For I see no desert,
for which out of the universal ungodliness of the
human race Thou hast elected me particularly
to salvation. And though there be with Thee
some just and secret order in my election, yet
I, from whom this is hid, have attained by lot
unto my Lord's vesture.2 " Deliver me from the
3 John xix. 34.
7o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXII.
hands of mine enemies, and from them that per-
secute me."
1 7. " Make Thy Face to shine upon Thy ser-
vant" (ver. 16). Make it known to men, who
do not think that I belong unto Thee, that Thy
Face is bent upon me, and that I serve Thee.
" Save me in Thy mercy."
18. "O Lord, let me not be confounded, for
I have called upon Thee" (ver. 17). O Lord,
let me not be put to shame by those who insult
me, for that I have called upon Thee. "Let
the ungodly be ashamed, and be brought down
to hell." Let them rather who call upon stones
be ashamed, and made to dwell with darkness."
19. " Let the deceitful lips be made dumb"
(ver. 18). In making known to the peoples
Thy mysteries wrought in me, strike with dumb
amazement the lips of them that invent false-
hood of me. " Which speak iniquity against the
Righteous, in pride and contempt." Which
speak iniquity against Christ, in their pride and
contempt of Him as a crucified man.
20. " How great " is " the multitude of Thy
sweetness, O Lord " (ver. 19). Here the Prophet
exclaims, having sight of all this, and admiring
how manifoldly plenteous is Thy sweetness, O
Lord. "Which Thou hast hid for them that
fear Thee." Even those, whom Thou correctest,
Thou lovest much : but lest they should go on
negligently from relaxed security, Thou hidest
from them the sweetness of Thy love, for whom
it is profitable to fear Thee. " Thou hast per-
fected it for them that hope in Thee." But
Thou hast perfected this sweetness for them that
hope in Thee. For Thou dost not withdraw
from them what they look for perseveringly even
unto the end. " In sight of the sons of men."
For it does not escape the notice of the sons of
men, who now live no more after Adam, but
after the Son of Man. " Thou wilt hide them
in the hidden place of Thy Countenance : " which
seat Thou shalt preserve for everlasting in the
hidden place of the knowledge of Thee for them
that hope in Thee. " From the troubling of
men." So that now they suffer no more trouble
from men.
21." Thou wilt protect them in Thy taberna-
cle from the contradiction of tongues " (ver. 20) .
But here meanwhile whilst evil tongues murmur
against them, saying, Who hath known this? or,
Who hath come thence? Thou wilt protect
them in the tabernacle, that of faith in those
things, which the Lord wrought and endured
for us in time.
22. " Blessed be the Lord ; for He hath made
His mercy marvellous, in the city of compassing "
(ver. 21). Blessed be the Lord, for after the
correction of the sharpest persecutions He hath
1 Umbrit tocitntur.
made His mercy marvellous to all throughout
the world, in the circuit of human society.2
23. "I said in my ecstasy " s (ver. 22).
Whence that people again speaking saith, I said
in my fear, when the heathen were raging horri-
bly against me. " I have been cast forth from
the sight of Thine eyes." For if Thou hadst
regard to me, Thou wouldest not suffer me to
endure these things. " Therefore Thou heardest,
O Lord, the voice of my prayer, when I cried
unto Thee." Therefore putting a limit to cor-
rection, and showing that I have part in Thy
care, Thou heardest, O Lord, the voice of my
prayer, when I raised it high 4 out of tribulation.
24. " Love the Lord, all ye His saints "
(ver. 23). The Prophet again exhorts, having
sight of these things, and saith, " Love the Lord,
all ye His saints ; for the Lord will require truth."
Since " if the righteous shall scarcely be saved,
where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? " s
" And He will repay them that do exceeding
proudly." And He will repay them who even
when conquered are not converted, because they
are very proud.
25. "Quit you like men, and let your heart
be. strengthened " (ver. 24) : working good with-
out fainting, that ye may reap in due season.
" All ye who trust in the Lord : " that is, ye
who duly fear and worship Him, trust ye in the
Lord.
PSALM XXXII.6
TO DAVID HIMSELF; FOR UNDERSTANDING.
1. To David himself; for understanding; by
which it is understood that not by the merits of
works, but by the grace of God, man is de-
livered, confessing his sins.
2. " Blessed are they whose unrighteousness
is forgiven, and whose sins are covered " (ver.
1) : and whose sins are buried in oblivion.
" Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath
not imputed sin, nor is there guile in his mouth "
(ver. 2) : nor has he in his mouth boastings of
righteousness, when his conscience is full of sins.
3. " Because I kept silence, my bones waxed
old : " because I made not with my mouth
" confession unto salvation," ' all firmness in me
has grown old in infirmity. "Through my roar-
ing all the day long " (ver. 3) ; when I was
ungodly and a blasphemer, crying against God,
as though defending and excusing my sins.
4. " Because day and night Thy Hand was
heavy upon me : " because, through the continual
punishment of Thy scourges, " I was turned in
misery, while a thorn was fixed through me "
8 [Compare Hippolytus, vol. v. p. 202, A. N. F. — C]
* [Elsewhere St. Augustin explains the word " ecstasy " as some-
times = transport, sometimes = panic. See his sermon on this Psalm,
usually following this exposition. — C.l
« Nimis. » 1 Pet. iv. 18. <> Lat. XXXI.
7 Rom. x. zo.
Psalm XXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
71
(ver. 4) : I was made miserable by knowing my
misery, being pricked with an evil conscience.
5. " I acknowledged my sin, and my un-
righteousness have I not hid : " that is, my
unrighteousness have I not concealed.1 " I
said, I will confess against myself my un-
righteousness to the Lord : " I said, I will con-
fess, not against God (as in my ungodly crying,
when I kept silence), but against myself, my
unrighteousness to the Lord. " And Thou for-
gavest the iniquity of my heart" (ver. 5) ; hear-
ing the word of confession in the heart, before
it was uttered with the voice.
6. " For this shall every one that is holy pray
unto Thee in an acceptable time : " for this
wickedness of heart shall every one that is
righteous pray unto Thee. For not by their
own merits will they be holy, but by that ac-
ceptable time, that is, at His coming, who
redeemed us from sin. " Nevertheless in the
flood of great waters they shall not come nigh
him" (ver. 6): nevertheless, let none think,
when the end has come suddenly, as in the days
of Noah,2 that there remaineth a place of confes-
sion, whereby he may draw nigh unto God.
7. " Thou art my refuge from the pressures,
which have compassed me about : " Thou art
my refuge from the pressure of my sins, which
hath compassed my heart. " O Thou, my Re-
joicing, deliver me from them that compass me
about " (ver. 7) : in Thee is my joy : deliver
me from the sorrow which my sins bring upon
me.
8. Diapsalma. The answer of God : " I will
give thee understanding, and will set thee in
the way in which thou shalt go ; " I will give
thee understanding after confession, that thou
depart not from the way in which thou should-
est go ; lest thou wish to be in thine own power.
" I will fix Mine Eyes upon thee " (ver. 8) : so
will I make sure upon thee My Love.
9. " Be not ye like unto horse or mule, which
have no understanding : " and therefore would
govern themselves. But saith the Prophet,
" Hold in their jaws with bit and bridle." Do
Thou then, O God, unto them " that will not
come nigh Thee" (ver. 9), what man doth to
horse and mule, that by scourges Thou make
them to bear Thy rule.
10. " Many are the scourges of the sinner : "
much is he scourged, who, confessing not his
sins to God, would be his own ruler. " But he
that trusteth in the Lord, mercy compasseth him
about" (ver. 10) ; but he that trusteth in the
Lord, and submitteth himself to His rule, mercy
shall compass him about.
11. "Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye
1 [Here in our Psalter version is verse 6; not so the Authorized,
nor the Vulgate, nor the other versions. — C]
2 Matt x.xiv. 37-41.
righteous : " be glad, and rejoice, ye righteous,
not in yourselves, but in the Lord. "And glory,
all ye that are right in heart" (ver. n) : and
glory in Him, all ye who understand that it is
right to be subject unto Him, that so ye may be
placed above all things beside.
PSALM XXXIII.3
1. "Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous:"
rejoice, O ye righteous, not in yourselves, for
that is not safe ; but in the Lord. " For praise
is comely to the upright" (ver. i) : these praise
the Lord, who submit themselves unto the
Lord ; for else they are distorted and perverse.
2. " Praise the Lord with harp : " praise the
Lord, presenting unto Him your bodies a living
sacrifice.4 " Sing unto Him with the psaltery of
ten strings" (ver. 2): let your members be
servants to the love of God, and of your neigh-
bour, in which are kept both the three and the
seven commandments.5
3. " Sing unto Him a new song : " sing unto
Him a song of the grace of faith. " Sing skil-
fully unto Hinvwith jubilation" (ver. 3) : sing
skilfully unto Him with rejoicing.
4. " For the Word of the Lord is right : " for
the Word of the Lord is right, to make you that
which of yourselves ye cannot be. " And all
His works are done in faith " (ver. 4) : lest any
think that by the merit of works he hath arrived
at faith, when in faith are done all the works
which God Himself loveth.
5. "He loveth Mercy and Judgment:" for
He loveth Mercy, which now He showeth first ;
and Judgment, wherewith He exacteth that
which He hath first shown. "The earth is full
of the Mercy of the Lord " (ver. 5 ) : through-
out the whole world are sins forgiven unto men
by the Mercy of the Lord.
6. "By the Word of the Lord were the
heavens made firm : " for not by themselves, but
by the Word of the Lord were the righteous
made strong. " And all the strength 6 of them
by the Breath of His Mouth" (ver. 6). And
all their faith by His Holy Spirit.
7. " He gathereth the waters of the sea to-
gether as into a bottle : " He gathereth the
people of the world together, to confession of
mortified sin, lest through pride they flow too
freely. • " He layeth up the deep in storehouses "
(ver. 7) : and keepeth in them His secrets for
riches.
8. " Let all the earth fear the Lord : " let
3 Lat. XXXII. « Rom. Jtii. I.
5 See St. Augustin on Faith and Works, § 17, Tr. note h. He
takes our 6rst and second as one, dividing the tenth. _ [Compare
St. Augustin, Sermon ix. cap. 5. He is credited with introducing
this division into the Western churches. Compare Irenaeus {Adv.
Hares, ii. 24, § 4. note 9), A. N. F. vol. i. p. 395; also Clement,
Stromata, A. N. F. vol. ii. p. 51a. — C]
* Virtut.
72
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIV.
every sinner fear, that so he may cease to sin.
" Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in
awe of Him " (ver. 8) : not of the terrors of
men, or of any creature, but of Him let them
stand in awe.
9. " For He spake, and they were made : " for
no other one made those things which are to
fear ; but He spake, and they were made. " He
commanded, and they were created " (ver. 9) :
He commanded by His Word,1 and they were
created.
10. "The Lord bringeth the counsel of the
heathen to nought ; " of them that seek not
His Kingdom, but kingdoms of their own.
" He maketh the devices of the people of none
effect : " of them that covet earthly happiness.
" And reproveth the counsels of princes " (ver.
10) : of them that seek to rule over such peoples.
11. "But the counsel of the Lord standeth
for ever ; " but the counsel of the Lord, whereby
He maketh none blessed but him that submitteth
unto Himself, standeth for ever. The thoughts
of His Heart to all generations " (ver. n): the
thoughts of His Wisdom are not mutable, but
endure to all generations.
12. "Blessed is the nation whose God is
the Lord : " one nation is blessed, belonging
to the heavenly city, which hath not chosen
save the Lord for their God : " And the people
whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance "
(ver. 12) : and which not of itself, but by the
gift of God, hath been chosen, that He by pos-
sessing it may not suffer it to be uncared for and
miserable.
13. "The Lord looketh from Heaven; He
beholdeth all the sons of men" (ver. 13).
From the souls of the righteous, the Lord
looketh mercifully upon all who would rise to
newness of life.
14. " From His prepared habitation : " from
His habitation of assumed Humanity, which He
prepared for Himself. " He looketh upon all
the inhabitants of the earth " (ver. 14) : He
looketh mercifully upon all who live in the flesh,
that He may be over them in ruling them.
15. " He fashioneth their hearts singly : " He
giveth spiritually to their hearts their proper
gifts, so that neither the whole body may be
eye, nor the whole hearing ; 2 but that one in
this manner, another in that manner, may be
incorporated with Christ. " He underslandeth
all their works" (ver. 15). Before Him are all
their works understood.
16. "A king shall not be saved by much
strength : " he shall not be saved who ruleth his
own flesh, if he presume much upon his own
strength. " Neither shall a giant be saved by
much strength" (ver. 16): nor shall he be
1 See De Gent si ad Lit. b. i. }§ 5, 6.
3 I Cor. xii. 17.
saved whoever warreth against the habit of his
own lust, or against the devil and his angels, if
he trust much to his own might.
17. "A horse is a deceitful thing for safety : "
he is deceived, who thinketh either that through
men he gaineth salvation received among men,
or that by the impetuosity of his own courage
he is defended from destruction. " In the
abundance of his strength shall he not be saved "
(ver. 17).
18. "Behold, the Eyes of the Lord are upon
them that fear Him : " because if thou seek
salvation, behold, the love of the Lord is upon
them that fear Him. " Upon them that hope
in His mercy" (ver. 18) : that hope not in their
own strength, but in His mercy.
19. "To deliver their souls from death, and
to keep them alive in famine" (ver. 19). To
give them the nourishment of the Word, and of
Everlasting Truth, which they lost while pre-
suming on their own strength, and therefore
have not even their own strength, from lack of
righteousness.
20. " My soul shall be patient for the Lord : "
that hereafter it may be filled with dainties in-
corruptible, meanwhile, whilst here it remaineth,
my soul shall be patient for the Lord. " For
He is our Helper and Defender " (ver. 20) : our
Helper He is, while we endeavour after Him ;
and our Defender, while we resist the adversary.
at. "For our heart shall rejoice in Him:"
for not in ourselves, wherein without Him there
is great need ; but in Himself shall our heart
rejoice. " And we have trusted in His holy
Name " (ver. 21) ; and therefore have we trusted
that we shall come to God, because unto us
absent hath He sent, through faith, His own
Name.
22. "Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
according as we have hoped in Thee " (ver. 22) :
let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us ; for hope
confoundeth not, because we have hoped in
Thee.
PSALM XXXIV.'
A PSALM OF DAVID, WHEN HE CHANGED HIS
COUNTENANCE BEFORE ABIMELECH, AND HE SENT
HIM AWAV, AND HE DEPARTED.
i . Because there was there a sacrifice after the
order of Aaron, and afterwards He of His Own
Body and Blood appointed a sacrifice after the
order of Melchizedek ; He changed then His
Countenance in the Priesthood, and sent away
the kingdom of the Jews, and came to the
Gentiles. What then is, " He affected"?* He
was full of affection. For what is so full of
3 Lat. XXXIII.
4 [1 Sam. xxi. 13. He follows the Septuagint, which differs from
the Vulgate. — C]
Psalm XXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
n
affection as the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who, seeing our infirmity, that He might deliver
us from everlasting death, underwent temporal
death with such great injury and contumely?
" And He drummed : " because a drum is not
made, except when a skin is extended on wood ;
and David drummed, to signify that Christ
should be crucified. But, " He drummed upon
the doors of the city : " what are " the doors
of the city," but our hearts which we had closed
against Christ, who by the drum of His Cross
hath opened the hearts of mortal men ? " And
was carried in His Own Hands : " how " carried
in His Own Hands "? Because when He com-
mended His Own Body and Blood, He took
into His Hands that which the faithful know ;
and in a manner carried Himself, when He said,
"This is My Body."1 "And He fell down at
the doors of the gate ; " that is, He humbled
Himself. For this it is, to fall down even at the
very beginning of our faith. For the door of
the gate is the beginning of faith ; whence be-
ginneth the Church, and arriveth at last even
unto sight : that as it believeth those things
which it seeth not, it may deserve to enjoy
them, when it shall have begun to see face to
face. So is the title of the Psalm ; briefly we
have heard it ; let us now hear the very words
of Him that affecteth, and drummeth upon the
doors of the city.
2. "I will bless the Lord at all times ; His
praise shall be ever in my mouth " (ver. i). So
speaketh Christ, so also let a Christian speak ;
for a Christian is in the Body of Christ ; and
therefore was Christ made Man, that that Chris-
tian might be enabled to be an Angel, who saith,
" I will bless the Lord at all times." When shall
I "bless the Lord"? When He blesseth thee?
When the goods of this world abound ? When
thou hast great abundance of corn, oil, and wine,
of gold and silver, of servants and cattle ; when
this mortal health remaineth unwounded and
sound ; when all that are born to thee grow up,
nothing is withdrawn by immature death, happi-
ness wholly reigneth in thy house, and all things
overflow around thee ; then shalt thou bless the
Lord? No; but "at all times." Therefore
both then, and when according to the time, or
according to the scourges of our Lord God,
these things are troubled, are taken away, are
seldom born to thee, and born pass away. For
these things come to pass, and thence followeth
penury, need, labour, pain, and temptation. But
thou, who hast sung, " I will bless the Lord at
all times : His praise shall be ever in my mouth,"
both when He giveth them, bless ; and when He
taketh them away, bless. For it is He that
giveth, it is He that taketh away : but Himself
1 Matt. xxvi. 36.
from him that blesseth Him He taketh not
away.
3. But who is it that blesseth the Lord at all
times, except the humble in heart. For very
humility taught our Lord in His Own Body and
Blood : because when He commendeth His Own
Body and Blood, He commendeth His Humility,
in that which is written in this history, in that
seeming madness of David, which we have
passed by, " And his spittle ran down over his
beard."2 When the Apostle was read,3 Ye
heard the same spittle, but running down over
the beard. One saith perhaps, What spittle
have we heard ? Was it not read but now, where
the Apostle saith, " The Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom?" But now
it was read, " But we preach," saith he, " Christ
crucified" (for then He drummed), "unto the
Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks
foolishness ; but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God,
and the Wisdom of God. Because the Foolish-
ness of God is wiser than men, and the Weak-
ness of God is stronger than men." 4 For spittle
signifieth foolishness ; spittle signifieth weakness.
But if the Foolishness of God is wiser than men,
and the Weakness of God is stronger than men ;
let not the spittle as it were offend thee, but
observe that it runneth down over the beard :
for as by the spittle, weakness ; so by the beard,
strength is signified. He covered then His
Strength by the body of His Weakness, and that
which without was weak, appeared as it were in
spittle ; but within His Divine Strength was cov-
ered as a beard. Therefore humility is com-
mended unto us. Be humble if thou wouldest
bless the Lord at all times, and that His praise
should be ever in thy mouth. . . .
4. But wherefore doth man bless the Lord at
all times? Because he is humble. What is it
to be humble ? To take not praise unto himself.
Who would himself be praised, is proud : who is
not proud, is humble. Wouldest thou not then
be proud? That thou mayest be humble, say
what is here written ; " In the Lord shall my
soul be praised : the humble shall hear thereof
and be glad" (ver. 2). Those then who will
not be praised in the Lord, are not humble, but
fierce, rough, lifted up, proud. Gentle cattle
would the Lord have ; be thou the Lord's
jumentum ; that is, be thou humble. He sitteth
upon thee, He ruleth thee : fear not lest thou
stumble, and fall headlong : that indeed is thy
infirmity ; but consider Who sitteth upon thee.
Thou art an ass's colt, but thou carriest Christ.
2 1 Sam. xxi. 13.
3 [This expression, so frequent in St. Auguslin, refers to the
Epistle for the day. As the Law and the Prophets in the syna-
gogue, so also the Evangelists and Apostles were read ceremonially
in the Church. — C]
* x Cor. i. 33-35.
74
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIV.
For even He on an ass's colt came into the city ;
and that beast was gentle. ..." Be not ye as the
horse or as the mule, which have no understand-
ing." ' For horse and mule sometimes lift up
their neck, and by their own fierceness throw
off their rider. They are tamed with the bit, with
bridle, with stripes, until they learn to submit,
and to carry their master. But thou, before thy
jaws are bruised with the bridle, be humble, and
carry thy Lord : wish not praise for thyself, but
praised be He who sitteth upon thee, and say
thou, " In the Lord shall my soul be praised ;
the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." . . .
5. Now followeth, "O magnify the Lord with
me" (ver. 3). Who is this that exhorteth us,
that we should magnify the Lord with him?
Whoever, Brethren, is in the body of Christ,
ought for this to labour, that the Lord may be
magnified with him. For he loveth the Lord,
whoever he is. And how doth he love Him ?
So as not to envy his fellow-lover. . . . Let
them blush who so love God as to envy others.
Abandoned men love a charioteer, and whoever
loveth a charioteer or hunter, wisheth the whole
people to love with him, and exhorteth, saying,
Love with me this pantomime, love with me this
or that shame. He calleth among the people
that shame may be loved with him ; and doth
not a Christian call in the Church, that the
Truth of God may be loved with him ? Stir up
then love in yourselves, Brethren ; and call to
every one of yours, and say, " O magnify the
Lord with me." Let there be in you that
fervour. Wherefore are these things recited and
explained? If ye love God, bring quickly to
the love of God all who are joined unto you,
and all who are in your house ; if the Body of
Christ is loved by you, that is, if the unity of the
Church, bring them quickly to enjoy, and say,
" O magnify the Lord with me."
6. " And let us exalt His Name together." *
What is, " let us exalt His Name together " ?
That is, in one. For many copies so have it,
" O magnify the Lord with me ; and let us exalt
His Name in one." 3 Whether it be said, " to-
gether," or "in one," it is the same thing.
Therefore bring quickly whom ye can, by exhort-
ing, by transporting,4 by beseeching, by disput-
ing, by rendering a reason, with meekness, with
gentleness. Bring them quickly unto love ; that
if they magnify the Lord, they may magnify
Him in one. . . .
7. " I sought the Lord, and He heard me "
(ver. 4). Where heard the Lord? Within.
Where giveth He ? Within. There thou pray-
est, there thou art heard, there thou art blessed.
c.j
■ Pi. xxxii. 9. » In idiptum.
> In unum. [In the Septuagint «jri to avr6, as in Acta ii. i. —
'* Al. "by working."
Thou hast prayed, thou art heard, thou art
blessed ; and he knoweth not who standeth by
thee : it is all carried on in secret, as the Lord
saith in the Gospel, " Enter into thy closet, and
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father
which is in secret ; and thy Father which seeth
in secret, shall reward thee openly." s When
therefore thou enterest into thy chamber, thou
enterest into thy heart. Blessed are they who
rejoice when they enter into their heart, and
find therein nought of evil. . . .
8. " I sought the Lord, and He heard me."
Who then are not heard, seek not the Lord.
Attend, Holy Brethren ; 6 he said not, I sought
gold from the Lord, and He heard me ; I sought
from the Lord long life, and He heard me ; I
sought from the Lord this or that, and He heard
me. It is one thing to seek anything from the
Lord, another to seek the Lord Himself. " I
sought" (saith he) "the Lord, and He heard
me." But thou, when thou prayest, saying, Kill
that my enemy, seekest not the Lord, but, as it
were, makest thyself a judge over thy enemy,
and makest thy God an executioner.' How
knowest thou that he is not better than thou,
whose death thou seekest ? In that very thing
haply he is, that he seeketh not thine. There-
fore seek not from the Lord anything without,
but seek the Lord Himself, and He will hear
thee, and while thou yet speakest, He will say,
"Lo, here I am."8 . . .
9. I have said who was the exhorter, namely,
that lover who would not alone embrace what
he loveth, and saith, " Approach unto Him, and
be ye lightened" (ver. 5). For he saith what
he himself proved. For some spiritual person
in the Body of Christ, or even our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself according to the flesh, the Head
exhorting His Own Members, saith ; what ?
" Approach unto Him, and be ye lightened."
Or rather some spiritual Christian inviteth us to
approach to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But
let us approach to Him and be lightened ; not
as the Jews approached to Him, that they might
be darkened ; for they approached to Him that
they might crucify Him : let us approach to
Him that we may receive His Body and Blood.
They by Him crucified were darkened ; we by
eating and drinking The Crucified are lightened.
" Approach unto Him, and be- ye lightened."
Lo, this is said to the Gentiles. Christ was
crucified amid the Jews raging and seeing ; the
Gentiles were absent ; lo, they have approached
who were in darkness, and they who saw not are
lightened. Whereby approach the Gentiles?
By following with faith, by longing with the
5 Matt. vi. 6.
6 [He makes the same exhortation to a brother bishop who was
present: attendat, Sanctitas Vestra. — C]
7 Quttstionarium, 8 Isa. Ixv. 24.
Psalm XXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
75
heart, by running with charity. Thy feet are
thy charity. Have two feet, be not lame.
What are thy two feet? The two command-
ments of love, of thy God, and of thy Neighbour.
With these feet run thou unto God, approach
unto Him, for He hath both exhorted thee to
run, and hath Himself shed His Own Light, as
he hath magnificently and divinely continued.,
" And your faces shall not be ashamed." " Ap-
proach " (saith he) "unto Him, and be ye
lightened ; and your faces shall not be ashamed."
No face shall be ashamed but of the proud.
Wherefore? Because he would be lifted up,
and when he hath suffered insult, or ignominy,
or mischance in this world, or any affliction, he
is ashamed. But fear not thou, approach unto
Him, and thou shalt not be ashamed. . . .
10. As the Prophet testifieth, " The poor man
cried, and the Lord heard him" (ver. 6). He
teacheth thee how thou mayest be heard.
Therefore art thou not heard, because thou art
rich. Lest haply thou say, thou criedst and
wast not heard, hear wherefore ; " The poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him." As poor
cry thou, and the Lord heareth. And how shall
I cry as poor? By not, if thou hast aught, pre-
suming therefrom upon thy own strength : by
understanding that thou art needy ; by under-
standing that so long art thou poor, as thou hast
not Him who maketh thee rich. But how did
the. Lord hear him? "And saved him out of
all his troubles." And how saveth He men out
of all their troubles ? " The Angel of the Lord
shall send2 round about them that fear Him,
and shall deliver them " (ver. 7). So it is writ-
ten, brethren, not as some bad copies have it,
"The Lord shall send His Angel round about
them that fear Him, and He shall deliver
them : " but thus, "The Angel of the Lord shall
send round about them that fear Him, and shall
deliver them." Whom called He here the Angel
of the Lord, who shall send round about them
that fear Him, and shall deliver them? Our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself is called in Prophecy,
the Angel of the great Counsel, the Messenger
of the great Counsel ; 3 so the Prophets called
Him.4 Even He then, the Angel of the great
Counsel, that is, the Messenger, shall send unto
them that fear the Lord, and shall deliver them.
Fear not then lest thou be hid : wheresoever
thou hast feared the Lord, there doth that Angel
know thee, who shall send to succour thee, and
shall deliver thee.
1 So our mss. and others, as Ed. Ben. says, tnagno consensu.
Sicut magnifice et divine secutus est. _ Ben. however reads, " so
that ye may be able magnificently and divinely to follow Him." Sic,
ut magnifice et divine se sequi possitis. See on Ps. xxii. Exp. ii.
§ 16. " Gloriously expressed." The word is magnifice.
1-3 fmmittet. LXX. TraptuSakel, "shall encamp."
3 Isa. ix. 6, LXX.; Mai. iii. i.
< [See Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. i. p. 223, note 7; also vol. v.
p 628, note 2, and passim. — C]
11. Now will He speak openly of the same
Sacrament, whereby He was carried in His Own
Hands. " O taste and see that the Lord is
good" (ver. 8). Doth not the Psalm now open
itself, and show thee that seeming insanity and
constant madness, the same insanity and sober
inebriety of that David, who in a figure showed
I know not what, when in the person of king
Achis they said to him, How is it? 5 When the
Lord said, " Except a man eat My Flesh and
drink My Blood, he shall have no life in him"?5
And they in whom reigned Achis, that is, error
and ignorance, said; what said they? "How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?"' If
thou art ignorant, " Taste and see that the Lord
is good : " but if thou understandest not, thou
art king Achis : David shall change His Coun-
tenance and shall depart from thee, and shall
quit thee, and shall depart.8
12. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in
Him." Why needeth this to be explained at
length ? Whoever trusteth not in the Lord, is
miserable. Who is there that trusteth not in
the Lord? He that trusteth in himself. . . .
13. "O fear the Lord, all ye His saints, for
there is no want to them that fear Him " (ver.
9). For many therefore will not fear God the
Lord, lest they suffer hunger. It is said to them,
Defraud not ; and they say, Whence can I feed
myself? No art can be without imposture ; no
business can be without fraud. But fraud God
punisheth : fear God. But if I should fear
God, I shall not have whence to live. " O fear
the Lord, all ye His saints, for there is no want
to them that fear Him." He promisetli plenty
to him that trembleth, and doubteth, lest haply
if he should fear God, he should lose things
superfluous. The Lord fed thee despising Him,
and will He desert thee fearing Him? Attend,
and say not, Such an one is rich, and I am poor.
I fear the Lord, he by not fearing how much
has he gained, and I by fearing am bare ! See
what follows ; " The rich 9 do lack and suffer
hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not
want any good thing" (ver. 10). If thou
j receive it according to the letter, He seemeth
to deceive thee, for thou seest that many rich
men that are wicked die in their riches, and are
not made poor while they live ; thou seest them
grow old, and come even to the end of life amid
great abundance and riches. Thou seest their
funeral pomp celebrated with great profusion,
the man himself brought rich even to the sepul-
i Al. "when those wretched ones before king Achis said, How
is it?"
6 John vi. 53. 7 John vi. 52.
8 [Luther's doctrine, and even Calvin's, admits of this language.
Rhetorically, even Zwinglians might use the same. For the primitive
doctrine see Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, A. N. F. vol. i. p. 185,
note 6, and 528, note 4. Observe also the fragment (xiti.) on
p. 570. — C.l
9 E. V. The young lions do lack," etc.
76
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIV.
chre, having expired in beds of ivory, his family
weeping around ; and thou sayest in thy mind,
if haply thou knowest some both sins and crimes
done by him : I know what things that man
hath done ; lo, he hath grown old, he hath died
in his bed, his friends follow him to the grave,
his funeral is celebrated with all this pomp ; I
know what he hath done ; the Scripture has de-
ceived me, and has spoken falsely, where I hear
and sing ; "The rich do lack and suffer hunger."
When was this man in need ? when did he suffer
hunger? "But they that seek the Lord shall
not want any good thing." Daily I rise up to
Church, daily I bend the knee, daily I seek the
Lord, and have nothing good : this man sought
not the Lord, and he hath died in the midst of
all these good things ! Thus thinking, the
snare of offence choketh him ; for he seeketh
mortal food on the earth, and seeketh not a
true reward in heaven, and so he putteth his
liead into the devil's noose, his jaws are tied
close, and the devil holdeth him fast unto evil
doing, that so he may imitate the evil men,
whom he seeth to die in such plenty.
14. Therefore understand it not so. . . .
When thou art filled with spiritual riches, canst
thou be poor? And was he therefore rich,
because he had a bed of ivory ; and art thou
poor who hast the chamber of thy heart filled
with such jewelry of virtues, justice, truth,
charity, faith, endurance? Unfold thy riches,
if thou hast them, and compare them with
the riches of the rich. But such an one has
found in the market mules of great value, and
has bought them. If thou couldest find faith
to be sold, how much wouldest thou give for
that, which God willeth that thou shouldest
have gratis, and thou art ungrateful? Those
rich then lack, they lack, and what is heavier,
they lack bread. . . . For He hath said, " I
am the Living Bread which came down from
Heaven." ' And again, " Blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteousness : for
they shall be filled." 2 " But they that seek the
Lord shall not want any good thing : " but
what manner of good, I have already said.
15. "Come, ye children, hearken unto me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord " (ver. 11).
Ye think,3 brethren, that I say this : think that
David saith it ; think that an Apostle saith it ;
nay think that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
saith it ; " Come, ye children, hearken unto
Me." Let us hearken unto Him together :
hearken ye unto Him through us. For He
would teach us ; He the Humble, He that drum-
meth, He that affecteth, would teach us. . . .
16. "What man is he that desireth life, and
loveth to see good days?" (ver. 12). He ask-
1 John vi. 51. 2 Matt. v. 6; Luke i. 53; 1 Sam. ii. 5.
3 Most mss. " Think," imperative, as in the other clauses.
eth a question. Doth not every one among you
answer, I? Is there any man among you that
loveth not life, that is, that desireth not life, and
loveth not to see good days? Do ye not daily
thus murmur, and thus speak ; How long shall
we suffer these things? Daily are they worse
and worse : in our fathers' time were days more
joyful, were days better. O if thou couldest
ask those same, thy fathers, in like manner
would they murmur to thee of their own days.
Our fathers were happy, miserable are we, evil
days have we : such an one ruled over us, we
thought that after his death might some refresh-
ing be given to us ; worse things have come : O
God, show unto us good days ! " What man is
he that desireth life, and loveth to see good
days?" Let him not seek here good days. A
good thing he seeketh, but not in its right place
doth he seek it. As, if thou shouldest seek
some righteous man in a country, wherein he
lived not, it would be said to thee, A good man
thou seekest, a great man thou seekest, seek
him still, but not here ; in vain thou seekest
him here, thou wilt never find him. Good days
thou seekest, together let us seek them, seek
not here. . . . Read the Scriptures. . . .
17. Let not a Christian then murmur, let him
see whose steps he followeth : but if he loveth
good days, let him hearken unto Him teaching
and saying, " Come, ye children, hearken unto
Me ; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."
What wouldest thou ? Life and good days.
Hear, and do. " Keep thy tongue from evil "
(ver. 13). This do. I will not, saith a misera-
ble man, I will not keep my tongue from evil,
and yet I desire life and good days. If a work-
man of thine should say to thee, I indeed lay
waste this vineyard, yet I require of thee my
reward ; thou broughtest me to the vineyard to
lop and prune it, I cut away all the useful wood,
I will cut short also the very trunks of the vines,
that thou have thereon nothing to gather, and
when I have done this, thou shalt repay to me
my labour. Wouldest thou not call him mad?
Wouldest thou not drive him from thy house or
ever he put his hand to the knife? Such are
those men who would both do evil, and swear
falsely, and speak blasphemy against God, and
murmur, and defraud, and be drunken, and dis-
pute, and commit adultery, and use charms, and
consult diviners, and withal see good days. To
such it is said, thou canst not doing ill seek a
good reward. If thou art unjust, shall God also
be unjust ? What shall I do, then ? What de-
sirest thou? Life I desire, good days I desire.
" Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that
they speak no guile," that is, defraud not any,
lie not to any.
18. But what is, "Depart from evil"? (ver.
14). It is little that thou injure none, murder
tsalm xxxiv.]
ON THE PSALMS.
77
none, steal not, commit not adultery, do no
wrong, speak no false witness ; " Depart from
evil." When thou hast departed, thou sayest,
Now I am safe, I have done all, I shall have
life, I shall see good days. Not only saith he,
" Depart from evil," but also, " and do good."
It is nothing that thou spoil not : clothe the
naked. If thou hast not spoiled, thou hast
declined from evil ; but thou wilt not do good,
except thou receive the stranger into thine
house. So then depart from evil, as to do good.
" Seek peace, and ensue it." He hath not said,
Thou shalt have peace here ; seek it, and ensue
it. Whither shall I ensue it? Whither it hath
gone before. For the Lord is our peace, hath
risen again, and hath ascended into Heaven.
" Seek peace, and ensue it ; " because when thou
also hast risen, this mortal shall be changed, and
thou shalt embrace peace there where no man
shall trouble thee. For there is perfect peace,
where thou wilt not hunger. . . .
19. "The Eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous : " fear not then ; labour ; the eyes of
the Lord are upon thee. " And His Ears are
open unto their prayers" (ver. 15). What
wouldest thou more? If an householder in a
great house should not hearken to a servant
murmuring, he would complain, and say, What
hardship do we here suffer, and none heareth us.
Canst thou say this of God, What hardships I
suffer, and none heareth me? If He heard me,
haply, sayest thou, He would take away my tribu-
lation : I cry unto Him, and yet have tribulation.
Only do thou hold fast His ways, and when thou
art in tribulation, He heareth thee. But He is
a Physician, and still hast thou something of
putrefaction ; thou criest out, but still He cutteth,
and taketh not away His Hand, until He hath
cut as much as pleaseth Him. For that Physi-
cian is cruel who heareth a man, and spareth his
wound and putrefaction. How do mothers rub
their children in the baths for their health. Do
not the little ones cry out in their hands ? Are
they then cruel because they spare not, nor
hearken unto their tears ? Are they not full of
affection? And yet the children cry out, and
are not spared. So our God also is full of charity,
but therefore seemeth He not to hear, that He
may spare and heal us for everlasting.
20. Haply say the wicked, I securely do evil,
because the Eyes of the Lord are not upon me :
God attendeth to the righteous, me He seeth
not, and whatever I do, I do securely. Immedi-
ately added the Holy Spirit, seeing the thoughts
of men, and said, " But the Face of the Lord is
against them that do evil ; to cut off the remem-
brance of them from the earth" (ver. 16).
21. " The righteous cried, and the Lord heard
them, and delivered them out of all their trou-
bles " (ver. 17). Righteous were the Three
Children ; out of the furnace cried they unto
the Lord, and in His praises their flames cooled.
The flame could not approach nor hurt the inno-
cent and righteous Children praising God, and
He delivered them out of the fire.' Some one
saith, Lo, truly righteous were those who were
heard, as it is written, "The righteous cried,
and the Lord heard them, and delivered them
out of all their troubles : " but I have cried,
and He delivereth me not ; either I am not
righteous, or I do not2 the things which He
commandeth me, or haply He seeth me not.
Fear not : only do what He commandeth ; and
if He deliver thee not bodily, He will deliver
thee spiritually. For He who took out of the
fire the Three Children, did He take out of
the fire the Maccabees?3 Did not the first sing
hymns in the flames, these last in the flames ex-
pire ? The God of the Three Children, was not
He the God also of the Maccabees? The
one He delivered, the other He delivered not.
Nay, He delivered both : but the Three Chil-
dren He so delivered, that even the carnal were
confounded ; but the Maccabees therefore He
delivered not so, that those who persecuted
them should go into greater torments, while they
thought that they had overcome God's Martyrs.
He delivered Peter, when the Angel came unto
him being in prison, and said, " Arise, and go
forth," 4 and suddenly his chains were loosed, and
he followed the Angel, and He delivered him.
Had Peter lost righteousness when He delivered
him not from the cross? Did He not deliver
him then? Even then He delivered him. Did
his long life make him unrighteous ? Haply He
heard him more at last than at first, when truly
He delivered him out of all his troubles. For
when He first delivered him, how many things
did he suffer afterwards ! For thither He sent
him at last, where he could have suffered no
evil.
22. "The Lord is nigh unto them that have
broken their heart ; and saveth such as be lowly
in spirit" (ver. 18). God is High : let a Chris-
tian be lowly. If he would that the Most High
God draw nigh unto him, let him be lowly. A
great mystery, Brethren. God is above all :
thou raisest thyself, and touchest not Him : thou
humblest thyself, and He descendeth unto thee.
" Many are the troubles of the righteous " (ver.
19) : doth He say, "Therefore let Christians be
righteous, therefore let them hear My Word,
that they may suffer no tribulation ? He prom-
ised! not this ; but saith, " Many are the troubles
of the righteous." Rather, if they be unrighteous
they have fewer troubles, if righteous they have
many. But after few tribulations, or none, these
shall come to tribulation everlasting, whence
1 Dan. iii. 28.
* Acts xii. 7.
* Al, "and do not.'
3 3 Mace. vii. 3.
78
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIV.
they shall never be delivered : but the righteous
after many tribulations shall come to peace
everlasting, where they shall never suffer any
evil. " Many are the tribulations of the right-
eous : but the Lord delivereth him out of all."
43. " The Lord keepeth all their bones : not
one of them shall be broken " (ver. 20) : this
also, Brethren, let us not receive carnally. Bones
are the firm supports of the faithful. For as in
flesh our bones give firmness, so in the heart of
a Christian it is faith that gives firmness.' The
patience then which is in faith, is as the bones
of the inner man : this is that which cannot be
broken. "The Lord keepeth all their bones:
not one of them shall be broken." If of our
Lord God Jesus Christ he had said this, " The
Lord keepeth all the bones of His Son ; not one
of them shall be broken ; " as is prefigured of
Him also in another place, when the lamb was
spoken of that should be slain, and it was said
of it, " Neither shall ye break a bone thereof : " '
then was it fulfilled in the Lord, because when
He hung upon the Cross, He expired before
they came to the Cross, and found His Body
lifeless already, and would not break His legs, that
it might be fulfilled which was written.3 But He
gave this promise to other Christians also, " The
Lord keepeth all their bones ; not one of them
shall be broken." Therefore, Brethren, if we
see any Saint suffer tribulation, and haply either
by a Physician so cut, or by some persecutor so
mangled, that his bones be broken ; let us not
say, This man was not righteous, for this hath
the Lord promised to His righteous, of whom
He said, " The Lord keepeth all their bones ; not
one of them shall be broken." Wouldest thou
see that He spoke of other bones, those which
we called the firm supports of faith, that is,
patience and endurance in all tribulations ? For
these are the bones which are not broken. Hear,
and see ye in the very Passion of our Lord, what
I say. The Lord was in the middle Crucified ;
near Him were two thieves : the one mocked,
the other believed : the one was condemned, the
other justified : the one had his punishment both
in this world, and that which shall be, but unto
the other said the Lord, " Verily I say unto thee,
To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise ; " 4
and yet those who came brake not the bones of
the Lord, but of the thieves they brake : as much
were broken the bones of the thief who blas-
phemed, as of the thief who believed. Where
then is that which is spoken, " The Lord keepeth
all their bones ; not one of them shall be
broken " ? Lo, unto whom He said, " To-day
shalt thou be with Me in Paradise," could He
1 [" Let us not receive carnally " is language which reflects light
upon ver. 8. p. 75, supra. Note also what is here said of faith.
» Exod. xii. 46. ' John xix. 33.
* Luke xxiii. 43.
keep all his bones ? The Lord answereth thee :
Yea, I kept them : for the firm support of his
faith could not be broken by those blows whereby
his legs were broken.
24. "The death of sinners is the worst" (ver.
21). Attend, Brethren, for the sake of those
things which I said. Truly Great is the Lord,
and His Mercy, truly Great is He who gave to
us to eat His Body, wherein He suffered such
great things, and His Blood to drink. How
regardeth He them that think evil and say,
" Such an one died ill, by beasts was he devoured :
he was not a righteous man, therefore he perished
ill ; for else would he not have perished." Is he
then righteous who dieth in his own house and
in his own bed? This then (sayest thou) it is
whereat I wonder ; because I know the sins and
the crimes of this same man, and yet he died
well ; in his own house, within his own doors,
with no injury of travel, with none even in
mature * age. Hearken, " The death of sinners
is worst." What seemeth to thee a good
death, is worst if thou couldest see within.
Thou seest him outwardly lying on his bed,
dost thou see him inwardly carried to hell?
Hearken, Brethren, and learn from the Gospel
what is the " worst death " of sinners. Were
there not two in that age,6 a rich man who was
clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared
sumptuously every day ; another a poor man
who lay at his door full of sores, and the dogs
came and licked his sores, and he desired to be
fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table ? Now it came to pass that the poor
man died (righteous was that poor man), and
was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom.
He who saw his body lying at the rich man's
door, and no man to bury it, what haply said
he ? So die he who is my enemy ; and whoever
persecutes me, so may I see him. His body is
accursed with spitting, his wounds stink ; and
yet in Abraham's bosom he resteth.7 If we are
Christians, let us believe : if we believe not,
Brethren, let none feign himself a Christian.
Faith bringeth us to the end. As the Lord spake
these things, so are they. Doth indeed an
astrologer8 speak unto thee, and it is true, and
doth Christ speak, and it is false ? But by what
sort of death died the rich man ? What sort of
death must it not be in purple and fine linen,
how sumptuous, how pompous ! What funeral
ceremonies were there ! In what spices was that
body buried ! And yet when he was in hell,
being in torments, from the finger of that de-
spised poor man he desired one drop of water
to be poured upon his burning tongue, and
obtained it not. Learn then what meaneth,
* AI. " even at no premature.'
b A I. " in this world."
• Mathematicus.
7 Luke xvi. 19-23.
Psalm XXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
79
"The death of sinners is worst; " and ask not
beds covered with costly garments, and to have
the flesh wrapped in many rich things, friends
exhibiting a show of lamentation, a household
beating their breasts, a crowd of attendants
going before and following when the body is
carried out, marble and gilded memorials. For
if ye ask those things, they answer you what is
false, that of many not light sinners, but alto-
gether wicked, the death is best, who have de-
served to be so lamented, so embalmed, so
covered, so carried out, so entombed. But ask
the Gospel, and it will show to your faith the
soul of the rich man burning in torments, which
was nothing profited by all those honours and
obsequies, which to his dead body the vanity of
the living did afford. ,.
25. But because there are many kinds of
sinners, and not to be a sinner is difficult, or
perhaps in this life impossible, he added immev
diately, of what kind of sinners the death is
worst. " And they that hate the righteous one "
(saith he) " shall perish." What righteous one,
but " Him that justifieth the ungodly " ? ' Whom,
but our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also " the
propitiation for our sins"?2 Who then hate
Him, have the worst death ; because they die in
their sins, who are not through Him reconciled
to our God. " For the Lord redeemeth the souls
of His servants." But according to the soul
is death to be understood either the worst or
best, not according to bodily either dishonour,
or honours which men see. " And none of them
which trust in Him shall perish " (ver. 22) ; this
is the manner of human righteousness, that
mortal life, however advanced, because without
sin it cannot be, in this perisheth not, while it
trusteth in Him, in whom is remission of sins.
Amen.
PSALM XXXV.3
1. . . . The title of it causeth us no delay, for
it is both brief, and to be understood not difficult,
especially to those nursed in the Church of
God. For so it is, "To David himself." The
Psalm then is to David himself: now David is
interpreted, Strong in hand, or Desirable. The
Psalm then is to the Strong in hand, and De-
sirable, to Him who for us hath overcome death,
who unto us hath promised life : for in this is
He Strong in hand, that He hath overcome
death for us ; in this is He Desirable, that He
hath promised unto us life eternal. For what
stronger than that Hand which touched the
bier, and he that was dead rose up?4 What
stronger than that Hand which overcame the
world, not armed with steel, but pierced with
1 Rom. iv. 5. 2 1 John ii. a.
3 Lat. XXXIV. Delivered upon the occasion of some Council.
[He begins by addressing his " fellow-bishops." — C.j
+ Luke vii. 14.
wood ? Or what more desirable than He, whom
not having seen, the Martyrs wished even to
die, that they might be worthy to come unto
Him ? Therefore is the Psalm unto Him : to
Him let our heart, to Him our tongue sing
worthily : if yet Himself shall deign to give
somewhat to sing. . . .
2. " Judge Thou, O Lord " (saith he), " them
that hurt me, and fight Thou against them that
fight against me " (ver. 1). "If God be for us,
who can be against us ? " 5 And whereby doth
God this for us? "Take hold " (saith he) " of
arms and shield, and rise up to my help " (ver.
2). A great spectacle is it, to see God armed
for thee. And what is His Shield, what are His
Arms? " Lord," in another place saith the man
who here also speaketh, " as with the shield of
Thy good- will hast Thou compassed us." 6 But
His Arms, wherewith He may not only us defend,
but also strike His enemies, if we have well
profited, shall we ourselves be. For as we from
Him have this, that we be armed, so is He armed
from us. But He is armed from those whom
He hath made, we are armed with those things
which we have received from Him who made
us.- These our arms the Apostle in a certain
place calleth, " The shield of Faith, the helmet
of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God." » He hath armed us with
such arms as ye have heard, arms admirable, and
unconquered, insuperable and shining ; spiritual
truly and invisible, because we have to fight also
against invisible enemies. If thou seest thine
enemy, let thine arms be seen. We are armed
with faith in those things which we see not, and
we overthrow enemies whom we see not. . . .
3. " Pour forth the weapon, and stop the way
against them that persecute me " (ver. 3). Who
are they that persecute thee ? Haply thy neigh-
bour, or he whom thou hast offended, or to
whom thou hast done wrong, or who would take
away what is thine, or against whom thou
preachest the truth, or whose sin thou rebukest,
or whom living ill by thy well living thou
offendest. There are indeed even these enemies
to us, and they persecute us : but other ene-
mies we are taught to know, those against whom
we fight invisibly, of whom the Apostle warneth
us, saying, " We wrestle not against flesh and
blood," 8 that is, against men ; not against those
whom ye see, but against those whom ye see
not ; " against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the world, of this darkness."
. . . " The whole world lieth in wickedness ; " '
therefore the Apostle explained of what world
they were rulers, he said, " of this darkness."
The rulers of this world, I say, are the rulers of
this darkness. . . .
5 Rom. viii. 31. 6 Ps. v. la. 7 Eph. vi, 16, 17. • Eph. vi. la
9 1 John v. 19. [Gr. " in the Wicked One." — C]
8o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXV.
4. And what follows? "Let them be con-
founded and put to shame, that seek after my
soul " (ver. 4) : for to this end they seek after
it, to destroy it. For I would that they would
seek it for good ! for in another Psalm he blameth
this in men, that there was none who would seek
after his soul : " Refuge failed me : there was
none that would seek after my soul." ' Who
is this that saith, " There was none that would
seek after my soul " ? J Is it haply He, of whom
so long before it was predicted, " They pierced
My Hands and My Feet, they numbered all My
Bones, they stared and looked upon Me, they
have parted My Garments among them, and cast
lots for My Vesture"?' Now all these things
were done before their eyes, and there was none
who would seek after His Soul. . . .
5. . . . Many have been ^confounded to their
health : many, put to shame, have passed over
from the persecution of Christ to the society of
His members with devoted piety; and this
would not have been, had they not been con-
founded and put to shame. Therefore he wished
well to them. . . . Let them not go before, but
follow ; let them not give counsel, but take it.
For Peter would go before the Lord, when the
Lord spake of His future Passion : he would to
Him as it were give counsel for His health. The
sick man to the Saviour give counsel for His
health ! And what said he to the Lord, affirming
that His future Passion ? " Be it far from Thee,
Lord. Be gracious to Thyself. This shall not
be to Thee." He would go before that the
Lord might follow ; and what said He ? " Get
thee behind Me, Satan."4 By going before thou
art Satan, by following thou wilt be a disciple.
The same then is said to these also, " Let them
be turned back and brought to confusion that
think evil against me." For when they have
begun to follow after, now they will not think
evil against me, but desire my good.
6. What of others ? For all are not so conquered
as to be converted and believe : many continue
in obstinacy, many preserve in heart the spirit
of going before, and if they exert it not, yet they
labour with it, and finding opportunity bring it
forth. Of such, what followeth ? " Let them be
as dust before the wind " (ver. 5). " Not so are
the ungodly, not so ; but as the dust which the
wind driveth away from the face of the earth." '
The wind is temptation ; the dust are the un-
godly. When temptation cometh, the dust is
raised, it neither standeth nor resisteth. " Let
them be as dust before the wind, and let the
Angel of the Lord trouble them." " Let their
way be darkness and slipping " (ver. 6) . A horri-
1 P». cxlii. 4.
* *' Who is," etc. Most mss. read, " That is, who asks, Who is
that who it crucified? There is no one that saiih, It is haply He,"
etc.
* P». xxii. «6-i8. * Matt. xvi. sa, 33, I Pj, i. 4,
ble way ! Darkness alone who feareth not? A
slippery way alone who avoids not ? In a dark
and slippery way how shalt thou go ? where set
foot? These two ills are the great punishments
of men : darkness, ignorance ; a slippery way,
luxury. " And let the Angel of the Lord perse-
cute them ; " that they be not able to stand.
For any one in a dark and slippery way, when
he seeth that if he move his foot he will fall, and
there is no light before his feet, haply resolveth
to wait until light come ; but here is the Angel
of the Lord persecuting them. These things he
predicted would come upon them, not as though
he wished them to happen. Although the Prophet
in the Spirit of God so speaketh these things,
even as God doth the same, with sure judgment,
with a judgment good, righteous, holy, tranquil ;
not moved with wrath, not with bitter jealousy,
not with desire of wreaking enmities, but of pun-
ishing wickedness with righteousness ; neverthe-
less, it is a prophecy.
7. But wherefore these so great evils? By
what desert ? Hear by what desert. " For with-
out cause have they hid for me the corruption
of their trap" (ver. 7). For Him that is our
Head, observe, the Jews did this : they hid the
corruption of their trap. For whom hid they
their trap? For Him who saw the hearts of
those that hid. But yet was He among them
like one ignorant, as though He were deceived,
whereas they were in that deceived, that they
thought Him to be deceived. For therefore was
He as though deceived, living among them, be-
cause we among such as they were so to live, as
to be without doubt deceived. He saw His
betrayer, and chose him the more to a necessary
work. By his evil He wrought a great good :
and yet among the twelve was he chosen, lest
even the small number of twelve should be with-
out one evil. This was an example of patience
to us, because it was necessary that we should live
among the evil : it was necessary that we should
endure the evil, either knowing them or knowing
them not : an example of patience He gave thee
lest thou shouldest fail, when thou hast begun to
live among the evil. And because that School
of Christ in the twelve failed not, how much
more ought we to be firm, when in the great
Church is fulfilled what was predicted of the
mixture of the evil. . . .
8. But yet what is to be done ? " Without a
cause have they hid for me the corruption of
their trap." What meaneth, "Without a cause"?
I have done them no evil, I have hurt them not
at all. " Vainly have they reviled my soul."
What is, "Vainly"? Speaking falsely, proving
nothing. " Let a trap come upon them which
they know not of" (ver. 8). A magnificent retri-
bution, nothing more just ! They have hidden
a trap that I might know not : let a trap come
Psalm XXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
81
upon them which they know not of. For I know
of their trap. But what trap is coming upon
them ? That which they know not of. Let us
hear, lest haply he speak of that. " Let a trap
come upon them, which they know not of."
Perhaps that is one which they hid for him, that
another which shall come upon themselves. Not
so: but what? "The wicked shall be holden
with the cords of his own sins." ■ Thereby are
they deceived, whereby they would deceive.
Thence shall come mischief to them, whence
they endeavoured mischief. For it follows,
" And let the net which they have hidden catch
themselves, and let them fall into their own
trap." As if any one should prepare a cup of
poison for another, and forgetting should drink
it up himself: or as if one should dig a pit, that
his enemy might fall thereinto in the darkness ;
and himself forgetting what he had dug, should
first walk that way, and fall into it. . . .
9. This then for the wicked that would hurt
me : what for me ? " But my soul shall rejoice
in the Lord " (ver. 9) ; as in Him from whom
it hath heard, " I am thy salvation ; " as not
seeking other riches from without ; as not seek-
ing to abound in pleasures and good things of
earth ; but loving freely the true Spouse, not
from Him wishing to receive aught that may
delight, but Him alone proposing to itself, by
whom it may be delighted. For what better
than God will be given unto me? God loveth
me : God loveth thee. See He hath proposed
to thee, Ask what thou wilt.2 If the emperor
should say to thee, Ask what thou wilt, what
commands,3 what dignities,4 wouldest thou burst
forth with ! What great things wouldest thou
propose to thyself, both to receive and to be-
stow ! When God saith unto thee, Ask what
thou wilt, what wilt thou ask? empty thy mind,
exert thy avarice, stretch forward as far as possi-
ble, and enlarge thy desire : it is not any one,
but Almighty God that said, Ask what thou wilt.
If of possessions thou art a lover, thou wilt de-
sire the whole earth, that all who are born may
be thy husbandmen, or thy slaves. And what
when thou hast possessed the whole earth ? Thou
wilt ask the sea, in which yet thou canst not live.
In this greediness the fishes will have the better
of thee. But perhaps thou wilt possess the
islands. Pass over these also ; ask the air,
although thou canst not fly ; stretch thy desire
even unto the heavens, call thine own the sun,
the moon, and the stars, because He who made
all said, Ask what thou wilt : yet nothing wilt
thou find more precious, nothing wilt thou find
better, than Himself who made all things. Him
seek, who made all things, and in Him and from
Him shalt thou have all things which He made.
1 Prov. v. 22. 2 Matt. vii. 7. 3 Triduttatus.
* Comitivas. [Part Second begins with ver. IX, — C.J
All things are precious, because all are beautiful ;
but what more beautiful than He? Strong are
they ; but what stronger than He ? And nothing
would He give thee rather than Himself. If
aught better thou hast found, ask it. If thou
ask aught else, thou wilt do wrong to Him, and
harm to thyself, by preferring to Him that which
He made, when He would give to thee Himself
who made. . . .
" But my soul shall be joyful in the Lord ; it
shall rejoice in His salvation." The salvation
of God is Christ : " For mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation." s
10. "All my bones shall say, Lord, who is
like unto Thee " (ver. 10). Who can speak any-
thing worthily of these words? I think them
only to be pronounced, not to be expounded.
Why seekest thou this or that? What is like
unto thy Lord? Him hast thou before thee.
"The unrighteous have declared unto me de-
lights, but not after Thy law, O Lord ! " 6 Per-
secutors have been who have said, Worship
Saturn, worship Mercury. I worship not idols
(saith he): "Lord, who is like unto Thee?
They have eyes, and see not ; ears have they, but
they hear not." 7 " Lord, who is like unto Thee,"
who hast made the eye to see, the ear to hear?
But I (saith he) worship not idols, for them a
workman made. Worship a tree or mountain ;
did a workman make them also? Here too,
Lord, who is like unto Thee? Earthly things
are shown unto me ; Thou art Creator of the
earth. And from these haply they turn to the
higher creation, and say to me, Worship the Moon,
worship this Sun, who with his light, as a great
lamp in the Heavens, maketh the day. Here
also I plainly say, " Lord, who is like unto
Thee?" The Moon and the Stars Thou hast
made, the Sun to rule the day hast Thou
kindled, the Heavens hast Thou framed to-
gether. There are many invisible things better.
But haply here also it is said to me, Worship
Angels, adore Angels. And here also will I say,
"Lord, who is like unto Thee?" Even the
Angels Thou hast created. The Angels are noth-
ing, but by seeing Thee. It is better with them
to possess Thee, than by worshipping them to
fall from Thee.
n. O Body of Christ, Holy Church, let all
thy bones say, " Lord, who is like unto thee ? "
And if the flesh under persecution hath fallen
away, let the bones say, " Lord, who is like unto
Thee ? " For of the righteous it is said, " The
Lord keepeth all their bones ; not one of them
shall be broken." 8 Of how many righteous
have the bones under persecution been broken ?
Finally, "The just shall live by faith,"' and
" Christ justified! the ungodly." '° But how justi-
5 I.uke it. 30. 6 Ps. cxix. 85. 7 Ps. cxv. 5, 6. 8 Ps. xxxiv. 90.
» Rom. i. 17. [P. 78, supra. — C] I0 Rom. iv. 5.
82
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXV.
fieth He any except believing and confessing?
" For with the heart man believeth unto right-
eousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." ' Therefore also that thief,
although from His theft led to the judge, and
from the judge to the cross, yet on the very cross
was justified : with his heart he believed, with
his mouth he confessed. For neither to a man
unrighteous and not already justified, would the
Lord have said, " To-day shalt thou be with Me
in Paradise," a and yet his bones were broken.
For when they came to take down the bodies,
by reason of the approaching Sabbath, the Lord
was found already dead, and His Bones were
not broken.3 But of those that yet lived, that
they might be taken down, the legs were broken,
that so from this pain having died, they might
be buried. Were then of the one thief, who
persisted in his ungodliness on the cross, the
bones broken, and not also of the other who
with his heart believed, and with his mouth made
confession unto salvation ? Where then is that
which was said, "The Lord keepeth all his
bones ; not one of them shall be broken ; " ex-
cept that in the Body of the Lord the name of
bones is given to all the righteous, the firm in
heart, the strong, yielding to no persecutions,
no temptations, so as to consent unto evil ? . . .
12. "Which deliverest the poor from him
that is too strong for him ; yea, the poor and
needy from him that spoileth him." . . . Who
that deliverest, but He who is Strong in hand ?
Even that David shall deliver the poor from him
that is too strong for him. For the devil was
too strong for thee, and held thee, because he
conquered thee, when thou consentedst unto
him. But what hath the Strong in hand done ?
"No man entereth into a strong man's house,
to spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong
man." * By His own Power, most Holy, most
Magnificent, hath He bound the devil by pour-
ing forth the weapon to stop the way against
him, that He may deliver the poor and needy,
to whom there was no helper.' For who is thy
helper but the Lord to whom thou sayest, " O
Lord, My Strength, and My Redeemer." 6 If
thou wilt presume of thy own strength, thereby
wilt thou fall, whereof thou hast presumed : if
of another's, he would lord it over thee, not
succour thee. He then alone is to be sought
Who hath redeemed them, and made them free,
and hath given His Blood to purchase them,
and of His servants hath made them His
Brethren. . . .
13. Let then our Head say, " False witnesses
did rise up, they laid to My charge things that
I knew not" (ver. 11). But let us say to our
Head, Lord, what knewest Thou not? Didst
1 Rom. x. 10.
4 Malt. xii. 39.
2 Luke xxiii. 43.
> P». Ixxii. 11,
3 John xix. 33,
6 IV Xix. 14.
Thou indeed know not anything? Didst Thou
not know the hearts of them that charged Thee ?
Didst Thou not foresee their deceits? Didst
Thou not give Thyself into their hands know-
ingly? Hadst Thou not come that Thou might-
est suffer by them? What then knewest Thou
not? He knew not sin, and thereby He knew
not sin, not by not judging, but by not commit-
ting. There are phrases of this kind also in daily
use, as when thou sayest of any one, He knoweth
not to stand, that is, he doth not stand ; and,
He knoweth not to do good, because he doth
not good ; and, He knoweth not to do ill, be-
cause he doth not ill. . . . What knew not Christ
so much, as to blaspheme? Thereof was He
called in question by His persecutors, and be-
cause He spake truth, He was judged to have
spoken blasphemy.7 But by whom ? By them
of whom it followeth, " They rewarded Me evil
for good, and barrenness to My Soul" (ver. 12).
I gave unto them fruitfulness, they rewarded Me
barrenness ; I gave life, they death ; I honour,
they dishonour ; I medicine, they wounds ; and
in all these which they rewarded Me, was truly
barrenness. This barrenness in the tree He
cursed, when seeking fruit He found none.8
Leaves there were, and fruit there was not :
words there were, and deeds there were not.
See of words abundance, and of deeds barren-
ness. "Thou that preachest a man should not
steal, stealest : thou that sayest a man should not
commit adultery, committest adultery." • Such
were they who charged Christ with things that
He knew not.
14. " But I, when they troubled me, clothed
myself with sackcloth, and humbled my soul with
fasting, and my prayer shall return into mine own
bosom" (ver. 13). . . . Brethren, if for some
little space with pious curiosity we lift the veil,
and search with the intent eye of the heart the
inner part of this Scripture, we find that even this
the Lord did. Sackcloth, haply He calleth His
mortal flesh. Wherefore Sackcloth? For the
likeness of sinful flesh. For the Apostle saith,
" God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
that through sin He might condemn sin in the
flesh : " '° that is, He clothed His Own Son with
sackcloth, that through sackcloth " He might
condemn the goats. Not that there was sin, I
say not in the Word of God, but not even in that
Holy Soul and Mind of a Man, which the Word
and Wisdom of God had so joined to Himself
as to be One Person. Nay, nor even in His very
Body was any sin, but the likeness of sinful flesh
there was in the Lord ; because death is not but
by sin," and surely that Body was mortal. For
1 Matt.
xxl. 19,
9 Rom. ii. ix, 3a.
7 Matt. xxyi. 65.
10 Rom. viii. 3.
u Lat. de citicio ; i.t., »ackcloth made of goats' hair,
xvii. 3 and xxl 39. — C] Compare Matt. xxv. 32, 33.
li Rom. v. 13.
[Acts
Psalm XXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
83
had It not been mortal, It had not died ; had It
not died, It had not risen again ; had It not
risen again, It had not showed us an example of
eternal life. So then death, which is caused by
sin, is called sin ; as we say the Greek tongue,
the Latin tongue, meaning not the very member
of flesh, but that which is done by the member of
flesh. For the tongue in our members is one
among others, as the eyes, nose, ears, and the
rest : but the Greek tongue is Greek words, not
that the tongue is words, but that words are by
the tongue. ... So then the sin of the Lord
is that which was caused by sin ; because He
assumed flesh, of the same lump which had de-
served death by sin. For to speak more briefly,
Mary who was of Adam died for sin,' Adam died
for sin, and the Flesh of the Lord which was of
Mary died to put away sin. With this sackcloth
the Lord clothed Himself, and therefore was He
not known, because He lay hid under sackcloth.
" When they," saith He, " troubled Me, I clothed
Myself with sackcloth : " that is, they raged,
I lay hid. For had He not willed to lie hid,
neither could He have died, since in one moment
of time one drop only of His Power, if indeed it
is to be called a drop, He put forth, when they
wished to seize Him, and at His one question,
"Whom seek ye?" they all went back and fell
to the ground.2 Such power could He not have
humbled in passion, if He had not lain hid under
sackcloth.
15. Again, if we have understood the sackcloth,
how understand we the fasting? Wished Christ
to eat, when He sought fruit on the tree,3 and if
He had found, would He have eaten? Wished
Christ to drink, when He said to the woman of
Samaria, "Give Me to drink "?•» when He said
on the Cross, " I thirst " ?5 For what hungered,
for what thirsted Christ, but our good works?
Because in them that crucified and persecuted
Him He had found no good works, He fasted ;
for they rewarded barrenness to His soul. For
what a fast was His, who found barely one thief,
whom on the Cross He might taste ! For the
Apostles had fled, and had hidden themselves in
the multitude. And even Peter, who even to the
death of his Lord had promised to persevere,
had now thrice denied Him, had now wept, and
still lay hid in the multitude, still feared lest He
should be known. Lastly, having seen Him
dead, all of them despaired of their own safety ;
and despairing He found them, after His resur-
rection, and when He spake with them, found
them grieving and mourning, no longer hoping
anything. ... In great fasting had the Lord
1 [" All, without one exception, were dead in sins." See {City
of God, book xx. cap. 6) vol ii. p. 425, supra. Mary is not
excepted by any of the Fathers; and the Latin Fathers, the last of
whom is St. Bernard, unanimously ascribe to Christ the only immacu-
late conception. — C.l
2 John xviii. 4, 6. 3 Mark xi. 13. 4 John iv. 7.
5 John xix. 38. [On assimilation, compare p. 86, n. 2. — C.]
remained, had He not refreshed them that He
might feed on them. For He refreshed them,
He comforted them, He confirmed them, and
into His Own Body converted them. In this
manner then was our Lord also in fasting.
16. "And My prayer shall return into Mine
Own Bosom." In the bosom of this verse is
plainly a great depth, and may the Lord grant
that it be fathomable by us. For in the " bosom "
a secret is understood. And we ourselves, Breth-
ren, are here well admonished to pray within
our own bosom, where God seeth, where God
heareth, where no human eye penetrateth, where
none seeth but He who succoureth ; where
Susanna prayed, and her voice, though it was
not heard by men, yet by God was heard.6 . . .
We read also that in the mount Jesus prayed
alone,7 we read that He passed the night in
prayer,8 even at the time of His Passion.9 What
then ? " And My prayer shall return into Mine
Own Bosom." I know not what better to un-
derstand concerning the Lord : take meanwhile
what now occurs ; '° perhaps something better
will occur hereafter, either to me or to some
better : " My prayer shall return into Mine Own
Bosom : " this I understand to be said, because
in His Own Bosom He had the Father. " For
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto
Himself." " In Himself He had Him to whom
He prayed. He was not far from Him, for
Himself had said, " I am in the Father, and
the Father in Me." " But because prayer rather
belongeth to very Man (for according as Christ
is the Word, He prayeth not, but heareth
prayer; and seeketh not to be succoured for
Himself, but with the Father succoureth all) :
what is, " My prayer shall return into Mine Own
Bosom," but in Me My Manhood invoketh in
Me My Godhead.
17. "As a Neighbour, as our Brother, so I
pleased Him : as one mourning and sorrowful,
so I humbled myself" (ver. 14). Now looketh
He back to His Own Body : let us now look to
this. When we rejoice in prayer, when our
mind is calmed, not by the world's prosperity,
but by the light of Truth : (who perceiveth this
light, knoweth what I say, and he seeth and
acknowledgeth what is said, " As a Neighbour,
as our Brother, so I pleased Him ") : even then
our soul pleaseth God, not placed afar off, for,
" In Him," saith one, " we live and move and
have our being," *< but as a Brother, as a Neigh-
bour, as a Friend. But if it be not such that it
can so rejoice, so shine, so approach, so cleave
unto Him, and seeth itself far off thence, then let
it do what followeth, "As one mourning and
6 Susanna i. 35, 44. ' Matt. xiv. 23.
8 Luke vi. 12. 9 Matt. xxvi. 36: Mark xiv. 35; Luke xxii. 41.
10 [A significant hint of the improvised character of many of the
saint's expositions. — C]
11 2 Cor. v. 19. la John xiv. 10. ** Acts xvii. 28.
84
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXV.
sorrowful, so I humbled Myself. As our Brother,
so I pleased Him," said He, drawing near;
" As one mourning and sorrowful, so I humbled
Myself," said He, removed and set afar off. . . .
Did not Peter draw near, when he said, " Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God " ?
And yet the same man became afar off by saying,
" Be it far from Thee, Lord ; this shall not be
unto Thee." Lastly, what said He, his Neigh-
bour, as it were, to him drawing near? " Blessed
art thou, Simon, Barjona." To him afar off, as
it were, and unlike, what said He? " Get thee
'behind Me, Satan."1 To him drawing near,
" Flesh and blood," saith He, " hath not revealed
it unto thee, but My Father, which is in
Heaven." His Light is shed over thee, in His
Light thou shinest. But when having become
afar off, he spake against the Lord's Passion,
which should be for our Salvation, " Thou savour-
est not," said He, " the things that be of God,
but those that be of men." One rightly placing
together both of these saith in a certain Psalm,
" I said in my ecstasy, I am cast off from before
Thine Eyes." 2 In my ecstasy, would he not
have said, had he not drawn near ; for ecstasy
is the transporting of the mind. He poured
over himself his own soul, and drew near unto
God ; and through some cloud and weight of
the flesh being again cast down to earth, and
recollecting where he had been, and seeing
where he was, he said, " I am cast off from
before Thine Eyes." This then, " As a Neigh-
bour, as our Brother, so I pleased Him," may
He grant to be done in us ; but when that is
not, let even this be done, " As one mourning
and sorrowful, so I humbled myself."
1 8. And against Me they rejoiced, and gath-
ered themselves together "3 (ver. 15), against
Me only : they rejoicing, I sorrowful. But we
heard just now in the Gospel, " Blessed are they
that mourn." * If they are blessed that mourn,
miserable are they that laugh. " Against Me
they rejoiced, and gathered themselves to-
gether : scourges were gathered together against
Me, and they knew not." 5 Because they laid to
My charge things that I knew not, they also
knew not Whom they charged.
19. "They tempted Me, and mocked Me with
mocking"6 (ver. 16). That is, they derided
Me, they insulted Me ; this of the Head, this of
the Body. Consider, Brethren, the glory of the
Church which now is ; remember its past dis-
honours, remember how once were Christians
1 Mall. xvi. 16-23. 2 P». xxxii. 12. fSee p. 70, su/>ra.)
' E. V. " But in mine adversity they rejoiced and eathei
themselves together."
' Matt. <
mine adversity they rejoiced and gathered
ncr.
tl. v. 5.
* E. V. " Yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against
me, and I knew it not."
' IT, "They did tear Me and ceased not:" 16. "With
hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon Me with their
teeth." The words here omitted are mentioned on Ps. lvii. — Ben.
everywhere put to flight, and wherever found,
mocked, beaten, slain, exposed to beasts, burned,
men rejoicing against them. As it was to the
Head, so it is also to the Body. For as it was
to the Lord on the Cross, so has it been to His
Body in all that persecution which was made
but now : nor even now cease the persecutions
of the same. Wherever men find a Christian,
they are wont to insult, to persecute, to deride
him, to call him dull, senseless, of no spirit, of
no knowledge. Do they what they will, Christ
is in Heaven : do they what they will, He hath
honoured His punishment, already hath He
fixed His Cross in the foreheads of all ; the un-
godly is permitted to insult, to rage he is not
permitted ; but yet from that which the tongue
uttereth, is understood what he beareth in his
heart : " They gnashed upon Me with their
teeth."
20. " Lord, when wilt Thou look on ? Res-
cue My Soul from their deceits, My Darling
from the lions " (ver. 17). For to us the time
is slow ; and in our person is this said, " When
wilt Thou look on?" that is, when shall we see
vengeance upon those who insult us? When
shall the Judge, overcome by weariness, hear
the widow? 7 But our Judge, not from weari-
ness, but from love, delayeth our salvation ;
from reason, not from need ; not that He could
not even now succour us, but that the number
of us all may be filled up even to the end.
And yet out of our desire, what do we say?
" Lord, when wilt Thou look on ? Rescue My Soul
from their deceits, My Darling from the lions : "
that is, My Church from raging powers.
21. Lastly, wouldest thou know what is that
Darling ? Read the words following : " I will
confess unto Thee, O Lord, in the great Congre-
gation ; in a weighty 8 people will I praise
Thee " (ver. 18). Truly saith He, " I will con-
fess unto Thee : " for confession is made in
all the multitude, but not in all is God praised :
the whole multitude heareth our confession,9 but
not in all the multitude is the praise of God.
For in all the whole multitude, that is, in the
Church which is spread abroad in the whole
world, is chaff, and wheat : the chaff flieth, the
wheat remaineth ; therefore, " in a weighty peo-
ple will I praise Thee." In a weighty people,
which the wind of temptation carries not away,
in such is God praised. For in the chaff He is
ever blasphemed. . . .
22. " Let not them that are Mine enemies
wrongfully rejoice over Me : " for they rejoice
over Me because of My chaff. " Who hate Me
without a cause ; " that is, whom I never hurt ;
7 Luke xviii. 3, a Latin, " in populo gravi,"
9 [The recitation of the Creed, perhaps; but in the ancient
Church the confession of sin, also, was public. Bingham, b. xviii.
cap. 3. — C]
Psalm XXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
85
"winking with their eyes" (ver. 19) : that is,
pretending hypocrites, " For they spake indeed
peace to Me" (ver. 20). What is, "winking
with their eyes"? Declaring by their looks,
what they carry not in their heart. And who
are these " winking with their eyes " ? " For they
spake indeed peace to Me ; and with wrath de-
vised craftily." " Yea they opened their mouth
wide against Me" (ver. 21). First winking
with their eyes, those lions sought to ravish
and devour ; first fawning they spake peace, and
then with wrath devised craftily. What peace
spake they ? " Master, we know that Thou ac-
ceptest not man's person, and teachest the way
of God In truth. Is it lawful to give tribute unto
Caesar, or not?" They spake indeed peace
unto Me. What then? Didst not Thou know
them, and deceived they Thee, winking with
their eyes ? Truly He knew them ; therefore
said He, " Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites ? " '
Afterward, " they opened their mouth wide
against Me," crying, " Crucify Him, Crucify
Him !2 and said, Aha, Aha, our eyes have seen
it." This, when they insulted Him, "Aha, Aha,
Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ." 3 As their peace
was pretended when they tempted Him con-
cerning the money, so now insulting was their
praise. "They said, Aha, Aha, our eyes have
seen it " (ver. 21): that is, Thy deeds, Thy
miracles. This Man is the Christ. " If He be
the Christ, let Him come down from the Cross,
and we will believe Him. He saved others,
Himself He cannot save." * " Our eyes have
seen it." This is all whereof He boasted Him-
self, when " He called Himself the Son of God." '
But the Lord was hanging patient upon the
Cross : His power had He not lost, but He
showed His patience. For what great thing was
it for Him to come down from the Cross, who
could afterward rise again from the sepulchre?
But He seems to have yielded to His insulters ;
and this, beloved, that having risen again He
should show Himself to His own, and not to
them, and this is a great mystery ; for His res-
urrection signified the New Life, but the New
Life is known to His friends, not to His enemies.
23. " This Thou hast seen, O Lord ; keep not
silence" (ver. 22). What is, "keep not si-
lence " ? Judge Thou. For of judgment is it
said in a certain place,6 " I have kept silence ;
shall I keep silence for ever?" And of the
delaying of judgment it is said to the sinner,
"These things hast thou done, and I kept
silence ; " "Thou though test that I was altogether
such an one as thyself."' How keepeth He
silence, who speaketh by the Prophets, who
speaketh with His own mouth in the Gospel,
1 Matt. xxii. 16-18. • Luke xxiii. at. ' Matt. xxvi. 68.
4 Matt, xxvii. 42; Luke xxiii. 35. S John xix. 7.
« Isa. xlii. 14, Sept. ' P>. 1. at.
who speaketh by the Evangelists, who speak-
eth by us, when we speak the truth? What
then ? He keepeth silence from judgment, not
from precept, not from doctrine. But this His
judgment the Prophet in a manner invoketh,
and predicteth : " Thou hast seen, O Lord : keep
not silence ; " that is, Thou wilt not keep silence,
needs must that Thou wilt judge. " O Lord, be
not far from Me." Until Thy judgment come,
be not far from Me, as Thou hast promised, " Lo,
I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world."
24. "Arise, Lord, and attend to My judg-
ment" (ver. 23). To what judgment? That
Thou art in tribulation ; that Thou art tormented
with labours and pains? Do not even many
wicked men suffer the same? To what judg-
ment? Therefore art Thou righteous, because
Thou sufferest these things ? No : but what ?
"To My judgment." What followeth? "At-
tend to My judgment ; even to My cause, My
God, and My Lord." Not to My punishment,
but to My cause : not to that which the robber
hath in common with Me, but to that whereof
is said, " Blessed are they which are persecuted
for righteousness' sake." 8 For this cause is
distinguished. For punishment is equal to good
and bad. Therefore Martyrs, not the punish-
ment, but the cause maketh, for if punishment
made Martyrs, all the mines would be full of
Martyrs, every chain would drag Martyrs, all that
are executed with the sword would be crowned.
Therefore let the cause be distinguished ; let
none say, because I suffer, I am righteous.
Because He who first suffered, suffered for
righteousness' sake, therefore He added a
great exception, " Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness' sake." For many
having a good cause do persecution, and
many having a bad cause suffer persecution.
For if persecution could not be done rightly, it
had not been said in a certain Psalm, " Whoso
privily slandereth his neighbour, him did I per-
secute." 9 . . . Let none then say, I suffer per-
secution : let him not sift the punishment, but
prove the cause : lest if he prove not the cause,
he be numbered with the ungodly. Therefore
how watchfully, how excellently hath This Man
recommended Himself, " O Lord, attend to My
judgment," not to My punishments ; " even to
My cause, My God, and My Lord."
25. "Judge me, O Lord, according to My
righteousness " (ver. 24) ; that is, attend to
My cause. Not according to My punishment,
but " according to My righteousness, O Lord,
My God," that is, according to this judge Thou
Me. " And let them not rejoice over Me ; "
that is, Mine enemies.
• Matt. t. to.
9 Ps. ci. 5.
86
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVI.
26. "Let them not say in their heart, Aha,
aha, so would we have it" (ver. 25); that is,
We have done what we could," we have slain
him, we have taken him away. " Let them not
say : " show them that they have done nothing.
" Let them not say, We have swallowed him up."
Whence say those Martyrs, " If the Lord had
not been on our side, then they had swallowed
us up quick."2 What is, "had swallowed us
up"? Had passed into their own body. For
that thou swallowest up, which thou passest into
thy own body. The world would swallow thee
up ; swallow thou the world, pass it into thy
own body : kill and eat. As it was said to Peter,
" Kill and eat ; " ' do thou kill in them what
they are, make them what thou art. But if they
on the other hand persuade thee to ungod-
liness, thou art swallowed up by them. Not
when they persecute thee art thou swallowed up
by them, but when they persuade thee to be
what they are. " Let them not say, We have
swallowed him up." Do thou swallow up the
body of Pagans. Why the body of Pagans?
It would swallow thee up. Do thou to it, what
it would to thee. Therefore perhaps that calf,
being ground to powder, was cast into the water
and given to the children of Israel to drink,4 that
so the body of ungodliness might be swallowed
up by Israel. " Let them be ashamed and
brought to confusion together that rejoice at
mine hurt : let them be clothed with shame and
dishonour" (ver. 26) ; so that we may swallow
up them ashamed and brought to confusion.
" Who speak evil against me : " let them be
ashamed, let them be brought to confusion.
27. What sayest thou now, the Head with the
Members ? " Let them shout for joy and be
glad that favour My righteous cause : " who
cleave to My Body. Yea, let them say " con-
tinually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath
pleasure in the prosperity of His servant " (ver.
27). "And my tongue shall speak of Thy
righteousness, and of Thy praise all the day
long" (ver. 28). And whose tongue endureth
to speak the praise of God all the day long?
See now I have made a discourse something
longer ; ye are wearied. Who endureth to praise
God all the day long? I will suggest a remedy,
whereby thou mayest praise God all the day
long if thou wilt. Whatever thou dost, do well,
and thou hast praised God. When thou singest
an hymn, thou praisest God, but what doth thy
tongue, unless thy heart also praise Him ? Hast
thou ceased from singing hymns, and departed,
that thou mayest refresh thyself? Be not
drunken, and thou hast praised God. Dost
thou go away to sleep? Rise not to do evil,
and thou hast praised God. Dost thou transact
» Al. " We have done it, we have prevailed " (Jotuimut).
' Pi. cxxiv. 1-3. » Acu x. 13. < Exod. xxxii. ao.
business? Do no wrong, and thou hast praised
God. Dost thou till thy field ? Raise not strife,
and thou hast praised God. In the innocency
of thy works prepare thyself to praise God all
the day long.
PSALM XXXVI.s
1. . . . "The ungodly hath said in himself
that he will sin : there is no fear of God before his
eyes " (ver. i). Not of one man, but of a race
of ungodly men he speaketh, who fight against
their own selves, by not understanding, that so
they may live well ; not because they cannot,
but because they will not. For it is one thing,
when one endeavours to understand some
thing, and through infirmity of flesh cannot ; as
saith the Scripture 6 in a certain place, " For the
corruptible body presseth down the soul, and
the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind
that museth upon many things ; " but another
when the human heart acts mischievously against
itself, so that what it could understand, if it had
but good will thereto, it understandeth not, not
because it is difficult, but because the will is
contrary. But so it is when men love their own
sins, and hate God's Commandments. For the
Word of God is thy adversary, if thou be a
friend to thy ungodliness ; but if thou art an
adversary to thy ungodliness, the Word of God
is thy friend, as well as the adversary of thy
ungodliness. . . .
2. " For he hath wrought deceitfully in His
sight" (ver. 2). In whose sight ? In His, whose
fear was not before the eyes of him that did work
deceitfully. " To find out his iniquity, and hate
it." He wrought so as not to find it. For
there are men who as it were endeavour to seek
out their iniquity, and fear to find it ; because if
they should find it, it is said to them, Depart
from it : this thou didst before thou knewest ;
thou didst iniquity being in ignorance ; God
giveth pardon : now thou hast discovered it, for-
sake it, that to thy ignorance pardon may easily
be given ; and that with a clear face thou mayest
say to God, " Remember not the sins of my
youth, and of my ignorance."7 Thus he seek-
eth it, thus he feareth lest he find it; for he
seeketh it deceitfully. When saith a man, I
knew not that it was sin ? When he hath seen
that it is sin, and ceaseth to do the sin, which
he did only because he was ignorant : such an
one in truth would know his sin, to find it out,
and hate it. But now many " work deceitfully
to find out their iniquity : " they work not from
their heart to find it out and hate it. But be-
cause in the very search after iniquity, there is
» Lat. XXXV.
6 Wisd. ix. 15. [Here cited as Scripture, but only deutero-
canonical (as St. Jerome testifies) , illustrating the Law and the
Prophets, but not 01 authority in itself. — C. j
' Ps. xxv. 7.
Psalm XXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
87
deceit, in the finding it there will be defence of
it. For when one hath found his iniquity, lo
now it is manifest to him that it is iniquity. Do
it not, thou sayest. And he who wrought deceit-
fully to find it out, now he hath found, hateth it
not ; for what saith he ? How many do this !
Who is there that doth it not? And will God
destroy them all ? Or at least he saith this : if
God would not these things to be done, would
men live who commit the same? Seest thou
that thou didst work deceitfully to find out thy
iniquity? For if not deceitfully but sincerely
thou hadst wrought, thou wouldest now have
found it out, and hated it ; now thou hast found
it out, and thou defendest it ; therefore thou
didst work deceitfully, when thou soughtest it.
3. " The words of his mouth are iniquity and
deceit : he would not understand, that he might
do good" (ver. 3). Ye see that he attributeth
that to the will : for there are men who would
understand and cannot, and there are men who
would not understand, and therefore understand
not. " He would not understand, that he might
do good."
4. " He hath meditated iniquity on his bed."
What said He, " On his bed ? " (ver. 4) . " The
ungodly hath said in himself, that he will sin : "
what above he said, in himself, that here he said,
"On his bed." Our bed is our heart : there we
suffer the tossing of an evil conscience ; and
there we rest when our conscience is good.
Whoso loveth the bed of his heart, let him do
some good therein. There is our bed, where
the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to pray.
" Enter into thy chamber, and shut thy door." '
What is, "Shut thy door?" Expect not from
God such things as are without, but such as are
within ; " and thy Father which seeth in secret,
shall reward thee openly." Who is he that shut-
teth not the door? He who asketh much from
God such things, and in such wise directeth all
his prayers, that he may receive the goods that
are of this world. Thy door is open, the multi-
tude seeth when thou prayest. What is it to
shut thy door? To ask that of God, which God
alone knoweth how He giveth. What is that
for which thou prayest, when thou hast shut the
door? What " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor hath entered into the heart of man." 2 And
haply it hath not entered into thy very bed, that
is, into thy heart. But God knoweth what He
will give : but when shall it be ? When the
Lord shall be revealed, when the Judge shall
appear. . . .
5. "He hath set himself in every way that is
not good." What is, "he hath set himself"?
He hath sinned perseveringly. Whence also of
a certain pious and good man it is said, " He
1 Malt. vi. 6.
2 Isa. lxiv. 4; 1 Cor. ii. 9.
hath not stood in the way of sinners." 3 As this
" hath not stood," so that " hath set himself."
" But wickedness hath he not hated." There is
the end, there the fruit : if a man cannot but
have wickedness, let him at least hate it. For
when thou hatest it, it scarcely occurs to thee to
do any wickedness. For sin is in our mortal
body, but what saith the Apostle ? " Let not
sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should
obey it in the lusts thereof." 4 When beginneth
it not to be therein? When that shall be ful-
filled in us which he saith, " When this cor-
ruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality." s Before
this come to pass, there is a delighting in sin in
the body, but greater is the delighting and the
pleasure in the Word of Wisdom, in the Com-
mandment of God. Overcome sin and the lust
thereof. Sin and iniquity do thou hate, that
thou mayest join thyself to God, who hateth it
as well as thou. Now being joined in mind unto
the Law of God, in mind thou servest the Law
of God. And if in the flesh thou therefore serv-
est 6 the law of sin,7 because there are in thee
certain carnal delightings, then will there be
none when thou shalt no longer fight. It is
one thing not to fight, and to be in true and
lasting peace ; another to fight and overcome ;
another to fight and to be overcome ; another
not to fight at all, but to be carried away. . . .
6. "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,
and Thy truth reacheth even unto the clouds "
(ver. 5). I know not what Mercy of Him he
meaneth, which is in the heavens. For the
Mercy of the Lord is also in the earth. Thou
hast it written, " The earth is full of the Mercy
of the Lord." 8 Of what Mercy then speaketh
He, when He saith, " Thy Mercy, O Lord, is in
the heavens " ? The gifts of God are partly
temporal and earthly, partly eternal and heav-
enly. Whoso for this vvorshippeth God, that he
may receive those temporal and earthly goods,
which are open to all, is still as it were like the
brutes : he enjoyeth indeed the Mercy of God,
but not that which is excepted, which shall not
be given, save only to the righteous, to the holy,
to the good. What are the gifts which abound
to all? " He maketh His sun to rise on the evil
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust." 9 Who hath not this Mercy
of God, first that he hath being, that he is dis-
tinguished from the brutes, that he is a rational
animal, so as to understand God ; secondly, that
he enjoys this light, this air, rain, fruits, diversity
of seasons, and all the earthly comforts, health
of body, the affection of friends, the safety of his
3 Ps. i. 1. * Rom. vi. 12. 3 1 Cor. xv. 54.
* i.e., " art subject to it," not " obeyest it." He is not here speak,
ing of actual wilful sin, but of motions toward sin to which the man does
not consent. _[ Concupiscence, art. ix. Angl. XXXIX. Articles. — C]
7 Rom. vii. 25. 8 Fs. xxxiii. 5. 9 Matt. v. 45.
88
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVI.
family? All these are good, and they are God's
gifts. . . .
7. But this man rightly understood what
mercy he should pray for from God. "Thy
Mercy, O Lord, is in the Heavens ; and Thy
Truth reacheth even to the clouds." That is,
the Mercy which Thou givest to Thy Saints, is
Heavenly, not earthly ; is Eternal, not temporal.
And how couldest Thou declare it unto men?
Because "Thy Truth reacheth even unto the
clouds." For who could know the Heavenly
Mercy of God, unless God should declare it unto
men? How did He declare it? By sending
His truth even unto the clouds. What are the
clouds? The Preachers of the Word of God.
. . . Truth reached even to the clouds : there-
fore unto us could be declared the Mercy of
God, which is in Heaven and not in earth. And
truly, Brethren, the clouds are the Preachers of
the Word of Truth. When God threateneth
through His Preachers, He thunders through the
clouds. When God worketh miracles through
His Preachers, He lightneth through the clouds,
He terrifieth through the clouds, and watereth
by the rain. Those Preachers, then, by whom is
preached the Gospel of God, are the clouds of
God. Let us then hope for Mercy, but for that
which is in the Heavens.
8. " Thy Righteousness is like the mountains
of God : Thy Judgments are a great deep "
(ver. 6). Who are the mountains of God?
Those who are called clouds, the same are also
the mountains of God. The great Preachers
are the mountains of God. And as when the sun
riseth, he first clothes the mountains with light,
and thence the light descends to the lowest parts
of the earth : so our Lord Jesus Christ, when He
came, first irradiated the height of the Apostles,
first enlightened the mountains, and so His Light
descended to the valley of the world. And there-
fore saith He in a certain Psalm, " I lifted up
mine, eyes unto the mountains, from whence
cometh my help." ■ But think not that the moun-
tains themselves will give thee help : for they
receive what they may give, give not of their
own. And if thou remain in the mountains, thy
hope will not be strong : but in Him who en-
lighteneth the mountains, ought to be thy hope
and presumption. Thy help indeed will come to
thee through the mountains, because the Scrip-
tures are administered to thee through the moun-
tains, through the great Preachers of the Truth :
but fix not thy hope in them. Hear what He
saith next following : " I lifted up mine eyes unto
the mountains, from whence cometh my help."
What then? Do the mountains give thee help?
No j hear what follows, " My help cometh from
the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."1
> p..(
■ Pi. cxxi. a.
Through the mountains cometh help, but not
from the mountains. From whom then ? " From
the Lord, which made Heaven and earth." . . .
9. " Thy Judgments are like the great abyss."
The abyss he calleth the depth of sin, whither
every one cometh by despising God ; as in a
certain place it is said, " God gave them over to
their own hearts' lusts, to do the things which
are not convenient." 3 . . . Because then they
were proud and ungrateful, they were held worthy
to be delivered up to the lusts of their own hearts,
and became a great abyss, so that they not only
sinned, but also worked craftily, lest they should
understand their iniquity, and hate it. That is
the depth of wickedness, to be unwilling to find
it out and to hate it. But how one cometh to
that depth, see ; " Thy Judgments are the great
abyss." As the mountains are by the Righteous-
ness of God,4 who through His Grace become
great : so also through His Judgments come they
unto the depth, who sink lowest. By this then
let the mountains delight thee, by this turn away
from the abyss, and turn thyself unto that, of
which it is said, " My help cometh from the
Lord." But whereby? "I have lifted up mine
eyes unto the mountains." What meaneth this?
I will speak plainly.* In the Church of God
thou findest an abyss, thou findest also moun-
tains ; thou findest there but few good, because
(he mountains are few, the abyss broad ; that is,
thou findest many living ill after the wrath of
God, because they have so worked that they are
delivered up to the lusts of their own heart ; so
now they defend their sins and confess them not ;
but say, Why? What have I done? Such an
one did this, and such an one did that. Now
will they even defend what the Divine Word
reproves. This is the abyss. Therefore in a cer-
tain place6 saith the Scripture (hear this abyss),
" The sinner when he cometh unto the depth of
sin despiseth." See, "Thy Judgments are like
the great abyss." But yet not art thou a moun-
tain ; not yet art thou in the abyss ; fly from the
abyss, tend towards the mountains ; but yet
remain not on the mountains. " For thy help
cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and
earth."
10. Because he said, Thy Mercy is in the
Heavens, that it may be known to be also on
earth, he said, " O Lord, Thou savest man and
beast,7 as Thy Mercy is multiplied, O God "
(ver. 7). Great is Thy Mercy, and manifold is
Thy Mercy, O God ; and that showest Thou
both to man and beast. For from whom is the
saving of men? From God. Is not the saving
of beasts also from God? For He who made
3 Rom. i. 28.
4AI," The Righteousness of God is like the mountains.'*
* Latint. b Prov. xviii. 3.
7 [In Vulgate and Septuagint this is included in verse 6.
English Version agrees with the text as here connected. — C]
The
Psalm XXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
89
man, made also beasts ; He who made both,
saveth both ; but the saving of beasts is tem-
poral. But there are who as a great thing ask
this of God, which He hath given to beasts.
"Thy Mercy, O God, is multiplied," so that
not only unto men, but unto beasts also is given
the same saving which is given to men, a carnal
and temporal saving.
11. Have not men then somewhat reserved
with God, which beasts deserve not, and where-
unto beasts arrive not? They have evidently.
And where is that which they have. " The chil-
dren of men put their trust under the shadow
of Thy wings." Attend, my Beloved, to this
most pleasant sentence : " Thou savest man and
beast." First, he spake of " man and beast,"
then of "the children of men;" as though
" men " were one, " the children of men " other.
Sometimes in Scripture children of men is said
generally of all men, sometimes in some proper
manner, with some proper signification, so that
not all men are understood ; chiefly when there
is a distinction. For not without reason is it
here put ; " O Lord, Thou savest man and
beast : but the children of men ; " as though
setting aside the first, he keepeth separate the
children of men. Separate from whom? Not
only from beasts, but also from men, who seek
from God the saving of beasts, and desire this
as a great thing. Who then are the children of
men? Those who put their trust under the
shadow of His wings. For those men together
with beasts rejoice in possession, but the children
of men rejoice in hope : those follow after pres-
ent goods with beasts, these hope for future
goods with Angels. . . .
12. "They shall be satiated1 with the fulness
of Thy House" (ver. 8). He promiseth us
some great thing. He would speak it, and He
speaketh it not. Can He not, or do not we re-
ceive it? I dare, my Brethren, to say, even of
holy tongues and hearts, by which Truth is
declared to us, that it can neither be spoken,
which they declared, nor even thought of. For
it is a great thing, and ineffable ; and even they
saw through a glass darkly, as saith the Apostle,
" For now we see through a glass darkly ; but
then face to face." 2 Lo, they who saw through
a glass darkly, thus burst forth. What then shall
we be, when we shall see face to face? That
with which they travailed in heart, and could not
with their tongue bring forth, that men might
receive it. For what necessity was there that'
he should say, " They shall be satiated with the
fulness of Thy House"? He sought a word
whereby to express from human things what he
would say ; and because he saw that men drown-
1 [I cannot but change the word " drunken " here for one more
decent and equally faithful. But note " sober inebriety," p. 75,
supra.— C]
3 x Cor. xiii. 12.
ing themselves in drunkenness receive indeed
wine without measure, but lose their senses, he
saw what to say ; for when shall have been re-
ceived that ineffable joy, then shall be lost in
a manner the human soul, it shall become Divine,
and be satiated with the fulness of God's House.
Wherefore also in another Psalm it is said, " Thy
cup inebriating, how excellent is it ! " ' With
this cup were the Martyrs satiated when going
to their passion, they knew not their own. What
so inebriated as not to know a wife weeping, not
children, not parents? They knew them not,
they thought not that they were before their
eyes. Wonder not : they were inebriated.
Wherewith were they so? Lo, they had re-
ceived a cup wherewith they were satiated.
Wherefore he also gives thanks to God, saying,
" What shall I render unto the Lord for all His
benefits towards me? I will take the cup of
Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord." *
Therefore, Brethren of men," let us be " children,
and let us trust under the shadow of His wings,
and be satiated with the fulness of His House.
As I could, I have spoken ; and as far as I can,
I see ; and how far I see, I cannot speak.5
" And of the torrent of Thy Pleasure shalt Thou
give them to drink." A torrent we call water
coming with a flood. There will be a flood of
God's Mercy to overflow and inebriate those
who now put their trust under the shadow of His
wings. What is that Pleasure? As it were a
torrent inebriating the thirsty. Let him then
who thirsts now, lay up hope : whoso thirsts now,
let him have hope ; when inebriated, he shall
have possession : before he have possession, let
him thirst in hope. " Blessed are they which do
hunger aud thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled."6
13. With what fountain then wilt thou be
overflowed, and whence runneth such a torrent
of His Pleasure ? " For with Thee," saith he,
" is the fountain of Life." What is the fountain
of Life, but Christ? He came to thee in the
flesh, that He might bedew thy thirsty lips : He
will satisfy thee trusting, who bedewed thee
thirsting. " For with Thee is the fountain of
Life ; in Thy Light shall we see light " (ver. 9).
Here a fountain is one thing, light another :
there not so. For that which is the Fountain,
the same is also Light : and whatever thou wilt
thou callest It, for It is not what thou callest It :
for thou canst not find a fit name : for It re-
maineth not in one name. If thou shouldest
say, that It is Light only, it would be said to
thee, Then without cause am I told to hunger
3 Ps. xxiii. 5, I.XX. < Ps. cxvi. », 13.
5 [To spiritualize inebriation seems a difficult task; but as in
heraldry we introduce the boar and the serpent for other qualities
than their filth and their venom, so here the suggestion is explained
by a reference to Acts ii. 13-18 and Eph. v. 18, 19. — C]
* Matt. v. 6.
90
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVI.
and thirst, for who is there that eateth light? It
is said to me plainly, directly, " Blessed are the
pure in heart : for they shall see God." ' If It is
Light, my eyes must I prepare. Prepare also
lips ; for That which is Light is also a Fountain :
a Fountain, because It satisfieth the thirsty :
Light, because It enlighteneth the blind. Here
sometimes, light is in one place, a fountain in
another. For sometimes fountains run even
in darkness ; and sometimes in the desert thou
sufferest the sun, findest no fountain : here then
can these two be separated : there thou shalt
not be wearied, for there is a Fountain ; there
thou shalt not be darkened, for there is Light.
14. " Show forth Thy Mercy unto them that
know Thee ; Thy Righteousness to them that
are of a right heart " (ver. 10). As I have said,
Those are of a right heart who follow in this life
the Will of God. The will of God is some-
times that thou shouldest be whole, sometimes
that thou shouldest be sick. If when thou art
whole God's Will be sweet, and when thou art
sick God's Will be bitter ; thou art not of a
right heart. Wherefore? Because thou wilt not
make right thy will according to God's Will, but
wilt bend God's Will to thine. That is right,
but thou art crooked : thy will must be made
right to That, not That made crooked to thee ;
and thou wilt have a right heart. It is well with
thee in this world ; be God blessed, who com-
forteth thee : it goeth hardly with thee in this
world ; be God blessed, because He 2 chasteneth
and proveth thee ; and so wilt thou be of a right
heart, saying, " I will bless the Lord at all times :
His Praise shall be ever in my mouth." 3
15. " Let not the foot of pride come against
me" (ver. n). But now he said, The children
of men shall put their trust under the shadow of
Thy wings : they shall be satiated with the ful-
ness of Thy House. When one hath begun to
be plentifully overflowed with that Fountain, let
him take heed lest he grow proud. For the
same was not wanting to Adam, the first man :
but the foot of pride came against him, and
the hand of the sinner removed him, that is, the
proud hand of the devil. As he who seduced
him, said of himself, " I will sit in the sides of
the north ;" 4 so he persuaded him, by saying,
" Taste, and ye shall be as gods." * By pride
then have we so fallen as to arrive at this mor-
tality. And because pride had wounded us,
humility maketh us whole. God came humbly,
that from such great wound of pride He might
heal man. He came, for " The Word was made
Flesh, and dwelt among us."6 He was taken
by the Jews; He was reviled of them. Ye
heard when the Gospel was read, what they said,
■ Matt. v. 6, 8.
* Iia. xiv. 13.
* John i. 34.
« Al. " Who."
s Gen. iii. 5.
* Ps- xxxiv. 1.
and to Whom they said, " Thou hast a devil : " '
and He said not, Ye have a devil, for ye are still
in your sins, and the devil possesseth your hearts.
He said not this, which if He had said, He had
said truly : but it was not meet that He should
say it, lest He should seem not to preach Truth,
but to retort evil speaking. He let go what He
heard as though He heard it not. For a Physi-
cian was He, and to cure the madman had He
come. As a Physician careth not what he may
hear from the madman ; but how the madman
may recover and become sane ; nor even if he
receive a blow from the madman, careth he ;
but while he to him giveth new wounds, he
cureth his old fever : so also the Lord came to
the sick man, to the madman came He, that
whatever He might hear, whatever He might
suffer, He should despise ; by this very thing
teaching us humility, that being taught by humil-
ity, we might be healed from pride : from which
he here prayeth to be delivered, saying, " Let
not the foot of pride come against me ; neither
let the hand of the sinner remove me." For if
the foot of pride come, the hand of the sinner
removeth. What is the hand of the sinner?
The working of him that adviseth ill. Hast
thou become proud? Quickly he corrupteth
thee who adviseth ill. Humbly fix thyself in
God, and care not much what is said to thee.
Hence is that which is elsewhere spoken, " From
my secret sins cleanse Thou me ; and from
others' sins also keep Thy servant." 8 What is,
" From my secret sins " ? " Let not the foot of
pride come against me." What is, " From other
men's sins also keep Thy servant "? " Let not
the hand of the wicked remove me." Keep that
which is within, and thou shalt not fear from
without.
16. But wherefore so greatly fearest thou this?
Because it is said, " Thereby have fallen all that
work iniquity" (ver. 12); so that they have
come into that abyss of which it is said, " Thy
judgments are like the great abyss : " so that
they have come even to that deep wherein sin-
ners who despise have fallen. " Have fallen."
Whereby did they first fall? By the foot of
pride. Hear the foot of pride. " When they
knew God, they glorified Him not as God."
Therefore came against them the foot of pride,
whereby they came into the depth. "God gave
them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do those
things which are not convenient." ' The root
of sin, and the head of sin feared he who
said, " Let not the foot of pride come against
me." Wherefore said he, " the foot " ? Because
by walking proudly man deserted God, and
departed from Him. His foot, called he his
7 John viii. 48. [This was then the Gospel for the day, or one of
the Lessons.
8 Ps. xix. 12, 13.
9 Rom. i. 21-24.
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
91
affection. "Let not the foot of pride come
against me : let not the hand of the wicked
remove me : " that is, let not the works of the
wicked remove me from Thee, that I should wish
to imitate them. But wherefore said he this
against pride, " Thereby have fallen all that work
iniquity " ? Because those who now are ungodly,
have fallen by pride. Therefore when the Lord
would caution His Church, He said, " It shall
watch thy head, and thou shall watch ■ his heel." *
The serpent watcheth when the foot of pride
may come against thee, when thou mayest fall,
that he may cast thee down. But watch thou
his head : the beginning of all sin is pride.3
" Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity :
they are driven out, and are not able to stand."
He first, who in the Truth stood not, then,
through him, they whom God sent out of Para-
dise. Whence he, the humble, who said that
he was not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet,
is not driven out, but standeth and heareth Him,
and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bride-
groom's voice ; 4 not because of his own, lest the
foot of pride come against him, and he be driven
out, and be not able to stand. . . .
PSALM XXXVII.s
On the First Part of the Psalm.
i. With terror do they hear of the coming of
the last day, who will not be secure by living
well : and who fain would live ill, long. But it
was for useful purposes that God willed that day
to remain unknown ; that the heart may be ever
ready to expect that of which it knows it is to
come, but knows not when it is to come. See-
ing, however, that our Lord Jesus Christ was
sent to us to be our " Master," 6 He said, that
"of the day not even the Son of Man knew," 1
because it was not part of His office as our Mas-
ter that through Him it should become known
to us. • For indeed the Father knoweth nothing
that the Son knoweth not ; since that is the
Very Knowledge of the Father Itself, which is
His Wisdom ; now His Son, His Word, is " His
Wisdom." But because it was not for our
good to know that, which however was known
to Him who came indeed to teach us, though
not to teach us that which it was not good for
us to know, He not only, as a Master, taught us
something, but also, as a Master, left something
1 Lat. observa&it. 2 Gen. iii. 15. 3 Ecclus. x. 13.
* John i. 27, iii. 29.
5 Lat. XXXVI. This is a sermon which was delivered at Car-
thage, as well as the two following. It should be noticed that in the
life of St. Fulgentius, c. 3, we are told that, " having some time
before resolved with himself to renounce the world, he was so roused
and moved by St. Augustin's exposition of this Psalm that he deter-
mined to make his vow public, and earnestly desired to adopt the
religious habit." — Ben
° Magister Magisterio. Master, in sense of teacher or guide;
Ka0iTy>7Ti)«, in Matt, xxiii 8, being in the Latin translated " Magis-
ter," as in English, " Master."
7 Mark xiii. 32.
untaught. For, as a Master, He knew how
both to teach us what was good for us, and not
to teach us what was injurious. Now thus,
according to a certain form of speech, the Son 8
is said not to know what He does not teach :
that is, in the same way that we are daily in the
habit of speaking, He is said not to know what
He causes us not to know.9 . . .
2. This it is that disturbs you who are a
Christian ; that you see men of bad lives pros-
pering, and surrounded with abundance of things
like these ; you see them sound in health, dis-
tinguished with proud honours ; you see their
family unvisited by misfortune ; the happiness
of their relatives, the obsequious attendance of
their dependants, their most commanding in-
fluence, their life uninterrupted by any sad
event ; you see their characters most profligate,
their external resources most affluent ; and your
heart says that there is no Divine judgment ; that
all things are carried to and fro by accidents,
and blown about in disorderly and irregular
motions. For if God, thou sayest, regarded
human affairs, would his iniquity flourish, and
my innocence suffer? Every sickness of the
soul hath in Scripture its proper remedy. Let
him then whose sickness is of that kind that he
says in his heart things like these, let him drink
this Psalm by way of potion. . . .
3. " Be not envious because of evil-doers,
neither be envious against the workers of in-
iquity" (ver. 1). "For they shall soon wither
like the grass, and shall fade like the herbs of
the meadow" (ver. 2). That which to thee
seemeth long, is " soon " in the sight of God.
Conform IO thou thyself to God ; and it will be
" soon " to thee. That which he here calls
"grass," that we understand by the "herbs of
the meadow." They are some worthless things,
occupying the surface only of the ground, they
have no depth of root. In the winter then
they are green ; but when the summer sun shall
begin to scorch, they will wither away. For
now it is the season of winter. Thy glory doth
not as yet appear. But if thy love hath but a
deep root, like that of many trees during winter,
the frost passes away, the summer (that is, the
Day of Judgment) will come ; then will the green-
ness of the grass wither away. Then will the
glory of the trees appear. " For ye " (saith
the Apostle) "are dead,"" even as trees seem to
be in winter, as it were dead, as it were withered.
What is our hope then, if we are dead? The
root is within ; where our root is, there is our
life also, for there our love is fixed. " And your
life is hid with Christ in God." " When shall he
8 Al. ** Son of Man," as below.
9 [Here he enlarges; but our common use of the word '* ignore "
sufficiently explains the use here. We ignore what it is needless to
say. — C]
10 Subjunge. ll Col. iii. 3.
92
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVII.
wither who is thus rooted ? But when will our
spring be? When our summer? When will
the honour of foliage clothe us around, and the
fulness of fruit make us rich ? When shall this
come to pass ? Hear what follows : " When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with Him in glory." And what
then shall we do now ? " Be not envious
because of the evil-doers, neither be envious
against the workers of iniquity. For they shall
soon wither like the grass, and fade like the
herb of the meadow."
4. What shouldest thou do then ? " Trust in
the Lord " (ver. 3). For they too trust, but not
" in the Lord." Their hope is perishable. Their
hope is short-lived, frail, fleeting, transitory,
baseless. " Trust thou in the Lord." " Be-
hold," thou sayest, " I do trust ; what am I to
do?"
" And do good." Do not do that evil which
thou beholdest in those men, who are prosperous
in wickedness. " Do good, and dwell in the
land." Lest haply thou shouldest be doing
good without " dwelling in the land." For it is
the Church that is the Lord's land. It is her
whom He, the Father, the tiller of it, waters
and cultivates. For there are many that, as it
were, do good works, but yet, in that they do
not " dwell in the land," they do not belong to
the husbandman. Therefore do thou thy good,
not outside of the land, but do thou " dwell in
the land." And what shall I have?
" And thou shalt be fed in its riches." What
are the riches of that land ? Her riches are her
Lord ! Her riches are her God ! He it is to
whom it is said, "The Lord is the portion of
mine inheritance, and of my cup." ' In a late
discourse we suggested to you, dearly beloved,
that God is our possession,2 and that we are at
the same time God's possession. Hear how that
He is Himself the riches of that land.
"Delight thyself in the Lord" (ver. 4). As
if thou hadst put the question, and hadst said,
"Show me the riches of that land, in which
thou biddest me dwell, he says, " Delight thyself
in the Lord."
5. "And He shall give thee the desires of
thine heart." Understand in their proper sig-
nification,3 " the desires of thine heart." Dis-
tinguish the " desires of thine heart " from the
desires of thy flesh ; distinguish as much as thou
canst. It is not without a meaning that it is
said in a certain Psalm, " God is " (the strength)
"of mine heart." For there it says in what
follows : " And God is my portion for ever."
For instance : One labours under bodily blind-
1 P*. xvt. 5.
' See Di«c. a (omitted) on Pa. 33, delivered at Carthage in the
Church ot St. Cyprian.
J Signantrr accipt.
ness. He asks that he may receive his sight.
Let him ask it ; for God does that too, and gives
those blessings also. But these things are asked
for even by the wicked. This is a desire of the
flesh. One is sick, and prays to be made sound.
From the point of death he is restored to health.
That too is a desire of the flesh, as are all of
such a kind. What is " the desire of the heart " ?
As the desire of the flesh is to wish to have
one's eyesight restored, to enable him, that is,
to see that light, which can be seen by such
eyes ; so " the desire of the heart " relates to a
different sort of light For, " Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Delight
thou thyself in the Lord ; and He shall give
thee the desires of thine heart."
6. " Behold " (you say), " I do long after it,
I do ask for it, I do desire it. Shall I then
accomplish it ? " No. Who shall then ? " Re-
veal thy way unto the Lord : trust also in Him,
and He shall bring it to pass" (ver. 5). Men-
tion to Him what thou sufferest, mention to Him
what thou dost desire. For what is it that thou
sufferest? " The flesh lusteth against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh."4 What is it
then that thou dost desire? "Wretched man
that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death ? " * And because it is He
"Himself" that "will bring it to pass," when
thou shalt have " revealed thy ways unto Him ; "
hear what follows : " The grace of God through
Jesus Christ our Lord." What is it then that
He is to bring to pass, since it is said, " Reveal
thy way unto Him, and He will bring it to
pass"? What will He bring to pass?
" And He shall bring forth thy righteousness
as the light " (ver. 6) . For now, " thy righteous-
ness " is hid. Now it is a thing of faith ; not
yet of sight. You believe something that you
may do it. You do not yet see that in which
you believe. But when thou shalt begin to see
that, which thou didst believe before, " thy
righteousness will be brought forth to the light,"
because it is thy faith that was 6 thy righteous-
ness. For " the just lives by faith."
7. "And He shall bring forth thy judgment
as the noon-day." That is to say, " as the clear
light." It was too little to say, " as the light."
For we call it " light " already, even when it but
dawns : we call it light even while the sun is
rising. But never is the light brighter than at
mid-day. Therefore He will not only " bring
forth thy righteousness as the light," but " thy
judgment shall be as the noon-day." For now
dost thou make thy "judgment" to follow
Christ. This is thy purpose' : this is thy choice :
this is thy "judgment." . . .
8. "What should I do then?" Hear what
4 Gal. v. 17.
3 Rom. vii. 34.
<> Al." shall be."
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
93
thou shouldest do. " Submit thee to the Lord,
and entreat Him " (ver. 7). Be this thy life, to
obey His commandments. For this is to submit
thee to Him ; and to entreat Him until He gjve
thee what He hath promised. Let good works
" continue ; " ' let prayer " continue." For
" men ought always to pray, and not to faint." a
Wherein dost thou show that thou art " submitted
to Him " ? In doing what He hath commanded.
But haply thou dost not receive thy wages as
yet, because as yet thou art not able. For He
is already able to give them ; but thou art not
already able to receive them. Exercise thou
thyself in works. Labour in the vineyard ; at
the close of the day crave thy wages. "Faithful
is He" who brought thee into the vineyard.
" Submit thee to the Lord, and entreat Him."
9. "See! I do so; I do 'submit to the
Lord, and I do entreat.' But what do you think ?
That neighbour of mine is a wicked man, living
a bad life, and prosperous ! His thefts, adulteries,
robberies, are known to me. Lifted up above
every one, proud, and raised on high by wicked-
ness, he deigns not to notice me. In these cir-
cumstances, how shall I hold out with patience ? "
This is a sickness ; drink, by way of remedy.
" Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth
in his way." He prospereth, but it is " in his
way : " thou sufferest, but it is in God's way !
His portion is prosperity on his way, misery on
arriving at its end : yours, toil on the road, hap-
piness in its termination. " The Lord knoweth
the way of the righteous ; and the way of the
ungodly shall perish." 3 Thou walkest those
ways which " the Lord knoweth," and if thou
dost suffer toil in them, they do not deceive
thee. The " way of the ungodly " is but a
transitory happiness ; at the end of the way the
happiness is at an end also. Why? Because
that way is " the broad road ; " its termination
leads to the pit of hell. Now, thy way is nar-
row ; and " few there be " that enter in through
it : * but into how ample a field it comes at the
last, thou oughtest to consider. " Fret not thy-
self at him who prospereth in his way ; because
of the man who bringeth wicked devices to
pass."
" Cease from anger, and forsake wrath " (ver.
8). Wherefore art thou wroth? Wherefore is
it that, through that passion and indignation,
thou dost blaspheme, or almost blaspheme?
Against " the man who bringeth wicked devices
to pass, cease from anger, and forsake wrath."
Knowest thou not whither that wrath tempts
thee on ? Thou art on the point of saying unto
God, that He is unjust. It tends to that.
" Look ! why is that man prosperous, and this
1 Persevertt, alluding to a word in the portion omitted. Matt.
3 P«. i. 6. * Matt. vii. 13, 14.
xxiv. 13.
2 Luke xviii. 1.
man in adversity?" Consider what thought it
begets : stifle the wicked notion. " Cease from
anger, and forsake wrath : " so that now return-
ing to thy senses, thou mayest say, " Mine eye
is disturbed because of wrath." 5 What eye is
that, but the eye of faith? To the eye of thy
faith I appeal.6 Thou didst believe in Christ :
why didst thou believe ? What did He promise
thee ? If it was the happiness of this world
that Christ promised thee, then murmur against
Christ ; yes ! murmur against Him, when thou
seest the wicked flourishing. What of happiness
did He promise? What, save in the Resurrec-
tion of the Dead ? But what in this life ? That
which was His portion. His portion, I say !
Dost thou, servant and disciple, disdain what
thy Lord, what thy Master bore ? . . .
"For evil-doers shall be cut off" (ver. 9).
"But I see their prosperity." Believe Him
who saith, " they shall be cut off; " Him who
seeth better than thou, since His eye anger can-
not cloud. " For evil-doers shall be cut off.
But those that wait upon the Lord," — not
upon any one that can deceive them ; but verily
on Him who is the Truth itself, — " But those
that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the
land." What " land," but that Jerusalem, with
the love of which whosoever is inflamed, shall
come to peace at the last.
10. " But how long is the sinner to flourish ?
How long shall I have to endure ? " Thou art
impatient ; 7 that which seems long to thee, will
soon come to pass. It is infirmity makes that
seem long, which is really short, as is found in
the case of the longings of sick men. Nothing
seems so long as the mixing of the potion for
him when athirst. For all that his attendants
are making all speed, lest haply the patient be
angry; "When will it be done? (he cries).
When will it be drest ? When will it be served ? "
Those who are waiting upon you are making
haste, but your infirmity fancies that long which
is being done with expedition. Behold ye,
therefore, our Physician complying with the
infirmity of the patient, saying, " How long shall
I have to endure ? How long will it be ? "
"Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not
be" (ver. 10). Is it certainly among sinners,
and because of the sinner, that thou murmurest?
"A little while, and he shall not be." Lest
haply because I said, " They that wait upon the
Lord, they shall inherit the land," thou shouldest
think that waiting to be of very long duration.
Wait " a little while," thou shalt receive without
end what thou waitest for. A little while, a
moderate space. Review the years from Adam's
time up to this day ; run through the Scriptures.
It is almost yesterday that he fell from Paradise !
J P». vi. 7.
6 Interrogo.
1 Fesliuas.
94
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVII.
So many ages have been measured out, and un-
rolled.1 Where now are the past ages? Even
so, however, shall the few which remain, pass
away also. Hadst thou been living throughout
all that time, since Adam was banished from
Paradise up to this present day, thou wouldest
certainly see that the life, which had thus flown
away, had not been of long duration. But how
long is the duration of each individual's life?
Add any number of years you please : prolong
old age to its longest duration : what is it? Is
it not but a morning breeze? Be it so, how-
ever, that the Day of Judgment is far off, when
the reward of the righteous and of the unright-
eous is to come : your last day at all events
cannot be far off. Make thyself ready against
this ! For such as thou shall have departed
from this life, shalt thou be restored to the
other. At the close of that short life, you will
not yet be, where the Saints shall be, to whom
it shall be said, " Come, ye blessed of My
Father : inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the beginning of the world."* You will
not yet be there? Who does not know that?
But you may already be there, where that beg-
gar, once " covered with sores," was seen at a
distance, at rest, by that proud and unfruitful
" rich man " in the midst of his torments.3
Surely laid in that rest thou waitest in security
for the Day of Judgment, when thou art to
receive again a body, to be changed so as to be
made equal to an Angel. How long then is
that for which we are impatient, and are saying,
" When will it come ? Will it tarry long?" This
our sons will say hereafter, and our sons' sons
will say too ; and, though each one of these in
succession will say this same thing, that " little
while" that is yet to be, passes away, as all that is
already past hath passed away already ! O thou
sick one ! " Yet a little while, and the sinner
shall not be. Yea, thou shalt diligently con-
sider his place, and thou shalt not find him." . . .
ii. "But the meek shall inherit the land"4
(ver. n). That land is the one of which we
have often spoken, the holy Jerusalem, which is
to be released from these her pilgrimages, and to
live for ever with God, and on God. There-
fore, "They shall inherit the land." What shall
be their delight? "And they shall delight
themselves in the abundance of peace." Let
the ungodly man delight himself here in the
multitude of his gold, in the multitude of his
_■ [Few consider how very short is the span of all human history.
Daily we read of men and women who live a hundred years. Eigh-
teen such lives go back to the age of Christ and His Apostles. Offi-
cial lives of fifty years are not uncommon, and six-and-thirty such
cover the entire Christian era. — C]
2 Matt. xxv. 34. 3 Luke xvi. 20, 23.
4 [Comp. St. Matt. v. 5. The earlier Fathers believed in the
" regeneration " of this earth. See A. N. F. vol. i. 240, 435, and
(Apocryphal Kevelation) viii. 584. vii. 218, 254, iv. 211, 212, 218, and
conversely, 274, 275. Our author, after sharing this early opinion,
gave it up, and founded a new school. — C.J
silver, in the multitude of his slaves, in the mul-
titude, lastly, of his baths, his roses, his intoxi-
cating wines, his most sumptuous and luxurious
banquets. Is this the power thou enviest? Is
this the glory that delights thee? Would not
his fate be worthy to be deplored, even if he
were to be so for ever? What shall be thy
delights? "And they shall delight themselves
in the abundance of peace." Peace shall be thy
gold. Peace shall be thy silver. Peace shall
be thy lands. Peace shall be thy life, thy God
Peace. Peace shall be to thee whatsoever thou
dost desire. . . .
On the Second Part of the Psalm?
i. Then follow these words: "The wicked
plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him
with his teeth" (ver. 12) : "But the Lord shall
laugh at him" (ver. 13). At whom? Surely
at the sinner, " gnashing upon " the other " with
his teeth." But wherefore shall the Lord " laugh
at him " ? " For He foreseeth that his day is
coming." He seems indeed full of wrath, while,
ignorant of the morrow that is in store for him,
he is threatening the just. But the Lord beholds
and " foresees his day." " What day ? " That in
which " He will render to every man according
to his works." For he is " treasuring up unto
himself wrath against the day of wrath, and
revelation of the just judgment of God." 6 But
it is the Lord that foresees it ; thou dost not
foresee it. It hath been revealed to thee by
Him who foresees it. Thou didst not know of
the " day of the unrighteous," in which he is to
suffer punishment. But He who knows it hath
revealed it to thee. It is a main part of knowl-
edge to join thyself to Him who hath knowledge.
He hath the eyes of knowledge : have thou the
eyes of a believing mind. That which God
" sees," be thou willing to believe. For the day
of the unjust, which God foresees, will come.
What day is that? The day for all vengeance !
For it is necessary that vengeance should be
taken upon the ungodly, that vengeance be taken
upon the unjust, whether he turn, or whether he
turn not. For if he shall turn from his ways,
that very thing, that his " injustice is come to an
end," is the infliction of vengeance. . . .
2. "The wicked have drawn out the sword,
and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor
and needy, and to slay such as be of upright
heart" (ver. 14). "Their weapon shall enter
into their own heart" (ver. 15). It is an easy
thing for his weapon, that is, his sword, to reach
thy body, even as the sword of the persecutors
reached the body of the Martyrs, but when the
body had been smitten, " the heart " remained
unhurt ; but his heart who " drew out the sword
5 Preached at another time.
• Rom. ii. 6, 5.
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
95
against " the body of the just did not clearly
remain unhurt. This is attested by this very
Psalm. It saith, Their weapon, that is, " Their
sword shall," not go into their body, but, " their
weapon shall go into their own heart." They
would fain have slain him in the body. Let
them die the death of the soul. For those
whose bodies they sought to kill, the Lord hath
freed from anxiety, saying, " Fear not them who
kill the body, but cannot kill the soul." "...
3. " And their bows shall be broken." What
is meant by, " And their bows shall be broken " ?
Their plots shall be frustrated. For above He
had said, " The wicked have drawn out the
sword and bent their bows." By the " drawing
out of the sword " he would have understood
open hostility ; but by the " bending of the bow,"
secret conspiracies. See ! His sword destroys
himself, and his laying of snares is frustrated.
What is meant by frustrated ? That it does no
mischief to the righteous. How then, for in-
stance (you ask), did it do no mischief to the
man, whom it thus stripped of his goods, whom
it reduced to straitened circumstances by taking
away his possessions? He has still cause to
sing, "A little that a righteous man hath, is
better than great riches of the ungodly " (ver.
16).
4. . . . " For the arms of the wicked shall be
broken" (ver. 17). Now by "their arms " is
meant their power. What will he do in hell?
Will it be what the rich man had to do, he who
was wont " to fare sumptuously " in the upper
world, and in hell "was tormented"?2 There-
fore their arms shall be broken ; " but the Lord
upholdeth the righteous." How does He " up-
hold " them ? What saith He unto them ?
Even what is said in another Psalm, " Wait on
the Lord, be of good courage ; and let thine
heart be strengthened. Wait, I say, on the
Lord." s What is meant by this, " Wait on
the Lord " ? Thou sufferest but for a time ;
thou shalt rest for ever : thy trouble is short ;
thy happiness is to be everlasting. It is but for
" a little while " thou art to sorrow ; thy joy shall
have no end. But in the midst of trouble does
thy " foot " begin to " slip " ? The example even
of Christ's sufferings is set before thee. Con-
sider what He endured for thee, in whom no
cause was found why He should endure it?
How great soever be thy sufferings, thou wilt not
come to those insults, those scourgings, to that
robe of shame, to that crown of thorns, and last
of all to that Cross, which He endured ; because
that is now removed from the number of human
punishments.* For though under the ancients
criminals were crucified, in the present day no
1 Matt. x. 28. 2 Luke xvi. 19, 23. 3 Ps. xxvii. 14.
4 [Sozomen, b. i. cap. 8. This author tells us that Constantine
made this change, dictated alike by reverence and humanity. — C. ]
one is crucified. It was honoured, and it came
to an end. It came to an end as a punishment ;
it is continued in glory. It hath removed from
the place of execution to the foreheads of Em-
perors. He who hath invested His very suffer-
ings with such honour, what doth He reserve
for His faithful servants? . . .
5. But observe whether that was fulfilled in
his case which the Psalm now speaks of. " The
Lord strengtheneth the righteous. — Not only
so " (saith that same Paul, whilst suffering many
evils), " but we glory in tribulations also : knowing
that tribulation worketh patience, and patience
experience ; and experience hope ; but hope
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us." 5 Justly is it said by
him, now righteous, now " strengthened." As
therefore those who persecuted him did no harm
to him, when now " strengthened," so neither
did he himself do any harm to those whom he
persecuted. " But the Lord," he saith, " strength-
eneth the righteous." . . .
6. Therefore " the Lord does strengthen the
righteous." In what way does He strengthen
them ? " The Lord knoweth the ways 6 of the
spotless ones" (ver. 18). When they suffer ills,
they are believed to be walking ill ways by those
who are ignorant, by those who have not knowl-
edge to discern " the ways of the spotless ones."
He who " knoweth those ways," knoweth by
what way to lead His own, " them that are gen-
tle," in the right way. Whence in another Psalm
he said, " The meek shall He guide in judgment ;
them that are gentle will He teach His way." t
How, think you, was that beggar, who lay cov-
ered with sores before the rich man's door,8
spurned by the passers by ! How did they,
probably, close their nostrils and spit at him !
The Lord, however, knew how to reserve9
Paradise for him. How did they, on the other
hand, desire for themselves the life of him who
was " clad in purple and fine linen, and fared
sumptuously every day ! " '° But the Lord, who
foresaw that man's " day coming," knew the
torments, the torments without end, that were
in store for him. Therefore " The Lord know-
eth the ways of the upright."
7. " And their inheritance shall be for ever "
(ver. 18). This we hold by faith. Doth the
Lord too know it by faith ? The Lord knoweth
those things with as clear a manifestation, as we
cannot speak of even when we shall be made
equal to the Angels. For the things that shall
be manifest to us, shall not be equally manifest
to us as they are now to Him, who is incapable
of change. Yet even of us ourselves what is
5 Rom. v. 3-5. 6 E. V. and Vulgate, M days."
7 Ps. xxv. 9. 8 Luke xvi. 20.
9 Al. " knew that Paradise was in store." I0 Luke xvi. 19.
96
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVIX.
said ? " Beloved, now are we the sons of God :
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be :
but we know that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
is." ' There is therefore surely some blissful
vision reserved for us ; and if it can be now in
some measure conceived, " darkly and through
a glass," 2 yet cannot we in any way express in
language the ravishing beauty of that bliss,
which God reserves for them that fear Him,
which He consummates in those that hope in
Him, It is for that destination that our hearts
are being disciplined in all the troubles and trials
of this life. Wonder not that it is in trouble that
thou art disciplined for it. It is for something
glorious that thou art being disciplined. Whence
comes that speech of the now strengthened
righteous man : " The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared to the glory
which shall be revealed in us " ? 3 What is that
promised glory to be, but to be made equal to
the Angels and to see God? How great a
benefit doth he bestow on the blind man, who
makes his eyes sound so as to be able to see the
light of this life. . . . What reward then shall
we give unto that Physician who restores sound-
ness to our inward eyes, to enable them to see a
certain eternal Light, which is Himself? . . .
8. "They shall not be ashamed in the evil
time" (ver. 19). In the day of trouble, in the
day of distress, they shall not be " ashamed," as
he is ashamed whose hope deceives him. Who
is the man that is " ashamed " ? He who saith,
" I have not found that which I was in hopes
of." Nor undeservedly either; for thou .didst
hope it from thyself or from man, thy friend.
But "cursed is he that putteth his trust in
man."4 Thou art ashamed, because thy hope
hath deceived thee ; thy hope that was set on a
lie. For " every man is a liar." I But if thou
dost place thy hopes on thy God, thou art not
made " ashamed." For He in whom thou hast
put thy trust, cannot be deceived.6 Whence
also the man whom we mentioned just above,
the now " strengthened " righteous man, when
fallen on an evil time, on the day of tribulation,
what saith he to show that he was not
" ashamed " ? " We glory in tribulation ; know-
ing that tribulation worketh patience, and pa-
tience experience, and experience hope ; but
hope maketh not ashamed." Whence is it
that hope " maketh not ashamed " ? Because it
is placed on God. Therefore follows immedi-
ately, " Because the love of God is spread in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given
unto us." 1 The Holy Spirit hath been given to
us already : how should He deceive us, of
1 x John iii. a.
< Jer. xvii. 5.
t Rom. v. 3-5.
1 x Cor. xiii. xa.
* Pi. cxvi. ix.
J Rom. viii. 18.
6 Al, " deceive."
whom we possess such an "earnest" already?
"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,
and in the days of famine they shall be satis-
fied." . . .
9. " For the wicked shall perish. But the
enemies of the Lord, when they shall begin to
glory, and to be lifted up, immediately shall con-
sume away utterly, even as the smoke" (ver. 20).
Recognise from the comparison itself the thing
which he intimates. Smoke, breaking forth from
the place where fire has been, rises up on high,
and by the very act of rising up, it swells into a
large volume : but the larger that volume is, the
more unsubstantial does it become ; for from that
very largeness of volume, which has no founda-
tion or consistency, but is merely loose, shifting
and evanescent, it passes into air, and dissolves ;
so that you perceive its very largeness to have
been fatal to it. For the higher it ascends, the
farther it is extended, the wider the circumfer-
ence which it spreads itself over, the thinner, and
the more rare and wasting and evanescent does
it become. " But the enemies of the Lord, when
they shall begin to glory, and to be lifted up,
immediately shall consume away utterly even as
the smoke." Of such as these was it said, " As
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these
also resist the Truth ; men of corrupt minds, rep-
robate concerning the faith."8 But how is it
that they resist the Truth, except by the vain in-
flation of their swelling pride, while they raise
themselves up on high, as if great and righteous
persons, though on the point of passing away
into empty air? But what saith he of them?
As if speaking of smoke, he says, "They shall
proceed no farther, for their folly shall be mani-
fest unto all men, even as theirs also was." . . .
10. "The wicked borroweth, and payeth not
again" (ver. 20). He receiveth, and will not
repay. What is it he will not repay ? Thanks-
giving. For what is it that God would have of
thee, what doth He require of thee, except that
He may do thee good ? And how great are the
benefits which the sinner hath received, and
which he will not repay ! He hath received the
gift of being ;. he hath received the gift of being
a man ; and of a being highly distinguished above
the brutes ; he hath received the form of a body,
and the distinction of the senses in the body, eyes
for seeing, ears for hearing, the nostrils for smell-
ing, the palate for tasting, the hands for touching,
and the feet for walking ; and even the very
health and soundness of the body. But up to
this point we have these things in common even
with the brute ; he hath received yet more than
this ; a mind capable of understanding, capable
of Truth, capable of distinguishing right from
wrong ; capable of seeking after, of longing for,
* 3 Tim. iii. 8.
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
97
its Creator, of praising Him, and fixing itself upon
Him. All this the wicked man hath received as
well as others ; but by not living well, he fails to
repay that which he owes. Thus it is, " the wicked
borroweth, and payeth not again : " he will not
requite Him from whom he hath received ; he
will not return thanks ; nay, he will even render
evil for good, blasphemies, murmuring against
God, indignation. Thus it is that he " borrow-
eth, and payeth not again ; but the righteous show-
eth mercy, and lendeth " (ver. 21). The one
therefore hath nothing ; the other hath. See, on
the one side, destitution : see, on the other, wealth.
The one receiveth and "payeth not again : " the
" other showeth mercy, and lendeth : " and he
hath more than enough. What if he is poor ?
Even so he is rich ; do you but look at his riches
with the eyes of Religion. For thou lookest at
the empty chest ; but dost not look at the con-
science, that is full of God. . . .
n. " For such as shall bless Him" shall inherit
the land" (ver. 23), that is,2 they shall possess
that righteous One : the only One who both is
truly righteous, and maketh righteous : who both
was poor in this world, and brought great riches
to it, wherewith to make those rich whom He
found poor. For it is He who hath enriched
the hearts of the poor with the Holy Spirit ; and
having emptied out their souls by confession of
sins, hath filled them with the richness of right-
eousness : He who was able to enrich the fisher-
man, who, by forsaking his nets, spurned what he
possessed already, but sought to draw up what he
possessed not. For "God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty." 3 And it was not by an orator that
He gained to Himself the fisherman ; but by the
fisherman that He gained to Himself the orator ;
by the fisherman that He gained the Senator ; by
the fisherman that He gained the Emperor. For
" such as shall bless Him shall inherit the land ; "
they shall be fellow- heirs with Him, in that "land
of the living," of which it is said in another Psalm,
" Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of
the living."4 . . .
12. Observe what follows: "The steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord ; and he de-
lighteth in His way" (ver. 23). That man may
himself "delight in the Lord's way," his steps are
ordered by the Lord Himself. For if the Lord
did not order the steps of man, so crooked are
they naturally, that they would always be going
through crooked paths, and by pursuing crooked
ways, would be unable to return again. He how-
ever came, and called us, and redeemed us, and
shed His blood ; He hath given this ransom ;
He hath done this good, and suffered these evils.
1 E. V. " such as be blessed."
2 Scilicet, Ben. Conj. for stent.
* Ps. cxlu. 5.
3 x Cor. I. 37.
Consider Him in what He hath done, He is God !
Consider Him in what He hath suffered, He is
Man ! Who is that God-Man? Hadst not thou,
O man, forsaken God, God would not have been
made Man for thee ! For that was too little for
thee to requite, or for Him to bestow, that He
had made thee man ; unless He Himself should
become Man for thee also. For it is He Him-
self that hath "ordered our steps;" that we
should " delight in His way." . . .
13. Now if man were to be through the
whole of his life in toil, and in sufferings, in
pain, in tortures, in prison, in scourgings, in
hunger, and in thirst, every day and every hour
through the whole length of life, to the period
of old age, yet the whole life of man is but a
few days. That labour being over, there is to
come the Eternal Kingdom ; there is to come
happiness without end ; there is to come equality
with the Angels ; there is to come Christ's in-
heritance, and Christ, our "joint Heir,"s is to
come. How great is the labour, for which thou
receivest so great a recompense ? The Veterans
who serve in the wars, and move in the midst
of wounds for so many years, enter upon the
military service from their youth, and quit it in old
age : and to obtain a few days of repose in their
old age, when age itself begins to weigh down
those whom the wars do not break down, how
great hardships do they endure ; what marches,
what frosts, what burning suns ; what privations,
what wounds, and what dangers ! And while suf-
fering all these things, they fix their thoughts on
nothing but those few days of repose in old age,
at which they know not whether they will ever
arrive. Thus it is, the " steps of a good man
are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
His way." This is the point with which I com-
menced. If thou dost " delight in the way " of
Christ, and art truly a Christian (for he is a
Christian indeed who does not despise the way
of Christ, but " delighteth in " following Christ's
"way" through His sufferings), do not thou
go by any other way than that by which He
Himself hath also gone. It appears painful,
but it is the very way of safety ; another perhaps
is delightful, but it is full of robbers. " And he
delighteth in His way."
14. "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly
cast down ; for the Lord upholdeth his hand "
(ver. 24). See what it is " to delight in " Christ's
" way." Should it happen that he suffers some
tribulation ; some forfeiture of honour, some
affliction, some loss, some contumely, or all those
other accidents incident to mankind frequently
in this life, he sets the Lord before him, what
kind of trials He endured ! and, " though he
fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for the
s Rom. viii. 17.
98
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVir.
Lord upholdeth his hand," because He has
suffered before him. For what shouldest thou
fear, O man, whose steps are ordered so, that
thou shouldest " delight in the way of the Lord " ?
What shouldest thou fear? Pain? Christ was
scourged. Shouldest thou fear contumelies?
He was reproached with, " Thou hast a devil," '
who was Himself casting out the devils. Haply
thou fearest faction, and the conspiracy of the
wicked. Conspiracy was made against Him.
Thou canst not make clear the purity of thy
conscience in some accusation, and sufferest
wrong and violence, because false witnesses are
listened to against thee. False witness was
borne against Him first, not only before His
death, but also after His resurrection
On the Third Part of the Psalm*
i . " I have been young, and now am old ; yet
have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread" (ver. 25).
If it is spoken but in the person of one single
individual, how long is the whole life of one
man ? And what is there wonderful in the cir-
cumstance, that a single man, fixed in some one
part of the earth, should not, throughout the
whole space of his life, being so short as man's
life is, have ever seen " the righteous forsaken,
nor his seed begging bread," although he may
have advanced from youth to age. It is not
anything worthy of marvel ; for it might have
happened, that before his lifetime there should
have been some " righteous man seeking bread ; "
it might have happened, that there had been
some one in some other part of the earth not
where he himself was. Hear too another thing,
which makes an impression upon us. Any single
one among you (look you) who has now grown
old, may perhaps, when, looking back upon the
past course of his life, he turns over in his
thoughts the persons whom he has known, not
find any instance of a righteous man begging
bread, or of his seed begging bread, suggest
itself to him ; but nevertheless he turns to the
inspired Scriptures, and finds that righteous
Abraham was straitened, and suffered hunger in
his own country, and left that land for another ;
he finds too that the son of the very same man,
Isaac, removed to other countries in search of
bread, for the same cause of hunger. And how
will it be true to say, " I have never seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread " ?
And if he finds this true in the duration of his
own life, he finds it is otherwise in the inspired
writings, which are more trustworthy than human
life is.
2. What are we to do then? Let us be
seconded by your pious attention, so that we
1 John vii. ao, viii. 48.
* On another day.
may discern the purpose of God in these verses
of the Psalm, what it is He would have us under-
stand by them. For there is a fear, lest any
unstable person, not capable of understanding
the Scriptures spiritually, should appeal to human
instances, and should observe the virtuous serv-
ants of God to be sometimes in some necessity,
and in want, so as to be compelled to beg bread :
should particularly call to mind the Apostle
Paul, who says, " In hunger and thirst ; in cold
and nakedness ; " 3 and should stumble thereat,
saying to himself, " Is that certainly true4 which
I have been singing? Is that certainly true,
which I have been sounding forth in so devout
a voice, standing in church? 'I have never
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread.' " Lest he should say in his heart, " Scrip-
ture deceives us ; " and all his limbs should be
paralyzed to good works : and when those limbs
within him, those limbs of the inner man, shall
have been paralyzed (which is the more fearful
paralysis), he should henceforth leave off from
good works, and say to himself, " Wherefore do
I do good works? Wherefore do I break my
bread to the hungry, and clothe the naked, and
take home to mine house him who hath no
shelter,5 putting faith in that which is written?
' I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor
his seed begging bread ; ' whereas I see so many
persons who live virtuously, yet for the most
part suffering from hunger. But if perhaps I
am in error in thinking the man who is living
well, and the man who is living ill, to be both
of them living well, and if God knows him to
be otherwise ; that is, knows him, whom I think
just, to be unjust, what am I to make of Abra-
ham's case, who is commended by Scripture
itself as a righteous person? What am I to
make of the Apostle Paul, who says, ' Be ye
followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.'6
What? that I should myself be in evils such as
he endured, ' In hunger and thirst, in cold and
nakedness ' ? " '
3. Whilst therefore he thus thinks, and whilst
his limbs are paralyzed to the power of good
works, can we, my brethren, as it were, lift up
the sick of the palsy ; and, as it were, " lay
open the roof" of this Scripture, and let. him
down before the Lord.7 For you observe that it
is obscure. If obscure therefore, it is covered.
And I behold a certain patient paralytic in mind,
and I see this roof, and am convinced that Christ
is concealed beneath the roof. Let me, as far
as I am able, do that which was praised in those
who opened the roof, and let down the sick of
the palsy before Christ ; that He might say unto
him, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven
3 2 Cor. xi. 27.
3 Isa. lviii. 7.
7 Luke v. 19.
* At. vattum,
6 1 Cor. xi. 1.
' Is it not false.'
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
99
thee." ' For it was so that He made the inner
man whole of his palsy, by loosing his sins, by
binding fast his faith. . . .
4. But who is " the righteous " man, who
" hath never been seen forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread " ? If you understand what is
meant by " bread," you understand who is meant
by him. For the " bread " is the Word of God,
which never departs from the righteous man's
mouth. . . . See now if " holy meditation doth
' keep thee ' " in the rumination of this bread,
then " hast thou never seen the righteous for-
saken, nor his seed begging bread."
5. "He is always merciful, and lendeth "
(ver. 26). " Foeneratur " is used in Latin in-
deed, both for him who lendeth, and for him
who borroweth. But in this passage the mean-
ing is more plain, if we express it by " fcenerat."
What matters it to us, what the grammarians
please to rule ? It were better for us to be guilty
of a barbarism, so that ye understand, than that
in our propriety of speech ye be left unprovided.
Therefore, that " righteous man is all day merci-
ful, and (fcenerat) lendeth." Let not the lenders
of money on usury, however, rejoice. For we
find it is a particular kind of lender that is spoken
of, as it was a particular kind of bread ; that we
may, in all passages, " remove the roof," and
find our way to Christ. I would not have you
be lenders of money on usury ; and I would not
have you be such for this reason, because God
would not have you. . . . Whence does it ap-
pear that God would not have it so ? It is said
in another place, " He that putteth not out his
money to usury." 2 And how detestable, odious,
and execrable a thing it is, I believe that even
usurers themselves know. Again, on the other
hand, I myself, nay rather our God Himself,
bids thee be an usurer, and says to thee, " Lend
unto God." If thou lendest to man, hast thou
hope? and shalt thou not have hope, if thou
lendest to God ? If thou hast lent thy money
on usury to man, that is, if thou hast given the
loan of thy money to one, from whom thou dost
expect to receive something more than thou hast
given, not in money only, but anything, whether
it be wheat, or wine, or oil, or whatever else you
please, if you expect to receive more than
you have given, you are an usurer, and in this
particular are not deserving of praise, but of
censure. " What then," you say, " am I to do,
that I may ' lend ' profitably ? " Consider what
the usurer does. He undoubtedly desires to
give a less sum, and to receive a larger ; do thou
this also ; give thou a little, receive much. See
how thy principal grows, and increases ! Give
1 Luke v. 20.
2 Ps. xv. 5. [This intricate subject is nowhere more ably
handled than by M. Huet in his Rigne Social du Christiauisme,
cap. ix. p. 317, Palis, 1853. — C.J
" things temporal," receive " things eternal : "
give earth, receive heaven ! And perhaps thou
wouldest say, " To whom shall I give them ? "
The self-same Lord, who bade thee not lend on
usury, comes forward as the Person to whom
thou shouldest lend on usury ! Hear from
Scripture in what way thou mayest " lend unto
the Lord." " He that hath pity on the poor,
lendeth unto the Lord." 3 For the Lord wanteth
not aught of thee. But thou hast one who needs
somewhat of thee : thou extendest it to him ;
he receives it. For the poor hath nothing to
return to thee, and yet he would himself fain
requite thee, and finds nothing wherewith to do
it : all that remains in his power is the good-will
that desires to pray for thee. Now when the
poor man prays for thee, he, as it were, says
unto God, " Lord, I have borrowed this ; be
Thou surety for me." Then, though you have
no bond on the poor man to compel his repay-
ment, yet you have on a sponsible security. See,
God from His own Scriptures saith unto thee ;
" Give it, and fear not ; I repay it. It is to Me
thou givest it." In what way do those who make
themselves sureties for others, express them-
selves^ What is it that they say? " I repay it :
I take it upon myself. It is to me you are giving
it." Do we then suppose that God also says
this, " I take it on Myself. It is unto me thou
givest it"? Assuredly, if Christ be God, of
which there is no doubt, He hath Himself said,
" I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat." 4
And when they said unto Him, " When saw we
Thee hungry?"5 that He might show Himself
to be the Surety for the poor, that He answers
for all His members, that He is the Head, they
the members, and that when the members re-
ceive, the Head receiveth also ; He says, " Inas-
much as ye have done it to one of the least of
these that belong to Me, ye have done it unto
Me."6 Come, thou covetous usurer, consider
what thou hast given ; consider what thou art
to receive. Hadst thou given a small sum of
money, and he to whom thou hadst given it
were to give thee for that small sum a great
villa, worth incomparably more money than
thou hadst given, how great thanks wouldest
thou render, with how great joy wouldest thou
be transported ! Hear what possession He to
whom thou hast been lending bestows. " Come,
ye blessed of My Father, receive"7 — What?
The same that they have given ? God forbid !
What you gave were earthly things, which, if
you had not given them, would have become
corrupted on earth. For what could you have
made of them, if you had not given them?
That which on earth would have been lost, has
been preserved in heaven. Therefore what we
3 Prov. x. 17.
6 Matt. xxv. 40.
* Mau. xxv. 35.
7 Matt. xxv. 34.
3 Matt. xxv. 37.
IOO
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVII.
are to receive is that which hath been preserved.
It is thy desert that hath been preserved, thy
desert hath been made thy treasure. For con-
sider what it is that thou art to receive. Re-
ceive — " the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world." On the other
hand, what shall be their sentence, who would
not " lend " ? " Go ye into everlasting fire, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels." ' And what
is the kingdom which we receive called? Con-
sider what follows : " And these shall go into
everlasting burning ; but the righteous into life
eternal." a Make interest for this ; purchase
this. Give your money on usury to earn this.
You have Christ throned in heaven, begging on
earth. We have discovered in what way the
righteous lendeth. " He is alway merciful, and
lendeth."
6. " And his seed is blessed." Here too let not
any carnal notion suggest itself. We see many
of the sons of the righteous dying of hunger ;
in what sense then will his seed be blessed ? His
seed is that which remains of him afterwards ;
that wherewith he soweth here, and will here-
after reap. For the Apostle says, " Let us not
be weary in well-doing ; for in due season we
shall reap if we faint not. As we have there-
fore time," he says, " let us do good unto all
men." ' This is that " seed " of thine which
shall " be blessed." You commit it to the earth,
and gather ever so much more ; and dost thou
lose it in committing it to Christ? See it ex-
pressly termed " seed " by the Apostle, when he
was speaking of alms. For this he saith ; " He
which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly ;
and he which soweth in blessings,4 shall also reap
in blessings." 5 . . .
7. Observe therefore what follows, and be not
slothful. " Depart from evil, and do good "
(ver. 27). Do not think it to be enough for
thee to do, if thou dost not strip the man who
is already clothed. For in not stripping the man
who is already clothed, thou hast indeed " de-
parted from evil : " but do not be barren, and
wither. So choose not to strip the man who is
clothed already, as to clothe the naked. For
this is to " depart from evil, and to do good."
And you will say, "What advantage am I to
derive from it ? " He to whom thou lendest has
already assured thee of what He will give thee.
He will give thee everlasting life. Give to Him,
and fear not ! Hear too what follows : " Depart
from evil, and do good, and dwell for evermore."
And think not when thou givest that no one sees
thee, or that God forsakes thee, when haply
after thou hast given to the poor, and some loss,
1 Matt. xxr. 4t. * Matt. xxv. 46. J Gal. vi. 0, 10.
* /m btmdictionibut (it' «vAoyi<us). Rec. text; E. V. " boun-
tifully.
» a Cor. ix. 6
or some sorrow for the property thou hast lost,
should follow, and thou shouldest say to thyself,
" What hath it profited me to have done good
works? I believe God doth not love the men
who do good." Whence comes that buzz, that
subdued murmur among you, except that those
expressions are very common? Each one of
you at this present moment recognises these ex-
pressions, either in his own lips, or on those of
his friend. May God destroy them ; may He
root out the thorns from His field ; may He
plant " the good seed," and " the tree bearing
fruit " ! For wherefore art thou afflicted, O
man, that thou hast given some things away to
the poor, and hast lost certain other things?
Seest thou not that it is what thou hast not
given, that thou hast lost? Wherefore dost thou
not attend to the voice of thy God? Where
is thy faith? wherefore is it so fast asleep?
Wake it up in thy heart. Consider what the
Lord Himself said unto thee, while exhorting
thee to good works of this kind : " Provide your-
selves bags which wax not old ; a treasure in
the heavens that faileth not, where no thief
approacheth." 6 Call this to mind therefore
when you are lamenting over a loss. Wherefore
dost thou lament, thou fool of little mind,
or rather, of unsound mind ? Wherefore didst
thou lose it, except that thou didst not lend
it to Me ? Wherefore didst thou lose it ? Who
has carried it off? Thou wilt answer, " A thief."
Was it not this, that I forewarned thee of? that
thou shouldest not lay it up where the thief
could approach ? If then he who has lost any-
thing, grieves, let him grieve for this, that he did
not lay it up there, whence it could not be lost.
8. " For the Lord loveth judgment, and for-
saketh not His Saints" (ver. 28). When the
Saints suffer affliction, think not that God doth
not judge, or doth not judge righteously. Will
He, who warns thee to judge righteously, Him-
self judge unrighteously? He "loveth judg-
ment, and forsaketh not His Saints." But
(think) how » the " life " of the Saints is " hid
with Him," in such a manner, that who now
suffer trouble on earth, like trees in the winter-
time, having no fruit and leaves, when He, like
a newly-risen sun, shall have appeared, that
which before was living in their root, will show
itself forth in fruits. He does then " love judg-
ment, and doth not forsake His Saints." . . .
9. " But the unrighteous shall be punished ;
the seed of the wicked shall be cut off." Just
as the " seed of the " other " shall be blessed,"
so shall the " seed of the wicked be cut off."
For the " seed " of the wicked is the works of
the wicked. For again, on the other hand, we
6 Luke xii. 33.
1 Quomodd. — Ben. Qud modd. Qudd modd, " that now,'
gives a better sense, or, quo tnodo, " in such sort that."
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
IOI
find the son of the wicked man flourish in the
world, and sometimes become righteous, and
flourish in Christ. Be careful therefore how
thou takest it ; that thou mayest remove the
covering, and make thy way* to Christ.1 Do not
take the text in a carnal sense ; for thou wilt be
deceived. But " the seed of the wicked " —
all the works of the wicked — " will be cut off: "
they shall have no fruit. For they are effective
indeed for a short time ; afterwards they shall
seek for them, and shall not find the reward of
that which they have wrought. For it is the
expression of those who lose what they have
wrought, that text which says, " What hath pride
profited us, or what good hath riches with our
vaunting brought us ? All those things are passed
away like a shadow." 2 " The seed of the
wicked," then, " shall be cut off."
10. "The righteous shall inherit the land"
(ver. 29). Here again let not covetousness
steal on thee, nor promise thee some great es-
tate ; hope not to find there, what you are com-
manded to despise in this world. That " land "
in the text, is a certain " land of the living," the
kingdom of the Saints. Whence it is said :
" Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of
the living." J For if thy life too is the same life
as that there spoken of, think what sort of
" land " thou art about to inherit. That is " the
land of the living ; " this the land of those who
are about to die : to receive again, when dead,
those whom it nourished when living. Such
then as is that land, such shall the life itself be
also : if the life be for ever, " the land " also is
to be thine "for ever." And how is "the land"
to be thine " for ever " ?
"And they shall dwell therein" (it says) "for
ever." It must therefore be another land,
where " they are to dwell therein for ever."
For of this land (of this earth) it is said,
" Heaven and earth shall pass away." 4
11. "The mouth of the righteous speaketh
wisdom" (ver. 30). See here is that "bread."
Observe with what satisfaction this righteous
man feedeth upon it ; how he turns wisdom
over and over in his mouth. " And his tongue
talketh of judgment."
"The law of his God is in his heart" (ver.
31). Lest haply thou shouldest think him to
have that on his lips, which he hath not in his
heart, lest thou shouldest reckon him among
those of whom it is said, " This people honour
Me with their lips, but their heart is far from
Me." s And of what use is this to him?
"And none of his steps shall slide." The
" word of God in the heart " frees from the
snare ; the " word of God in the heart " delivers
from the evil way ; " the word of God in the
1 Luke v. 19.
* Matt. xxiv. 35.
» Wisd. v. 8, 9.
* Isa. xxix. 13.
» Pi. cxlii. 5.
heart" delivers from "the slippery place."6 He
is with thee, Whose word departeth not from
thee. Now what evil doth he suffer, whom God
keepeth ? Thou settest a watchman in thy vine-
yard, and feelest secure from thieves ; and that
watchman may sleep, and may himself fall, and
may admit a thief. But " He who keepeth
Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." " " The
law of his God is in his heart, and none of his
steps shall slide." Let him therefore live free
from fear ; let him live free from fear even in
the midst of the wicked ; free from fear even
in the midst of the ungodly. For what evil can
the ungodly or unrighteous man do to the
righteous? Lo ! see what follows.
" The wicked watcheth the righteous, and
seeketh to slay him" (ver. 32). For he says,
what it was foretold in the book of Wisdom that
he should say, " He is grievous unto us, even to
behold ; for his life is not like other men's." 8
Therefore he "seeks to slay him." What?
Doth the Lord, who keepeth him, who dwelleth
with him, who departeth not from his lips, from
his heart, doth He forsake him? What then
becomes of what was said before : " And He
forsaketh not His Saints"?9
12. "The wicked therefore watcheth the
righteous, and seeketh to slay him. But the
Lord will not leave him in his hands" (ver. 33).
Wherefore then did He leave the Martyrs in the
hands of the ungodly ? Wherefore did they do
unto them " whatsoever they would " ? IO Some
they slew with the sword ; some they crucified ;
some they delivered to the beasts ; some they
burnt by fire ; others they led about in chains,
till wasted out by a long protracted decay. As-
suredly "the Lord forsaketh not His Saints."
He will not " leave him in his hands." Lastly,
wherefore did He leave His own Son in " the
hands of the ungodly"? Here also, if thou
wouldest have all the limbs of thy innej" man
made strong, remove the covering of the roof,
and find thy way to the Lord. Hear what
another Scripture, foreseeing our Lord's future
suffering at the hands of the ungodly, saith.
What saith it? "The earth is given into the
hands of the wicked." " What is meant by
" earth" being "given into the hands of the un-
godly"? The delivering of the flesh into the
hands of the persecutors. But God did not
leave " His righteous One " " there : from the
flesh, which was taken captive, He leads forth
the soul unconquered. . . .
' "The Lord will not leave him in his hand,
nor condemn him when there shall be judgment
for him" (ver. 33). Some copies have it, "and
when He shall judge him, there shall be judg-
6 Labittd. Lubricus locus. Isidor. 7 Ps. cxxi 4.
• Wisd. ii. 15. 1 Ps. xxxvii. 38. I0 Matt. xvii. i>.
» Job ix. 24. t* P». xvi. 10.
102
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[rsALM xxxvii.
ment for him." " For him," however, means
when sentence is passed upon him. For we can
express ourselves so as to say to a person,
" Judge for me," i.e. " hear my cause." When
therefore God shall begin to hear the cause of
His righteous servant, since " we must all " be
presented " before the tribunal of Christ," and
stand before it to receive every one " the things
he hath done in this body," ' whether good or
evil, when therefore he shall have come to that
Judgment, He will not condemn him ; though
he may seem to be condemned in this present
life by man. Even though the Proconsul may
have passed sentence on Cyprian,' yet the
earthly seat of judgment is one thing, the
heavenly tribunal is another. From the inferior
tribunal he receives sentence of death ; from
the superior one a crown, " Nor will He con-
demn him when there shall be judgment for
him." . . .
13. "Wait on the Lord" (ver. 34). And
while I am waiting upon Him, what am I to
do? — "and keep His ways." And if I keep
them, what am I to receive ? " And He shall
exalt thee to inherit the land." " What land " ?
Once more let not any estate suggest itself to
your mind : — the land of which it is said,
" Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the king-
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world." 3 What of those who have troubled us,
in the midst of whom we have groaned, whose
scandals we have patiently endured, for whom,
while they were raging against us, we have
prayed in vain? What will become of them?
What follows ? " When the wicked are cut off,
thou shalt see it." . . .
" I have seen the ungodly lifted up on high,
and rising above the cedars of Libanus " (ver.
35). And suppose him to be "lifted up on
high ; " suppose him to be towering above the
" rest ; " what follows ?
" I passed by, and, lo, he was not ! I sought
him, and his place could nowhere be found ! "
(ver. 36). Why was he "no more, and his
place nowhere to be found " ? Because thou
hast " passed by." But if thou art yet carnally-
minded, and that earthly prosperity appears to
thee to be true happiness, thou hast not yet
" passed by " him ; thou art either his fellow, or
thou art below him ; go on, and pass him ; and
when thou hast made progress, and hast passed
by him, thou observest him by the eye of faith ;
thou seest his end, thou sayest to thyself, " Lo !
he who so swelled before, is not ! " just as if it
were some smoke that thou wert passing near
to. For this too was said above in this very
Psalm, " They shall consume and fade away as
the smoke." 4 . . .
1 a Cor. v. 10.
» Matt, xxr. 34.
' [See A. N. F. vol. V. p. 273. — C]
* Pi. xxxvii. 90.
14. "Keep innocency" (ver. 37); keep it
even as thou usedst to keep thy purse, when thou
wert covetous ; even as thou usedst to hold fast
that purse, that it might not be snatched from
thy grasp by the thief, even so " keep innocency,"
lest that be snatched from thy grasp by the devil.
Be that thy sure inheritance, of which the rich
and the poor may both be sure. " Keep inno-
cency." What doth it profit thee to gain gold,
and to lose innocence ?
" Keep innocency, and take heed unto the
thing which is right." Keep thou thine eyes
" right," that thou mayest see " the thing which
is right ; " not perverted, wherewith thou lookest
upon the wicked ; not distorted, so that God
should appear to thee distorted and wrong, in
that He favours the wicked, and afflicts the
faithful with persecutions. Dost thou not ob-
serve how distorted thy vision is? Set right
thine eyes, and " behold the thing that is right."
What "thing that is right"?. Take no heed of
things present. And what wilt thou see ?
" For there is a remainder for the man that
maketh peace." 5 What is meant by " there is
a remainder " ? When thou art dead, thou shalt
not be dead. This is the meaning of " there is
a remainder." He will still have something re-
maining to him, even after this life, that is to
say, that "seed," which "shall be blessed."
Whence our Lord saith, " He that believeth on
Me, though he die, yet shall he live ; " 6 — " seeing
there is a remainder for the man that maketh
peace."
15. " But the transgressors shall be destroyed
in the self-same thing "J (ver. 38). What is
meant by, "in the self-same thing"? It means
for ever : or all together in one and the same
destruction.
"The remainder of the wicked shall be cut
off." Now there is " (a remainder) for the man
that maketh peace : " they therefore who are
not peace-makers 8 are ungodly. For, " Blessed
are the peace-makers : for they shall be called
the children of God." »
16. " But the salvation of the righteous is of
the Lord, and He is their strength in the time
of trouble" (ver. 39). "And the Lord shall
help them, and deliver them ; He shall deliver
them from the sinners " IO (ver. 40) . At present
therefore let the righteous bear with the sinner ;
let the wheat bear with the tares ; let the grain
bear with the chaff: for the time of separation
will come, and the good seed shall be set apart
from that which is to be consumed with fire. "
The one will be consigned to the garner, the
other to " everlasting burning ; " for it was for
3 E. V. " For the end of that man is peace." 6 John xi. 35.
1 In id ifisum. 8 The Donatists. 9 Matt. v. p.
10 St. Augustin omits, " because they trust in Him." Vulgate has,
quia speraverunt in to.
11 Matt. xiii. 30.
Psalm XXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
103
this reason that the just and the unjust were at
the first together ; that the one should lay a
stumbling-block, ' that the other should be
proved ; that afterwards the one should be con-
demned, the other receive a crown. . . .
PSALM XXXVIII.2
A PSALM TO DAVID HIMSELF, ON THE REMEM-
BRANCE OF THE SABBATH.
i. What doth this recollection of the Sabbath
mean? What is this Sabbath? For it is with
groaning that he " calls it to recollection." You
have both heard already when the Psalm was read,
and you will now hear it when we shall go over
it, how great is his groaning, his mourning, his
tears, his misery. But happy he who is wretched
after this manner ! Whence the Lord also in
the Gospel 3 called some who mourn blessed.
" How should he be blessed if he is a mourner?
How blessed, if he is miserable?" Nay rather,
he would be miserable, if he were not a mourner.
Such an one then let us understand here too,
calling the Sabbath to remembrance (viz.),
some mourner or other : and would that we were
ourselves that " some one or other " ! For there
is here some person sorrowing, groaning, mourn-
ing, calling the Sabbath to remembrance. The
Sabbath is rest. Doubtless he was in some dis-
quietude, who with groaning was calling the
Sabbath to remembrance. . . .
2. " O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine indigna-
tion ; neither chasten me in Thy hot displeas-
ure " (ver. 1). For it will be that some shall
be chastened in God's " hot displeasure," and
rebuked in His " indignation." And haply not
all who are " rebuked " will be " chastened ; "
yet are there some that are to be saved in the
chastening.4 So it is to be indeed, because it
is called " chastening," 5 but yet it shall be " so
as by fire." But there are to be some who will
be "rebuked," and will not be "corrected."
For he will at all events " rebuke " 6 those to
whom He will say, " I was an hungred, and ye
gave me no meat." '...'* Neither chasten me
in Thy hot displeasure ; " so that Thou mayest
cleanse me in this life, and make me such, that
I may after that stand in no need of the cleans-
ing fire, for those " who are to be saved, yet so
as by fire."8 Why? Why, but because they
" build upon the foundation, wood, stubble, and
hay." Now they should build on it, "gold,
silver, and precious stones ; " ' and should have
nothing to fear from either fire : not only that
which is to consume the ungodly for ever, but
■ Most mss. " should stumble." ' Lat. XXXVII.
3 Matt. v. 4.
* Futttri sunt in emendations guidam salvi.
* Emendatio (alluding to emendes in the Latin of v. i).
6 Utiane arguet. 7 Matt. xxv. 42.
8 1 Cor. iii. 15. 9 1 Cor. iii. 12.
also that which is to purge those who are to
escape through lo the fire. For it is said, " he
himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." And
because it is said, " he shall be saved," that fire
is thought lightly of. For all that, though we
should be " saved by fire," yet will that fire be
more grievous than anything that man can suf-
fer in this life whatsoever." . . .
3. Now on what ground does this person
pray that he may not be " rebuked in indigna-
tion, nor chastened in hot displeasure "? (He
speaks) as if he would say unto God, " Since
the things which I already suffer are many in
number, I pray Thee let them suffice ; " and he
begins to enumerate them, by way of satisfying
God ; offering what he suffers now, that he may
not have to suffer worse evils hereafter.
4. " For Thine arrows stick fast in me, and
Thy hand presseth me sore " (ver. 2). "There
is no soundness in my flesh, from the face of
Thine anger" (ver. 3). He has now begun
telling these evils, which he is suffering here :
and yet even this already was from the wrath of
the Lord, because it was of the vengeance of the
Lord. " Of what vengeance ? " That which
He took upon Adam. For think not that pun-
ishment was not inflicted upon him, or that God
had said to no purpose, "Thou shalt surely die ; " I2
or that we suffer anything in this life, except
from that death which we earned by the original
sin. . . . Whence then do His " arrows stick
fast in " him ? The very punishment, the very
vengeance, and haply the pains both of mind
and of body, which it is necessary for us to
suffer here, these he describes by these self-same
" arrows." For of these arrows holy Job also
made mention,'3 and said that the arrows of the
Lord stuck fast in him, whilst he was labouring
under those pains. We are used, however, to call
God's words also arrows ; but could he grieve
that he should be struck by these ? The words of
God are arrows, as it were, that inflame love, not
pain. . . . Vie may then understand the " arrows
sticking fast," thus : Thy words are fixed fast in
my heart ; and by those words themselves is it
come to pass, that I " called the Sabbath to re-
membrance : " and that very remembrance of the
Sabbath, and the non-possession of it at present,
prevents me from rejoicing at present ; and
causes me to acknowledge that there " is neither
health in my very flesh," neither ought it to be
so called when I compare this sort of soundness
to that soundness which I am to possess in the
"> Per.
11 [See Augustin's ideas as to a possible meaning of the text
I Cor. iii. 11-15 m v°l- "- ln's seriesr p. 474. He there propounds,
as a conjecture merely t a purification of some souls in the inter-
mediate slate, which he does not care to reject. It is hot his own
theory; he says, " I do not contradict; possibly it is true." He thus
proves there was no dogma of any sort of purgatory in his day, and
even this theory is entirely inconsistent with the dogma as expounded
in the Trent Catechism. — C]
12 Gen. ii. 17. u Job vi. 4.
ic4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVIII.
everlasting rest ; where " this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on
immortality," ' and see that in comparison with
that seundness this present kind is but sickness.
5. " Neither is there any rest in my bones, from
the face of my sin." It is commonly enquired,
of what person this is the speech ; and some un-
derstand it to be Christ's, on account of some
things which are here said of the Passion of
Christ ; to which we shall shortly come ; and
which we ourselves shall acknowledge to be
spoken of His Passion. But how could He who
had no sin, say, " There is no rest in my bones,
from the face of my sin." . . . For if we were
to say that they are not the words of Christ,
those words, " My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me ? " ' will also not be the words of
Christ. For there too you have, " My God, My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " " The words
of mine offences are far from my health." Just
as here you have, "from the face of my sins," so
there also you have, " the words of my offences."
And if Christ is, for all that, without "sin," and
without "offences," we begin to think those words
in the Psalm also not to be His. And it is ex-
ceedingly harsh and inconsistent that that Psalm
should not relate to Christ, where we have His
Passion as clearly laid open as if it were being
read to us out of the Gospel. For there we have,
"They parted My garments among them, and
cast lots upon My vesture." 3 Why should I men-
tion that the first verse of that Psalm was pro-
nounced by the Lord Himself while hanging on
the Cross, with His own mouth, saying, "My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
What did He mean to be inferred from it, but
that the whole of that Psalm relates to Him, see-
ing He Himself, the Head of His Body, pro-
nounced it in His own Person ? Now when it
goes on to say, " the words of mine offences,"
it is beyond a doubt that they are the words of
Christ. Whence then come " the sins," but from
the Body, which is the Church ? Because both
the Head and the Body of Christ are speaking.
Why do they speak as if one person only? Be-
cause " they twain," as He hath said, " shall be
one flesh." * " This " (says the Apostle) " is
a great mystery ; but I speak concerning Christ
and the Church." . . . For why should He not
say, " my sins," who said, " I was an hungred,
and ye gave Me no meat ; I was thirsty, and ye
gave Me no drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took
Me not in. I was sick and in prison, and ye
visited Me not." ' Assuredly the Lord was not
in prison. Why should He not say this, to whom
when it was said, " When saw we Thee a hungred,
and athirst, or in prison ; and did not minister
unto Thee ? " He replied, that He spake thus
1 1 Cor. xv. 53.
4 Gen. ii. 34.
' Ps. xxii. 1. J Pi. xxii. 18.
s Matt. xxv. 42, 43.
in the person of His Body. " Inasmuch as ye did
it not unto one of the least of Mine, ye did it not
unto Me." 6 Why should He not say, " from the
face of my sins," who said to Saul, " Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou Me," 7 who, however, being
in Heaven, now suffered from no persecutors?
But just as, in that passage, the Head spake for
the Body, so here too the Head speaks the words
of the Body ; whilst you hear at the same time
the accents of the Head Itself also. Yet do not
either, when you hear the voice of the Body,
separate the Head from it ; nor the Body, when
you hear the voice of the Head : because " they
are no more twain, but one flesh." 8
6. "There is no soundness in my flesh from
the face of thine anger." But perhaps God is
unjustly angry with thee, O Adam ; unjustly angry
with thee, O son of man ; because now brought
to acknowledge that thy punishment, now that
thou art a man that hath been placed in Christ's
Body, thou hast said, " There is no soundness in
my flesh from the face of Thine anger." Declare
the justice of God's anger : lest thou shouldest
seem to be excusing thyself, and accusing Him.
Go on to tell whence the " anger " of the Lord
proceeds. "There is no soundness in my flesh
from the face of Thine anger ; neither is there
any rest in my bones." He repeats what he said
before, " There is no soundness in my flesh ; "
for, "There is no rest in my bones," is equiva-
lent to this. He does not however repeat " from
the face of Thine anger ; " but states the cause
of the anger of God. "There is no rest in my
bones from the face of my sins."
7. "For mine iniquities have lifted up my
head ; and are like a heavy burden too heavy for
me to bear" (ver. 4). Here too he has placed
the cause first, and the effect afterwards. What
consequence followed, and from what cause, he
has told us. "Mine iniquities have lift up mine
head." For no one is proud but the unrighteous
man, whose head is lifted up. He is "lifted up,"
whose " head is lifted up on high " against God.
You heard when the lesson of the Book of Eccle-
siasticus was read : "The beginning of pride is
when a man departeth from God."' He who was
the first to refuse to listen to the Commandment,
"his head iniquity lifted up" against God. And
because his iniquities have lifted up his head,
what hath God done unto him? They are "like
a heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear " !
It is the part of levity to lift up the head, just as
if he who lifts up his head had nothing to carry.
Since therefore that which admits of being lifted
up is light, it receives a weight by which it may
be weighed down. For "his mischief returns
upon his own head, and his violent dealing comes
6 Matt. xxv. 44, 45. 7 Acts ix. 4. 8 Matt. xix. 6.
9 Ecclus. x. is. [Note "as a Lesson:" part of Divine Ser-
vice. — C.J
Psalm XXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
ic5
down upon his own pate." ' " They are like a
heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear."
8. " My wounds stink and are corrupt " (ver.
5). Now he who has wounds is not perfectly
sound. Add to this, that the wounds " stink
and are corrupt." Wherefore do they " stink " ?
Because they are " corrupt : " now in what way
this is explained in reference to human life, who
doth not understand? Let a man but have his
soul's sense of smelling sound, he perceives how
foully sins stink. The contrary to which stink
of sin, is that savour of which the Apostle says,
" We are the sweet savour of Christ unto God,
in every place, unto them which be saved." 2
But whence is this, except from hope ? Whence
is this, but from our " calling the Sabbath to
remembrance "? For it is a different thing that
we mourn over in this life, from that which we
anticipate in the other. That which we mourn
over is stench, that which we reckon upon is
fragrance. Were there not therefore such a
perfume as that to invite us, we should never
call the Sabbath to remembrance.' But since,
by the Spirit, we have such a perfume, as to say
to our Betrothed, " Because of the savour of Thy
good ointments we will run after Thee;"4 we
turn our senses away from our own unsavouri-
nesses, and turning ourselves to Him, we gain
some little breathing-time. But indeed, unless
our evil deeds also did smell rank in our nostrils,
we should never confess with those groans, " My
wounds stink and are corrupt." And wherefore ?
" from the face of my foolishness." 5 From the
same cause that he said before, " from the face
of my sins ; " from that same cause he now
says, " from the face of my foolishness."
9. " I am troubled, I am bowed down even
unto the end" (ver. 6). Wherefore was he
" bowed down " ? Because he had been " lifted
up." If thou art " humble, thou shalt be ex-
alted ; " if thou exaltest thyself, thou shalt be
" bowed down ; " for God will be at no loss to
find a weight wherewith to bow thee down. . . .
Let him groan on these things ; that he may
receive the other ; let him " call the Sabbath to
remembrance," that he may deserve to arrive at
it. For that which the Jews used to celebrate
was but a sign. Of what thing was it the sign ?
Of that which he calls to remembrance, who
saith, " I am troubled, and am bowed down even
unto the end." What is meant by even " unto
the end " ? Even to death.
" I go mourning all the day long." " All day
long," that is, " without intermission." By " all
the day long," he means, "all my life long."
But from what time hath he known it? From
the time that he began to " call the Sabbath
to remembrance." For so long as he " calls to
1 Ps. vii. 16. * a Cor. ii. 15.
* Song of Sol. i. 3, 4.
3 [Isa. lviii. 13. — C]
5 Ps. xxxviii. 5.
remembrance " what he no longer possesses,
wouldest thou not have him "go mourning"?
" All the day long have I gone mourning."
10. " For my soul is filled with illusions, and
there is no soundness in my flesh" (ver. 7).
Where there is the whole man, there there is
soul and flesh both. The " soul is filled with
illusions ; " the flesh hath "no soundness." What
does there remain that can give joy ? Is it not
meet that one should " go mourning " ? " All
the day long have I gone mourning." Let
mourning be our portion, until our soul be
divested of its illusions ; and our body be clothed
with soundness. For true soundness is no other
than immortality. How great however are the
soul's illusions, were I even to attempt to express,
when would the time suffice me? For whose
soul is not subject to them? There is a brief
particular that I will remind you of, to show how
our soul is filled with illusions. The presence
of those illusions sometimes scarcely permits us
to pray. We know not how to think of material
objects without images, and such as we do not
wish, rush in upon the mind ; and we wish to
go from this one to that, and to quit that for
another. And sometimes you wish to return to
that which you were thinking of before, and
to quit that which you are now thinking of;
and a fresh one presents itself to you ; you wish
to call up again what you had forgotten ; and it
does not occur to you ; and another comes in-
stead which you would not have wished for.
Where meanwhile was the one that you had
forgotten? For why did it afterwards occur to
you, when it had ceased to be sought after;
whereas, while it was being sought for, innumer-
able others, which were not desired, presented
themselves instead of it? I have stated a fact
briefly; I have thrown out a kind of hint or
suggestion to you, brethren, taking up which,
you may yourselves suggest the rest to your-
selves, .and discover what it is to mourn over the
" illusions " of our " soul." He hath received
therefore the punishment of illusion ; he hath
forfeited Truth. For just as illusion is the soul's
punishment, so is Truth its reward. But when
we were set in the midst of these illusions, the
Truth Itself came to us, and found us over-
whelmed by illusions, took upon Itself our flesh,
or rather took flesh from us ; that is, from the
human race. He manifested himself to the eyes
of the Flesh, that He might " by faith " heal
those to whom He was going to reveal the Truth
hereafter, that Truth might be manifested to
the now healed eye. For He is Himself " the
Truth," 6 which He promised unto us at that
time, when His Flesh was to be seen by the eye,
that the foundation might be laid of that Faith,
6 John xiv. 6.
io6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVIII.
of which the Truth was to be the reward. For
it was not Himself that Christ showed forth on
earth ; but it was His Flesh that He showed. For
had He showed Himself, the Jews would have
seen and known Him ; but had they " known
Him, they would never have crucified the Lord
of Glory." ■ But perhaps His disciples saw
Him, when they said unto Him, " Show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us ; " 2 and He, to show
that it was not Himself that had been seen by
them, added : " Have I been so long with you,
and have ye not known Me, Philip? He that
seeth Me, seeth the Father also." 3 If then they
saw Christ, wherefore did they yet seek for the
Father? For if it were Christ whom they saw,
they would have seen the Father also. They
did not therefore yet see Christ, who desired
that the Father should be shown unto them.
To prove that they did not yet see Him, hear
that, in another place, He promised it by way
of reward, saying, " He who loveth Me, keepeth
My commandments ; and whoso loveth Me, shall
be loved of My Father ; and I will love Him,
and " (as if it were said to Him, " what wilt
Thou give unto him, as Thou lovest him?" He
saith), "I will manifest Myself unto him."4 If
then He promises this by way of a reward unto
them that love Him, it is manifest that the
vision of the Truth, promised to us, is of such
a nature, that, when we have seen it, we shall
no longer say, " My soul is filled with illusions."
ii. "I am become feeble,5 and am bowed
down greatly" (ver. 8). He who calls to mind
the transcendent height of the Sabbath, sees
how "greatly" he is himself "bowed down."
For he who cannot conceive what is that height
of rest, sees not where he is at present. There-
fore another Psalm hath said, " I said in my
trance, I am cast out of the sight of Thine
eyes." 6 For his mind being taken up thither,7
he beheld something sublime ; and was not yet
entirely there, where what he beheld was ; and
a kind of flash, as it were, if one may so speak,
of the Eternal Light having glanced upon him,
when he perceived that he was not yet arrived
at this, which he was able after a sort to under-
stand, he saw where he himself was, and how he
was cramped and " bowed down " by human
infirmities. And he says, " I said in my trance,
I am cast out of the sight of Thine eyes." Such
is that certain something which I saw in my
trance, that thence I perceive how far off I am,
who am not already there. He was already
there who said that he was " caught up into the
third Heaven, and there heard unspeakable
words, which it is not lawful for a man to
' John xiv. 8.
, Augustin, infirmatus ; E. V.
■feeble;" Vulgate, afflictut.
6 IV xxxi. aa.
1 i Cor. ii. io.
* John xiv. 2i.
J St. .
' John xiv. 9.
1 troubled ; " Prayer Book,
7 Assumpta mente.
utter." 8 But he was recalled to us, in order
that, as requiring to be made perfect, he might
first mourn his infirmity, and afterwards be
clothed with might. Yet encouraged for the
ministration of his office by having seen some-
what of those things, he goes on saying, " I
heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful
for a man to utter." 9 Now then what use is it
for you to ask, either of me or of any one, the
" things which it is not lawful for man to utter."
If it was not lawful for him to utter them, to
whom is it lawful to hear them ? Let us how-
ever lament and groan in Confession ; let us
own where we are ; let us " call the Sabbath to
remembrance," and wait with patience for what
He has promised, who hath, in His own Person
also, showed forth an example of patience to us.
" I am become feeble, and bowed down greatly."
12. "I have roared with the groaning of my
heart." IO You observe the servants of God gen-
erally interceding with groaning ; and the reason
of it is asked, and there is nothing apparent,
but the groaning of some servant of God, if
indeed it does find its way at all to the ears of a
person placed near him. For there is a secret
groaning, which is not heard by man : yet if the
thought of some strong desire has taken so strong
hold of the heart, that the wound of the inner
man finds expression in some uttered exclama-
tion, the reason of it is asked ; and a man says
to himself, " Perhaps this is the cause of his
groaning ; " and, " Perhaps this or that hath
befallen him." Who can determine, but He in
whose Eyes and Ears he groaned? Therefore
he says, " I roared with the groaning of mine
heart ; " because if men ever hear a man's groan-
ings, they for the most part hear but the groaning
of the flesh ; they do not hear him who groans
" with the groaning of his heart." Some one
hath carried off his goods ; he " roareth," but
not " with the groaning of his heart : " another
because he has buried his son, another his wife ;
another because his vineyard has been injured
by a hailstorm ; another because his cask has
turned sour ; another because some one hath
stolen his beast ; another because he has suffered
some loss ; another because he fears some man
who is his enemy : all these " roar " with the
" groaning of the flesh." The servant of God,
however, because he " roareth " from the recol-
lection of the Sabbath, where the Kingdom of
God is, which flesh and blood shall not possess,
says, " I have roared with the groaning of my
heart."
13. And who observed and noticed the cause
of his groaning? "All my desire is before
Thee " (ver. 9). For it is not before men who
8 2 Cor. xii. a, 4. » a Cor. xii. l.
10 Rugitbam a gemitu cordis met. E. V. by reason of the
disquictncss."
Psalm XXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
107
canhot see the heart, but it is before Thee that
all my desire is open ! Let your desire be
before Him ; and " the Father, who seeth in
secret, shall reward thee." * For it is thy heart's
desire that is thy prayer ; and if thy desire con-
tinues uninterrupted, thy prayer continueth also.
For not without a meaning did the Apostle say,
" Pray without ceasing." 2 Are we to be " with-
out ceasing " bending the knee, prostrating the
body, or lifting up our hands, that he says,
" Pray without ceasing " ? Or if it is in this sense
that we say that we " pray," this, I believe, we
cannot do "without ceasing." There is another
inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is
the desire of the heart. Whatever else you are
doing, if you do but long for that Sabbath, you
do not cease to pray. If you would never cease
to pray, never cease to long after it. The con-
tinuance of thy longing is the continuance of thy
prayer. You will be ceasing to speak, if you
cease to long for it. Who are those who have
ceased to speak? They of whom it is said,
" Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many
shall wax cold." ' The freezing of charity is the
silence of the heart ; the burning of charity is
the cry of the heart. If love continues still,
you are still lifting up your voice ; if you are
always lifting up your voice, you are always
longing after something ; if always longing for
something absent, you are calling " the Sabbath
rest to remembrance." And it is important
you should understand too before whom the
" roaring of thine heart " is open. Now then
consider what sort of desires those should be,
that are before the eyes of God. Should it be
the desire for the death of our enemy? a thing
which men flatter themselves they lawfully wish
for? For sometimes we pray for what we ought
not. Let us consider what they flatter them-
selves they pray for lawfully ! For they pray
that some person may die, and his inheritance
come to them. But let those too, who pray for
the death of their enemies, hear the Lord saying,
" Pray for your enemies." 4 Let them not pray
for this, that their enemies may die ; but rather
pray for this, that they may be reclaimed ; then
will their enemies be dead ; for from the time
that they are reclaimed, henceforth they will be
enemies no longer. "And all my desire is
before Thee." What if we suppose that our
desire is before Him, and that yet that very
" groaning " is not before Him ? How can that
be, since our desire itself finds its expression in
" groaning " ? Therefore follows, " And my
groaning is not hid from Thee."
From Thee indeed it is not hid ; but from
many men it is hid. The servant of God some-
times seems to be saying in humility, " And my
1 Matt. vi. 6.
< Matt. v. 44.
2 j Thess. v. 17.
3 Matt. xxiv. 12.
groaning is not hid from Thee." Sometimes
also he seems to smile. Is then that longing
dead in his heart? If however there is the
desire within, there is the " groaning " also. It
does not always find its way to the ears of man ;
but it never ceases to sound in the ears of God.
14. " My heart is troubled " (ver. 10). Where-
fore is it troubled ? " And my courage hath
failed me." Generally something comes upon
us on a sudden ; the " heart is troubled ; " the
earth quakes ; thunder is sent from Heaven ; a
formidable attack is made upon us, or a horrible
sound heard. Perhaps a lion is seen on the
road ; the " heart is troubled." Perhaps rob-
bers lie in wait for us ; the " heart is troubled : "
we are filled with a panic fear ; from every quarter
something excites anxiety. Wherefore ? Be-
cause " my courage hath failed me." For what
would be feared, did that courage still remain
unmoved ? Whatever bad tidings were brought,
whatever threatened us, whatever sound was
heard, whatever were to fall, whatever appeared
horrible, would inspire no terror. But whence
that trouble? " My courage faileth me." Where-
fore hath my courage failed me? "The light
of mine eyes also is gone from me." Thus
Adam also could not see " the light of his eyes."
For the " light of his eyes " was God Himself,
whom when he had offended, he fled to the
shade, and hid himself among the trees of Para-
dise.5 He shrunk in alarm from the face of
God : and sought the shelter of the trees ;
thenceforth among the trees he had no more
" the light of his eyes," at which he had been .
wont to rejoice. . . .
15. "My lovers;" why should I henceforth
speak of my enemies? "My lovers and my
neighbours drew nigh, and stood over against
me" (ver. n). Understand this that he saith,
" Stood over against me." For if they stood over
against me, they fell against themselves. " My
lovers and my neighbours drew nigh and stood
over against me."6 Let us now recognise the
words of the Head speaking ; now let our Head
in His Passion begin to dawn upon us. Yet
again when the Head begins to speak, do not
sever the Body from it. If the Head would
not separate itself from the words of the Body,
should the Body dare to separate itself from the
sufferings of the Head? Do thou suffer in
Christ's suffering : for Christ, as it were, sinned
in thy infirmity. For just now He spoke of thy
sins, as if speaking in His own Person, and
called them His own. ... To those who wished
to be near His exaltation, yet thought not of
His humility, He answered and said to them,
" Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink
of? " 7 Those sufferings of the Lord then are
5 Gen. iii 8.
7 Matt. xx. 22.
6 E. V. " and my friends stand aloof."
io8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVIII.
our sufferings also : and were each individual to
serve God well, to keep faith truly, to render
to each their dues, and to conduct himself hon-
estly among men, I should like to see if he does
not suffer even that which Christ here details in
the account of His Passion. " My lovers and
my neighbours drew nigh, and stood over against
me."
16. "And my neighbours stood afar off " Who
were the " neighbours " that drew nigh, and who
were those who stood afar off? The Jews were
" neighbours " because " near kinsmen," they
drew near even when they crucified Him : the
Apostles also were His " neighbours ; " and they
also " stood afar off," that they might not have
to suffer with Him. This may also be understood
thus : " My friends," that is, those who feigned
themselves " My friends : " for they feigned them-
selves His friends, when they said, " We know that
Thou teachest the way of God in truth ; " ' when
they wished to try Him, whether tribute ought
to be paid to Caesar ; when He convinced them
out of their own mouth, they wished to seem
to be His friends. "But He needed not that
any should testify of man, for He Himself knew
what was in man ; " * so that when they spoke
unto Him words of friendship, He answered them,
"Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites?"3 "My
friends and my neighbours " then " drew near
and stood over against me, and my neighbours
stood afar off." You understand what I said.
I called those neighbours who " drew nigh," and
at the same time " stood afar off." For they
"drew nigh" in the body, but "stood afar off"
in their heart. Who were in the body so near
to Him as those who lifted Him on the Cross?
Who in heart so far off as those who blasphemed
Him ? Hear this sort of distance described by
the Prophet Isaiah ; observe this nearness and
distance at one and the same time. " This peo-
ple honours Me with their lips : " behold, with
their body they draw near ; " but their heart is
far from Me."4 The same persons are at the
same time "near" and "afar off" also: with
their lips they are near, in heart afar off. How-
ever, because the Apostles also stood afar off,
through fear, we understand it more simply and
properly of them ; so that we mean by it, that
some drew near, and others stood afar off; since
even Peter, who had followed more boldly than
the rest, was still so far off, that being questioned
and alarmed, he thrice denied the Lord, wfth
whom he had promised to " be ready to die."
Who afterwards that, from being afar off, he
might be made to draw nigh, heard after the
resurrection the question, " Lovest thou Me ? "
and said, " I love Thee ; " * and by so saying was
brought "nigh," even as by denying Him, he
1 Malt. xxii. 16.
* lsa. xxix. 13.
■ y
* John xxi. 15.
3 Matt. xxii. 18.
had become "far off;" till with the threefold
confession of love, he had put away from him
his threefold denial. " And my neighbours stood
afar off."
17. "They also that sought after my soul
were preparing violence against me " (ver. 12).
It is now plain who " sought after His soul ; "
viz. those who had not His soul, in that they
were not in His Body. They who were " seek-
ing after His soul," were far removed from His
soul ; but they were " seeking it " to destroy it.
For His soul may be " sought after " in a right
way also. For in another passage 6 He finds fault
with some persons, saying, " There is no man to
care for My soul." He finds fault with some for
not seeking after His soul ; and again, with
others for seeking after it. Who is he that seek-
eth after His soul in the right way? He who
imitates His sufferings. Who are they that
sought after His soul in the wrong way ? Even
those who " prepared violence against Him,"
and crucified Him.
18. He goes on: "Those who sought after
My faults had spoken vanity." What is, " sought
after ,My faults " ? They sought after many
things, and found them not. Perhaps He may
have meant this : " They sought for criminal
charges against me." For they sought for some-
what to say against Him, and "they found not."7
For they were seeking to find evil things to say
of " the Good ; " crimes of the Innocent ; When
would they find such things in Him, who had
no sin ? But because they had to seek for sins
in Him who had no sin, it remained for them
to invent that which they could not find. There-
fore, " those who sought after My faults have
spoken vanity," i.e., untruth, " and imagined de-
ceit all the day long ; " that is, they meditated
treachery without intermission. You know how
atrocious false-witness was borne against the
Lord, before He suffered. You know how atro-
cious false-witness was borne against Him, even
after His resurrection. For those soldiers who
watched His sepulchre of whom Isaiah spake, " I
will appoint the wicked for His burial " 8 (for
they were wicked men, and would not speak the
truth, and being bribed they disseminated a lie),
consider what " vanity " they spake. They also
were examined, and they said, " While we slept,
His disciples came- and stole Him away."9 This
it is, " to speak vanity." For if they were sleep-
ing, how could they know what had been done ?
19. He saith then, " But I as a deaf man
heard not" (ver. 13). He who replied not to
what He heard, did, as it were, not hear them.
" But I as a deaf man heard not. And I was as
• Ps. cxlii. 4. » Matt, xxvi 60.
* Isa. liii. 9. St Augustin, Ponam males pro sepuiturd ejus.
Vulgate, Dabtt impios, etc.
9 Matt, xxviii. 13.
Psalm XXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
109
a dumb man that openeth not his mouth." And
he repeats the same things again.
" And I became as a man that heareth not,
and in whose mouth are no reproofs" (ver. 14).
As if He had nothing to say unto them, as if He
had nothing wherewith to reproach them. Had
He not already reproached them for many things ?
Had He not said many things, and also said,
" Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees," ' and
many things besides? Yet when He suffered,
He said none of these things j not that He had
not what to say, but He waited for them to fulfil
all things, and that all the prophecies might be
fulfilled of Him, of whom it had been said,
" And as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so
openeth He not His mouth." 2 It behoved Him
to be silent in His Passion, though not here-
after to be silent in Judgment. For He had come
to be judged, then, who was hereafter coming to
judge ; and who was for this reason to coine
with great power to judge, that He had been
judged in great humility.
20. " For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope ; Thou
wilt hear, O Lord, my God" (ver. 15). As if
it were said to Him, " Wherefore openedst thou
not thy mouth ? Wherefore didst Thou not say,
' Refrain ' ? Wherefore didst Thou not rebuke
the unrighteous, while hanging on the Cross?"
He goes on and says, " For in Thee, O Lord, do
I hope ; Thou, O Lord my God, wilt hear." He
warns you what to do, should tribulation haply
befall. For you seek to defend yourself, and per-
haps your defence is not listened to by any one.
Then are you confounded, as if you had lost
your cause ; because you have none to defend
or to bear testimony in your favour. " Keep "
but your " innocence " within, where no one can
pervert thy cause. False-witness has prevailed
against you before men. Will it then prevail
before God, where your cause has to be pleaded ?
When God shall be Judge, there shall be no
other witness than your own conscience. In
the presence of a just judge, and of your own
conscience, fear nothing but your own cause.
If you have not a bad cause, you will have no
accuser to dread ; no false-witness to confute,
nor witness to the truth to look for. Do but
bring into court a good conscience, that you
may say, " For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope ;
Thou, O Lord my God, wilt hear."
21. "For I said, Let not mine enemies ever
rejoice over me. And when my feet slip,
they magnify themselves against me" (ver. 16).
Again He returns to the infirmity of His Body :
and again the Head takes heed of Its " feet."
The Head is not' in such a manner in Heaven,
as to forsake what It has on earth ; He evidently
sees and observes us. For sometimes, as is the
1 Matt xxiii. 13.
» Isa. liii.
way of this life, our feet are " turned aside," and
they slip by falling into some sin ; there the
tongues of the enemy rise up with the bitterest
malignity. From this then we discern what they
really had in view, even while they kept silence.
Then they speak with an unsparing harshness ;
rejoicing to have discovered what they ought to
have grieved for. "And I said, Lest at any
time my adversaries should rejoice over me." I
said this indeed ; and yet it was perhaps for my
correction that Thou hast caused them to
" magnify themselves against me, when my feet
slipped ; " that is to say, when I stumbled, they
were elated, and said many things. For pity,
not insult, was due from them to the weak ; even
as the Apostle speaks : " Brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual re-
store such an one in the spirit of meekness ; "
and he combines the reason why : " considering
thyself also, lest thou also be tempted." ' Not
such as these were the persons of whom He
speaks : " And when my feet slipped, they re-
joiced greatly against me ; " but they were such
as those of whom He says elsewhere : " They
that hate me will rejoice if I fall.''
22. "For I am prepared for the scourges"
(ver. 17). Quite a magnificent expression; as
if He were saying, " It was even for this that I
was born ; that I might suffer." For He was
not to be born,4 but from Adam, to whom the
scourge is due. But sinners are in this life
sometimes not scourged at all, or are scourged
less than their deserts : because the wickedness
of their heart is given over as already desperate.
Those, however, for whom eternal life is pre-
pared, must needs be scourged in this life : for
that sentence is true : " My son, faint not under
the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary
when thou art rebuked of Him." ' " For whom
the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom He receiveth." 6 Let not mine
enemies therefore insult over me ; let " them not
magnify themselves ; " and if my Father scour-
geth me, " I am prepared for the scourge ; " be-
cause there is an inheritance in store for me.
Thou wilt not submit to the scourge : the inherit-
ance is not bestowed upon thee. For " every
son " must needs be scourged. So true it is that
" every son " is scourged, that He spared not
even Him who had no sin. For "I am pre-
pared for the scourges."
23. " And my sorrow is continually before me."
What "sorrow" is that? Perhaps, a sorrow for
my scourge. And, in good truth, my brethren,
in good truth, let me say unto you, men do
mourn for their scourges, not for the causes on
account of which they are scourged. Not such
was the person here. Listen, my brethren : If
3 Oal. vi. 1.
3 Prov. iii. u.
4 Ai. " He would not suffer."
« Heb. xii. 6.
I IO
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVIII.
any person suffers any loss, he is more ready to
say, "I did not deserve to suffer it," than to
consider why he suffered it, mourning the loss
of money, not mourning over that of righteous-
ness. If thou hast sinned, mourn for the loss
of thy inward treasure. Thou hast nothing in
thy house, but perhaps thou art still more empty
in heart ; but if thine heart is full of its Good,
even thy God, why dost thou not say, " The
Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away ; as it
pleased the Lord was it done. Blessed be the
Name of the Lord." ' Whence then was it that
He was grieving? Was it for the "scourging"
wherewith He was scourged ? God forbid. " And
my sorrow " (says He) " is continually before me."
And as if we were to say, "What sorrow? whence
comes that sorrow ? " he says : " For I declare
mine iniquity ; and I will have a care • for my
sin" (ver. 18). See here the reason for the
sorrow ! It is not a sorrow occasioned by
the scourge ; not one for the remedy, not for the
wound. For the scourge is a remedy against
sins. Hear, brethren ; We are Christians, and
yet if any one's son dies, he mourns for him ;
but does not mourn for him if he sins. It is
then, when he sees him sinning, that he ought
to make mourning for him, to lament over him.
It is then he should restrain him, and give him
a rule to live by ; should impose a discipline
upon him : or if he has done so, and the other
has not taken heed, then was the time when he
ought to have been mourned over ; then he was
more fatally dead whilst living in luxury, than
when, by death, he brought his luxury to its
close : at that time, when he was doing such
things in thine house, he was not only " dead,
but he stank also." * These things were worthy
to be lamented, the others were such as might
well be endured ; those, I say, were tolerable,
these worthy to be mourned over. They were
to be mourned over in the same way that you
have heard this person mourn over them : " For
I declare mine iniquity. I will have a care for
my sin." Be not free from anxiety when you
have confessed your sin, as if always able to con-
fess thy sin, and to commit it again. Do thou
" declare thine iniquity in such a manner, as to
have a care for thy sin." What is meant by
" having a care of thy sin " ? To have a care of
thy wound. If you were to say, " I will have a
care of my wound," what would be meant by it,
but I will do my endeavour to have it healed.
For this is " to have a care for one's sin," to be
ever struggling, ever endeavouring, ever exerting
one's self, earnestly and zealously, to heal one's
wound. Behold ! thou art from day to day
mourning over thy sins; but perhaps thy tears
indeed flow, but thy hands are unemployed. Do
1 Job i. ai.
* John xi. 39.
alms, redeem 3 thy sins, let the poor rejoice of
thy bounty, that thou also mayest rejoice of the
Grace of God. He is in want ; so art thou in
want also : he is in want at thy hands ; so art
thou also in want at God's hand. Dost thou
despise one who needs thy aid ; and shall God
not despise thee when thou needest His? Do
thou therefore supply the needs of him who is
in want of thine aid ; that God may supply thy
needs within.4 This is the meaning of, " I will
have a care for my sin." I will do all that
ought to be done, to blot out and to heal my
sin. " And I will have a care for my sin."
24. "But mine enemies live" (ver. 19).
They are well off : they rejoice in worldly pros-
perity, while I am suffering, and " roaring with
the groaning of my heart." In what way do
His enemies " live," in that He hath said of
them already, that they have " spoken vanity " ?
Hear in another Psalm also : " Whose sons are
as young plants ; firmly rooted." But above
He had said, " Whose mouth speaketh vanity.
Their daughters polished after the similitude of
a temple : their garners full bursting forth more
and more ; their cattle fat, their sheep fruitful,
multiplying in their streets ; no hedge falling
into ruin ; no cry in their streets." 5 " Mine ene-
mies " then " live." This is their life ; this life
they praise ; this they set their hearts upon : this
they hold fast to their own ruin. For what fol-
lows ? They pronounce " the people that is in
such a case " blessed. But what sayest thou,
who " hast a care for thy sin " ? What sayest
thou, who " confessest thine iniquity " ? He
says, " Blessed is the people whose God is the
Lord." 6
" But mine enemies live, and are strengthened
against me, and they that hate me wrongfully
are multiplied." What is " hate me wrong-
fully " ? They hate me, who wish their good,
whereas were they simply requiting evil for evil,
they would not be righteous ; were they not to
requite with good the good done to them, they
would be ungrateful : they, however, who " hate
wrongfully," actually return evil for good. Such
were the Jews ; Christ came unto them with
good things ; they requited Him evil for good.
Beware, brethren, of this evil ; it soon steals f
upon us. Let no one of you think himself to
be far removed from the danger, because we
said, " Such were the Jews." Should a brother,
wishing your good, rebuke you, and you hate
him, you are like them. And observe, how
easily, how soon it is produced ; and avoid an
evil so great, a sin so easily committed.
25. "They also that render evil for good,
were speaking evil of me, because I have pur-
sued the thing that is just" (ver. 20). There-
3 Fiatit, reiiiumittur.
5 Ps. cxiiv. 12-14.
* At. " fill thine inward parts."
6 Ps. cxliv. 15. 1 Citcf subintrat.
Psalm XXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
1 1 1
fore was it that I was requited evil for good.
What is meant by " pursued after the thing that
is just " ? Not forsaken it. That you might not
always understand persecutio in a bad sense,
He means by persecutes pursued after, thor-
oughly followed. " Because I have followed the
thing that is just." Hear also our Head crying
with a lamentable voice in His Passion : " And
they cast Me forth, Thy Darling, even as a dead
man in abomination." ■ Was it not enough that
He was " dead " ? wherefore " in abomination "
also? Because He was crucified. For this
death of the Cross was a great abomination in
their eyes, as they did not perceive that it was
spoken in prophecy, " Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree."2 For He did not Himself
bring death ; but He found it here, propagated
from the curse of the first man ; and this same
death of ours, which had originated in sin, He
had taken upon Himself, and hung on the Tree.
Lest therefore some persons should think (as
some of the Heretics think), that our Lord
Jesus Christ had only a false body of flesh ; and
that the death by which He made satisfaction
on the Cross was not a real death, the Prophet
notices this, and says, " Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree." He shows then that the
Son of God died a true death, the death which
was due to mortal flesh : lest if He were not
" accursed," you should think that He had
not truly died. But since that death was not an
illusion, but had descended from that original
stock, which had been derived from the curse,
when He said, " Ye shall surely die : " 3 and since
a true death assuredly extended even to Him,
that a true life might extend itself to us, the
curse of death also did extend to Him, that
the blessing of life might extend even unto us.
"And they cast Me forth, Thy Darling, even as
a dead man in abomination."
26. " Forsake me not, O Lord ; O my God,
depart not from me" (ver. 21). Let us speak
in Him, let us speak through Him (for He Him-
self intercedeth for us), and let us say, " Forsake
me not, O Lord my God." And yet He had
said, " My God ! My God ! why hast Thou for-
saken Me?"4 and He now says, "O My God,
depart not from Me." If He does not forsake
the body, did He forsake the Head? Whose
words then are these but the First Man's ? To
show then that He carried about Him a true
body of flesh derived from him, He says, " My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? "
God had not forsaken Him. If He does not
forsake Thee, who believest in Him, could the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, One God,
forsake Christ? But He had transferred to Him-
self the person of the First Man. We know by
A few mss. of LXX. no:e this to be added here.
Ueut. xxi. 23. 3 Gen. ii. 17. * Matt, xxvii. 46.
the words of an Apostle, that " our old man is
crucified with Him." 5 We should not, how-
ever, be divested of our old nature, had He not
been _ crucified "in weakness." For it was to
this end that He came, that we may be renewed
in Him, because it is by aspiration after Him,
and by following the example of His suffering,
that we are renewed. Therefore that was the
cry of infirmity ; that cry, I mean, in which it
was said, " Why hast Thou forsaken Me ? "
Thence was it said in that passage above, " the
words of mine offences." As if He were saying,
These words are transferred to My Person from
that of the sinner.
27. "Depart not from me. Make haste to
help me, Lord of my salvation " (ver. 22) . This
is that very " salvation," Brethren, concerning
which, as the Apostle Peter saith, " Prophets
have enquired diligently," 6 and though they
have enquired diligently, yet have not found it.
But they searched into it, and foretold of it ;
while we have come and have found what they
sought for. And see, we ourselves too have not
as yet received it ; and after us shall others also
be born, and shall find, what they also shall not
receive, and shall pass away, that we may, all of
us together, receive the " penny of salvation in
the end of the day," with the Prophets, the Patri-
archs, and the Apostles. For you know that the
hired servants, or labourers, were taken into the
vineyard at different times ; yet did they all re-
ceive their wages on an equal footing.' Apostles,
then, and Prophets, and Martyrs, and ourselves
also, and those who will follow us to the end of
the world, it is in the End itself that we are to
receive everlasting salvation ; that beholding the
face of God, and contemplating His Glory, we
may praise Him for ever, free from imperfection,
free from any punishment of iniquity, free from
every perversion of sin : praising Him; and no
longer longing after Him, but now clinging to Him
for whom we used to long to the very end, and
in whom we did rejoice, in hope. For we shall
be in that City, where God is our Bliss, God is
our Light, God is our Bread, God is our Life ;
whatever good thing of ours there is, at being
absent from which we now grieve, we shall find
in Him. In Him will be that " rest," which
when we " call to remembrance " now, we can-
not choose but grieve. For that is the " Sab-
bath" which we "call to remembrance;" in
the recollection of which, so great things have
been said already ; and so great things ought
to be said by us also, and ought never to cease
being said by us, not with our lips indeed, but
in our heart : for therefore do our lips cease to
speak, that we may cry out with our hearts."
3 Rom. vi. 6. 6 1 Pet. i. 10. 7 Matt. xx. 9.
8 [Heb. iv. 9. The Sabbath that " remaineth" is the only Sab-
bath our author sees in this Tsalm. — C]
112
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIX.
PSALM XXXIX.'
i. The title of this Psalm, which we have just
chanted and proposed to discuss, is, " On the
end, for Idithun, a Psalm for David himself."
Here then we must look for, and must attend
to, the words of a certain person who is called
Idithun ; and if each one of ourselves may be
Idithun, in that which he sings he recognises
himself, and hears himself speak. For thou
mayest see who was called Idithun, according to
the ancient descent of man ; let us, however,
understand what this name is translated, and
seek to comprehend the Truth in the translation
of the word. According therefore to what we
have been able to discover by enquiry in those
names which have been translated from the
Hebrew tongue into the Latin, by those who
study the sacred writings, Idithun being trans-
lated is " over-leaping them." Who then is this
person " over-leaping them " ? or who those
whom he hath "over-leaped"? . . . For there
are some persons, yet clinging to the earth, yet
bowed down to the ground, yet setting their
hearts on what is below, yet placing their hopes
in things that pass away, whom he who is called
" over-leaping them " hath " over-leaped."
2. You know that some of the Psalms are en-
titled, " Songs of Degrees ; " and in the Greek it
is obvious enough what the word avafiaOiiJov
means. For dra/Jafyioi are degrees (or steps) of
them that ascend, not of them that descend.
The Latin, not being able to express it strictly,
expresses it by the general term ; and in that
it called them " steps," left it undetermined,
whether they were " steps " of persons ascending
or descending. But because there is no " speech
or language where their voices are not heard
among them,"2 the earlier language explains the
one which comes after it : and what was ambig-
uous in one is made certain in another. Just
then as there the singer is some one who is " as-
cending," so here is it some one who is " over-
leaping." . . . Let this Idithun come still to us*
let him " over-leap " those whose delight is in
things below, and take delight in these things,
and let him rejoice in the Word of the Lord ;
in the delight of the law of the Most High. . . .
3. " I said, I will take heed to my ways, that
I sin not with my tongue " (ver. 1). . . . For it
is not without reason that the tongue is set in a
moist place, but because it is so prone to slip.3
Perceiving therefore how hard it was for a man
to be under the necessity of speaking, and not to
say something that he will wish unsaid, and filled
with disgust at these sins, he seeks to avoid the
like. To this difficulty is he exposed who is
seeking to " leap beyond." . . . Although I have
> Lat. XXXVIII. » Pi. xix. 3.
* Non/rustra in udo est, nisi quia facile labitur.
" leaped beyond " the pleasures of earth, although
the fleeting 4 passions for things temporal ensnare
me not, though now I despise these things below,
and am rising up to better things than these, yet
in these very better things the satisfaction of
knowledge in the sight of God is enough for me.
Of what use is it for me to speak what is to be
laid hold of, and to give a handle to cavillers?
Therefore, " I said, I will take heed to my ways,
that I sin not with my tongue. I keep my mouth
with a bridle." Wherefore is this? Is it on
account of the religious, the thoughtful, the faith-
ful, the holy ones ? God forbid ! These persons
hear in such a manner, as to praise what they
approve ; but as for what they disapprove, per-
haps, among much that they praise they rather
excuse than cavil at it ; on account of what per-
sons then dost thou " take heed to thy ways,"
and place a guard on thy lips " that thou mayest
not sin with thy tongue " ? Hear : it is, " While
the wicked standeth over against me." It is
not " by me " that he takes up his station, but
"against me." Why? . . . Even the Lord Himself
says, " I have yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now." s And the Apostle,
" I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal." 6 Yet not as to persons to
be despaired of, but as to those who still required
to be nourished. For he goes on to say, " As
babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk, and
not with meat ; for hitherto ye were not able."
Well, tell it unto us even now. " Neither yet
now are ye able." 7 Be not therefore impatient
to hear that which as yet thou art not capable of;
but grow that thou mayest be " able to bear it."
It is thus we address the little one, who yet re-
quires to be fed with kindly milk 8 in the bosom
of Mother Church, and to be rendered meet for
the " strong meat " of the Lord's Table. But
what can I say even of that kind to the sinner,
who " taketh his stand against me," who either
thinks or pretends himself capable of what he
" cannot bear ; " so that when I say anything
unto him, and he has failed to comprehend it,
he should not suppose that it was not he that had
failed to comprehend, but I who had broken
down. Therefore because of this sinner, who
" taketh up his stand against me, I keep my
mouth as it were with a bridle."
4. " I became deaf, and was humbled, I held
my peace from good" (ver. 2). For this per-
son, who is " leaping beyond," suffers some
difficulty in a certain stage to which he hath
already attained ; and he desires to advance be-
yond, even from thence, to avoid this difficulty.
I was afraid of committing a sin ; so that I spoke
not ; that I imposed on myself the necessity of
silence : for I had spoken thus, " I will take heed
* Volatici.
7 1 Cor. iii. a.
* John xvi. 1
« Pit lacte.
l Cor. iii. I.
PSM.M XXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
l'3
to my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue."
Whilst I was too much afraid of saying anything
wrong, I kept silence from all that is good. For
whence could I say good things, except that I
heard them? " It is Thou that shalt make me
to hear of joy and gladness." ■ And the " friend
of the bridegroom standeth and heareth Him,
and rejoiceth on account of the bridegroom's
voice," 2 not his own. That he may speak true
things, he hears what he is to say. For it is he
that " speaketh a lie," that " speaketh of his
own." 3 . . . When therefore I had " put a
bridle," as it were, " on my lips ; " and con-
strained myself to silence, because I saw that
everywhere speech was dangerous, then, says he,
that came to pass upon me, which I did not
wish, " I became deaf, and was humbled ; " not
humbled myself, but was humbled ; " and I held
my peace even from good." Whilst afraid of
saying any evil, I began to refrain from speaking
what is good : and I condemned my determina-
tion ; for " I was holding my peace even from
what is good."
" And my sorrow was stirred up again " (ver.
2). Inasmuch as I had found in silence a kind
of respite from a certain " sorrow," that had
been inflicted upon me by those who cavilled at
my words, and found fault with me : and that
sorrow that was caused by the cavillers, had
ceased indeed ; but when " I held my peace
even from good, my sorrow was stirred up again."
I began to be more grieved at having refrained
from saying what I ought to have said, than I
had before been grieved by having said what
I ought not. " And my sorrow was stirred up
again.4
5. " And while I was musing, the fire burned "
(ver. 3). ... I reflected on the words of my
Lord, " Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou
oughtest to have put My money to the exchan-
gers, and I at My coming should receive it again
with usury." 5 And that which follows may God
avert from those who are His stewards ! Bind
him hand and foot, and let him be cast into
outer darkness ; " 5 the servant, who was not a
waster of his master's goods, so as to destroy
them, but was slothful in laying them out to
improve them. What ought they to expect, who
have wasted them in luxury, if they are con-
demned who through slothfulness have kept
them? "As I was musing, the fire burned."
And as he was in this state of wavering suspense,
between speaking and holding his peace, be-
tween those who are prepared to cavil and
those who are anxious to be instructed, . . .
in this state of suspense, he prays for a better
place, a place different from this his present
1 Ps. li. 8. a John iii. 20. 3 John viii. 44.
4 He omits, " My heart became hot within me."
5 Matt. xxv. 26, 27. 6 Matt. xxv. 30.
stewardship, in which man is in such difficulty
and in such danger, and sighing after a certain
" end," when he was not to be subject to these
things, when the Lord is to say to the faithful
dispenser, " Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,"'
he says, " Then spake I with my tongue." In
this fluctuation, in the midst of these dangers
and these difficulties, because, that in conse-
quence of the abundance of offences " the love
of many is waxing cold," 8 although the law of
the Lord inspires delight, in this fluctuation then,
(I say), "then spake I with my tongue." To
whom? not to the hearer whom I would fain
instruct ; but to Him who heareth and taketh
heed also, by whom I would fain be instructed
myself. " I spake with my tongue " to Him,
from whom I inwardly hear whatever I hear that
is good or true. — What saidst thou?
" Lord, make me to know mine end " (ver. 4).
For some things I have passed by already ; and
I have arrived at a certain point, and that to
which I have arrived is better than that from
which I have advanced to this ; but yet there
remains a point, which has to be left behind.
For we are not to remain here, where there are
trials, offences, where we have to bear with per-
sons who listen to us and cavil at us. " Make
me to know mine end ; " the end, from which I
am still removed, not the course which is already
before me.
6. The " end " he speaks of, is that which the
Apostle fixed his eye upon, in his course ; and
made confession of his own infirmity, perceiving
in himself a different state of things from that
which he looked for elsewhere. For he says,
" Not that I have already attained, or am already
perfect. Brethren, I count not myself to hav£
apprehended." » And that you might not say,
" If the Apostle hath not apprehended, have I
apprehended? If the Apostle is not perfect,
am I perfect? "...
7. " And the number of my days, what it is."
1 ask of " the number of my days, what it is." I
can speak of " number " without number, and
understand " number without number," in the
same sense as " years without years " may be
spoken of. For where there are years, there is a
sort of " number " at all events, also. But yet,
" Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not
fail." IO " Make me to know the number of my
days ; " but " to know what it is." What then ?
that number in which thou art, think you that
it "is" not? Assuredly, if I weigh the matter
well, it has no being ; if I linger behind, it has
a sort of being ; if I rise above it, it has none.
If, shaking off the trammels of these things, I
contemplate things above, if I compare things
that pass away with those that endure, I see
7 Matt. xxv. 27.
'<> Ps. cii. 27.
8 Matt. xxiv. 13. 9 Phil. iii. iat 13.
H4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIX.
what has a true being, and what rather seems
to be, than really is. Should I say that these
days of mine " are ; " and shall I rashly apply
this word so full of meaning to this course of
things passing away? To such a degree have I
my own self almost ceased to " be, failing " as
I am in my weakness, that He escaped from my
memory, who said, " I AM HE THAT IS." '
Hath then any number of days any existence ?
In truth it hath, and it is " number without
end." . . . Everything is swept on by a series
of moments, fleeting by, one after the other ;
there is a torrent of existences ever flowing on
and on ; a " torrent," 2 of which He " drank in
the way," who hath now "lift up His Head."
These days then have no true being ; they are
gone almost before they arrive ; and when they
are come, they cannot continue ; they press
upon one another, they follow the one the other,
and cannot check themselves in their course.
Of the past nothing is called back again ; what
is yet to be, is expected as something to pass
away again : it is not as yet possessed, whilst
as yet it is not arrived ; it cannot be kept when
once it has arrived. He asks then concerning
" the number of his days, which is ; " not that
which is "not : " and (which confounds me by
a still greater and more perplexing difficulty) at
once " is," and " is not." We can neither say
that that " is," which does not continue ; nor
that it " is not," when it has come and is pass-
ing. It is that absolute " IS," that true " IS,"
that " IS " in the true sense of the word, that I
long for j that " IS ; " which " is " in that " Jeru-
salem " which is " the Bride " of my Lord ; 3
where there will not be death, there will not be
failing ; there will be a day that passeth not
away, but continueth : which has neither a yes-
terday to precede it, nor a to-morrow pressing
close upon it.4 This " number of my days, which
is," this (I say), " make Thou me to know."
8. "That I may know what is wanting to me."
For while I am struggling here, " this " is wanting
unto me : and so long as it is wanting unto me,
I do not call myself perfect. So long as I have
not received it, I say, " not that I have already
attained, either am already perfect ; but I am
pressing towards the prize of God's high call-
ing." s This let me receive as the prize of my
running the race ! There will be a certain rest-
ing-place, to terminate my course ; and in that
resting-place there will be a Country, and no
pilgrimage, no dissension, no temptation. Make
me then to know " this number of my days,
which is, that I may know what is wanting unto
me ; " because I am not there yet ; lest I should
be made proud of what I already am, that " I
1 Exod. iii. 14.
* Rev. xxi. 9,
' Phil. iii. 12, 14.
» E. V. Ps. ex. 7, "the brook.'
* Rev. xxi. 25.
may be found in Him, not having mine own
righteousness."6 . . .
9. " Behold, thou hast made my days old " ?
(ver. 5). For these days are "waxing old." I
long for new days " that never shall wax old,"
that I may say, " Old things have passed away ;
behold, things are become new."8 Already new
in hope ; then in reality. For though, in hope
and in faith, made new already, how much do
we even now do after our old nature ! For we
are not so completely " clothed upon " with
Christ, as not to bear about with us anything
derived from Adam. Observe that Adam is
" waxing old " within us, and Christ is being
"renewed" in us. "Though our outward man
is perishing, yet is our inward man being re-
newed day by day." 9 Therefore, while we fix
our thoughts on sin, on mortality, on time, that
is hastening by, on sorrow, and toil, and labour,
on stages of life following each other in succes-
sion, and continuing not, passing on insensibly
from infancy even to old age ; whilst, I say, we
fix our eyes on these things, let us see here " the
old man," the " day that is waxing old ; " the
Song that is out of date ; the Old Testament ; IO
when however we turn to the inner man, to those
things that are to be renewed in place of these
which are to be changed, let us find the " new
man," the " new day," the " new song," the
" New Testament ; " and that " newness," let
us so love, as to have no fears of its " waxing
old." . . . This man, therefore, who is hasting
forward to those things which are new, and
" reaching forward to those things which are be-
fore," says, " Lord, make me to know mine end,
and the number of my days, which really is, that
I may know what is wanting unto me." See he
still drags with him Adam ; and even so he is
hasting unto Christ. " Behold," saith he, " thou
hast made my days old." It is those days that
are derived from Adam, those days, I say, that
thou hast made old. They are waxing old day
by day : and so waxing old, as to be at some day
or other consumed also. " And my substance is as
nothing before Thee." " " Before Thee, O Lord,
my substance is as nothing." " Before Thee ; "
who seest this ; and I too, when I see it, see it
only when " before Thee." When " before
men " I see it not. For what shall I say? What
words shall I use to show, that that which I now
am is nothing in comparison of That which truly
"IS"? But it is within that it is said;'2 it is
within that it is felt, so far as it is felt. " Before
Thee, O Lord," where Thine eyes are ; and not
where the eyes of men are. And where Thine
eyes are, what is the state of things? "That
which I am is as nothing."
3 Phil. iii. 9. 6 E. V. " as an hand-breadth."
7 2 Cor. v. 17. 8 2 Cor. iv. 16.
9 Alluding to iraAatovfKi'Oi', Heb. viii. 13. 10 Ps. exxxix. 16.
»' At. " learned."
Psalm XXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
115
10. "But, verily, every man living is alto-
gether vanity." " But, verily." For what was he
saying above? Behold, I have alfeady " leaped
beyond " all mortal things, and despised things
below, have trampled under foot the things
of earth, have soared upwards to the delights
of the law of the Lord, I have been afloat in
the dispensation of the Lord,' have yearned
for that " End " which Itself is to know no end,
have yearned for the number of my days that
truly " is," because the number of days like
these hath no real being. Behold, I am already
such a one as this ; I have already overleaped so
much ; I am longing for those things which abide.
" But verily," in the state in which I am here, so
long as I am here, so long as I am in this world,
so long as I bear mortal flesh, so long as the life
of man on earth is a trial, so long as I sigh
among causes of offence, as long as while I
"stand" I am in "fear lest I fall,"2 as long as
both my good and my ill hangs in uncertainty,
" every man living is altogether vanity." . . .
11. "Albeit man walketh in the Image "3
(ver. 6). In what " Image," save that of Him
who said, " Let Us make man in Our Image,
after Our Likeness." 4 " Albeit man walks in the
Image." For the reason he says "albeit," is,
that this is some great thing. And this " albeit "
is followed by "nevertheless," that the "albeit"
which you have already heard, should relate to
what is beyond the sun ; but this " neverthe-
less," which is to follow, to what is " under the
sun," and that the one should relate to the
Truth, the other to " vanity." " Albeit," then,
" that man walketh in the Image, nevertheless
he is disquieted in vain." Hear the cause of
his " disquieting," and see if it be not a vain
one ; that thou mayest trample it under foot,
that thou mayest " leap beyond it," and mayest
dwell on high, where that " vanity " is not.
What "vanity" is that? "He heapeth up
riches, and knoweth not for whom he may be
gathering them together." O infatuated vanity !
" Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his
trust, and hath not respected vanities, nor lying
deceits." 5 To you indeed, O covetous man, to
you I seem to be out of my senses, these words
appear to you to be " old wives' tales." For
you, a man of great judgment, and of great pru-
dence, to be sure, are daily devising methods of
acquiring money, by traffic, by agriculture, by
eloquence perhaps, by making yourself learned
in the law, by warfare, perhaps you even add
that of usury. Like a shrewd man as you are,
you leave nothing untried, whereby you may
1 i.e., in the high doctrine, p. it4; but some mss. ap. Ben. and
ours, Fluctuavi in dispensation* munerum for nummorum)
Dominicoritm: " 1 have wavered in the dispensing of the Lord's
gifts (or moneys)." A better sense, see p. 115.
2 Job iii. 25. 3 E. V. " in a vain show."
« Gen. i. 26. 5 Ps. xl. 4.
pile coin on coin; and may store it up6 more
carefully in a place of secrecy. You plunder
others ; you guard against the plunderer ; you
are afraid lest you should yourself suffer the
wrong, that you yourself do ; and even what you
do suffer, does not correct you. . . . Examine
your own heart, and that prudence of yours, which
leads you to deride me, to think me out of my
senses for saying these things : and tell me now,
" You are heaping up treasures ; for whom are
you gathering them together? " I see what you
would tell me ; as if what you would say had
not occurred to the person described here ; you
will say, I am keeping them for my children?
This is the voice of parental affection ; the ex-
cuse of injustice. " I am keeping them " (you
say) " for my children." So then you are keep-
ing them for your children, are you ? Did not
Idithun then know this? Assuredly he did;
but he reckoned it one of the things of the " old
days," that have waxed old, and therefore he
despised it : because he was hastening on to the
new " days." . . .
12. For He, "by whom all things were
made," ' hath built " mansions " for all of us :
thither He would have that which we have go
before us ; that we may not lose it 8 on earlh.
When, however, you have kept them on earth,
tell me for whom you are to " gather them
together"? You have children : add one more
to their number ; and give something to Christ
also. " He is disquieted in vain."
13. "And now" (ver. 7). "And now,"
saith this Idithun, — looking back on a cer-
tain "vain" show, and looking up to a certain
Truth, standing midway where he has something
beyond him, and something also behind him,
having below him the place from which he took
his spring, having above him that toward which
he has stretched forth ; — " And now," when I
have " over-leaped " some things, when I have
trampled many things under foot, when I am no
longer captivated by things temporal ; even
now, I am not perfect, " I have not yet appre-
hended." 9 " For it is by hope that we are
saved ; but hope that is seen is not hope ; for
what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we
with patience wait for it." '° Therefore he says :
"And now what wait I for? Is it not for the
Lord?" " He is my expectation, who hath given
6 Text, castigetur. Fourvtss have congregetur.onecollocetHr;
three cartigetnr, on which word there is a gloss. Cartigare est in
chart A propter memoriam aliquid scribere ; usitatius de usu-
rariis dicitur. Nine MSS. cnstigetHr, as Martial, Et cuius laxas
area flagellat opes, and the Jurisconsults fiagellare anno/tarn,
for "to shut up." — Ben. Fiagellare annonam. however, seems
rather to mean to '' drive up the prices," and perhaps area Jlagcllat
may be the lid striking the heaped contents, thus affording no par.
allel. However, it may be to " keep it from peeping out." Oxf.
MSS. cartigetnr.
7 Col. 1. 16. 8 Hoc, qu. hie, " here."
9 Phil. iii. 13. I0 Rom. viii. 24, 25.
11 E. V. " And now, Lord, what wait I for," etc.
n6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIX.
me all those things, that I might despise them.
He will give unto me Himself also, even He
who is above all, and " by whom all things were
made," ■ and by whom I was made amongst all ;
even He, the Lord, is my Expectation ! You see
Idithun, brethren, you see in what way he wait-
eth for Him ! Let no man therefore call
himself perfect here ; he deceives and imposes
upon himself; he is beguiling himself, he can-
not have perfection here, and what avails it that
he should lose humility ? . . .
" And my substance is ever before Thee."
Already advancing, already tending towards
Him, and to some extent already beginning to
" be," still (he says 2) " my substance is ever be-
fore Thee." Now that other substance is also
before men. You have gold, silver, slaves,
estates, trees, cattle, servants. These things are
visible even to men. There is a certain " sub-
stance that is ever before Thee."
14. " Deliver me from all my transgressions "
(ver. 8) . ' I have " over-leaped " a great deal of
ground, a very great deat of ground already ;
but, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the Truth is not in us." J I have
" over-leaped " a great deal : but still do I " beat
my breast," and say, " Forgive us our debts, as
we forgive our debtors."4 Thou therefore art
" my expectation ! " my " End." For " Christ
is the end of the Law unto righteousness, unto
every man that believeth." 5 From all mine
offences : " not only from those, that I may not
relapse into those which I have already " over-
leaped ; " but from all, without exception, of
those on account of which I now beat my
breast, and say, " Forgive us our debts." " De-
liver me from all mine offences : " me being
thus minded, and holding fast what the Apostle
said, " As many of us as be perfect, let us be
thus minded."6 For at the time that he said
that he was not " already perfect," he then im-
mediately goes on and says, " As many of us as
be perfect, let us be thus minded." . . . Art
thou then, O Apostle, not perfect, and are we
perfect? But hath it escaped you, that he did
just now call himself " perfect "? For he does
not say, " As many of you as are perfect, be ye
thus minded ; " but " As many of us as be
perfect, let us be thus minded ; " after having
said a little before, " Not that I have already
attained ; either am already perfect." In no
other way then can you be perfect in this life,
than by knowing that you cannot be perfect in
this life. This then will be your perfection, so
to have " over-leaped " some things, as to have
still some point to which you are hastening on :
so as to have something remaining, to which
you will have to leap on, when everything else
• Col. i. 16.
' Malt. vi. 11.
• Oxf. mss. inquit. ' 1 John i. 8.
3 Rom. x. 4. 6 Phil. iii. 15,
has been passed by. It is such faith as this
that is secure : for whoever thinks that he has
already attained, is " exalting himself," so as to
be "abased" hereafter.7 . . .
15. "Thou hast made me the reproach of the
foolish." Thou hast so willed it, that J should
live among those, and preach the Truth among
those, who love vanity ; and I cannot but be a
laughing-stock to them. " For we have been
made a spectacle unto this world, and unto
angels, and unto men : " 8 to angels who praise,
to men who censure, us ; or rather to angels,
some of whom praise, some of whom are cen-
suring us : and to men also, some of whom are
praising, and some censuring us. . . . Both the
one and the other are arms to us : the one " on
the right hand," the other " on the left : " arms
however they are both of them ; both of these
kinds of arms, both those " on the right hand,"
and those " on the left ; " both those who praise,
and those who censure ; both those who pay us
honour, and those who heap dishonour upon
us ; with both these kinds I contend against the
devil ; with both of these I smite him ; I defeat
him with prosperity, if I be not corrupted by it ;
by adversity, if I am not broken in spirit by it.
16. "I became dumb;9 and I opened not my
mouth" (ver. 9). But it was to guard against
" the foolish man," that " I became dumb, and
opened not my mouth." For to whom should
I tell what is going on within me ? " For I will
hear what the Lord God will speak in me ; '° for
He will speak peace unto His people." " But
" There is no peace," saith the Lord, " to the
wicked." ■* " I was dumb, and opened not my
mouth ; because it is Thou that madest me."
Was this the reason that thou openedst not thy
mouth, "because God made thee"? That is
strange ; for did not God make thy mouth, that
thou shouldest speak? "He that planted the
ear, doth He not hear? He that formed the eye,
doth He not see?"13 God hath given thee
a mouth to speak with ; and dost thou say, " I
was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because
Thou madest me " ? Or does the clause, " Be-
cause Thou madest me," belong to the verse
that follows ? " Remove Thy stroke away from
me" (ver. 10). Because it is "Thou that hast
made me," let it not be Thy pleasure to de-
stroy me utterly ; scourge, so that I may be made
better, not so that I faint ; beat me, so that I
may be'4 beaten out to a greater length and
breadth, not so that I may be ground to powder.
" By the heaviness of Thy hand I fainted in
in corrections." That is, I " fainted " while Thou
wast correcting me. And what is meant by
"correcting" me? except what follows.
7 Luke xviii. 14. 8 1 Cor. iv. 9. 9 Or, " deaf."
10 Auguslin and Vulgate, qnid loquatur in me.
11 Ps. Ixxxv. 8. I2 Isa. xlviii. 2a. M Ps. xciv. 9.
x* Ut /roducar, non ui commiHttar.
Psalm XXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
117
17. " Thou with rebukes hast chastened man
for iniquity ; Thou hast made my life to consume
away like a spider" (ver. 11). There is much
that is discerned by this Idithun ; by every one
who discerns as he does ; who overleaps as he
does. For he says, that he has fainted in God's
corrections ; and would fain have the stroke
removed away from him, " because it is He who
made him." Let Him renew me, who also made
me ; let Him who created me, create me anew.
But yet, Brethren, do we suppose that there was
no cause for his fainting, so that he wishes to be
" renewed," to be " created anew " ? It is " for
iniquity," saith he, " that Thou hast chastened
man." All this, my having fainted, my being
weak, my " crying out of the deep," all of this
is because of " iniquity ; " and in this Thou hast
not condemned, but hast " chastened " me.
" Thou hast chastened man for sin." Hear this
more plainly from another Psalm : " It is good
for me that Thou hast afflicted me, that I
might learn Thy righteousness." ' I have been
"afflicted," and at the same time "it is good
for me ; " it is at once a punishment, and an act
of favour. What hath He in store for us after
punishment is over, who inflicts punishment
itself by way of favour? For He it is of whom
it was said, " I was brought low, and He made
me whole : " and, " It is good for me that Thou
hast afflicted me, that I might learn Thy right-
eousness."2 "Thou chastenest man for iniquity."
And that which is written, " Thou formest my
grief in teaching me," • could only be said unto
God by one who was " leaping beyond " his
fellows ; " Thou formest my grief in teaching
me;" Thou makest, that is to say, a lesson for
me out of my sorrow. It is Thou that formest
that very grief itself; Thou dost not leave it
unformed, but formest it ; and that grief, that
has been inflicted by Thee, when formed, will
be a lesson unto me, that I may be set free by
Thee. For the word finges is used in the sense
of " forming," as it were moulding, my grief; not
in the sense of" feigning " it j in the same way that
fingit is applied to the artist, in the same sense
\haxfiguius is derived homfingere. Thou there-
fore " hast chastened man for iniquity." I see
myself in afflictions ; I see myself under punish-
ment ; and I see no unrighteousness in Thee.
If I therefore am under punishment, and if there
is no unrighteousness with Thee, it remains that
Thou must have been " chastening man for
iniquity."
18. And by what means hast Thou "chas-
tened" him? Tell us, O Idithun, the manner
of thy chastening ; tell us in what way thou hast
been " chastened." " And Thou hast made my
1 Ps. cxix. 71. Justificntiones. 2 Ps. cxvi. 6, cxix. 71.
s Ps. xliv. 20. Qui fingis dolorem in praecepto (Vulgate, labo-
rtm) ; E. V. " v/Wich/rameiA mischief by a law"
life consume like a spider." This is the chasten-
ing ! What consumes away sooner than the
spider? I speak of the creature itself; though
what can be more liable to " consume away "
than the spider's webs ? Observe too how liable
to decay is the creature itself. Do but set your
finger lightly upon it, and it is a ruin : there is
nothing at all more easily destroyed. To such
a state hast Thou brought my life, by chastening
me " because of iniquity." When chastening
makes us weak, there is a kind of strength that
would be a fault. ... It was by a kind of
strength that man offended, so as to require to
be corrected by weakness : for it was by a cer-
tain " pride " that he offended ; so as to require
to be chastened by humility. All proud persons
call themselves strong men. Therefore have
many " come from the East and the West,"
and have attained "to sit down with Abra-
ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
Heaven." 4 Wherefore was it that they so
attained? Because they would not be strong.
What is meant by " would not be strong " ?
They were afraid to presume of their own
merits. They did not "go about to establish
their own righteousness," that they might " sub-
mit themselves to the righteousness of God." 5
. . . Behold ! you are mortal ; and you bear
about you a body of flesh that is corrupting
away : " And ye shall fall like one of the
princes. Ye shall die like men," 6 and shall
fall like the devil » What good does the remedial
discipline of mortality do you? The devil is
proud, as not having a mortal body, as being an
angel. But as for you, who have received a
mortal body, and to whom even this does no
good, so as to humble you by so great weakness,
you shall " fall like one of the princes." This
then is the first grace of God's gift, to bring us
to the confession of our infirmity, that what-
ever good we can do, whatever ability we have,
we may be that in Him ; that " He that glo-
rieth, may glory in the Lord." 8 " When I am
weak," saith he, " then am I strong." 9
19. " But surely every man living disquieteth
himself in vain." He returns to what he men-
tioned a little before. Although he be improv-
ing here, yet for all that, " every man living
disquieteth himself in vain ; " forasmuch as he
lives in a state of uncertainty. For who has any
assurance even of his own goodness ? " He is
disquieted in vain." Let him " cast upon the
Lord the burden" '° of his care ; let him cast upon
Him whatever causes him anxiety. " Let Him
sustain thee ; " let Him keep thee. For on this
earth what is there that is certain, except death ?
< Matt. viii. 11. s Rom. x. 3. 6 Ps. Ixxxii. 7.
7 [Dan. x. 13. "Princes" understood of angels. Then, Isa.
xiv. la. So Shaks. : " He falls like Lucifer," etc. — C]
8 1 Cor. i. 31. 9 a Cor. xii. 10. 10 Ps. lv. aa.
n8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXIX.
Consider the whole sum of all the good or the
ill of this life, either those belonging to right-
eousness, or those belonging to unrighteousness ;
what is there that is certain here, except death ?
Have you been advancing in goodness? You
know what you are to-day; what you will be
to-morrow, you know not ! Are you a sinner?
you know what you are to-day ; what you will
be to-morrow, you know not ! You hope for
wealth ; it is uncertain whether it will fall to
your lot. You hope to have a wife ; it is un-
certain whether you will obtain one, or what
sort of one you will obtain. You hope for sons :
it is uncertain whether they will be born to you.
Are they born ? it is uncertain whether they will
live : if they live, it is uncertain whether they
will grow up in virtue, or whether they will fall
away. Whichever way you turn, all is uncer-
tain, death alone is certain. Art thou poor? It
is uncertain whether thou wilt grow rich. Art
thou unlearned ? It is uncertain whether thou
wilt become learned. Art thou in feeble health,
it is uncertain whether thou wilt regain thy
strength. Art thou born? It is certain that
thou wilt die : and in this certainty of death
itself, the day of thy death is uncertain. Amidst
these uncertainties, where death alone is cer-
tain, while even of that the hour is uncertain,
and while it alone is studiously guarded against,
though at the same time it is in no way to be
escaped, " every man living disquieteth himself
in vain." . . .
20. "Hear my prayer, O Lord" (ver. 12).
Whereof shall I rejoice? Whereof should I
groan? I rejoice on account of what is past,
I groan longing for these which are not yet come.
" Hear my prayer, and give ear unto my cry.
Hold not Thy peace at my tears." For do I
now no longer weep, because I have already
" passed by," have " left behind " so great things
as these? "Do I not weep much the more?"
For, " He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth
sorrow." ' The more I long for what is not here,
do I not so much the more groan for it until it
comes ? do I not so much the more weep until
it comes? . . .
21. " For I am a sojourner with Thee." But
with whom am I a "sojourner"? When I was
with the devil, I was a " sojourner ; " but then I
had a bad host and entertainer ; now, however,
I am with Thee ; but lama" sojourner " still.
What is meant by a sojourner? I am a "so-
journer " in the place from which I am to
remove ; not in the place where I am to dwell
for ever. The place where I am to abide for
ever, should be rather called my home. In the
place from which I am to remove I am a " so-
journer ; " but yet it is with my God that I am
> Ecclei. i. 18.
a sojourner, with whom I am hereafter to abide,
when I have reached my home. But what home
is that to which you are to remove from this
estate of a sojourner? Recognise that home,
of which the Apostle speaks, " We have an hab-
itation of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the Heavens." 2 If this house is
eternal in the Heavens, when we have come to
it, we shall not be sojourners any more. For
how should you be a sojourner in an eternal
home ? But here, where the Master of the house
is some day to say to you, " Remove," while
you yourself know not when He will say it, be
thou in readiness. And by longing for your
eternal home, you will be keeping yourself in
readiness for it. And be not angry with Him,
because He gives thee notice to remove, when
He Himself pleases. For He made no cove-
nant with thee, nor did He bind Himself by any
engagement ; nor didst thou enter upon the
tenancy of this house on a certain stipulation
for a definite term : thou art to quit, when it is
its Master's pleasure. For therefore is it that
you now dwell there free of charge. " For I
am a sojourner with Thee, and a stranger."
Therefore it is there is my country : it is there
is my home. " I am a sojourner with Thee, and
a stranger." Here too is understood " with
Thee." For many are strangers with the devil :
but they who have already believed and are
faithful, are, it is true, " strangers " as yet, be-
cause they have not yet come to that country
and to that home : but still they are strangers
with God. For so long as we are in the body,
we are strangers from the Lord, and we desire,
whether we are strangers, or abiding here, " we
may be accepted with Him."3 I am a "so-
journer with Thee ; and a stranger, as all my
fathers were." If then I am as all my fathers
were, shall I say that I will not remove, when
they have removed? Am I to lodge here on
other terms, than those on which they lodged
here also? . . .
22. "Grant me some remission, that I may
be refreshed before I go hence" (ver. 13).
Consider well, Idithun, consider what knots
those are which thou wouldest have " loosed "
unto thee, that thou mightest be " refreshed
before thou goest hence." For thou hast cer-
tain fever-heats from which thou wouldest fain
be refreshed, and thou sayest, " that I may be
refreshed," and " grant me a remission." What
should He remit, or loosen unto thee, save that
difficulty under which, and in consequence of
which, thou sayest, " Forgive us our debts.
Grant me a remission before I go hence, and be
no more." Set me free from my sins, " before
I go hence," that I may not go hence with my
2 2 Cor. v. x.
3 a Cor. v. 9.
Psalm XL.]
ON THE PSALMS.
119
sins. Remit them unto me, that I may be set
at rest in my conscience, that it may be dis-
burthened of its feverish anxiety, the anxiety
with which " I am sorry for my sin. Grant me
a remission, that I may be refreshed " (before
everything else), " before I go hence, and be no
more." For if thou grantest me not a " remis-
sion, that I may be refreshed," I shall " go and
be no more." " Before I go " thither, where if
I go, I shall thenceforth " be no more. Grant
me a remission, that I may be refreshed." A
question has suggested itself, how he will be no
more. . . . What is meant then by "shall be
no more," unless Idithun is alluding to what is
true " being," and what is not true " being."
For he was beholding with the mind, with which
he could do so, with the "mind's eye," by
which he was able to behold it, that end, which
he had desired to have shown unto him, saying,
" Lord, make me to know mine end." He was
beholding " the number of his. days, which truly
is ; " and he observed that all that is below, in
comparison of that true being, has no true being.
For those things are permanent ; these are sub-
ject to change ; mortal, and frail, and the eternal
suffering, though full of corruption, is for this
very reason not to be ended, that it may ever be
being ended without end. He alluded there-
fore to that realm of bliss, to the happy country,
to the happy home, where the Saints are par-
takers of eternal Life, and of Truth unchange-
able ; and he feared to " go " where that is not,
where there is no true being ; longing to be
there, where " Being " in the highest sense is !
It is on account of this contrast then, while
standing midway between them, he says, " Grant
me a remission, that I may be refreshed before
I go hence and be no more." For if Thou
"grantest me not a remission" of my sins, I
shall go from Thee unto all eternity ! And from
whom shall I go to all eternity? From Him
who said, I am HE that Am : from Him who
said, "Say unto the children of Israel, I Am
hath sent me unto you." ■ He then who goes
from Him, in the contrary direction, goes to
non-existence. . . .
PSALM XL.J
1. Of all those things which our Lord Jesus
Christ has foretold, we know part to have been
already accomplished, part we hope will be
accomplished hereafter. All of them, however,
will be fulfilled, because He is " the Truth " who
speaks them, and requires of us to be as " faith-
ful," as He Himself speaks them faithfully. . . .
2. Let us say then what this Psalm says.
"I waited patiently for the Lord " (ver. 1). I
waited patiently for the promise of no mere
' Ex.
' Lat. XXXIX.
mortal who can both deceive and be himself
deceived : I waited for the consolation of no
mere mortal, who may be consumed by sorrow of
his own, before he gives me comfort. Should a
brother mortal attempt to comfort me, when he
himself is in sorrow likewise? Let us mcurn in
company ; let us weep together, let us " wait pa-
tiently " together, let us join our prayers together
also. Whom did I wait for but for the Lord ?
The Lord, who though He puts off the ftifil-
ment of His promises, yet never recalls them ?
He will make it good ; assuredly He will make it
good, because He has made many of His prom-
ises good already : and of God's truth we ought
to have no fears, even if as yet He had made
none of them good. Lo ! let us henceforth
think thus, " He has promised us everything ;
He has not as yet given us possession of any-
thing ; He is a sponsible Proiniser ; a faithful
Paymaster : do you but show yourself a dutiful
exactor of what is promised ; and if you be
" weak," if you be one of the little ones, claim
the promise of His mercy. Do you not see
tender' lambs striking their dams' teats with
their heads, in order that they may get their fill
of milk? ..." And He took heed unto me, and
heard my cry." He took heed to it, and He
heard it. See thou hast not waited in vain. His
eyes are over thee. His ears turned towards
thee. For, " the eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry." *
What then? Did He not see thee, when thou
usedst to do evil and to blaspheme Him? What
then becomes of what is said in that very Psalm,
"The face of the Lord is upon them that" do
evil " ? 5 But for what end ? " That He may cut
off the remembrance of them from the earth."
Therefore, even when thou wert wicked, He
" took heed of thee ; " but He " took no heed
to thee." 6 So then to him who " waited pa-
tiently for the Lord," it was not enough to say,
" He took heed of me, He says, " He took heed
to me ; " that is, He took heed by comforting
me, that He might do me good. What was it
that He took heed to? "and He heard my cry."
3. And what hath He accomplished for thee?
What hath He done for thee? " He brought me
up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and estab-
lished my goings" (ver. 2). He hath given
us great blessings already : and still He is our
debtor; but let him who hath this part of the
debt repaid already, believe that the rest will be
also, seeing that he ought to have believed even
before he received anything. Our Lord has em-
ployed facts themselves to persuade us, that He
is a faithful promiser, a liberal giver. What then
3 Al. "very small." * Ps. xxxiv. 15.
* Ps. xxxiv. 16. E. V. " against." Lat. Vulgate, super.
6 Attendebat te; sed tton attendebat tibi.
120
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XL.
has He already done ? " He has brought me out
of a horrible pit." What horrible pit is that ? It
is the depth of iniquity, from the lusts of the flesh,
for this is meant by " the miry clay." ' Whence
hath He brought thee out? Out of a certain
deep, out of which thou criedst out in another
Psalm, " Out of the deep have I called unto
Thee, O Lord." 2 And those who are already
" crying out of the deep," are not absolutely in
the lowest deep : the very act of crying is al-
ready lifting them up. There are some deeper
in the deep, who do not even perceive them-
selves to be in the deep. Such are those who
are proud despisers, not pious entreaters for
pardon ; not tearful criers for mercy : but such
as Scripture thus describes. " The sinner 3 when
he comes into the depth of evil despiseth." 4
For he is deeper in the deep, who is not satisfied
with being a sinner, unless instead of confessing
he even defends his sins. But he who has al-
ready "cried out of the deep," hath already
lifted up his head in order that he might " cry
out of the deep," has been heard already, and
has been " brought out of the horrible pit, and
out of the mire and clay." He already has faith,
which he had not before ; he has hope, which he
was before without ; he now walks in Christ, who
before used to go astray in the devil. For on
that account it is that he says, " He hath set my
feet upon a rock, and established my goings."
Now "that Rock was Christ." 5 Supposing that
we are " upon the rock," and that our " goings
are ordered," still it is necessary that we con-
tinue to walk ; that we advance to something
farther. For what did the Apostle Paul say
when now upon the Rock, when his " goings had
now been established "? " Not as though I had
already attained, either were already perfect :
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehend-
ed."6 What then has been done for thee, if
thou hast not apprehended ? On what account
dost thou return thanks, saying, " But I have
obtained mercy"?' Because his goings are
now established, because he now walks on the
Rock ? . . . Therefore, when he was saying, " I
press forward toward the prize of my high call-
ing," because " his feet were now set on the
Rock," and " his goings were ordered," because
he was now walking on the right way, he had
something to return thanks for ; something to
ask for still ; returning thanks for what he had re-
ceived already, while he was claiming that which
still remained due. For what things already
received was he giving thanks? For the remis-
sion of sins, for the illumination of faith ; for the
1 Or thus, " What horrible pit is that? It is the depth of iniquity.
From the lusts of the flesh, for this is meant by the ' miry clay.' "
2 I'S. CXXX. I.
3 Eng. Vers. *' When the wicked cometh, then cometh also con-
tempt."
* Prov. xviii. 3.
» 1 Cor. x. 4. * Phil. iii. 12, 13. 7 1 Tim. i. 13.
strong support of hope, for the fire of charity.
But in what respects had he still a claim of
debt on the Lord? "Henceforth," he says,
" there is laid up for me a crown of right-
eousness." There is therefore something due
me still. What is it that is due ? "A crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day." He was at
first a loving Father to " bring him forth from
the horrible pit;" to forgive his sins, to rescue
him from " the mire and clay ; " hereafter he will
be a " righteous Judge," requiting to him walk-
ing rightly, what He promised ; to him (I say),
unto whom He had at the first granted that
power to walk rightly. He then as a " righteous
Judge" will repay; but whom will he repay?
" He that endureth unto the end, the same shall
be saved."8
4. "And He hath put a new song in my
mouth." What new song is this? "Even a
hymn unto our God" (ver. 3). Perhaps you
used to sing hymns to strange gods ; old hymns,
because they were uttered by the " old man,"
not by the " new man ; " let the " new man " be
formed, and let him sing a " new song ; " being
himself made "new," let him love those "new"
things by which he is himself made new. For
what is more Ancient than God, who is before
all things, and is without end and without be-
ginning? He becomes "new" to thee, when
thou returnest to Him ; because it was by de-
parting from Him, that thou hadst become old ;
and hadst said, " I have waxed old because of
all mine enemies."' We therefore utter "a hymn
unto our God ; " and the hymn itself sets us
free. " For I will call upon the Lord to praise
Him, and I will be safe from all mine enemies."
For a hymn is a song of praise. Call on God to
" praise " Him, not to find fault with Him. . . .
5. If haply any one asks, what person is
speaking in this Psalm? I would say briefly,
" It is Christ." But as ye know, brethren, and
as we must say frequently, Christ sometimes
speaks in His own Person, in the Person of our
Head. For He Himself is " the Saviour of the
Body." IO He is our Head ; the Son of God, who
was born of the Virgin, suffered for us, "rose
again for our justification," sitteth " at the right
hand of God," to " make intercession for us : " "
who is also to recompense to the evil and to
the good, in the judgment, all the evil and the
good that they have done. He deigned to be-
come our Head ; to become " the Head of the
Body," by taking of us that flesh in which He
should die for us ; that flesh which He also
raised up again for our sakes, that in that flesh
He might place before us an instance of the
resurrection ; that we might learn to hope for
8 Matt. x. 22.
11 Rom. viii. 34.
9 Ps. vi. 7.
10 Eph. v. 23.
Psalm XL.]
ON THE PSALMS.
121
that of which we heretofore despaired, and
might henceforth have our feet upon the rock,
and might walk in Christ. He then sometimes
speaks in the name of our Head ; sometimes
also He speaks of us who are His members.
For both when He said, " I was an hungred, and
ye gave Me meat," ' He spoke on behalf of His
members, not of Himself: and when He said,
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?"2 the
Head was crying on behalf of its members : and
yet He did not say, " Why dost thou persecute
My members?" but, "Why persecutest thou
Me ? " If He suffers in us, then shall we also be
crowned in Him. Such is the love of Christ.
What is there can be compared to this ? This
is the thing on account of which " He hath put
a hymn in our mouth," and this He speaks on
beTlalf of His members.
6. " The just shall see, and shall fear, and
shall trust in the Lord." " The just shall see."
Who are the just? The faithful; because it is
" by faith that the just shall live." 3 For there is
in the Church this order, some go before, others
follow ; and those who go before make them-
selves " an example " to those who follow ; and
those who follow imitate those who go before.
But do those then follow no one, who exhibit
themselves as an ensample to them that come
after? If they follow no one at all, they will
fall into error. These persons then must them-
selves also follow some one, that is, Christ Him-
self. . . . "The just," therefore, "shall see, and
shall fear." They see a narrow way on the one
hand ; on the other side, " a broad road : " on
this side they see few, on the other many. But
thou art a just man ; count them not, but weigh
them ; bring " a just balance," not a " deceit-
ful " one : because thou art called just. " The
just shall see, and fear," applies to thee. Count
not therefore the multitudes of men that are
filling the " broad ways," that are to fill the cir-
cus to-morrow ; celebrating with shouts the
City's Anniversary,4 while they defile the City
itself by evil living. Look not at them ; they
are many in number ; and who can count them ?
But there are a few travelling along the narrow
road. Bring forth the balance, I say. Weigh
them ; see what a quantity of chaff you lift up
on the one side, against a few grains of corn on
the other. Let this be done by " the just," the
" believers," who are to follow. And what shall
they who precede do ? Let them not be proud,
let them not " exalt themselves ; " let them not
deceive those who follow them. How may they
deceive those who follow them? By promising
them salvation in themselves. What then ought
those who follow to do? "The just shall see,
and fear : and shall trust in the Lord ; " not in
1 Matt. xxv. 35.
' Hab. ii. 4.
3 Acts ix. 4.
* Civitatis Natalem,
those who go before them. But indeed they fix
their eyes on those who go before them, and
follow and imitate them ; but they do so, be-
cause they consider from Whom they have re-
ceived the grace to go before them ; and because
they trust in Him.s Although therefore they
make these their models, they place their trust
in Him from whom the others have received the
grace whereby they are such as they are. " The
just shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the
Lord." Just as in another Psalm, "I lift up
mine eyes unto the hills,"6 we understand by
hills, all distinguished and great spiritual persons
in the Church ; great in solidity, not by swollen
inflation. By these it is that all Scripture hath
been dispensed unto us ; they are the Prophets,
they are the Evangelists ; they are sound Doc-
tors : to these " I lift up mine eyes, from whence
shall come my help." And lest you should
think of mere human help, he goes on to say,
" My help cometh from the Lord, which made
heaven and earth. The just shall see it, and
fear, and shall trust in the Lord." . . .
7. " Blessed is that man that maketh the
name of the Lord his trust, and hath not re-
spected vanities or lying madnesses" (ver. 4).
Behold the way by which thou wouldest fain
have gone. Behold the " multitude that fill the
Broad way." 1 It is not without reason " that "
road leads to the amphitheatre. It is not with-
out reason it leads to Death. The "broad way"
leads unto death,8 its breadth delights for time :
its end is straitness to all eternity. Aye ; but
the multitudes murmur ; the multitudes are re-
joicing together ; the multitudes are hastening
along ; the multitudes are flocking together !
Do not thou imitate them ; do not turn aside
after them : they are " vanities, and lying mad-
nesses." Let the Lord thy God be thy hope.
Hope for nothing else from the Lord thy God ;
but let the Lord thy God Himself be thine hope.
For many persons hope to obtain from God's
hands riches, and many perishable and transi-
tory honours ; and, in short, anything else they
hope to obtain at God's hands, except only God
Himself. But do thou seek after thy God Him-
self: nay, indeed, despising all things else, make
thy way unto Him ! Forget other things, re-
member Him. Leave other things behind, and
"press forward "9 unto Him. Surely it is He
Himself, who set thee right, when turned away
from the right path ; who, now that thou art set
in the right path, guides thee aright, who guides
thee to thy destination. Let Him then be thy
hope, who both guides thee, and guides thee to
thy destination. Whither does worldly covetous-
5 [A clear exposition of the Catholic (Nicene) doctrine concern
ing the merits of the saints. — C.J
6 Ps. cxxi. 1. 7 A street perhaps so named.
8 Matt. vii. 13. 9 Phil. iii. 14.
122
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XL.
ness lead thee ? And to what point does it con-
duct thee at the last ? Thou didst at first desire
a farm ; then thou wouldest possess an estate ;
thou wouldest shut out thy neighbours ; having
shut them out, thou didst set thy heart on the
possessions of other neighbours ; and didst ex-
tend thy covetous desires till thou hadst reached
the shore : arriving at the shore, thou covetest
the islands : having made the earth thine own,
thou wouldest haply seize upon heaven. Leave
thou all thy loves. He who made heaven and
earth is more beautiful than all.
8. " Blessed is the man that maketh the name
of the Lord his hope, and who hath not regarded
vanities and lying madnesses." For whence is
it that " madness " is called " lying " ? Insanity
is a lying thing, even as it is sanity that sees the
Truth. For what thou seest as good things,1
thou art deceived ; thou art not in thy sound
senses : a violent fever has driven thee to frenzy :
that which thou art in love with is not a reality.
Thou applaudest the charioteer ; thou cheerest
the charioteer ; thou art madly in love with the
charioteer. It is " vanity ; " it is " a lying mad-
ness." " It is ' not ' " (he cries). " Nothing can
be better ; nothing more delightful." What can
I do for one in a state of high fever? Pray ye
for such persons, if you have any feelings of
compassion in you. For the physician himself
also in a desperate case generally turns to those
in the house, who stand around weeping ; who
are hanging on his lips to hear his opinion of
the patient who is sick and in danger. The
physician stands in a state of doubt : he sees
not any good to promise ; he fears to pronounce
evil, lest he should excite alarm. He devises a
thoroughly modest sentence : " The good God
can do all things. Pray ye for him." Which
then of these madmen shall I check? Which
of them will listen to me? Which of them would
not call us miserable ? Because they suppose us
to have lost great and various pleasures, of which
they are madly fond, in that we are not as madly
in love with them as they are : and they do not
see that they are " lying " pleasures. ..." And
hath not respected vanities, and lying madnesses."
" Such a one has won," he cries ; " he harnessed
such and such a horse," he proclaims aloud.
He would fain be a kind of diviner ; he aspires
to the honours of divination by abandoning the
fountain of Divinity ; and he frequently pro-
nounces an opinion, and is frequently mistaken.
Why is this ? Even because they are " lying
madnesses." But why is it that what they say
sometimes comes true? That they may lead
astray the foolish ones ; that by loving the sem-
blance of truth there, they may fall into the
snare of falsehood : let them be left behind, let
1 mss. want pittas ; with it, the sense is, " What you see, you
thick to be good things."
them be "given over," let them be "cut off."
If they were members of us, they must be mor-
tified. " Mortify," he says, " your members which
are upon the earth."2 Let our God be our hope.
He who made all things, is better than all ! He
who made what is beautiful, is more beautiful
than all that is such. He who made whatever
is mighty, is Himself mightier. He who made
whatever is great, is Himself greater. He will
be unto you everything that you love. Learn
in the creature to love the Creator ; and in the
work Him who made it. Let not that which
has been made by Him detain thine affections,
so that thou shouldest lose Him by whom thou
thyself wert made also. " Blessed," then, " is
the man that maketh the Name of the Lord his
trust, and hath not respected vanities and lying
madnesses." . . .
9. We will give him other sights in exchange
for such sights as these. And what sights shall
we present to the Christian, whom we would fain
divert from those sights? I thank the Lord our
God ; He in the following verse of the Psalm
hath shown us what sights we ought to present
and offer to spectators who would fain have
sights to see ? Let us now suppose him to be
weaned from the circus, the theatre, the amphi-
theatre ; let him be looking after, let him by all
means be looking after, some sight to see ; we
do not leave him without a spectacle. What
then shall we give in exchange for those? Hear
what follows.
" Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful
works which Thou hast made" (ver. 5). He
used to gaze at the " wonderful works " of man ;
let him now contemplate the wonderful works of
God. " Many are the wonderful works " that
God " has made." Why are they become vile
in his eyes ? He praises the charioteer guiding
four horses ; running all of them without fault
and without stumbling. Perhaps the Lord has
not made such " wonderful works " in things
spiritual. Let him control lust,3 let him control
cowardice,4 let him control injustice, let him
control imprudence, I mean, the passions which
falling into excess produce those vices ; let him
control these and bring them into subjection,
and let him hold the reins, and not suffer him-
self to be carried away ; let him guide them the
way he himself would have them go ; let him
not be forced away whither he would not. He
used to applaud the charioteer, he himself shall
be applauded for his own charioteering ; he used
to call out that the charioteer should be invested
with a dress of honour; he shall himself be
clothed with immortality. These are the spec-
tacles, these the sights that God exhibits to us.
He cries out of heaven, " My eyes are upon you.
» Col. iii. 5.
3 Luxuriant.
4 Ignaviam.
[Psalm XL.
ON THE PSALMS.
123
Strive, and ' I will ' assist you ; triumph, and I
will crown you."
" And in Thy thought there is none that is like
unto Thee." Now then look at the actor ! For
the man hath by dint of great pains learnt to
walk upon a rope ; and hanging there he holds
thee hanging in suspense. Turn to Him who
exhibits spectacles far more wonderful. This
man hath learned to walk upon the rope ; but
hath he caused another to walk on the sea?
Forget now thy theatre ; behold our Peter ; not
a walker on the rope, but, so to speak, a walker
on the sea.' And do thou also walk on other
waters (though not on those on which Peter
walked, to symbolize a certain truth), for this
world is a sea. It hath a deleterious bitterness ;
it hath the waves of tribulations, the, tempests
of temptations ; it hath men in it who, like fish,
delight in their own ruin, and prey upon each
other ; walk thou here, set thou thy foot on this.
Thou wouldest see sights ; be thyself a " spec-
tacle." That thy spirit may not sink, look on
Him who goes before thee, and says, " We have
been made a spectacle unto this world, and unto
angels, and unto men." 2 Tread thou on the
waters ; suffer not thyself to be drowned in the
sea. Thou wilt not go there, thou wilt not
" tread it under foot," unless it be His bidding,
who was Himself the first to walk upon the sea.
For it was thus that Peter spoke. " If Thou
art, bid me come unto Thee on the waters." 3
And because " He was," He heard him when
praying ; He granted his wish to him when ex-
pressing his desire ; He raised him up when
sinking. These are the " wonderful works " that
the " Lord hath made." Look on them ; let
faith be the eye of him who would behold them.
And do thou also likewise ; for although the winds
alarm thee, though the waves rage against thee,
and though human frailty may have inspired thee
with some doubt of thy salvation, thou hast it in
thy power to " cry out," thou mayest say " Lord,
I perish." 4 He who bids thee walk there,
suffers thee not to perish. For in that thou now
walkest " on the Rock," thou fearest not even on
the sea ! If thou art without " the Rock," thou
must sink in the sea ; for the Rock on which
thou must walk is such an one as is not sunk in
the sea.
10. Observe then the "wonderful works " of
God. " I have declared, and have spoken ; they
are multiplied beyond number." There is " a
number," there are some over and above the
number. There is a fixed number that belongs
to that heavenly Jerusalem. For " the Lord
knoweth them that are His ; " s the Christians
that fear Him, the Christians that believe, the
Christians that keep the commandments, that
1 Mariambulum.
* Matt, xiv 30.
: Cor. iv. 9.
! Tim. ii. 19.
3 Matt. xiv. 28.
walk in God's ways, that keep themselves from
sins ; that if they fall confess : they belong to
" the number." But are they the only ones ?
There are also some " beyond the number."
For even if they be but a few (a few in com-
parison of the numbers of the larger majority),
with how great numbers are our Churches filled,
crowded up to the very walls ; to what a degree
do they annoy each other by the pressure, and
almost choke each other by their overflowing
numbers. Again, out of these very same per-
sons, when there is a public spectacle,6 there are
numbers flocking to the amphitheatre ; these are
over and above " the number." But it is for this
reason that we say this, that they may be in " the
number." Not being present, they do not hear
this from us ; but when ye have gone from hence,
let them hear it from you. " I have declared,"
he says, " and have spoken." It is Christ who
speaks. " He hath declared it," in His own
Person, as our Head. He hath Himself declared
it by His members. He Himself hath sent those
who should " declare " it ; He Himself hath sent
the Apostles. " Their sound is gone out into all
lands, and their words unto the ends of the
world."7 How great the number of believers
that are gathered together ; how great the multi-
tudes that flock together ; many of them truly
converted, many but in appearance : and those
who are truly converted are the minority ; those
who are so but in appearance are the majority-
because " they are multiplied beyond the num-
ber."
11. . . . These are the "wonderful works"
of God ; these are the " thoughts " of God, to
which " no man's thoughts are like ; " that the
lover of sight-seeing may be weaned from curi-
osity : 8 and with us may seek after those more
excellent, those more profitable things, in which,
when he shall have attained unto them, he will
rejoice. . . .
12. "Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not
desire" (ver. 6), saith the Psalm to God. For
the men of old time, when as yet the true Sac-
rifice, which is known to the faithful, was fore-
shown in figures, used to celebrate rites that were
figures of the reality that was to be hereafter ;
many of them understanding their meaning ;
but more of them in ignorance of it. For the
Prophets and the holy Patriarchs understood
what they were celebrating ; but the rest of the
" stiff-necked people " were so carnal, that what
was done by them was but to symbolize the
things that were to come afterwards ; and it
came to pass,' when that first sacrifice was abol-
ished ; when the burnt-offerings of " rams, of
6 Munus. 7 Ps. xix. 4.
8 Al. " may be drawn to curiosity."
9 Et venit Some Mss. en vetiit Veritas,
came." which makes easier sense.
Lo, the Truth
124
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XL.
goats, and of calves," and of other victims, had
been abolished, "God did not desire them."
Why did God not desire them ? And why did
He at the first desire them ? Because all those
things were, as it were, the words of a person
making a promise ; and the expressions convey-
ing a promise, when the thing that they promise
is come, are no longer uttered. . . . Those sac-
rifices then, as being but expressions of a promise,
have been abrogated. What is that which has
been given as its fulfilment? That "Body;"
which ye know ; which ye do not all of you
know ; which, of you who do know it, I pray
God all may not know it unto condemnation.
Observe the time when it was said ; for the per-
son is Christ our Lord, speaking at one time for
His members, at another in His own person.
" Sacrifice and offering," said He, "Thou didst
not desire." What then? Are we left at this
present time without a sacrifice ? God forbid !
" But a Body hast Thou perfected for me." '
It was for this reason that Thou didst not desire
the others ; that Thou mightest " perfect " this ;
before Thou " perfectedst " this, Thou didst
desire the others. The fulfilment of the promise
has done away with the words that express the
promise. For if they still hold out a promise,
that which was promised is not yet fulfilled.
This was promised by certain signs ; the signs
that convey the promise are done away ; because
the Substance that was promised is come. We
are in this " Body." We are partakers of this
" Body." We know that which we ourselves
receive ; and ye who know it not yet, will know
it bye and bye ; and when ye come to know it,
I pray ye may not receive it unto condemna-
tion.2 " For he that eateth and drinketh un-
worthily, eateth and drinketh damnation unto
himself." » " A Body " hath been " perfected "
for us ; let us be made perfect in the Body.
13. " Burnt-offerings also for sin hast Thou not
required." " Then said I, Lo, I come ! " (ver. 7).
It is time that what " was promised should
come ; " because the signs, by means of which
they were promised, have been put away. And
indeed, Brethren, observe these put away ; those
fulfilled. Let the Jewish nation at this time show
me their priest, if they can ! Where are their
sacrifices ? They are brought to an end ; 4 they
are put away now. Should we at that time
have rejected them ? s We do reject them now ;
because, if you chose to celebrate them now, it
were unseasonable ; 6 unfitting at the time ; in-
congruous. You are still making promises; I
have already received ! There has remained to
them a certain thing for them to celebrate ; that
1 Corfut pe r/eciMti , Augustin ; aurei ptrfecitti, Vulgate; cor-
pus aptasti, neb. x. 5. Vulgate.
7 yudicium. So Vulgate. 3 1 Cor. xi. 20.
« Perierunt. » Rtproiaremus. * Inttmporale.
they might not remain altogether without a sign.
. . . In such a case then are they ; like Cain
with his mark. The sacrifices, however, which
used to be performed there, have been put away ;
and that which remained unto them for a sign
like that of Cain, hath by this time been fulfilled ;
and they know it not. They slay the Lamb;
they eat the unleavened bread. " Christ has
been sacrificed for us, as our Passover." ' Lo, in
the sacrifice of Christ, I recognise the Lamb that
was slain ! What of the unleavened bread ?
" Therefore," says he, " let us keep the feast ;
not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of
wickedness " (he shows what is meant by
" old ; " it is " stale " flour ; it is sour), " but in
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."8
They have, continued in the shade ; they cannot
abide the Sun of Glory. We are already in the
light of day. We have " the Body " of Christ,
we have the Blood of Christ. If we have a new
life, let us " sing a new song, even a hymn unto
our God." « " Burnt offerings for sin Thou didst
not desire. Then said I, Lo, I come ! "
14. " In the head IO of the Book it is written
of me, that I should fulfil Thy will : O my God,
I am willing, and Thy Law is within my heart "
( ver. 8 ) . Behold ! He turns His regards to His
members. Behold ! He hath Himself " fulfilled
the will " of the Father. But in what " begin-
ning IO of a Book " is it written of Him ? Perhaps
in the beginning of this Book of Psalms. For
why should we seek far for it, or examine into
other books for it ? Behold ! It is written in
the beginning of this Book of Psalms ! " His
will is in the Law of the Lord ; " " that is, " ' O my
God, I am willing,' and 'Thy Law is within my
heart ; ' " that is the same as, " And in His Law
doth he meditate day and night."
15. "I have well declared Thy righteousness
in the great congregation" (ver. 9). He now
addresses His members. He is exhorting them
to do what He has already done. He has " de-
clared ; " let us declare also. He has suffered ;
let us " suffer with Him." He has been glori-
fied ; we shall be " glorified with Him." I2 " I
have declared Thy righteousness in the great
congregation." How great an one is that ? In
all the world. How great is it? Even among
all nations. Why among all nations ? Because
He is " the Seed of Abraham, in whom all na-
tions shall be blessed." 1J Why among all nations ?
" Because their sound hath gone forth into all
lands." '4 " Lo ! I will not refrain my lips, O Lord,
and that Thou knowest." My lips speak ; I
will not " refrain " them from speaking. My lips
indeed sound audibly in the ears of men ; but
" Thou knowest " mine heart. " I will not re-
7 1 Cor. v. 7.
■° Capite
13 Gen. xxii. 18.
« 1 Cor. v. 8.
" Ps. i. a.
»« Ps. xix. 4.
9 Supra, ver. 3.
12 Rom. viii. 17.
Psalm XL]
ON THE PSALMS.
125
frain my lips, O Lord ; that Thou knowest." It
is one thing that man heareth ; another that God
" knoweth." That the " declaring " of it should
not be confined to the lips alone, and that it
might not be said of us, " YVhatsoever things they
say unto you, do ; but do not after their works ; " '
or lest it should be said to the people, " praising
God with their lips, but not with their heart,"
" This people honoureth Me with their lips, but
their heart is far from Me ; " 2 do thou make aud-
ible confession with thy lips ; draw nigh with
thine heart also.3 " For with the heart man be-
lieveth unto righteousness ; but with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." 4 In case
like unto which that thief was found, who, hang-
ing on the Cross with the Lord, did on the Cross
acknowledge the Lord. Others had refused to
acknowledge Him while working miracles ; this
man acknowledged Him when hanging on the
Cross. That thief had every other member
pierced through ; his hands were fastened by
the nails ; his feet were pierced also ; his whole
body was fastened to the tree ; the body was not
disengaged in its other members ; the heart and
the tongue were disengaged;5 "with the heart"
he " believed ; with the tongue " he made " con-
fession." " Remember me, O Lord, " he said,
" when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." He
hoped for the coming of his salvation at a time
far remote ; he was content to receive it after a
long delay ; his hope rested on an object far re-
mote. The day, however, was not postponed !
The answer was, "This day shalt thou be with
Me in Paradise." 6 Paradise hath happy trees !
This day hast thou been with Me on " the
Tree " of the Cross. This day shalt thou be
with Me on " the Tree " of Salvation. . . .
16. "I have not hid my 1 righteousness within
my heart " (ver. 10). What is meant by " my
righteousness " ? My faith. For, " the just shall
live by faith." 8 As suppose the persecutor under
threat of punishment, as they were once allowed
to do, puts you to the question, " What art
thou? Pagan or Christian?" "A Christian."
That is his " righteousness." He believeth ; he
" lives by faith." He doth not " hide his right-
eousness within his heart." He has not said in
his heart, " I do indeed believe in Christ ; but I
will not tell what I believe to this persecutor, who
is raging against me, and threatening me. My
God knoweth that inwardly, within my heart, I
1 Matt, xxiii. 3. 2 Isa. xxix. 31.
3 Sona labile, propinqua corde. JAudible confession, in the
great congregation, was the primitive discipline. But St. Chrysos-
tom, who teaches the like discipline, urges to private penitence before
God as all-sufficient. Horn. xxxi. In Hebr. torn. xii. p. 216, ed.
Migne. — C]
* Rom. x. to.
* Corpus illitd non vacabat cateris membris ; lingua vacabat
et cor.
* Luke xxiii. 42, etc.
7 E. V. " Thy." So Vulgate also, tuam.
8 Hab. ii. 4; Rom. i. 17.
do believe. He knoweth that I renounce Him
not." Lo ! you say that you have this inwardly
within your heart ! What have you upon your
lips? " I am not a Christian." Your lips bear
witness against your heart. " I have not hid my
righteousness within my heart." . . .
17. "I have declared Thy Truth and Thy Sal-
vation." I have declared Thy Christ. This is
the meaning of, " I have declared Thy Truth and
Thy Salvation." How is " Thy Truth " Christ?
" I am the Truth." 9 How is Christ " His Salva-
tion " ? Simeon recognised the infant in His
Mother's hands in the Temple, and said, " For
mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation." IO The old
man recognised the little child ; the old man
having himself " become a little child " " in that
infant, having been renewed by faith. For he had
received an oracle from God ; and it said this,
" The Lord had said unto him, that he was not
to depart out of this life, until he had seen the
" Salvation of God." This " Salvation of God "
it is a good thing to have shown unto men ; but
let thetn cry, " Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and
grant us Thy Salvation." . . .
1 8. "I have not concealed Thy mercy and Thy
Truth from the great congregation." Let us be
there ; let us also be numbered among the mem-
bers of this Body : let us not keep back " the
mercy" of the Lord, and "the Truth" of the
Lord. Wouldest thou hear what " the mercy of
the Lord" is? Depart from thy sins ; He will
forgive thy sins. Wouldest thou hear what " the
truth " of the Lord is? Hold fast righteousness.
Thy righteousness shall receive a crown. For
mercy is announced to you now ; " Truth " is to
be shown unto thee hereafter. For God is not
merciful in such a way as not to be just, nor just
in such a way as not to be merciful. Does that
mercy seem to thee an inconsiderable one? He
will not impute unto thee all thy former sins :
thou hast lived ill up to this present day ; thou
art still living ; this day live well ; the'n thou wilt
not " conceal " this " mercy." If this is meant by
" mercy," what is meant by " truth " ? . . .
19. " Remove not Thou Thy mercies far from
me, O Lord " (ver. n). He is turning his at-
tention to the wounded members. Because I
have not " concealed Thy mercy and Thy Truth
from the great congregation," from the Unity of
the Universal Church, look Thou on Thy afflicted
members, look on those who are guilty of sins of
omission, and on those who are guilty of sins
of commission : and withhold not Thou Thy mer-
cies. " Thy mercy and Thy Truth have contin-
ually preserved me." I should not dare to turn
from my evil way, were I not assured of remission ;
9 John xiv. 6.
10 Luke ii. 30.
11 Factus in puero piter. He alludes to Matt, xviii. 3,
cept ye be converted, and become as little children"
'Ex-
126
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XL.
I could not endure so as to persevere, if I were
not assured of the fulfilment of Thy promise. . . .
" Innumerable evils have compassed me
about" (ver. 12). Who can number sins ? Who
can count his own sins, and those of others ? A
burden under which he was groaning, who said,
" Cleanse Thou me from my secret faults ; and
from the faults of others, spare Thou Thy servant,
O Lord." ' Our own are too little ; those " of
others " are added to the burden. I fear for my-
self; I fear for a virtuous brother, I have to bear
with a wicked brother ; and under such burthen
what shall we be, if God's mercy were to fail ?
" But Thou, Lord, remove not afar off." Be
Thou near unto us ! To whom is the Lord near?
" Even " unto them that " are of a broken heart." 2
He is far from the proud : He is near to the
humble. " For though the Lord is high, yet hath
He respect unto the lowly." 3 But let not those
that are proud think themselves to be unobserved :
for the things that are high, He " beholdeth afar
off." He " beheld afar off" the Pharisee, who
boasted himself; He was near at hand to succour
the Publican, who made confession.4 The one
extolled his own merits, and concealed his
wounds ; the other boasted not of his merits, but
laid bare his wounds. He came to the Physician ;
he knew that he was sick, and that he required
to be made whole ; he " dared not lift up his eyes
to Heaven : he smote upon his breast." He
spared not himself, that God might spare him ;
he acknowledged himself guilty, that God might
" ignore " the charge against him. He punished
himself, that God might free him from punish-
ment. . . .
20. " Mine iniquities have taken hold upon
me, so that I could not see." There is a some-
thing for us " to see ; " what prevents us so that
we see it not? Is it not iniquity? From be-
holding this light 5 your eye is prevented per-
haps by some humour penetrating into it ;
perhaps by smoke, or dust, or by something else
that has been thrown into it : and you have not
been able to raise your wounded eye to contem-
plate this light of day. What then ? Will you
be able to lift up your wounded heart unto God ?
Must it not be first healed, in order that thou
mayest see ? Do you not show your pride, when
you say, " First let me see, and then I will be-
lieve"? Who is there who says this? For
who that would fain see, says, " Let me see, and
then I will believe " ? I am about to manifest
the Light unto thee ; or rather the Light Itself
would fain manifest Itself to thee ! To whom ?
It cannot manifest Itself to the blind. He does
not see. Whence is it that he seeth not ? It is that
the eye is clogged by the multitude of sins. . . .
1 P». xix. 19.
3 IV rxxxviii. 6.
> Natural light.
a P». xxxiv. 18; Isa. lvii. 15.
* Luke xviii. 9-14.
21." They are more than the hairs of my
head." He subjects the number of the " hairs
of his head " to calculation. Who is there can
calculate the number of the hairs of his head ?
Much less can he tell the number of his sins,
which exceed the number of the hairs of his
head. They seem to be 'minute ; but they are
many in number. You have guarded against
great ones ; you do not now commit adultery,
or murder ; you do not plunder the property of
others ; you do not blaspheme ; and do not bear
false witness ; those are the weightier kind of
sins. You have guarded against great sins, what
are you doing about your smaller ones ? You
have cast off the weight ; beware lest the sand
overwhelm you. " And my heart hath forsaken
me." What wonder if thine heart is forsaken by
thy God, when it is even " forsaken " by itself?
What is meant by " faileth me," " forsaketh
me"? Is not capable of knowing itself. He
means this : " My heart hath forsaken me." I
would fain see God with mine heart, and can-
not from the multitude of my sins : that is not
enough ; mine heart does not even know itself.
For no one thoroughly knows himself: let no
one presume upon his own state. Was Peter
able to comprehend with his own heart the state
of his own heart, who said, " I will be with Thee
even unto death "?6 There was a false pre-
sumption in the heart ; there was lurking in
that heart at the same time a real fear : and the
heart was not able to comprehend the state of
the heart. Its state was unknown to the sick
heart itself: it was manifest to the physician.
That which was foretold of him was fulfilled.
God knew that in him which he knew not in
himself: because his heart had forsaken him,
his heart was unknown to his heart.
22. "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me"
(ver. 13). As if he were saying, " ' If Thou wilt,
Thou canst make me clean.' 7 Be pleased to de-
liver me. O Lord, look upon me to help me."
Look,8 that is, on the penitent members, mem-
bers that lie in pain, members that are writhing
under the instruments of the surgeon ; but still
in hope.
23. " Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it "
(ver. 14). For in a certain passage he makes
an accusation, and says, " I looked upon my
right hand, and beheld ; and there was no man
who sought after my soul ; " ' that is, there was
no man to imitate Mine example. Christ in
His Passion is the Speaker. " I looked on my
right hand," that is, not on the ungodly Jews, but
on Mine own right hand, the Apostles, — " and
there was no man who sought after My soul."
So thoroughly was there no man to " seek after
6 Luke xxii. 33.
* OxL mss. repeat respict.
7 Matt. viii. a.
9 Ps. cxlii. 4.
Psalm XL.]
ON THE PSALMS.
127
My soul," that he who had presumed on his own
strength, " denied My soul." But because a
man's soul is sought after in two ways, either in
order that you may enjoy his society ; or that
you may persecute him ; therefore he here
speaks of others, whom he would have " con-
founded and ashamed," who are " seeking after
his soul." But lest you should understand it in
the same way as when he complains of some
who did not " seek after his soul," He adds, " to
destroy it ; " that is, they seek after my soul in
order to my death. . . .
24. " Let them be turned backward ' and put
to shame that wish me evil." " Turned back-
wards." Let us not take this in a bad sense.
He wishes them well ; and it is His voice, who
said from the Cross, " Father, forgive them ; for
they know not what they do." 2 Wherefore then
doth he> say to them, that they should return
" backwards " ? Because they who before were
proud, so that they fell, are now become humble,
so that they may rise again. For when they are
before, they are wishing to take precedence of
their Lord ; to be better than He ; but if they
go behind Him, they acknowledge Him to be
better than they ; they acknowledge that He
ought to go before ; that He should precede,3
they follow. Thence He thus rebukes Peter
giving Him evil counsel. For the Lord, when
about to suffer for our salvation, also foretold
what was to happen concerning that Passion
itself; and Peter says, "Be it far from Thee,"4
" God forbid it ! " " This shall not be ! " He
would fain have gone before his Lord ; would
have given counsel to his Master ! But the Lord,
that He might make him not go before Him,
but follow after Him, says, " Get thee behind,
Satan ! " It is for this reason He said " Satan,"
because thou art seeking to go before Him,
whom thou oughest to follow ; but if thou art
behind, if thou follow Him, thou wilt hence-
forth not be "Satan." What then? "Upon
this Rock I will build My Church." s . . .
25. "Let them speedily bear away their own
confusion, that say unto me, Well done ! Well
done!"6 (ver. 15). They praise you without
reason. "A great man ! A good man ! A man of
education and of learning ; but why a Christian ? "
They praise those things in you which you should
wish not to be praised ; they find fault with that
at which you rejoice. But if perhaps you say,
" What is it you praise in me, O man ? That
I am a virtuous man? A just man? If you
think this, Christ made me this ; praise Him."
But the other says, " Be it far from you. Do
yourself no wrong ! You yourself made yourself
1 E. V. "driven backwards." Text, convertantnr.
* Luke xxiii. 34. 3 Priorem. * Matt. xvi. 22.
5 Matt. xvi. 18.
* E. V. " Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that
say unto me, Aha! Ahai "
such." "Let them be confounded who say
unto me, Well done ! Well done ! " And what
follows ?
" Let all those that seek Thee, O Lord, rejoice
and be glad " (ver. 16). Those who " seek " not
me, but "Thee;" who say not to me, "Well
done ! Well done ! " but see me " glory in
Thee," if I have anything whereof to glory ; for
" he who glories, let him glory in the Lord." 7
" Let all those who seek Thee, Lord, rejoice and
be glad."
" And say continually, the Lord be magnified."
For even if the sinner becometh righteous, thou
shouldest give the glory to " Him who justified)
the ungodly." 8 Whether therefore it be a sinner,
let Him be praised who calls him to forgive-
ness ; or one already walking in the way of right-
eousness, let Him be praised who calls him to
receive the crown ! Let the Name of the Lord
be magnified continually by " such as love Thy
salvation."
"But I" (ver. 17). I for whom they were
seeking evil, I whose " life they were seeking,
that they might take it away." But turn thee to
another description of persons. But I to whom
they said, " Well done ! Well done ! " "I am
poor and needy." There is nothing in me that
may be praised as mine own. Let Him rend my
sackcloth in sunder, and cover me with His
robe. For, "Now I live, not I myself; but
Christ liveth in me." 9 If it is Christ that " liveth
in thee," and all that thou hast is Christ's, and
all that thou art to have hereafter is Christ's also ;
what art thou in thyself? " I am poor and
needy." Now I am not rich, because I am not
proud. He was rich who said, " Lord, I thank
Thee that I am not as other men are ; " '° but the
publican was poor, who said, " Lord, be merciful
to me a sinner ! " The one was belching from his
fulness ; the other from want was crying piteously,
" I am poor and needy ! " And what wouldest
thou do, O poor and needy man ? Beg at God's
door ; " Knock, and it shall be opened unto
thee." " — "As for me, I am poor and needy. Yet
the Lord careth for me." — " Cast thy care upon
the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." " What
canst thou effect for thyself by taking care ? what
canst thou provide for thyself? Let Him who
made thee " care for thee." He who cared for
thee before thou wert, how shall He fail to have
a care of thee, now that thou art what He would
have thee be? For now thou art a believer, now
thou art walking in the " way of righteousness."
Shall not He have a care for thee, who " maketh
His sun rise on the good and on the evil, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the un-
just "?" . . .
7 l Cor, i, 31,
10 Luke xvui. n.
"Matt, v. 45,
8 Rom, iv. 5,
11 Matt. vii. 7.
9 Gal. ii. 20,
,a Ps, Iv. aa.
128
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLI.
" Thou art my Help, and my Deliverer ; make
no tarrying, O my God" (ver. 17). He is
calling upon God, imploring Him, fearing lest he
should fall away : " Make no tarrying." What
is meant by " make no tarrying " ? We lately
read concerning the days of tribulation : " Unless
those days should be shortened, there should no
flesh be saved." ' The members of Christ — the
Body of Christ extended everywhere — are asking
of God, as one single person, one single poor
man, and beggar ! For He too was poor, who
"though He was rich, yet became poor, that ye
through His poverty might be made rich." 2 It is
He that maketh rich those who are the true poor ; 3
and maketh poor those who are falsely rich. He
crieth unto Him ; " From the end of the earth I
cried unto Thee, when my heart was in heavi-
ness." There will come days of tribulations,
and of greater tribulations ; they will come even
as the Scripture speaks : and as days advance,
so are tribulations increased also. Let no
one promise himself what the Gospel doth not
promise. . . .
PSALM XLI.«
TO THE PEOPLE, ON THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS.
i. The solemn day of the Martyrs hath dawned ;
therefore to the glory of the Passion of Christ,
the Captain of Martyrs, who spared not Himself,
ordering His soldiers to the fight; but first
fought, first conquered, that their fighting He
might encourage by His example, and aid with
His majesty, and crown with His promise : let
us hear somewhat from this Psalm pertaining to
His Passion. I commend unto you oftentimes,
nor grieve I to repeat, what for you is useful to
retain, that our Lord Jesus Christ speaketh often
of Himself, that is, in His own Person, which is
our Head; often in the person of His Body,
which are we and His Church ; but so that the
words sound as from the mouth of one, that we
may understand the Head and the Body to con-
sist together in the unity of integrity, and not
be separated the one from the other ; as in that
marriage whereof it is said, "They two shall
be one flesh." s If then we acknowledge two in
one flesh, let us acknowledge two in one voice.
First, that which responding to the reader6 we
have sung, though it be from the middle of the
Psalm, from that I will take the beginning of
this Sermon.
" Mine enemies speak evil of Me, When He
shall die, then shall His Name perish" (ver. 5).
This is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ :
' Matt, xxiv n. » a Cor. viii. 9.
» Compare Matt. v. 3, " Blessed are the poor in spirit," and
Luke vi. 30, " Blessed be ye poor."
< Lat. XL. s Gen. ii. 24: Eph. v. 31.
* [He begins with the " Anliphon; " i.e., a verse selected from
the Psalm as expressing the chief thought of the Psalmist or the
spirit of the festival. This was interjected, at set places, in response
to the reader. — C.J
but see if herein are not understood the mem-
bers also. This was spoken also when our Lord
Himself walked in the flesh here on earth. . . .
When they saw the people go after Him, they
said, " When He shall die, then shall His Name
perish ; " that is, when we have slain Him, then
shall His Name be no more in the earth, nor shall
He seduce any, being dead ; but by that very
slaying of Him shall men understand, that He was
but a man whom they followed, that there was in
Him no hope of salvation, and shall desert His
Name, and it shall no more be. He died, and
His Name perished not, but His Name was
sown as seed : He died, but He was a grain,
which dying, the corn immediately sprang up.'
When glorified then was our Lord Jesus Christ,
began they much more, and much more numer-
ously to trust in Him ; then began His members
to hear what the Head had heard. Now then
our Lord Jesus Christ being in heaven set down,
and Himself in us labouring on earth, still spake
His enemies, " When He shall die, then shall His
Name perish." For hence stirred up the devil
persecutions in the Church to destroy the Name
of Christ. Unless haply ye think, brethren, that
those Pagans, when they raged against Christians,
said not this among themselves, " to blot out
the Name of Christ from the earth." That
Christ might die again, not in the Head, but in
His Body, were slain also the Martyrs. To the
multiplying of the Church availed the Holy
Blood poured forth, to help Its seminating came
also the death of the Martyrs. " Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints." 8
More and more were the Christians multiplied,
nor was it fulfilled which spake the enemies,
" When He shall die, then shall His Name
perish." Even now also is it spoken. Down
sit the Pagans, and compute them the years,
they hear their fanatics9 saying, A time shall
come when Christians shall be none, and those
idols must be worshipped as before they were
worshipped : still say they, " When He shall die,
then shall His Name perish." Twice conquered,
now the third time be wise ! Christ died, His
Name has not perished : the Martyrs died, mul-
tiplied more is the Church, groweth through all
nations the Name of Christ. He who foretold
of His own Death, and of His Resurrection, He
who foretold of His Martyrs' death, and of their
crown, He Himself foretold of His Church things
yet to come, if truth He spake twice, has He
the third time lied? Vain then is what ye be-
cxvi. 15.
7 John xii. 24. 8 Ps.
9 In the City of God, b. xviii. c. 53, £4, he mentions that the
heathens had some Greek verses, in the form of an oracle, to the
effect that the magical arts of Peter had prevailed to procure divine
worship to Christ for 365 years, after which it was 10 terminate. This
period, he says, if computed from the first Pentecost after the Resur-
rection, would expire in the consulship of Honorius and Kutychianus,
A.D. 398. The next year, which ought to have seen paganism re-es-
tablished, was marked by the demolition of idols by imperial authority.
— Bin. [Sec vol. u. p. 394, this series. — C]
Psalm XLI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
129
lieve against Him ; better is it that ye believe in
Him, that ye may " understand upon the needy
and poor One ; " ' that " though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be rich." 2 . . .
2. " Blessed is he that understandeth upon
the needy and poor One : in the evil day shall the
Lord deliver him " (ver. 1 ) . For the evil day
will come : will thou, nill thou, come it will : the
Day of Judgment will come upon thee, an evil
day if thou " understand not the needy and
poor." For what now thou wilt not believe,
shall be made manifest in the end. But neither
shalt thou escape, when it shall be made mani-
fest, because thou believest not, when it is kept
secret. Invited art thou, what thou seest not to
believe, lest when thou see, thou be put to the
blush. " Understand then upon the needy and
poor One," that is, Christ : understand in Him
the hidden riches, whom poor thou seest. " In
Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." 3 For thereby in the evil day shall
He deliver thee, in that He is God : but in
that He is man, and that which in Him is human
hath raised to life, and changed for the better,
He hath lifted (thee4) to heaven. But He who
is God, who would have one person in man and
with man, could neither decrease nor increase,
neither die nor rise again. He died out of man's
infirmity, but God diethnot. . . . Butas we rightly
say, Such a man died, though his soul dieth not ;
so we rightly say, Christ died, though His Divin-
ity dieth not. Wherefore died ? Because needy
and poor. Let not His death offend thee, and
avert thee from beholding His Divinity. " Blessed
is he that understandeth upon the needy and
poor One." Consider also the poor, the needy,
the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the sick, the
prisoners ; understand also upon such poor, for if
upon such thou understand, thou understandest
upon Him who said, " I was an hungred, I was
thirsty, I was a stranger, naked, sick, in prison ; " 5
so in the evil day shall the Lord deliver thee. . . .
3. "And deliver him not into the hand of his
enemy" (ver. 2). The enemy is the devil.
Let none think of a man his enemy, when he hears
these words. Haply one thought of his neigh-
bour, of him who had a suit with him in court, of
him who would take from him his own posses-
sion, of him who would force him to sell to him
his house. Think not this ; but that enemy think
of, of whom said the Lord, "an enemy hath done
this." 6 For He it is who suggests that for things
earthly he be worshipped, for overthrow the
Christian Name this enemy cannot. For he hath
1 Ps. xli. 1. 2 2 Cor. viii o. 3 Col. ii. 3.
* Or " It," reading as Ben. Oxf. mss. have " not in that He is
Man: and that which in Him was human, in thee He will raise
again, and change to better, and lift to heaven." The future, " shall
lift," is probably right. Ed. Ben. gives no various readings here;
our mss. vary somewhat.
5 Matt. xxv. 35, 36. 6 Matt. xiii. 28.
seen himself conquered by the fame and praises
of Christ, he hath seen, whereas he slew Christ's
Martyrs, that they are crowned, he triumphed
over. He hath begun to be unable to persuade
men that Christ is nought ; and because by revil-
ing Christ, he now with difficulty deceives, by
lauding Christ, he endeavours to deceive. Before
this what said he ? Whom worship ye ? A Jew,
dead, crucified, a man of no moment, who
could not even from himself drive away death.
When after His Name he saw running the whole
human race, saw that in the Name of the Cruci-
fied temples are thrown down, idols are broken,
sacrifices abolished ; and that all these things
predicted in the Prophets are considered by men,
by men with wonder astonished, and closing
now their hearts against the reviling of Christ ;
he clothes himself with praise of Christ, and
begins to deter from the faith in another man-
ner. Great is the law of Christ, powerful is
that law, divine, ineffable ! but who fulfilleth it?
In the name of our Saviour,7 " tread upon the lion
and the dragon." 8 By reviling openly roared the
lion; by lauding craftily lurks the dragon. Let
them come to the faith, who doubted ; and not
say, Who fulfilleth it ? If on their own strength
they presume, they will not fulfil it. Presuming
on the grace of God let them believe, presuming
(on it) let them come ; to be aided come, not to
be judged. So live all the faithful in the Name
of Christ, each one in his degree fulfilling the com-
mands of Christ, whether married, or celibates
and virgins, they live as much as God granteth
them to live; neither presume they in their own
strength, but know that in Him they ought to
glory. . . .
4. "The Lord help him" (ver. 3). But
when ? Haply in heaven, haply in the life eter-
nal, that so it remain to worship the devil for
earthly needs, for the necessities of this life.
Far be it ! Thou hast " promise of the life
that now is, and of that which is to come." »
He came unto thee on earth, by Whom were
made heaven and earth. Consider then what
He saith, " The Lord help him, on his bed of
pain." The bed of pain is the infirmity of the
flesh ; lest thou shouldest say, I cannot hold, and
carry, and tie up my flesh ; thou art aided that
thou mayest. The Lord help thee on thy bed
of pain. Thy bed did carry thee, thou carriedst
not thy bed, but wast a paralytic inwardly ; He
cometh who saith to thee, " Take up thy bed, and
go thy way into thy house." IO " The Lord help
him on his bed of pain." Then to the Lord
Himself He turneth, as though it were asked,"
Why then, since the Lord helpeth us, suffer we
such great ills in this life, such great scandals,
such great labours, such disquiet from the flesh
7 Oxf. MSS. " It is fulfilled in the Name," etc. 8 Ps xci. 13
9 i Tim. iv. 8. I0 Mark ii. 11. » Al. " he complained."
13°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLI.
and the world? He turneth to God, and as
though explaining to us the counsel of His heal-
ing, He saith, " Thou hast turned all his bed in
his infirmity." By the bed is understood any-
thing earthly. Every soul that is infirm in this
life seeketh for itself somewhat whereon to rest,
because intensity of labour, and of the soul ex-
tended toward God, it can hardly endure per-
petually, somewhat it seeketh on earth whereon
to rest, and in a manner with a kind of pausing
to recline, as are those things which innocent
ones love. . . . The innocent man resteth in
his house, his family, his wife, his children ; in his
poverty, his little farm, his orchard planted with
his own hand, in some building fabricated with his
own study ; in these rest the innocent. But
yet God willing us not to have love but of life
eternal, even with these, though innocent de-
lights, mixeth bitterness, that even in these we
may suffer tribulation, and so He turneth all our
bed in our infirmity. " Thou hast turned all
his bed in his infirmity." Let him not then
complain, when in these things which he hath
innocently, he suffereth some tribulations. He
is taught to love the better, by the bitterness of
the worse ; lest going a traveller to his country,
he choose the inn instead of his own home.
5. But why this? Because He "scourgeth
every son whom He receiveth." ' Why this?
Because to men sinning was it said, " In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." 2 There-
fore because all these chastisements, in which all
our bed is turned in our infirmity, man ought to
acknowledge that he suffers for sin ; let him turn
himself, and say what follows : " I said, Lord,
be merciful unto me ; heal my soul, for I have
sinned against Thee" (ver. 4). O Lord, by
tribulations do Thou exercise me ; to be scourged
Thou judgest every son whom Thou wilt receive,
who sparedst not even the Only-Begotten. He
indeed without sin was scourged ; but I say, " I
have sinned against Thee." . . .
6. " Mine enemies speak evil of Me, When
He shall die, then shall His Name perish" (ver.
5). Of this we have already spoken,3 and from
this began.
7. "And entered in* to see" (ver. 6). What
Christ suffered, that suffereth also the Church ;
what the Head suffered, that suffer also the
Members. " For the disciple is not above his
Master, nor the servant above his Lord."' . . .
If to Christ's Members thou belongest, come
within, cling to the Head. Endure the tares if
thou art wheat, endure the chaff if thou art grain.6
Endure the bad fish within the net if thou art a
good fish. Wherefore before the time of win-
1 Heb. xii. 6. » Gen, iii. 19.
J [On the Antiphon, p. 128, tupra. — C.l
* Al. " if they entered in." i Malt. x. 34.
* Matt. xiii. 30.
nowing dost thou fly away ? Wherefore before
the time of harvest, dost thou root up the corn
also with thyself? Wherefore before thou art
come to the shore, hast thou broken the nets?
" They go abroad, and tell it."
8. " Alt mine enemies whisper against Me
unto the same thing" (ver. 7). Against Me
all unto the same thing. How much better with
me unto the same thing, than against me 7 " unto
the same thing." What is, " Against me unto the
same thing " ? With one counsel, with one con-
spiring. Christ then speaketh unto thee, Ye
consent against Me, consent ye to Me : why
against Me? wherefore not with Me? That
same thing if ye had always had, ye had not
divided you into schisms. For, saith the Apos-
tle, " I beseech you, brethren, that ye all speak
the same thing, and that there be no divis-
ion among you."8 "All mine enemies whis-
per against Me unto the same thing : " against
Me do they " devise evil to Me." To them-
selves rather, for " they have gathered iniquity
to themselves ; " but therefore to Me, because
by their intention they are to be weighed : for
not because to do nothing was in their power,
to do nothing was in their will. For the devil
lusted to extinguish Christ, and Judas would
slay Christ ; yet Christ slain and rising again, we
are made alive, but to the devil and to Judas is
rendered the reward of their evil will, not of our
salvation. . . . The intention wherewith they
spake, not what they spake, did He consider, who
related that they spake evil of Him, " Against
Me they devised evil to Me." And what evil to
Christ, to the Martyrs what evil? All hath God
turned to good.
9. " An ungodly word do they set forth
against Me" (ver. 8). What sort of ungodly
word? Listen to the Head Itself. "Come, let
us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours." 9
Fools ! How shall the inheritance be yours ?
Because ye killed Him? Lo ! ye even killed
Him ; yet shall not the inheritance be yours.
" Shall not He that sleepeth add this also, that
He rise again"? When ye exulted that ye had
slain Him, He slept; for He saith in another
Psalm, " I slept." They raged and would slay
Me ; "I slept." If I had not willed, I had not
even slept. " I slept," because " I have power
to lay down My life, and I have power to take it
again." '° " I laid Me down and slept, and rose
up again." " Rage then the Jews ; be " the earth
given into the hands of the wicked," ,2 be the
flesh left to the hands of persecutors, let them
on wood suspend it, with nails transfix it, with
a spear pierce it. " Shall He that sleepeth, not
add this, that He rise up again ? " Wherc-
t " Than," etc., added from Oxf. MSS.
• 1 Cor. 1. 10. 9 Mark xii. 7.
11 Ps. iii. 5. " Job ix. 24.
1 John x. l3.
Psalm XLI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
131
fore slept He ? Because " Adam is the figure
of Him that was to come." ' And Adam slept,
when out of his side was made Eve.2 Adam in
the figure of Christ, Eve in the figure of the
Church ; whence she was called "the mother of
all living."3 When was Eve created? While
Adam slept. When out of Christ's side flowed
the Sacraments of the Church? While He
slept upon the Cross. . . .
10. "The man of My peace, in whom I
trusted, which did eat of My bread, hath en-
larged his heel against Me " (ver. 9) : hath
raised up his foot against Me : would trample
upon Me. Who is this man of His peace?
Judas. And in him did Christ trust, that He
said, " in whom I trusted " ? Did He not know
him from the beginning? Did He not before
he was born know that he would be? Had He
not said to all His disciples, " I have chosen you
twelve, and one of you is a devil " ? 4 How then
trusted He in him, but that He is in His Mem-
bers, and that because many faithful trusted in
Judas, the Lord transferred this to Himself?
..." The man of My peace, in whom I
trusted, which did eat of My bread." How
showed He him in His Passion? By the words
of His prophecy : by the sop He marked Him
out, that it might appear said of him, " Which
did eat of My bread." 5 Again, when he came
to betray Him, He granted him a kiss,6 that it
might appear said of him, " The man of My
peace."
n." But Thou, O Lord, be merciful unto
Me" (ver. 10). This is the person of a ser-
vant, this is the person of the needy and poor :
for, ' " Blessed is he that understandeth upon
the needy and poor One." See, as it was
spoken, " Be merciful unto Me, and raise Me
up, and I will requite them," so is it done.
For the Jews slew Christ, lest they should lose
their place.8 Christ slain, they lost their place.
Rooted out of the kingdom were they, dispersed
were they. He, raised up, requited them tribu-
lation, He requited them unto admonition, not
yet unto condemnation. For the city wherein
the people raged, as a ramping and a roaring
lion, crying out, " Crucify Him, Crucify Him," 9
the Jews rooted out therefrom, hath now Chris-
tians, by not one Jew is inhabited.10 There is
planted the Church of Christ, whence were
rooted out the thorns of the synagogue. For
truly this fire blazed "as the fire of thorns." "
But the Lord was as a green tree. This said
Rom. v. 14.
* John vi. 70. *
7 [He recurs to ver. I.
9 Luke xxiii. 2:.
2 Gen. ii. at.
John xiii. 26.
-C]
3 Gen. iii. 20.
6 Matt. xxvi. 49.
8 John xi. 48.
10 [Circa A.D. 400. Very noteworthy. Till the middle of our
century only three hundred were permitted to dwell there; now
nearly twenty thousand are said to inhabit Jerusalem. Is it a sign?
Luke xxi. 24. — C.]
11 Ps. cxviii. ja.
Himself, when certain women mourned Christ
as dying. ..." For if they do these things in a
green tree, what shall be done in a dry?" When
can a green tree be consumed by the fire of
thorns ? For they blazed as fire among thorns.
Fire consumeth thorns, but whatsoever green tree
it is applied to, is not easily kindled. . . . Yet
lest ye think that God the Father of Christ could
raise up Christ, that is, the Flesh of His Son,
and that Christ Himself, though He be the Word
equal with the Father, could not raise up His
own Flesh ; hear out of the Gospel, " Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." "
" But," said the Evangelist (lest even after this
we should doubt), " He spake of the temple of
His Body. Raise Me up, and I will requite
them."
1 2. " By this I know that Thou favourest Me,
that Mine enemies shall not triumph over Me "
(ver. 11.) Because the Jews did triumph, when
they saw Christ crucified ; they thought that they
had fulfilled their will to do Him hurt : the fruits
of their cruelty they saw in effect, Christ hanging
on the Cross : they shook their heads, saying,
" If Thou be the Son of God, come down from
the Cross." "3 He came not down, who could ;
His Potency He showed not, but patience taught.
For if, on their saying these things, He had come
down from the Cross, He would have seemed as
it were to yield to them insulting, and not being
able to endure reproach, would have been be-
lieved conquered : more firm remained He upon
the Cross, than they insulting ; fixed was He,
they wavering. For therefore shook they their
heads, because to the true Head they adhered
not. He taught us plainly patience. For might-
ier is that which He did, who would not do
what the Jews challenged. For much mightier
is it to rise from the sepulchre, than to come
down from the Cross. " That Mine enemies
shall not triumph over Me." They triumphed
then at that time. Christ rose again, Christ was
glorified. Now see they in* His Name the human
race converted : now let them insult, now shake
the head : rather now let them fix the head, or
if they shake the head, in wonder and admira-
tion let them shake. . . .
13. " But as for Me, Thou upholdest Me, be-
cause of Mine innocence" (ver. 12). Truly
innocence ; integrity without sin, requiting with-
out debt, scourging without desert. " Thou up-
holdest Me because of Mine innocence, and hast
made Me strong in Thy sight for ever." Thou
hast made Me strong for ever, Thou madest Me
weak for a time : Thou hast made Me strong in
Thy sight, Thou madest Me weak in sight of
men. What then? Praise to Him, glory to
Him. " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel."
12 John ii. 19.
13 Matt, xxvii. 39, 40.
132
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLII.
For He is the God of Israel, our God, the God
of Jacob, the God of the younger son, the
God of the younger people. Let none say, Of
the Jews said He this, I am not Israel ; rather the
Jews are not Israel. For the elder son, he is
the elder people reprobated ; the younger, the
people beloved. " The elder shall serve the
younger :
now is it fulfilled : now, brethren,
the Jews serve us, they are as our satchellers
we studying, they carry our books. Hear where-
in the jews serve us, and not without reason.
. . . With them are the Law and the Prophets,
in which Law, and in which Prophets, Christ is
preached. When we have to do with Pagans,
and show this coming to pass in the Church of
Christ, which before was predicted of the Name
of Christ, of the Head and Body of Christ, lest
they think that we have forged these predictions,
and from things which have happened, as though
they were future, had made them up, we bring
forth the books of the Jews. The Jews forsooth
are our enemies, from an enemy's books convince
we the adversary.3 ... If any enemy clamour
and say, " Ye for yourselves have forged prophe-
cies ; " be the books of the Jews brought forth,
because the elder shall serve the younger.
Therein let them read those predictions, which
now we see fulfilled ; and let us all say, "Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, from everlasting to
everlasting, and all the people shall say, So be
it, So be it."
PSALM XLII.*
i. We have undertaken the exposition of a
Psalm corresponding to your own " longings," on
which we propose to speak to you. For the Psalm
itself begins with a certain pious " longing ; "
and he who sings so, says, " Like as the hart
desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my soul
after Thee, O God" (ver. i). Who is it then
that saith this? It is ourselves, if we be but
willing ! And why ask, who it is other than thy-
self, when it is in th'y power to be the thing
which thou art asking about? It is not however
one individual, but it is " One Body ; " but
" Christ's Body is the Church." 5 Such " long-
ing" indeed is not found in all who enter the
Church : let all however who have " tasted " the
sweetness " of the Lord," 6 and who own in Christ
that for which they have a relish, think that they
are not the only ones ; but that there are such
seeds scattered throughout " the field " of the
Lord, this whole earth : and that there is a cer-
tain Christian unity, whose voice thus speaks,
" Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so
longeth my soul after Thee, O God." And in-
1 Gen. xxv. 13. 3 Capsarfi.
' I Notably with reference to the book of Daniel. See Pusey on
Daniel the Prophet, p. viii. preface, and 1-8, ed Oxford, 1864. — C.l
* Lat. XU. » Col. i. n. » P.. xxxir. 8.
deed it is not ill understood as the cry of those,
who being as yet Catechumens,7 are hastening
to the grace of the holy Font. On which ac-
count too this Psalm is ordinarily 8 chanted on
those occasions, that they may long for the Foun-
tain of remission of sins, even " as the hart for
the water-brooks." Let this be allowed ; and
this meaning retain its place in the Church ; a
place both truthful and sanctioned by usage.'
Nevertheless, it appears to me, my brethren,
that such " a longing " is not fully satisfied even
in the faithful in Baptism : but that haply, if they
know where they are sojourning, and whither
they have to remove from hence, their " long-
ing " is kindled in even greater intensity.
2. The title then of it is, " On the end : a
Psalm for understanding for the sons of Korah."
We have met with the sons of Korah in other
titles of Psalms : IO and remember to have dis-
cussed and stated already the meaning of this
name. Yet we must even now take notice of
this title in such a way, that what we have said
already should be no prejudice against our say-
ing it again : for all were not present in every
place where we said it. Now Korah may have
been, as indeed he was, a certain definite per-
son ; and have had sons, who might be called
" the sons of Korah ; " let us however search
for the secret of which this is the sacrament,
that this name may bring to light the mystery
with which it is pregnant. For there is some
great mystery in the matter that the name " sons
of Korah " is given to Christians. Why " sons
of Korah"? They are "sons of the bride-
groom, sons of Christ."" Why then does
" Korah " stand for Christ? Because " Korah "
is equivalent to " Calvaria." . . . Therefore, the
" sons of the bridegroom," the sons of His Pas-
sion, the sons redeemed by His Blood, the sons
of His Cross, who bear on their forehead that
which His enemies erected on Calvary, are
called " the sons of Korah ; " to them is this
Psalm sung as a Psalm for " understanding."
Let then our " understanding " be roused : and
if the Psalm be sung to us, let us follow it with
our " understanding." . . . Run to the brooks ;
long after the water-brooks. " With God is the
fountain of Life ; " a " fountain " that shall never
be dried up : in His " Light " is a Light that shall
never be darkened. Long thou for this light :
for a certain fountain, a certain light, such as thy
bodily eyes know not ; a light to see which the
inward eye must be prepared ; a fountain, to
drink of which the inward thirst is to be kin-
dled. Run to the fountain ; long for the foun-
tain ; but do it not anyhow, be not satisfied
7 [See Bingham, b. x. cap. 2. Catechised in Lent, to be bap-
tized at Easter. See the treatise on Faith and Works. — C]
8 Solenniter. 9 Et veracem et soUnnem.
10 Later Psalms had been treated before.
11 Matt. ix. 15. Filii sponsi, Lat.
Psalm XLII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
U3
with running like any ordinary animal ; run thou
" like the hart." What is meant by " like the
hart"? Let there be no sloth in thy running ;
run with all thy might : long for the fountain
with all thy might. For we find in " the hart "
an emblem of swiftness.
3. But perhaps Scripture meant us to consider
in the stag not this point only, but another also.
Hear what else there is in the hart. It destroys
serpents,' and after the killing of serpents, it is
inflamed with thirst yet more violent ; having
destroyed serpents, it runs to " the water-
brooks," with thirst more keen than before.
The serpents are thy vices, destroy the serpents
of iniquity ; then wilt thou long yet more for
" the Fountain of Truth." Perhaps avarice
whispers in thine ear some dark counsel, hisses
against the word of God, hisses against the com-
mandment of God. And since it is said to thee,
" Disregard this or that thing," if thou prefer
working iniquity to despising some temporal
good, thou choosest to be bitten by a serpent,
rather than destroy it. Whilst, therefore, thou
art yet indulgent to thy vice, thy covetousness
or thy appetite, when am I to find in thee " a
longing " such as this, that might make thee run
to the water-brooks? . . .
4. There is another point to be observed in
the hart. It is reported of stags . . . that when
they either wander in the herds, or when they
are swimming to reach some other parts of the
earth, that they support the burdens of their
heads on each other, in such a manner as that
one takes the lead, and others follow, resting
their heads upon him, as again others who fol-
low do upon them, and others in succession to
the very end of the herd ; but the one who took
the lead in bearing the burden of their heads,
when tired, returns to the rear, and rests himself
after his fatigue by supporting his head just as
did the others ; by thus supporting what is bur-
densome, each in turn, they both accomplish
their journey, and do not abandon each other.
Are they not a kind of " harts " that the Apos-
tle addresses, saying, " Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ "?2 . . .
5. "My soul is athirst for the living God"
(ver. 2). What I am saying, that "as the hart
panteth after the water- brooks, so longs my
soul after Thee, O God," means this, " My soul
is athirst for the living God." For what is it
athirst ? " When shall I come and appear be-
fore God? " This it is for which I am athirst,
to "come and to appear before Him." I am
athirst in my pilgrimage, in my running; I
shall be filled on my arrival. But "When
shall I come? " And this, which is soon in the
sight of God, is late to our " longing." 3 " When
1 [Sec p. 67, supra. — C]
' Citius Deo, tardum desiderio.
' Gal. vi. a.
shall I come and appear before God ? " This
too proceeds from that " longing," of which in
another place comes that cry, " One thing have
I desired of the Lord ; that will I seek after ;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life." Wherefore so? "That
I may behold " (he saith) " the beauty of the
Lord."'1 "When shall I come and appear
before the Lord?" . . .
6. " My tears have been my meat day and
night, while they daily say unto me, Where is
thy God?" (ver. 3). My tears (he saith) have
been not bitterness, but "my bread." Those
very tears were sweet unto me : being athirst
for that fountain, inasmuch as I was not as yet
able to drink of it, I have eagerly made my
tears my meat. For he said not, " My tears
became my drink," lest he should seem to have
longed for them, as for " the water-brooks : "
but, still retaining that thirst wherewith I burn,
and by which I am hurried away towards the
water-brooks, " My tears became my meat,"
whilst I am not yet there.' And assuredly he
does but the more thirst for the water-brooks
from making his tears his meat. ..." And they
daily say unto me, Where is thy God?" For
if a Pagan should say this to me, I cannot re-
tort it upon him, saying, " Where is thine ? "
inasmuch as he points with his finger to some
stone, and says, " Lo, there is my God ! "
When I have laughed at the stone, and he who
pointed to it has been put to the blush, he raises
his eyes from the stone, looks up to heaven, and
perhaps says, pointing his finger to the Sun, "Be-
hold there my God ! Where, I pray, is your
God?" He has found something to point out
to the eyes of the flesh ; whereas I, on my part,
not that I have not a God to show to him, can-
not show him what he has no eyes to see. For
he indeed could point out to my bodily eyes his
God, the Sun ; but what eyes hath he to which
I might point out the Creator of the Sun? . . .
7. " I thought on these things, and poured
out my soul above myself"5 (ver. 4). When
would my soul attain to that object of its search,
which is " above my soul," if my soul were not
to " pour itself out above itself " ? For were it
to rest in itself, it would not see anything else
beyond itself; and in seeing itself, would not, for
all that, see God. Let then my insulting ene-
mies now say, "Where is thy God?" aye, let
them say it ! I, so long as I do not " see," so
long as my happiness is postponed, make my
tears my " bread day and night." Let them
4 Ps. xxvii. 4. 5 Differor.
6 Super me ; Vulgate, in me. Compare Aristotle, Eth. ix. 9:
voovfj-tv OTi pooO/ift" to 6' alcddvl&dai r/ code, (m aiodavOHtOa rj
voovtitv, [euTi To altr&6.v«j8a.i ij vot'iv] OTt ccrjuef ■ to yap t'vai %v
to ai<r$av«rdai it voelv, k. r. A. " By the exercise of the powers
of sensation and of thought, we become conscious of the exercise of
those powers of sensation and of thought, and thereby conscious
of our own being, for being is implied in the exercise of the powers of
thought and sensation."
134
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLII.
still say, " Where is thy God ? " I s;ek my God
in every corporeal nature, terrestrial or celestial,
and find Him not : I seek His Substance in my
own soul, and I find it not, yet still I have
thought on these things, and wishing to " see
the invisible things of my God, being under-
stood by the things made," ■ I have poured forth
my soul above myself, and there remains no
longer any being for me to attain to, save my
God. For it is " there " is the " house of my
God." His dwelling-place is above my soul;
from thence He beholds me ; from thence He
created me ; from thence He directs me and
provides for me ; from thence he appeals to *
me, and calls me, and directs me ; leads me in
the way, and to the end of my way .3 . . .
8. For when I was " pouring out my soul above
myself," in order to reach my God, why did I
do so? " For I will go into the place of Thy
Tabernacle." For I should be in error were I to
seek for my God without " the place of His taber-
nacle." " For I will go into the place of Thy won-
derful tabernacle, even unto the house of God."
" I will go," he says, " into the place of the
wonderful tabernacle, even unto the house of
God ! " For there are already many things that
I admire in " the tabernacle." See how great
wonders I admire in the tabernacle ! For God's
tabernacle on earth is the faithful ; I admire in
them the obedience of even their bodily mem-
bers : that in them " Sin does not reign so that
they should obey its lusts ; neither do they yield
their members instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin ; but unto the living God in good
works." 4 I admire the sight of the bodily mem-
bers warring in the service of the soul that
serves God. . . . And wonderful though the tab-
ernacle be, yet when I come to " the house of
God," I am even struck dumb with astonish-
ment. Of that " house " he speaks in another
Psalm, after he had put a certain abstruse and
difficult question to himself (viz., why is it that
it generally goes well with the wicked on earth,
and ill with the good?), saying, "I thought to
know this ; it is too painful for me, until I go
into the sanctuary of God, and understand of the
last things." s For it is there, in the sanctuary
of God, in the house of God, is the fountain
of " understanding." There he " understood of
the last things ; " and solved the question con-
cerning the prosperity of the unrighteous, and
the sufferings of the righteous. How does he
solve it ? Why, that the wicked, when reprieved
here, are reserved for punishments without end ;
and the good when they suffer here, are being
tried in order that they may in the end obtain
the inheritance. And it was in the sanctuary of
God that he understood this, and " understood
' Rom. i. K>. * Excitat. J Duett . . . ptrducit.
* Rom. vi. 12, 13. » Pi. lxxiii. 16, 17.
of the last things." . . . For he tells us of his
progress, and of his guidance thither ; as if we
had been saying, " You are admiring the tab-
ernacle here on earth ; how came you to the
sanctuary of the house of God?" he says, "In
the voice of joy and praise ; the sound of keep-
ing holiday." Here, when men keep festival
simply for their own indulgence, it is their
custom to place musical instruments, or to
station a chorus of singers,6 before their houses,
or any kind of music that serves and allures to
wantonness. And when these are heard, what
do we passers by say? " What is going on here ? "
And we are told in answer, that it is some festi-
val. " It is a birthday that is being celebrated "
(say they), " there is a marriage here ;" that those
songs may not appear out of place, but the lux-
urious indulgence » may be excused by the fes-
tive occasion. In the " house of God " there is
a never-ending festival : for there it is not an
occasion celebrated once, and then to pass
away.8 The angelic choir makes an eternal
" holiday : " the presence of God's face, joy
that never fails. This is a " holiday " of such a
kind, as neither to be opened by any dawn, nor
terminated by any evening. From that ever-
lasting perpetual festivity, a certain sweet and
melodious strain strikes on the ears of the
heart, provided only the world do not drown
the sounds. As he walks in this tabernacle, and
contemplates God's wonderful works for the re-
demption of the faithful, the sound of that fes-
tivity charms his ears, and bears the " hart "
away to " the water-brooks."
9. But seeing, brethren, so long as "we are
at home in this body, we are absent from the
Lord ; " 9 and " the corruptible body presseth
down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth
down the mind that museth on many things ; " '°
even though we have some way or other dis-
persed the clouds, by walking as "longing " leads
us on, and for a brief while have come within
reach of that sound, so that by an effort we may
catch something from that " house of God," yet
through the burden, so to speak, of our infirmity,
we sink back to our usual level, and relapse to
our ordinary state." And just as there we found
b Symphoniacos. 7 Lnxurt'a. Most mss. Itrtitia," the mirth."
8 Non enim aliquid ibi celebratur et transit.
I 2 Cor. v. 6. ,0 Wisd. ix. 15.
II Compare Wordsworth's Excursion, " Despondency Cor-
rected," p. 120: —
" "Tis a thing impossible to frame
Conceptions equal to the soul's desires,
And the most difficult of tasks to keep
Heights which the soul is competent to gain.
Man is of dust ; ethereal hopes are his,
Which, when they should sustain themselves aloft,
Want due consistence; like a pillar of smoke
That with majestic energy from earth
Rises, but having reach d the thinner air
Melts and dissolves, and is no longer seen.'*
Compare also p. 122: —
" Alas ! the endowment of immortal power
Is match'd unequally with custom, time.
And domineering faculties of sense
In all ... in most with superadded foes," etc.
Psalm XLII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
'35
cause for rejoicing, so here there will not be
wanting an occasion for sorrow. For that hart
that made " tears " its " bread day and night,"
borne along by " longing to the water-brooks "
(that is, to the spiritual delights of God),
" pouring forth his soul above himself," that he
may attain to what is " above " his own soul,
walking towards " the place of the wonderful
tabernacle, even unto the house of God," and
led on by the sweetness of that inward spiritual ■
sound to feel contempt for all outward things,
and be borne on to things spiritual, is but a
mortal man still ; is still groaning here, still
bearing about the frailty of flesh, still in peril in
the midst of the " offences " 2 of this world. He
therefore glances back to himself,3 as if he were
coming from that world ; and says to himself,
now placed in the midst of these sorrows, com-
paring these with the things, to see which he
had entered in there, and after seeing which he
had come forth from thence ;
" Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and
why dost thou disquiet me?" (ver. 5). Lo, we
have just now been gladdened by certain inward
delights : with the mind's eye we have been able
to behold, though but with a momentary glance,
something not susceptible of change : why dost
thou still " disquiet me, why art thou " still "cast
down"? For thou dost not doubt of thy God.
For now thou art not without somewhat to say
to thyself, in answer to those who say, " Where
is thy God?" I have now had the perception
of something that is unchangeable ; why dost
thou disquiet me still?
" Hope in God." Just as if his soul was
silently replying to him, " Why do I disquiet thee,
but because I am not yet there, where that delight
is, to which I was, as it were, rapt for a moment?4
Am I already ' drinking ' from this ' fountain '
with nothing to fear?" . . . Still " Hope in God,"
is his answer to the soul that disquiets him, and
would fain account for her disquiet from the evils
with which this world abounds. In the mean while
dwell in hope : for " hope that is seen is not
hope ; but if we hope for that we see not, then
do we with patience wait for it."s
10. " Hope in God." Why " hope " ? " For
I will confess unto Him." What wilt thou
" confess " ? " My God is the saving health of
my countenance." 6 My " health " (my sal-
vation) cannot be from myself; this it is that I
will say, that I will " confess." It is my God
that is " the saving health of my countenance."
For to account for his fears, in the midst of those
1 [ntclligibilis, answering to the Greek vorjTou.
a Matt, xviii. 7.
3 . . . Inter scandala
Respexit ergo ad se.
4 Per transitnm. 5 Rom. viii. 24, 25.
6 E. V. " I shall yet give Him thanks for the help of His counte-
nance."
things, which he now knows, having come after a
sort to the " understanding " of them,7 he has
been looking behind him again in anxiety, lest
the enemy be stealing upon him : he cannot yet
say, " I am made whole every whit." For having
but " the first-fruits of the Spirit, we groan within
ourselves ; waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of the body."8 When that " health "
(that salvation) is perfected in us, then shall we
be living in the house of God for ever, and
praising for ever Him to whom it was said,
" Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, they
will be praising Thee world without end." » This
is not so yet, because the salvation which is
promised, is not as yet in being ; but it is " in
hope " that I confess unto God, and say, " My
God is the saving health of my countenance."
For it is " in hope " that " we are saved ; but
hope that is seen, is not hope." . . .
n." My soul is disquieted on account of my-
self" IO (ver. 6). Is it disquieted on account of
God ? It is on my own account it is disquieted.
By the Unchangeable it was revived ; it is by
the changeable it is disquieted. I know that the
righteousness of God remaineth ; whether my
own will remain stedfast, I know not. For I am
alarmed by the Apostle's saying, " Let him that
thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." "
Therefore since " there is no soundness in me
for myself," there is no hope either for me of
myself. " My soul is disquieted on account of
myself." ..." Therefore I remember Thee, O
Lord, from the land of Jordan, and from the little
hill of Hermon." From whence did I remember
thee? From the " little hill," and from the " land
of Jordan." Perhaps from Baptism, where the re-
mission of sins is given. For no one runs to the
remission of sins, except he who is dissatisfied with
himself; no one runs to the remission of sins,
but he who confesses himself a sinner ; no one
confesses himself a sinner, except by humbling
himself before God. Therefore it is from " the
land of Jordan I have remembered thee, and
from the hill ; " observe, not " of the great
hill," that thou mayest make of the " little hill "
a great one : for " whoso exalteth himself shall
be abased, and whoso humbleth himself shall be
exalted." If you would also ask the meanings of
the names, Jordan means " their descent." De-
scend then, that thou mayest be " lifted up : "
be not lifted up, lest thou be cast down. " And
the little hill of Hermon." Hermon means
" anathematizing." Anathematize thyself, by
being displeased with thyself; for if thou art
pleased with thyself, God will be displeased with
thee. Because then God gives us all good things,
because He Himself is good, not because we are
worthy of it ; because He is merciful, not because
7 Utcunque iniellecta cognotcit.
9 Ps. lxxxiv. 4. '<> E. V. " within."
8 Rom. viii. 23.
11 1 Cor. x 12.
136
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLII.
we have in anything deserved it ; it is from " the
land of Jordan, and from Hermon," that I re-
member thee. And because he so remembers
with humility, he shall earn his exaltation to
fruition,' for he is not " exalted " in himself, who
" glories in the Lord."
12. "Deep calleth unto deep with the voice
of thy water-spouts"2 (ver. 7). I may perhaps
finish the Psalm, aided as I am by your atten-
tion, whose fervour I perceive. As for your
fatigue in hearing, I am not greatly solicitous,
since you see me also, who speak, toiling in the
heat of these exertions.' Assuredly it is from
your seeing me labouring, that you labour with
me : for I am labouring not for myself, but for
you. " Deep calleth unto deep with the voice
of thy water-spouts." It was God whom he
addressed, who " remembered him from the
land of Jordan and Hermon." It was in wonder
and admiration he spake this : " Abyss calleth
unto abyss with the voice of Thy water-spouts."
What abyss is this that calls, and to what other
abyss? Justly, because the "understanding"4
spoken of is an " abyss." For an " abyss " is a
depth that cannot be reached or comprehended ;
and it is principally applied to a great body of
water. For there is a " depth," a " profound," the
bottom of which cannot be reached by sounding.
Furthermore, it is said in a certain passage.5
"Thy judgments are a mighty abyss," Scrip-
ture meaning to suggest that the judgments of
God are incomprehensible. What then is the
" abyss " that calls, and to what other " abyss "
does it call? If by "abyss" we understand a
great depth, is not man's heart, do you not
suppose, " an abyss " ? For what is there more
profound than that " abyss " ? Men may speak,
may be seen by the operations of their members,
may be heard speaking in conversation : but
whose thought is penetrated, whose heart seen
into? What he is inwardly engaged on, what he
is inwardly capable of,6 what he is inwardly doing
or what purposing, what he is inwardly wishing
to happen, or not to happen, who shall compre-
hend ? I think an " abyss " may not unreaspn-
ably be understood of man, of whom it is said
elsewhere, " Man shall come to a deep heart,
and God shall be exalted."' If man then is
an "abyss," in what way doth "abyss" call on
" abyss " ? Does man " call on " man as God is
called upon? No, but " calls on " is equivalent
to " calls to him." For it was said of a certain
person, he calls on death ; 8 that is, lives in such
a way as to be inviting death ; for there is no
man at all who puts up a prayer, and calls ex-
pressly on death : but men by evil-living invite
1 Exaltatut fier/rui merebitur.
2 Cataractarutn. 3 Ita in his laborious sudare.
< In the title of the Psalm. S Ps. xxxvi. 6, 7.
6 "Quid \n\mgerat. quid possit." 7 Ps, Uiv. 6. 7.
• Wfsd. i. 16. ' 7
death. "Deep9 calls on deep," then, is, "man
calls to man." Thus is it wisdom is learnt, and
thus faith, when " man calls to man." The holy
preachers of God's word call on the " deep : "
are they not themselves " a deep " also? . . .
1 3. " Deep calleth to deep with the voice of
Thy water-spouts.'' I, who tremble all over,
when my soul was disquieted on account of my-
self, feared greatly on account of Thy "judg-
ments." . . . Are those judgments slight ones?
They are great ones, severe, hard to bear ; but
would they were all. " Deep calls to deep with
the voice of Thy water-spouts," in that Thou
threatenest, Thou sayest, that there is another
condemnation in store even after those suffer-
ings. " Deep calls on deep with the voice of
Thy water-spouts." " Whither then shall I go
from Thy presence? And whither shall I flee
from Thy Spirit? " seeing that deep calls to deep,
and after those sufferings severer ones are to be
dreaded.
14. " All Thy overhangings ,0 and Thy waves
are come upon me." The " waves " in what I
already feel, the " overhangings " in that Thou
denouncest. All my sufferings are Thy waves ;
all Thy denouncements of judgments are Thy
"overhangings." In the "waves" that deep
"calleth ; " in the "overhangings" is the other
" deep " which it " calls to." In this that I
suffer are all Thy waves ; in the severer punish-
ment that Thou threatenest, all Thy " overhang-
ings " are come unto me. For He who threat-
ens does not let His judgments fall upon us, but
keeps them suspended over us." But inasmuch
as Thou sittest at liberty, I have thus spoken
unto my soul. " Hope in God : for I will con-
fess unto Him. My God is the saving health
of my countenance." The more numerous my
sufferings, the sweeter will be Thy mercy.
15. Therefore follows : "The Lord will com-
mend His loving-kindness in the day-time ; and
in the night-time will He declare it " ,2 (ver. 8).
In tribulation no man has leisure to hear : at-
tend, when it is well with you ; hear, when it
is well with you ; learn, when you are in tran-
quillity, the discipline of wisdom, and store
up the word of God as you do food. For in
tribulation every one must be profited by what
he heard in the time of security. For in pros-
perity God " commends to thee His mercy," in
case thou serve Him faithfully, for He frees thee
from tribulation ; but it is " in the night " only
that He " declares " His mercy to thee, which
He " commended " to thee by day. When trib-
ulation shall actually come, He will not leave
thee destitute of His help ; He will show thee
9 Abyssum invocat.
10 Suspensiones; Vulgate, excelsa; E. V. " billows."
11 Non premit sed suspendit. Perhaps his idea is ra:!ier, " im-
pends us over the abyss."
« E. V, " In the night-time His song shall be with me."
PSAL-M XLII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
137
that which He commended to thee in the day-
time is true. For it is written in a certain pas-
sage, " The mercy of the Lord is seasonable ■ in
the time of affliction, as clouds of rain in the
time of drought." "The Lord hath com-
mended His loving-kindness in the day-time,
and in the night will He declare it." He does
not show that He is thine Helper, unless tribula-
tion come, from whence thou must be rescued
by Him who promised it to thee "in the day-
time." Therefore we are warned to be like " the
ant." For just as worldly prosperity is signified
by " the day," adversity by the night, so again in
another way worldly prosperity is expressed by
" the summer," adversity by the winter. And
what is it that the ant does? She lays up in
summer what will be useful to her in winter.
Whilst therefore it is summer, whilst it is well
with you, whilst you are in tranquillity, hear the
wor-d of the Lord. For how can it be that in
the midst of these tempests of the world, you
should pass through the whole of that sea, with-
out suffering? How could it happen? To what
mortal's lot has it fallen ? If even it has been
the lot of any, that very calm is more to be
dreaded. " The Lord hath commended His lov-
ing-kindness in the day-time, and in the night-
time will He declare it." ..." There is with me
prayer unto the God of my life." This I make
my b.isiness here ; I who am the " hart thirsting
and longing for the water-brooks," calling to
mind the sweetness of that strain, by which I
was led on through the tabernacle even to the
house of God ; whilst this " corruptible body
presseth down the soul," 2 there is yet with me
" prayer unto the God of my life." For in order
to making supplication unto God, I have not
to buy aught from places beyond the sea ; or in
order that He may hear me, have I to sail to
bring from a distance frankincense and perfumes,
or have I to bring " calf or ram from the flock."
There is " with me prayer to the God of my
life." I have within a victim to sacrifice ; I have
within an incense to place on the altar ; I have
within a sacrifice wherewith to propitiate my
God. " The sacrifice of God is a troubled
spirit." What sacrifice of a " troubled spirit " I
have within, hear.
r6. "I will say unto God, Thou art my lifter up.
Why hast Thou forgotten me? " (ver. 9). For I
am suffering here, even as if Thou hadst forgotten
me. But Thou art trying me, and I know that
Thou dost but put off, not take utterly from me,
what Thou hast promised me. But yet, " Why hast
Thou forgotten me ? " So cried our Head also, as
if speaking in our name. " My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?"3 I will say unto
1 Ecclus. xxxv. 26. 'ilpaiov «A«os; Vulgate, Speciosa miseri-
cord in.
2 Wisd. ix. 15.
3 Matt, xxvii. 46; Ps. xxii. i.
God, " Thou art my lifter up ; why hast Thou
forgotten me?"
17." Why hast Thou rejected me?"* " Reject-
ed " me, that is to say, from that height of the ap-
prehension of the unchangeable Truth. " Why
hast Thou rejected me?" Why, when already
longing for those things, have I been cast down to
these, by the weight s and burden of my iniquity?
This same voice in another passage said, " I said
in my trance " 6 (i.e., in my rapture, when he had
seen some great thing or other), " I said in my
trance, I am cast out of the sight of Thine eyes."
For he compared these things in which he found
himself, to those toward which he had been raised ;
and saw himself cast out far " from the sight of
God's eyes," as he speaks even here, " Why hast
Thou rejected me? Why go I mourning, while
mine enemy troubleth me, while he breaketh my
bones? " Even he, my tempter, the devil ; while
offences are everywhere on the increase, because
of the abundance of which " the love of many is
waxing cold." 7 When we see the strong members
of the Church generally giving way to the causes
of offence, does not Christ's body say, " The
enemy breaketh my bones " ? For it is the strong
members that are " the bones ; " and sometimes
even those that are strong sink under their temp-
tations. For whosoever of the body of Christ
considers this, does he not exclaim, with the
voice of Christ's Body, " Why hast Thou rejected
me? Why go I mourning, while mine enemy
troubleth me, while he breaketh my bones?"
You may see not my flesh merely, but even
my " bones." To see those who were thought to
have some stability, giving way under tempta-
tions, so that the rest of the weak brethren despair
when they see those who are strong succumbing ;
how great, my brethren, are the dangers !
18. "They who trouble me cast me in the
teeth." Again that voice ! " While they say
daily unto me, Where is thy God?" (ver. 10).
And it is principally in the temptations of the
Church they say this, " Where is thy God ? " How
much was this cast in the teeth of the Martyrs !
Those men so patient and courageous for the
name of Christ, how often was it said to them,
" Where is your God ? " " Let Him deliver you,
if He can." For men saw their torments out-
wardly ; they did not inwardly behold their
crowns ! " They who trouble me cast me in the
teeth, while they say daily unto me, Where is thy
God?" And on this account, seeing "my soul
is disquieted on account of myself," what else
should I say unto it than those words :
" Why art thou cast down, O my soul ; and
why dost thou disquiet me? " (ver. n). And, as
* Ut quid me repulisti. Neither in the Vulgate nor in our
version.
3 Gravedine.
6 In ecstasi med. Ps. xxxi. 22. E. V. " in my haste."
1 Matt. xxiv. 12.
138
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIII.
it seems to answer, " Wouldest thou not have me
disquiet thee, placed as I am here in so great evils ?
Wouldest thou have me not disquiet thee, panting
as I am after what is good, thirsting and labour-
ing as I am for it ? " What should I say,
but,
" Hope thou in God ; for I will yet confess
unto Him " (ver. n). He states the very words
of that confession ; he repeats the grounds on
which he fortifies his hope. " He is the health
of my countenance, and my God."
PSALM XLIII.'
1. This Psalm is a short one ; it satisfies the
mental cravings of the hearers, without imposing
too severe a trial on the hunger of those fasting.2
Let our soul feed upon it ; our soul, which he who
sings in this Psalm, speaks of as " cast down ; "
cast down, I suppose, either in consequence of
some fast, or rather in consequence of some
hunger he was in. For fasting is a voluntary
act ; being an-hungered is an involuntary thing.
That which is an-hungered, is the Church, is the
Body of Christ : and that " Man " who is extend-
ed throughout the whole world, of which the Head
is above, the limbs below : it is His voice which
ought by this time to be perfectly known, and
perfectly familiar, to us, in all the Psalms ; now
chanting joyously, now sorrowing ; now rejoicing
in hope, now signing at its actual state, even as
if it were our own. We need not then dwell long
on pointing out to you, who is the speaker here :
let each one of us be a member of Christ's Body ;
and he will be speaker here. . . .
2. "Judge me, O Lord, and separate my cause
from the ungodly nation " (ver. i). I do not
dread Thy judgment, because I know Thy mercy.
" Judge me, O God," he cries. Now, meanwhile,
in this state of pilgrimage, Thou dost not yet
separate my place, because I am to live together
with the " tares " even to the time of the " har-
vest : " Thou dost not as yet separate my rain
from theirs ; my light from theirs : " separate my
cause." Let a difference be made between him
who believes in Thee, and him who believes not
in Thee. Our infirmity is the same; but our
consciences not the same : our sufferings the
same ; but our longings not the same. " The
desire of the ungodly shall perish," 3 but as to
the desire of the righteous, we might well doubt,
if He were not "sure" who promised. The
object of our desires is He Himself, who prom-
iseth : He will give us Himself, because He has
already given Himself to us ; He will give Himself
in His immortality to us then immortal, even
' Lat. XLII.
2 Vrntribni. It is noted that this was an afternoon sermon on
a fast-day.
J l'». cxii. 14.
because He gave Himself in His mortality to us
when mortal. . . .
3. And since patience is needful in order to
endure, until the harvest, a certain distinction
without separation,4 if we may so speak (for
they are together with us, and therefore not yet
separated ; the tares however being still tares, and
the corn still corn, and therefore they are already
distinct) ; since then a kind of strength s is need-
ful, which must be implored of Him who bids us
to be strong, and without whose making us strong,
we should not be what He bids us to be ; of Him
who said, " He that endures unto the end shall
be saved," 6 lest the soul's powers should be im-
paired in consequence of her ascribing any
strength to herself, he subjoins immediately,
" For Thou, O God, art my strength : why hast
Thou cast me off, and why go I mourning, while
the enemy harasseth me?" (ver. 2). I go
mourning : the enemy is harassing me with daily
temptations : inspiring either some unlawful love,
or some ungrounded cause of fear ; and the soul
that fights against both of them, though not
taken prisoner by them, yet being in danger from
them, is contracted with sorrow, and says unto
God, "Why?"
Let her then ask of Him, and hear "Why?"
For she is in the Psalm enquiring the cause of
her dejection ; saying, " Why hast Thou cast me
off? and why go I mourning?" Let her hear
from Isaiah ; let the lesson which has just been
read, suggest itself to her. " The spirit shall go
forth from me, and every breath have I made.
For iniquity have I a little afflicted him ; I hid
my face from him, and he departed from me
sorrowful in the ways of his heart." 7 Why
then didst thou ask, " Why hast Thou cast me
off, and why go I mourning?" Thou hast
hearH, it was " for iniquity." " Iniquity " is the
cause of thy mourning ; let " Righteousness " be
the cause of thy rejoicing ! Thou wouldest sin ;
and yet thou wouldest fain not suffer ; so that it
was too little for thee to be thyself unrighteous,
without also wishing Him to be unrighteous, in
that thou wouldest fain not be punished by Him.
Consider a speech of a better kind in another
Psalm. " It is good for me that Thou hast
humbled me, that I might learn Thy righteous-
nesses."8 By being lifted up, I had learned my
own iniquities ; let me by being " humbled," learn
" Thy righteousnesses." " Why go I mourning,
while the enemy harasses me?" Thou corn-
plainest of the enemy. It is true he does harass
thee ; but it was thou didst "give place"9 to him.
And even now there is a course open to thee ;
choose the course of prudence ; admit thy King,
shut the tyrant out.
4 Q'tandam indiscretam discretionem.
* Fortitudine. 6 Matt. xxiv. 31.
• Ps. cxix. 71. 9 Eph. iv. 37.
7 Isa. lvii. 16, 17.
Psalm XLIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
139
4. But in order that she may do this, hear
what she says, what she supplicates, what she
prays for. Pray thou for what thou hearest ;
pray for it when thou hearest it ; let these words
be the voice of us all : " O send out Thy Light
and Thy Truth. They have led me, and brought
me on unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy Taber-
nacles " (ver. 3). For that very ''Light" and
" Truth " are indeed two in name ; the reality
expressed is but One. For what else is the
"Light" of God, except the "Truth" of God?
Or what else is the " Truth " of God, except the
" Light " of God ? And the on,e Person of
Christ is both of these. " I am the Light of the
world : he that believeth on Me, shall not walk
in darkness." " I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life." ' He is Himself" the Light : " He is Him-
self " the Truth." Let Him come then and
rescue us, and " separate at once our cause
from the ungodly nation ; let Him deliver us
from the deceitful and unjust man," let him
separate the wheat from the tares, for at the
time of harvest He will Himself send His Angels,
that they may " gather out of His kingdom all
things that offend," 2 and cast them into flaming
fire, while they gather together the corn into the
garner. He will send out His " Light," and His
" Truth ; " for that they have already " brought
us and led us to His holy hill, and into His
Tabernacles." We possess the " earnest ;"'we
hope for the prize. " His holy Hill " is His
holy Church. It is that mountain which, ac-
cording to Daniel's vision, * grew from a very
small " stone," till it crushed the kingdoms of
the earth ; and grew to such a size, that it " filled
the face of the earth." This is the " hill," from
which he tells us that his prayer was heard, who
says, " I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and
He heard me out of His holy hill." 5 Let no one
of those that are without that mountain, hope to
be heard unto eternal life. For many are heard
in their prayers for many things. Let them not
congratulate themselves6 on being heard; the
devils were heard in their prayer, that they
might be sent into the swine. Let us desire to
be heard unto eternal life, by reason of our
longing, through which we say, " Send out Thy
Light and Thy Truth." » That is a " Light "
which requires the eye of the heart. For
" Blessed " (He saith) " are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God." 8 We are now on His Hill,
that is, in His Church, and in His Tabernacle.
The " tabernacle " is for persons sojourning ; the
house, for those dwelling in one community.9
The tabernacle is also for those who are both
from home, and also in a state of warfare. When
1 John viii. 12, xiv. 6. 2 Matt. xiii. a
3 Pignut. 4 Pan. ii. 35. 5 Ps. iii. 4.
6 Siiiplaudant. ? Matt. viii. 31, 33. 8 Malt. v. 8.
9 Cohabitantium,
thou hearest of a tabernacle, form a notion of a
war ; guard against an enemy. But what shall
the house be? " Blessed are they that dwell in
Thine house : they will be alway praising Thee." '°
5. Now then that we have been led on even to
" the Tabernacle," and are placed on " His holy
Hill," what hope do we carry with us?
" Then will I go in unto the Altar of God "
(ver. 4). For there is a certain invisible Altar
on high, which the unrighteous man approaches
not. To that Altar he alone draws nigh, who
draws nigh to this one without cause to fear.
There he shall find his Life, who in this one
" separates his cause." "And I will go in unto the
Altar of God." From His holy Hill, and from
His Tabernacle, from His Holy Church, I will
go in unto the Altar of God on High. What
manner of Sacrifice is there? He himself who
goeth in is taken for a burnt-offering. " I will
go in unto the Altar of God." What is the mean-
ing of what he says, " The Altar of my God " ?
" Unto God, who makes glad my youth."
Youth signifies newness : just as if he said, " Unto
God, who makes glad my newness." It is He
who makes glad my newness, who hath filled my
old estate" with mourning. For now "I go
mourning " in oldness, then shall " I stand," ex-
ulting in newness !
" Yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O
God my God." What is the meaning of " prais-
ing on the harp," and praising on the psaltery?
For he does not always do so with the harp, nor
always with the psaltery. These two instruments
of the musicians have each a distinct meaning of
their own, worthy of our consideration and notice.
They are both borne in the hands, and played by
the touch ; and they stand for certain bodily
works of ours. Both are good, if one knows how
to play the psaltery,12 or to play the harp.'3 But
since the psaltery is that instrument which has
the shell '4 (i.e. that drum, that hollow piece of
wood, by straining on which '5 the chords re-
sound) on the upper part of it, whereas the harp
has that same concave sounding-board on the
lower part, there is to be a distinction made be-
tween our works, when they are " upon the harp,"
when " on the psaltery : " both however are ac-
ceptable to God, and grateful to His ear. When
we do anything according to God's Command-
ments, obeying His commands and hearkening
to Him, that we may fulfil His injunctions, when
we are active and not passive, it is the psaltery
that is playing. For so also do the Angels : for
they have nothing to suffer. But when we suffer
anything of tribulation, of trials, of offences on
this earth (as we suffer only from the inferior part
of ourselves ; i.e. from the fact that we are mor-
tal, that we owe somewhat of tribulation to our
10 Ps. Ixxxiv. 4.
13 Citkarizare.
" Vttui-tattm.
'< Testudinem.
>2 Psallere.
*3 Cut injiitcntes.
140
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIV.
original cause,' and also from the fact of our suf-
fering much from those who are not " above ") ;
this is " the harp." For there rises a sweet strain
from that part of us which is " below : " we " suf-
fer," and we strike the psaltery,2 or shall I rather
say we sing and we strike the harp. . . .
6. And again, in order that he may draw the
sound from that sounding-board below, he ad-
dresses his soul : he says, " Why art thou sorrow-
ful, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me ? "
(ver. 5). I am in tribulations, in weariness,3
in mourning, " Why dost thou disquiet me, O
my soul ? " Who is the speaker, to whom is
he speaking? That it is the soul to which he is
speaking, everybody knows : for it is obvious :
the appeal is addressed to it directly : " Why art
thou sorrowful, O my soul, and why dost thou
disquiet me ? " The question is as to the speaker.
It is not the flesh addressing the soul, surely,
since the flesh cannot speak without the soul.
For it is more appropriate for the soul to address
the flesh, than for the flesh to address the soul. . . .
We perceive then that we have a certain part, in
which is " the image of God ; " viz. the mind and
reason.4 It was that same mind that prayed for
"God's Light" and " God's Truth." It is the
same mind by which we apprehend 5 right and
wrong : it is by the same that we discern truth
from falsehood. It is this same that we call
"understanding;" which "understanding," in-
deed, is wanting to the brutes. And this " un-
derstanding " whoever neglects in himself, and
holds it in less account than the other parts of
his nature, and casts it off, just as if he had it not,
is addressed in the Psalm, " Be ye not as the
horse and the mule, which have no understand-
ing." 6 It is our " understanding " then that is
addressing our soul. The latter is withered away
from tribulations, worn out in anguish/ made
" sorrowful " in temptations, fainting in toils.
The mind, catching a glimpse of Truth above,
would fain rouse her spirits, and she says, "Why
art thou sorrowful, O my soul?" . . .
7. These expressions, brethren, are safe ones :
but yet be watchful in good works. Touch
" the psaltery," by obeying the Commandments ;
touch the harp, by patiently enduring your suf-
ferings. You have heard from Isaiah, " Break
thy bread to the hungry ; " 8 think not that fast-
ing by itself is sufficient. Fasting chasteneth
thine own self: it does not refresh others. Thy
distress will profit thee, if thou affordest comfort9
to others. See, thou hast denied thyself; to
« Prima nostra causa. He seems to mean our original from
Adam.
« PsalUmul. i At. "anguishes."
* T. Aquin. Prolog ad. I. II. Per imarmem Dei signincatur
(sicut Damascen. dicu), intcllcctualc, rt arbitrio liberutn; et per
se fijtestativnm.
* Cafimus. 6 ps. xxxii. 9.
7 Some Mss. lavguoribus. 8 Isa. lviii. 7.
9 Latitudinetn.
whom wilt thou give that of which thou hast
deprived thyself? Where wilt thou bestow what
thou hast denied thyself? How many poor may
be filled '° by the breakfast " we '2 have this day
given up ? Fast in such a way that thou mayest
rejoice, that thou hast breakfasted, while another
has been eating ; fast on account of thy prayers,
that thou mayest be heard in them. For He
says in that passage, " Whilst thou art yet speak-
ing I will say, Here I am," '3 provided thou wilt
with cheerful mind " break thy bread to the
hungry." For generally this is done by men
reluctantly and with murmurs, to rid themselves
of the wearisome importunity of the beggar, not
to refresh the bowels of him that is needy. But
it is " a cheerful giver " that " God loves." '4 If
thou givest thy bread reluctantly, thou hast lost
both the bread, and the merit of the action.
Do it then from the heart : that He " who seeth
in secret," 's may say, " whilst thou art yet
speaking. Here I am." How speedily are the
prayers of those received, who work righteous-
ness ! And this is man's righteousness in this
life, fasting, alms, and prayer. Wouldest thou
have thy prayer fly upward to God ? Make for
it those two wings of alms and fasting. Such
may God's "Light" and God's "Truth" find
us, that He may find us without cause for fear,
when He comes to free us from death, who has
already come to undergo death for us. Amen.
PSALM XLIV.16
1 . This Psalm is addressed " to the sons of
Korah," as its title shows. Now Korah is
equivalent to the word baldness; '7 and we find
in the Gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ was
crucified in " the place of a skull." ,8 It is clear
then that this Psalm is sung to the " sons of His
' Passion.' " Now we have on this point a most
certain and most evident testimony from the
Apostle Paul ; because that at the time when
the Church was suffering under the persecutions
of the Gentiles, he quoted from hence a verse,
to insert by way of consolation, and encourage-
ment to patience. For that which he inserted
in his Epistle, is said here : " For Thy sake are
we killed all the day long ; we are counted as
sheep for the slaughter." "> Let us then hear in
this Psalm the voice of the Martyrs ; and see
how good is the cause which the voice of the
Martyrs pleads, saying, "For Thy sake," etc. . . .
2. The title then is not simply "To the sons
of Korah," but, "For understanding, to the
sons of Korah." This is the case also with that
Psalm, the first verse of which the Lord Himself
10 Saginare. n Prandinm. I2 Al. "you."
*J Isa. lviii. 9 and lxv. 24. n a Cor. ix. 7.
" Malt. vi. 6. '<■ Lat. XLHI. « Calvitiiim.
18 Matt, xxvii. 33. Calvaria. x9 Rom. viii. 36.
Psalm XLIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
141
uttered on the Cross : " My God, My God, look
upon Me ; why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " ■ For
" transferring us in a figure " 2 to what He was
saying, and to His own Body (for we are also
"His Body," and He is our "Head"), He
uttered from the Cross not His own cry, but
ours. For God never "forsook " Him : nor did
He Himself ever depart from the Father ; but
it was in behalf of us that He spake this : " My
God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?"
For there follows, " Far from My health are the
words of My offences : " and it shows in whose
person He said this ; for sin could not be
found in Him. . . .
3. " O God, we have heard with our ears ;
our fathers have told us the work that Thou
didst in their days, and in the days of old "
(ver. 1). Wondering wherefore, in these days,
He has seemingly forsaken those whom it was
His will to exercise in sufferings, they recall the
past events which they have heard of from their
fathers ; as if they said, It is not of these things
that we suffer, that our fathers told us ! For in
that other Psalm also, He said this, " Our fa-
thers trusted in Thee ; they trusted, and Thou
didst deliver them. But I am a worm and no
man ; a reproach of men, and the outcast of the
people." 3 They trusted, and Thou didst deliver
them ; have I then hoped, and hast Thou
forsaken me? And have I believed upon
Thee in vain ? And is it in vain that my name
has been written in Thy Book,4 and Thy name has
been inscribed on me? What our fathers told
us was this :
" Thy hand destroyed the nations ; and Thou
plantedst them : Thou didst weaken the peo-
ples, and cast them out" (ver. 2). That is to
say : " Thou didst drive out ' the peoples ' from
their own land, that Thou mightest bring
' them ' in, and plant them : and mightest by
Thy mercy stablish their kingdom." These are
the things that we heard from our fathers. But
perhaps it was because they were brave, were
men of battle, were invincible, were well- disci-
plined, and warlike, that they could do these
things. Far from it. This is not what our
fathers told us ; this is not what is contained in
Scripture. But what does it say, but what fol-
lows?
" For they gat not the land in possession by
their own sword, neither did their own arm save
them ; but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and
the light of Thy countenance" (ver. 3). Thy
"right hand" is Thy Power: Thine "arm" is
Thy Son Himself.* And " the light of Thy coun-
tenance." What means this, but that Thou
\ Cor. iv. 6,
3 Ps. xxii. 4-6.
1 Ps. xxii. 1.
< Ps. xl. 7.
5 [So Cyprian, A. N. F. vol. v. p. 516; also others passim.
-C.J
wert present with them, in miracles of such a
sort that Thy presence was perceived. For
when God's presence with us appears by any
miracle, do we see His face with our own eyes?
No. It is by the effect of the miracle He in-
timates to man His presence. In fact, what do
all persons say, who express wonder at facts of
this description? " I saw God present." " But
Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light
of Thy countenance ; because Thou pleasedst in
them : " 6 i.e. didst so deal with them, that Thou
wert well-pleasing in them : that whoso con*
sidered how they were being dealt with, might
say, that " God is with them of a truth ; " and it
is God that moves 7 them.
4. " What ? Was He then other than now
He is?" Away with the supposition. For what
follows ?
"Thou art Thyself8 my King and my God."
(ver. 4) . " Thou art Thyself ; " for Thou art not
changed. I see that the times are changed ;
but the Creator of times is unchanged. " Thou
art Thyself my King and my God." Thou art
wont to guide me : to govern me, to save me.
" Thou who commandest salvation unto Jacob."
What is, " Thou who commandest " ? Even
though in Thine own proper Substance and Na-
ture, in which Thou art whatsoever Thou art,
Thou wast hid from them ; and though Thou
didst not converse with the fathers in that which
Thou art in Thyself, so that they could see Thee
" face to face," yet by any created being what-
soever " Thou commandest salvation unto Is-
rael." For that sight of Thee " face to face " is
reserved for those set free in the Resurrection.
And the very " fathers " of the New Testament
too, although they saw Thy mysteries revealed,
although they preached the secret things so re-
vealed to them, nevertheless said that they them-
selves saw but " in a glass, darkly," but that
" seeing face to face " 9 is reserved to a future
time, when what the Apostle himself speaks of
shall have come. " When Christ our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in
glory." '° It is against that time then that vision
" face to face " is reserved for you, of which
John also speaks : " Beloved, we are now the
sons of God : and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. We know that, when He shall ap-
pear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall see
Him as He is." " Although then at that time
our fathers saw Thee not as Thou art, " face to
face," although that vision is reserved against
the resurrection, yet, even though they were
Angels who presented themselves, it is Thou,
" Who commandest salvation unto Jacob."
Thou art not only present by Thine own Self;
6 Complacnisti in eis. 7 Agit.
» " Tu es Ipse" 9 1 Cor. xiii. 12. "> Col. iii. 4.
11 1 John iii. 3.
142
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIV.
but by whatsoever created being Thou didst ap-
pear, it is Thou that dost " command " by them,
that which Thou doest by Thine own Self in or-
der to the salvation of Thy servants : but that
which they do whom Thou " commandest " it, is
done to procure the salvation of Thy servants.
Since then Thou art Thyself " my King and my
God, and Thou commandest salvation unto
Jacob," wherefore are we suffering these things?
5. But perhaps it is only what is past that has
been described to us : but nothing of the kind
is to be hoped for by us for the future. Nay
indeed, it is still to be hoped for. "Through
Thee will we winnow away ' our enemies " (ver.
5). Our fathers then have declared to us a
work that Thou didst " in their days, and in the
days of old," that Thy hand destroyed the Gen-
tiles : that Thou " didst cast out the peoples ;
and didst plant them." Such was the past ; but
what is to be hereafter? "Through Thee we
shall winnow away our enemies." A time will
come, when all the enemies of Christians will be
winnowed away like chaff, be blown like dust,
and be cast off from the earth. . . . Thus much
of the future. " I will not trust in my bow," even
as our fathers did not in " their sword. Neither
shall my sword help me " (ver. 6).
6. " For Thou hast saved us from our ene-
mies" (ver. 7). This too is spoken of the
future under the figure of the past. But this is
the reason that it is spoken of as if it were past,
that it is as certain as if it were past. Give
heed, wherefore many things are expressed by
the Prophets as if they were past ; whereas it is
things future, not past facts that are the subject
of prophecy. For the future Passion of our Lord
Himself was foretold : 2 and yet it says, " They
pierced My hands and My feet. They told all
My bones ; " not, " They shall pierce," and " shall
tell." "They looked and stared upon Me ; " not
" They shall look and stare upon Me." " They
parted My garments among them." It does not
say, " They shall part " them. All these things
are expressed as if they were past, although they
were yet to come : because to God things to
come also are as certain as if they were past. . . .
It is for this reason, in consequence of their cer-
tainty, that those things which are yet future, are
spoken of as if past. This it is then that we hope.
For it is, " Thou hast saved us from our enemies,
and hast put them to shame that hated us."
7. " In God will we boast ' all the day long "
(ver. 8). Observe how he intermingles words
expressive of a future time, that you may per-
ceive that what was spoken of before as in past
time was foretold of future times. " In God
■ Vulgate, venlilabimut. [To which St. Jerome's Hebraic
Psalter adheres. — C. 1
• Ps. xxii. 16-18.
3 Lauiiaiimur.
will we boast all day long ; and in Thy name
will we confess for ever." 4 What is, " We shall
boast"? What, "We shall confess"? That
Thou hast " saved us from our enemies ; " that
Thou art to give us an everlasting kingdom :
that in us are to be fulfilled the words, " Blessed
are they that dwell in Thine house : they will be
always praising Thee." s
8. Since then we have the certainty that these
things are to be hereafter, and since we have
heard from our fathers that those we spoke of
were in time past, what is our state at present?
" But now Thou hast cast us off, and put us to
shame " (ver. 9). Thou hast " put us to shame "
not before our own consciences, but in the sight
of men. For there was a time when Christians
were persecuted ; when in every place they were
outcasts, when in every place it used to be said,
" He is a Christian ! " as if it conveyed an insult
and reproach. Where then is He, " our God,
our King," who " commands salvation unto
Jacob " ? Where is He who did all those
works, which " our fathers have told us " ?
Where is He who is hereafter to do all those
things which He revealed unto us by His
Spirit? Is He changed? No. These things
are done in order to " understanding, for the
sons of Korah." For we ought to " under-
stand " something of the reason, why He has
willed we should suffer all these things in the
mean time. What " all things " ? " But now
Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame : and
goest not forth, O God, in our powers."6 We
go forth to meet our enemies, and Thou goest
not forth with us. We see them : they are very
strong, and we are without strength. Where is
that might of Thine? Where Thy " right hand,"
and Thy power ? 7 Where the sea dried up, and
the Egyptian pursuers overwhelmed with the
waves? Where Amalek's resistance subdued by
the sign of the Cross ? 8 " And Thou, O God,
goest not forth in our powers."
9. " Thou hast turned us away backward in
presence of our enemies " (ver. 10), so that they
are, as it were, before ; we, behind ; they are
counted as conquerors, we as conquered. " And
they which hate us spoiled for themselves."
What did they "spoil" but ourselves?
10. " Thou has given us like sheep appointed
for meat, and hast scattered us among the na-
tions " (ver. n). We have been " devoured "
by " the nations." Those persons are meant,
who, through their sufferings, have by process of
assimilation, becomes part of the " body " of the
Gentile world. For the Church mourns over
4 [Here is the Diapsalma in the Septuagint; and in St. Jerome,
following the Hebrew. — C]
s Ps. Ixxxiv. 4.
6 Or " hosts," virtutibut.
7 VirtMS.
8 Exod. xvii. ta.
Psalm XLIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
143
them, as over members of her body, that have
been devoured."
11." Thou hast sold Thy people for no
price" (ver. 12). For we see whom Thou
hast made over ; what Thou hast received, we
have not seen. " And there was no multitude
in their jubilees." 2 For when the Christians
were flying before the pursuit of enemies, who
were idolaters, were there then held any congre-
gations and "jubilees " to the honour of God?
Were those Hymns chanted in concert from the
Churches of God, that are wont to be sung in
concert in time of peace, and to be sounded
in a sweet accord of the brotherhood in the ears
of God?
12. "Thou madest us a reproach to our
neighbours ; a scorn and a derision to them that
are round about us " (ver. 13). "Thou madest
us a similitude3 among the heathen " (ver. 14).
What is meant by a "similitude"? It is when
men in imprecating a curse make a " similitude "
of his name whom they detest. " So mayest
thou die ; " " So mayest thou be punished ! "
What a number of such reproaches were then
uttered ! " So mayest thou be crucified ! "
Even in the present day there are not wanting
enemies of Christ (those very Jews themselves),
against whom whensoever we defend Christ,
they say unto us, " So mayest thou die as He
did." For they would not have inflicted that
kind of death had they not an intense horror of
dying by such a death : or had they been able
to comprehend what mystery was contained in
it. When the ointment is applied to the eyes
of the blind man, he does not see the eye-salve
in the physician's hand. For the very Cross
was made for the benefit even of the persecutors
themselves. Hereby they were healed after-
wards ; and they believed in Him whom they
themselves had slain. "Thou madest us a
similitude among the heathen ; a shaking of
the head among the peoples," a " shaking of the
head " by way of insult. " They spake with
their lips, they shook the head."4 This they did
to the Lord : this to all His Saints also, whom
they were able to pursue, to lay hold of, to mock,
to betray, to afflict, and to slay.
13. "My shame is continually before me;
and the confusion of my face has covered me "
(ver. 15 ) . " For the voice of him that reproach-
eth and blasphemeth " (ver. 16) : that is to say,
from the voice of them that insult over me, and
1 Conversely, in like manner the Fathers (so under Ps. iii. ver. 7)
often explain, *' Rise, Peter, kill, and eat," and passages where the
preachers of the Gospel are represented by beasts of prey. See
p. 16, supra, between notes 5 and 6. [A fanciful rendering, perhaps;
but the assimilation of unclean Gentiles, and their identification
with the clean body of the Church, is strikingly illustrated by it. — C. ]
2 [St Augtistin's Pta Irta ha» juHbtfianwiit* — C. ] For which
Vulgate, coiitmiitatiotiibtts.
3 E. V. " by-word."
* Ps. xxii. 7. E. V. " They shoot out the lips," etc.
who make it a charge against me that I worship
Thee, that I confess Thee ! and who make it a
charge against me that I bear that name by
which all charges against me shall be blotted
out. " For the voice of him that reproacheth
and blasphemeth," that is, of him that speaketh
against me. " By reason of the enemy and the
persecutor." And what is the " understanding "
conveyed here? Those things which are told
us of the time past, will not be done in our
case : s those which are hoped for, as to be
hereafter, are not as yet manifest. Those which
are past, as the leading out of Thy people with
great glory from Egypt ; its deliverance from its
persecutors ; the guiding of it through the na-
tions, the placing of it in the kingdom, whence
the nations had been expelled. What are those
to be hereafter? The leading of the people out
of this Egypt of the world, when Christ, our
" leader " shall appear in His glory : the placing
of the Saints at His right hand ; of the wicked
at His left ; the condemnation of the wicked with
the devil to eternal punishment ; the receiv-
ing of a kingdom from Christ with the Saints
to last for ever.6 These are the things that
are yet to be : the former are what are past. In
the interval, what is to be our lot? Tribula-
tions ! " Why so? " That it may be seen with
respect to the soul that worships God, to what
extent it worships God ; that it may be seen
whether it worships Him " freely " from whom
it received salvation " freely." . . . What hast
thou given unto God ? Thou wert wicked,
and thou wert redeemed ! What hast thou given
unto God? What is there that thou hast not
" received " from Him " freely " ? With reason
is it named "grace," because it is bestowed
(gratis, i.e.) freely.7 What is required of thee
then is this, " that thou too shouldest worship
" Him freely ; " not because He gives thee
things temporal, but because He holds out to
thee things eternal. . . .
14. "All this is come upon us ; yet have we not
forgotten Thee " (ver. 17). What is meant by,
" have not forgotten Thee " ? " Neither have we
behaved ourselves frowardly in Thy covenant."
" Our heart has not turned back ; and Thou
hast turned aside our goings out of Thy way "
(ver. 18). See here is "understanding," in that
" our heart has not gone back ; " that we have
not " forgotten Thee, have not behaved frowardly
in Thy covenant ; " placed as we are in great
tribulations, and persecutions of the Gentiles.
" Thou hast turned aside our goings out of Thy
way." Our " goings " were in the pleasures
of the world ; our " goings " were in the midst of
temporal prosperities. Thou hast taken " our
3 la nobis.
6 Matt. xxv. 34,
7 Rom. xi. 6.
St, Augustin, Scr. xviii. 4.
144
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIV.
goings out of Thy way ; " and hast shown us ' how
" strait and narrow is the way that leadeth unto
life." 2 What is meant by, " hast turned aside our
goings out of Thy way " ? It is as if He said,
" Ye are placed in the midst of tribulation ; ye
are suffering many things ; ye have already lost
many things that ye loved in this life : but 1 have
not abandoned you on the way, the narrow way
that I am teaching you. Ye were seeking " broad
ways." What do I tell you? This is the way
we go to everlasting life ; by the way ye wish to
walk, ye are going to death. How " broad and
wide is the road that leads to destruction : and "
how ;< many there be that find it ! How strait
and narrow the way that leadeth unto life, and "
how " few there be " that walk therein ! 3 Who
are the few? They who patiently endure trib-
ulations, patiently endure temptations ; who in
all these troubles do not " fall away : " who do
not rejoice in the word " for a season " only ;
and in the time of tribulation fade away, as on
the sun's arising ; but who have the " root " of
" love," according to what we have lately heard
read in the Gospel.4 . . .
15. "For Thou hast brought us low in the
place of infirmity" 5 (ver. 18) : therefore Thou
wilt exalt us in the place of strength. "And
the shadow of death has covered us " (ver. 19).
For this mortality of ours is but the " shadow "
of death. The true death is condemnation with
the devil.
16. " If we have forgotten the Name of our
God." Here is the " understanding " of the
" sons of Korah." "And stretched out our hands
to a strange God " (ver. 20). "Shall not God
search this out? For He knoweth the secrets
of the heart " (ver. 21). He "knows," and yet
He " searches them out " ? If He knows the
secrets of the heart, what do the words, " Shall
not God search it out," do there ? He " knows "
it in Himself ; He " searches it out " for our
sakes. For it is for this reason God sometimes
" searches a thing out ; " and speaks of that
becoming known to Himself, which He is Him-
self making known to thee. He is speaking of
His own work, not of His knowledge. We
commonly say, " A gladsome day." when it is
fine. Yet is it the day itself that experiences
delight? No : we speak of the day as gladsome,
because it fills us with delight. And we speak
of a " sullen sky." Not that there is any such
feeling in the clouds, but because men are
affected with sullenness at the sight of such an
appearance of the skies, it is called sullen for
1 Oxf. Mss. " hast showed us a way. What way ? How," etc.
He seems to mean that God has removed such ways as men like from
the path of His Saints, and given them narrow ways. St. Ambrose
takes it as a complaint of difficulties, so great that we cannot per.
fectly keep to the right way. _ E. V. " Neither have our steps declined
from Thy way," rightly continuing the negative.
2 Matt. vii. 14. 3 Matt. vii. 13, 14,
* Matt. xiii. 6, 20, 21.
> £. V. " brokci u» in the place of dragons."
this reason, that it makes us sullen. So also God
is said to " know " when He causes us to know.
God says to Abraham, " Now I know that thou
fearest God." 6 Did He then not know it before
then ? But Abraham did not know himself till
then : for it was in that very trial he came to
know himself. . . . And God is said to "know"'
that which He had caused him to know. Did
Peter know himself, when he said to the Phy-
sician, " I will be with Thee even unto death? " i
The Physician had felt his pulse,8 and knew
what was going on within His patient's soul : the
patient knew it not. The crisis 9 of trial came ;
and the Physician approved the correctness of
His opinion : the sick man gave up his pre-
sumption. Thus God at once "knows" it and
" searches it out." " He knows it already. Why
does He ' search it out '? " For thy sake : that
thou mayest come to know thine own self, and
mayest return thanks to Him that made thee.
" Shall not God search it out ? "
17. " For, for Thy sake we are killed all
the day long : we are counted as sheep for the
slaughter " (ver. 22). For you may see a man
being put to death ; you do not know why he is
being put to death. God knoweth this. The
thing in itself is hid. But some one will say to
me, " See, he is detained in prison for the name
of Christ, he is a confessor for the name of
Christ." Why do not '° heretics also confess the
name of Christ, and yet they do not die for His
sake ? Nay more ; let me say it, in the Catholic
Church itself, do you think there either are, or
have been wanting persons such as would suffer
for the sake of glory among men? Were there
no such persons, the Apostle would not say,
" Though I give my body to be burned, and have
not charity, it profiteth me nothing." " He knew
therefore that there might be some persons, who
did this not from " charity," but out of vain-
glory. It is therefore hid from us ; God alone
sees this ; we cannot see it. He alone can
judge of this, who " knoweth the secrets of the
heart." " For," for Thy sake " are we killed all
the day long ; we are counted as sheep for the
slaughter." I have already mentioned that from
hence the Apostle Paul had borrowed a text " for
the encouragement of the Martyrs : that they
might not " faint in the tribulations " undergone
by them for the name of Christ.'3
18. "Awake; why sleepest Thou, O Lord?"
(ver. 23). Who is addressed, and who is the
speaker ? Would not he be more correctly said
to sleep and slumber,14 who speaks such words as
these? He replies to you, I know what I am
saying : I know that " He that keepeth Israel
* Gen. xxii. IX ? I.uke xxii. 33. 8 Inspecta vena.
9 Accessio. xo Oxf. mss. om. "not." u t Cor. xiii. 3.
12 Testimonium posuisse. Rom. via. 36. [Also Kom. v. 3;
Eph. iii. 13. — C.J
»J |See p. 140, note 10. — C] w HcUare.
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
145
doth not sleep : " ' but yet the Martyrs cry,
'Awake; why sleepest Thou, O Lord?" O
Lord Jesus, Thou wast slain ; Thou didst "sleep"
in Thy Passion ; to us Thou hast now " awaked "
from sleep. For " we " know that Thou hast now
" awaked " again. To what purpose hast Thou
awaked and risen again? The Gentiles that per-
secute us, think Thee to be dead ; do not believe
Thee to have risen again. " Arise Thou " then to
them also ! "Why sleepest Thou," though not to
us, yet to them ? For if they already believed Thee
to have risen again, could they persecute us who
believe in Thee ? But why do they persecute ?
"Destroy, slay so and so, whoever have believed
in Thee, such an one, who died an ill death ! "
As yet to them " Thou sleepest ; " arise to them,
that they may perceive that Thou hast " awaked "
again ; and may be at rest. Lastly, it has come
to pass, while the Martyrs die, and say these
things ; while they sleep, and " awaken " Christ,
truly dead in their sleepings, Christ has, in a
certain sense, risen again in the Gentiles ; i.e. it
becomes believed, that He has risen again ; so
by degrees they themselves, becoming converted
to Christ by believing, collected a numerous
body : such as the persecutors dreaded ; and the
persecutions have come to an end. Why? Be-
cause Christ, who before was asleep to them, as
not believing, hath risen in the Gentiles. " Arise,
and cast us not off for ever ! "
19. "Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face : " as
if Thou wert not present ; as if thou hadst for-
gotten us ? " And forgettest our misery and
trouble?" (ver. 24).
20. " For our soul is bowed down to the dust "
(ver. 25). Where is it bowed down ? "To the
dust : " i.e. dust persecutes us. They persecute
us, of whom Thou hast said, " The ungodly are
not so ; but are like the dust, which the wind
driveth away from the face of the earth." 2 " Our
belly hath cleaved to the earth." He seems to
me to have expressed the punishment of the ex-
treme of humiliation, in which, when any one
prostrates himself, " his belly cleaveth to the
earth."" For whosoever is humbled so as to be
on his knees, has yet a lower degree of humilia-
tion to which he can come : but he who is so
humbled, that his "belly cleaveth to the ground,"
there is no farther humiliation for him. Should
one wish to do still farther, it will, after that
point, be not bowing him down, but crushing
him. Perhaps then he may have meant this :
We are " bowed down very low " in this dust ;
there is no farther point to which humiliation
can go. Humiliation has now reached its high-
est point : let mercy then come also. . . .
31. "Arise, 0 Lord, help us" (ver. 26). And
indeed, dearly beloved, He has arisen and helped
■ Ps.
* Ps.
us. For when he awaked (i.e. when He arose
again, and became known to the Gentiles) on
the cessation of persecutions, even those who
had cleaved to the earth were raised up from
the earth, and on performing penance,3 have
been restored to Christ's body, feeble and im-
perfect though they were : so that in them was
fulfilled the text, "Thine eyes did see my sub-
stance yet being imperfect ; and in Thy book
shall they all be written." 4
" Arise, O Lord, help us, and redeem us for
Thy Name's sake ; " that is to say, freely ; for Thy
Name's ' sake, not for the sake of my merits :
because Thou hast vouchsafed to do it, not be-
cause I am worthy that Thou shouldest do it unto
me. For this very thing, that " we have not for-
gotten Thee ; " that " our heart hath not gone
back ; " that we " have not stretched out our
hands to any strange god ; " how should we have
been able to achieve, except with Thy help?
How should we have strength for it, except
through Thy appealing to us within, exhorting
us, and not forsaking us? Whether then we
suffer in tribulations, or rejoice in prosperities,
redeem Thou us, not for our merits, but for Thy
Name's sake.
PSALM XLV.s
1 . This Psalm, even as we ourselves have been
singing with gladness together with you, we
would beg you in like manner to consider with
attention together with us. For it is sung of the
sacred Marriage-feast ; of the Bridegroom and
the Bride ; of the King and His people ; of the
Saviour and those who are to be saved. . . .
His sons are we, in that we are the " children of
the Bridegroom ; " and it is to us that this Psalm
is addressed, whose title has the words, " For
the sons of Korah, for the things that 6 shall be
changed."
2. Why need I explain what is meant by,
" for the things that shall be changed " ? Every
one who is himself " changed," recognises the
meaning of this. Let him who hears this, " for
the things that shall be changed," consider what
was before, and what is now. And first let him
see the world itself to be changed, lately wor-
shipping idols, now worshipping God ; lately
serving things that they themselves made, now
serving Him by whom they themselves were
made. Observe at what time the words, " for
the things that shall be changed," were said.
Already by this time the Pagans that are left
are in dread of the " changed " state of things :
and those who will not suffer themselves to be
3 [A debased rendering of our author's words, agniies ficriii-
tentiam ; for the primitive discipline exacted true contrition. See
Chrysos. Horn. xxi. p. 215, vol. xii. ed. Migne. The " attrition " of
the Trent Catechism is indeed a perfunctory " performance." — CJ
« Ps. cxxxix. 16. 5 I.at. XI. IV
6 Some copies have qui for " those (persons) that."
146
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
" changed " see the churches full ; the temples
deserted ; see crowds here, and there solitude !
They marvel at the things so changed ; let them
read that they were foretold ; let them lend their
ears to Him who promised it ; let them believe
Him who fulfils that promise. But each one of
us, brethren, also undergoes a change from " the
old " to " the new man : " from an infidel to a
believer : from a thief to a giver of alms : from
an adulterer to a man of chastity ; from an evil-
doer to a doer of good. To us then be sung
the words, " for the things that shall be changed ; "
and so let the description of Him by whom they
were changed, begin.
3. For it goes on, " For the things that shall
be changed, to the sons of Korah for under-
standing ; a song for the beloved." For that
" beloved " One was seen by His persecutors,
but yet not for " understanding." For " had
they known Him, they would never have cruci-
fied the Lord of Glory." ■ In order to this " un-
derstanding," other eyes were required by Him
when He said, " He that seeth Me, seeth My
Father also." 2 Let the Psalm then now sound
of Him, let us rejoice in the marriage-feast, and
we shall be with those of whom the marriage is
made,3 who are invited to the marriage ; and
the very persons invited are the Bride herself.
For the Church is "the Bride," Christ the
Bridegroom. There are commonly spoken by
balladists 4 certain verses to Bridegrooms and
Brides, called Epithalamiafi Whatever is sung
there, is sung in honour of the Bride and Bride-
groom. Is there then no Bridechamber 6 in that
marriage-feast to which we are invited ? Whence
then does another Psalm say, " He hath set up
His tabernacle in the Sun ; and He is even as
a bridegroom coming out of his chamber."
The nuptial union is that of " the Word," and
the flesh. The Bridechamber of this union, the
Virgin's womb. For the flesh itself was united
to the Word : ■ whence also it is said, " Hence-
forth they are not twain, but one flesh." ? The
Church was assumed unto Him out of the
human race : so that the Flesh itself, being
united to the Word, might be the Head of the
Church : and the rest who believe, members of
that Head. . . .
4. " Mine heart hath uttered a good word " 8
(ver. 1). Who is the speaker? The Father, or
the Prophet? For some understand it to be the
Person of the Father, which says, " Mine heart
1 1 Cor. ii. 8. a John xiv. 9.
3 Quifiunt nuptia (omitted in tome IMS.),
* Scholasticis; mss. scolasticis ■ " scholars," or perhaps scoli-
asticii, " ballad-mongers." — Ben.
5 " Songs of the Bridechamber."
* Thalamus. Ps. xix. $, so Vulgate.
1 Matt. xix. 5. [For this point in the theology of the Incarna-
tion, see A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 367, Athanas. Creed, part ii. — C]
* Eructavit verbum bonum. [See Justin Martyr, vol. i. p.
213, A. N. F., and Cyprian, vol. v. p. 516, A. N. F., and so passim.
C-J
hath uttered a good word," intimating to us a
certain unspeakable generation.9 Lest you
should haply think something to have been
taken unto Him, out of which God should be-
get the Son (just as man takes something to
himself out of which he begets children, that
is to say, an union of marriage,10 without which
man cannot beget offspring), lest then you should
think that God stood in need of any nuptial union,
to beget " the Son," he says, " Mine heart hath
uttered a good word."" This very day thine
heart, O man, begets a counsel, and requires no
wife : by the counsel, so born of thine heart,
thou buildest something or other, and before
that building subsists, the design subsists ; ,2 and
that which thou art about to produce, exists
already in that by which thou art going to pro-
duce it ; and thou praisest the fabric that as yet
is not existing, not yet in the visible form of a
building, but on the projecting of a design :
nor does any one else praise thy design, un-
less either thou showest it to him, or he sees
what thou hast done. If then by the Word
" all things were made," '3 and the Word is of
God, consider the fabric reared by the Word,
and learn from that building to admire His
counsels ! What manner of Word is that by
which heaven and earth were made ; '■* and all
the splendour of the heavens ; all the fertility of
the earth ; the expanse of the sea ; the wide
diffusion of air ; the brightness of the constel-
lations ; the light of sun and moon ? These are
visible things : rise above these also ; think of
the Angels, " Principalities, Thrones, Dominions,
and Powers." '5 All were made by Him. How
then were these good things made? Because
there was "uttered forth 'a good Word,'" by
which they were to be made. . . .
5. It proceeds : " I speak of the things which
I have made unto the King." Is the Father
still speaking? If the Father is still speaking,
let us enquire how this also can be understood
by us, consistently with the true Catholic Faith,
" I speak of the things that I have made unto
the King." For if it is the Father speaking of
His own works to His Son, our " King," what
works is the Father to speak of to the Son, see-
ing that all the Father's works were made by
the Son's agency ? Or, in the words, " I speak
of My works unto the King," does the word, " I
speak," itself signify the generation of the Son ?
9 Nntivitatem. l0 Conjugium.
11 [Confusion comes to the human mind by arguing from human-
ity up to God. His is the only true generative process: the produc-
tion of a Son by man is not to be considered in process, but in
product only. This product is of one substance with the human
(though divided). The undivided substance of the Divine Father is
the one substance of the Son, by eternal generation. — C.J
12 So all MSS. antrquam stet. stat consilium, ace. to Pen., which
however reads anteqnam stet in opere, stat in consilifl. '* 1 hat
building, before it subsists in construction, subsists in design." On
the meaning of Verbum see St. Aug. on John i. 1. St. Ath. on Nic.
Def. c. 4, and Disc. i. against Ar. c. 6.
" John i. 3. B Heb. xi. 3. '5 Col. i. 16.
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
147
I fear whether this can ever be made intelligible
to those slow of comprehension : I will never-
theless say it. Let those who can follow me, do
so : lest if it were left unsaid, even those who
can followshould not be able. We haye read
where it is said in another Psalm, " God hath
spoken once." ' So often has He spoken by the
Prophets, so often by the Apostles, and in these
days by His Saints, and does He say, " God has
spoken once " ? How can He have spoken but
"once," except with reference to His " Word " ?2
But as the " Mine heart hath uttered a good
Word," 3 was understood by us in the other clause
of the generation of the Son, it seems that a kind
of repetition is made in the following sentence,
so that the " Mine heart hath uttered a good
Word," which had been already said, is repeated
in what He is now saying, " I speak." For what
does " I speak" mean? " I utter a Word." And
whence but from His heart, from His very in-
most, does God utter the Word? You yourself
do not speak anything but what you bring forth
from your " heart," this word of yours which
sounds once and passes away, is brought forth
from no other place : and do you wonder that
God "speaks" in this manner? But God's
" speaking " is eternal. You are speaking some-
thing at the present moment, because you were
silent before : or, look you, you have not yet
brought forth your word ; but when you have
begun to bring it forth, you as it were " break
silence ; " and bring into being a word, that did
not exist before. It was not so God begat the
" Word." God's " speaking " is without begin-
ning, and without end : and yet the " Word "
He utters is but " One." Let Him utter an-
other, if what He has spoken shall have passed
away. But since He by whom it is uttered
abideth, and That which is uttered abideth ; and
is uttered but once, and has no end, that very
" once " too is said without beginning, and there
is no second speaking, because that which is
said once, does not pass away. The words,
" Mine heart hath uttered a good Word," then,
are the same thing with, " I speak of the things
which I have made unto the King." Why then,
" I speak of the things which I have made " ?
Because in the Word Itself are all the works of
God. For whatever God designed to make in
the creation already existed in " the Word ; "
and would not exist in the reality, had it not
existed in the Word,4 just as with you the thing
would not exist in the building, had it not ex-
isted in your design : even as it is said in the
Gospel : " That which was made in Him was
life." 5 That which was made then was in exist-
ence ; but it had its existence in the Word : and
' Ps. lxii. 11. * Heb. i.t, ».
* Nee esset in rebus, nisi esset in verbo.
5 John i. 3, 4.
' Heb. i. 3, 4, 5.
all the works of God existed there, and yet were
not as yet "works." "The Word" however
already was, as this " Word was God, and was
with God : " and was the Son of God, and One
God with the Father. " I speak of the things I
have made unto the King." Let him hear Him
" speaking," who apprehends " the Word : " and
let him see together with the Father the Ever-
lasting Word ; in whom exist even those things
that are yet to come : in whom even those
things that are past have not passed away.
These " works " of God are in " the Word," as
in the Word, as in the Only- Begotten, as in the
" Word of God."
6. What follows then? "My tongue* is the
pen of a writer writing rapidly." What like-
ness, my brethren, what likeness, I ask, has the
"tongue" of God with a transcriber's pen?
What resemblance has " the rock " to Christ ? 6
What likeness does the " lamb " bear to our
Saviour,' or what " the lion " to the strength of
the Only-Begotten?8 Yet such comparisons have
been made ; and were they not made, we should
not be formed to a certain extent by these visi-
ble things to the knowledge of the " Invisible
One." So then with this mean simile of the
pen ; let us not compare it to His excellent
greatness, so let us not reject it with contempt.
For I ask, why He compares His " tongue " to
" the pen of a writer writing rapidly " ? But how
swiftly soever the transcriber writes, still it is not
comparable to that swiftness of which another
Psalm says, " His word runneth very swiftly." °
But it appears to me (if human understanding
may presume so far) that this too may be un-
derstood as spoken in the Person of the Father :
" My tongue is the pen of a writer." Inasmuch
as what is spoken by the " tongue," sounds once
and passes away, what is written, remains ; see-
ing then that God uttereth " a Word," and the
Word which is uttered does not sound once and
pass away, but is uttered and yet continues, God
chose rather to compare this to words written
than to sounds. But what He added, saying,
" of one writing swiftly," stimulates the mind
unto " understanding." Let it however not
slothfully rest here, thinking of transcribers,10
or thinking of some kind of quick shorthand
writers : if it be this it sees in the passage, it
will be resting there. Let it think swiftly what
is the meaning of that word "swiftly." The
" swiftly " of God is such that nothing exceeds
in swiftness. For in writings letter is written
after letter ; syllable after syllable ; word after
word : nor do we pass to the second except
when the first is written out. But there nothing
can exceed the swiftness, where there are not
several words ; and yet there is not anything
6 1 Cor. x. 4.
9 Ps. cxlvii. 15.
7 John i. 29.
10 Antiquaries.
8 Rev. v. 5.
1 48
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
omitted : since in the One are contained all
things.
7. Lo ! now then that Word, so uttered,
Eternal, the Co-eternal Offspring of the Eter-
nal, will come as " the Bridegroom ; " " Fairer
than the children of men" (ver. 2). "Than
the children of men." I ask, why not than the
Angels also ? Why did he say, " than the chil-
dren of men," except because He was Man?
Lest you should think " the Man Christ " ' to be
any ordinary man, he says, " Fairer than the
children of men." Even though Himself " Man,"
He is " fairer than the children of men ; " though
among the children of men, " fairer than the
children of men : " though of the children of
men, " fairer than the children of men."
" Grace is shed abroad on Thy lips." " The
Law was given by Moses. Grace and Truth
came by Jesus Christ." * . . .
8. There have not been wanting those who
preferred understanding all the preceding passage
also of the Prophet's own person ; and would
have even this verse, " Mine heart hath uttered
forth a good word," understood as spoken by
the Prophet, supposed to be uttering a hymn.
For whoever utters a hymn to God, his heart is,
as it were, " uttering forth a good word," just as
his heart who blasphemes God, is uttering forth
an evil word. So that even by what follows, " I
speak of the things which I have made 3 unto the
King," he meant to express that man's chief work
was but to praise God. To Him it belongs to
satisfy thee, by His beauty ; to thee to praise Him
with thanksgiving. . . .
9. " My tongue is the pen of a writer writing
quickly." There have been persons who have
understood the Prophet to have been describing
in this manner what he was writing ; and there-
fore to have compared his tongue to " the pen of
a writer writing quickly : " but that he chose to
express himself in the words " writing quickly,"
to signify, that he was writing of things which
were to come " quickly ; " that " writing quickly "
should be understood to be equivalent to " writ-
ing things that are quick ; " i.e. writing things that
would not long tarry. For God did not tarry
long to manifest Christ. How quickly is that
perceived to have rolled by, which is acknowl-
edged to be already past ! Call to mind the
generations before thee ; thou wilt find that the
making of Adam is but a thing of yesterday. So
do we read that all things have gone on from
the very beginning : * they were therefore done
" quickly." The day of Judgment also will be
here " quickly." Do thou anticipate its " quick "
coming. It is to come " quickly ; " do thou
become converted yet more "quickly." The
Judge's face will appear : but observe thou what
1 1 Tim. ii. 5. * John i. 17. > Lit. " my works."
« a Pet. iii. 4.
the Prophet says, " Let us come before " (let us
" prevent ") " His face with confession." 5
10. " Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most
Mighty" (ver. 3). What is meant by "Thy
sword, but " Thy word " ? It was by that sword
He scattered His enemies ; by that sword he
divided the son from the father, " the daughter
from the mother, the daughter-in-law from the
mother-in-law." We read these words in the
Gospel, " I came not to send peace, but a sword." 6
And, " In one house shall five be divided
against each other ; three against two, and two
against three ; " 7 i.e. " the father against the son,
the daughter against the mother, the daughter-
in-law against the mother-in-law." By what
" sword," but that which Christ brought, was this
division wrought? And indeed, my brethren, we
see this exemplified daily. Some young man is
minded to give himself up to God's service ; his
father is opposed to it ; they are " divided
against each other : " the one promises an earthly
inheritance, the other loves an heavenly ; the
one promises one thing, the other prefers another.
The father should not think himself wronged :
God alone is preferred to him. And yet he is at
strife 8 with the son, who would fain give himself
to God's service. But the spiritual sword is
mightier to separate them, than the ties of carnal
nature to bind them together. This happens also
in the case of a mother against her daughter ; still
more also in that of a daughter-in-law against a
mother-in-law. For sometimes in one house
mother-in-law and daughter-in law are found or-
thodox and heretical respectively. And where
that sword is forcibly felt,9 we do not dread the
repetition of Baptism. Could daughter be di-
vided against mother ; and could not daughter-
in-law be divided against mother-in law? . . .
11. What does he mean to express by the
" thigh " ? The flesh. Whence those words, " A
prince shall not depart from Judah ; and a law-
giver from his thighs"?10 Did not Abraham
himself (to whom was promised the seed in
which " all the nations of the earth were to be
blessed"), when he sent his servant to seek
and to bring home a wife for his son, being by
faith fully persuaded, that in that, so to speak,
contemptible seed was contained the great
Name ; ' ' that is, that the Son of God was to
come of the seed of Abraham, out of all the
5 Ps. xcv. 2. 6 Man. x. 34.
7 Luke xii. 5a. 8 Litifrtt.
9 Recipitur. He seems to mean that the Catholic daughter-in-
law who receives the word of Christ is sure not to submit to hereti-
cal baptism. [On which compare Cyprian's teaching, A. N. F.
vol. v. pp. 376-385, etc. — C.l
10 Gen. xlix. 10. E. V from between his feet." .
11 " In ilia veluti humilitate seminis esse magnitudinem Nomi-
nis." [The promise (Gen. iii. 15) dignified the loins of Isaac
(Gen. xvii. 19) as with the Incarnation in its germ. Hence this
mysterious form of oath was an oath by the Promised Seed (Gal.
iii. 16). St. Paul quotes " the promises" (not one text only), and
honours the Septnagint, which gives what he makes so emphatic in
Gen. xii. 7, xv. 18, and xxii. 18. — CJ
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
149
children of men ; did not he, I say, cause his
servant to swear unto him in this manner, say-
ing, " Put thy hand under my thigh," ' and so
swear ; as if he had said, " Put thy hand on the
altar, or on the Gospel, or on the Prophet, or on
any holy thing." " Put " (he says) " thy hand
under my thigh ; " having full confidence, not
ashamed of it as unseemly, but understanding
therein a truth. " With Thy beauty and Thy
glory." Take to Thee that righteousness, in
which Thou art at all times beautiful and glorious.
" And speed on, and proceed prosperously, and
reign" (ver. 4). Do we not see it so? Is
it not already come to pass? He has "sped
on ; has proceeded prosperously, and He
reigns;" all nations are subdued unto Him.
What a thing was it to see that " in the Spirit,"
of which same thing it is now in our power to
experience in the reality ! At the time when
these words were said, Christ did not yet
" reign " thus ; had not yet sped on, nor " pro-
ceeded prosperously." They were then being
preached, they have now been fulfilled : in many
things we have God's promise fulfilled already ;
in some few we have to claim its fulfilment
yet.
12. "Because of truth, meekness, and right-
eousness." Truth was restored unto us, when
" the Truth sprung out of the earth : and Right-
eousness looked out from heaven."2 Christ was
presented to the expectation of mankind, that in
Abraham's Seed " all nations should be blessed."
The Gospel has been preached. It is " the
Truth." What is meant by " meekness " ? The
Martyrs have suffered ; and the kingdom of God
has made much progress from thence, and ad-
vanced throughout all nations ; because the
Martyrs suffered, and neither " fell away," nor
yet offered resistance ; confessing everything,
concealing nothing ; prepared for everything,
shrinking from nothing. Marvellous " meek-
ness " ! This did the body of Christ, by its
Head it learned. He was first " led as a sheep
to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer
is dumb, even so opened not His mouth ; " 3 meek
to that degree, that while hanging on the Cross,
He said, " Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do." < Why because of " right-
eousness " ? He will come also to judge, and to
" render to every man according to his works."
He spake " the truth ; " He patiently endured
unrighteousness : He is to bring " righteous-
ness " hereafter.
13. "And Thy right hand shall lead Thee on
marvellously." We shall be guided on by His
right hand : He by His own. For He is God,
we mortal men. He was led on by His own
right hand; i.e. by His own power. For the
1 Gen. xxiv. a.
* Luke xxiii. 34.
2 Ps. lxxxv. II.
3 Isa. liii. 7.
power which the Father hath, He hath also ; the
Father's immortality He hath also : He hath
the Father's Divinity, the Father's Eternity, the
Father's Power.5 Marvellously will His right
hand lead Him on, performing the works of
God ; undergoing human sufferings, overthrow-
ing the evil wills6 of men by His own goodness.
Even now, He is being led on even to places
where as yet He is not ; and it is His own right
hand that is leading Him on. For that is lead-
ing Him thither which He has Himself be-
stowed upon His Saints. " Thy right hand shall
lead Thee on marvellously."
14. " Thine arrows are sharp, are most power-
ful " (ver. 5) ; words that pierce the heart, that
kindle love. Whence in the Song of Songs it is
said, " I am wounded with love." » For she speaks
of being " wounded with love ; " that is, of be-
ing in love, of being inflamed with passion, of
sighing for the Bridegroom, from whom she re-
ceived the arrow of the Word. " Thine arrows
are sharp, are most powerful ; " both piercing,
and effective ; " sharp, most powerful." " The
peoples shall fall under Thee." Who have
"fallen"? They who were "wounded" have
also " fallen." We see the nations subdued
unto Christ ; we do not see them " fall." He
explains where they " fall," viz. "in the heart."
It was there they lifted themselves up against
Christ, there they " fall " down before Christ.
Saul was a blasphemer of Christ : he was then
lifted up, he prays to Christ, " he is fallen," he
is prostrate before Him : the enemy of Christ is
slain, that the disciple of Christ may live ! By
an arrow launched from heaven, Saul (not as
yet Paul, but still Saul), still lifted up, still not
yet prostrate, is wounded in " the heart : " he
received the arrow, he fell "in heart." For
though he fell prostrate on his face, it was not
there that he fell down in heart : 8 but it was
there where he said aloud, " Lord, what dost
Thou bid me do?"9 But just now thou wert
going to bind the Christians, and to bring them
to punishment : and now thou sayest unto
Christ, "What dost Thou bid me do?" O
arrow sharp and most mighty, by whose stroke
" Saul " fell, so as to become " Paul." As it
was with him, so was it also with " the peoples ; "
consider the nations, observe their subjection
unto Christ. "The peoples" (then) "shall fall
under Thee in the heart of the King's enemies ; "
that is, in the heart of Thine enemies. For it is
Him that he calls King, Him that he recognises
as King. " The peoples shall fall under Thee
in the heart of the King's enemies." They
were " enemies " before ; they have been strick-
en by thine arrows : they have fallen before
Thee. Out of enemies they have been made
5 Virtutem. 6 Malittas.
8 In cordt, editions not in mss.
7 Song of Sol. ii. 5.
9 Acts ix. 6.
*50
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
friends : the enemies are dead, the friends sur-
vive. This is the meaning of, " for those which
shall be changed." We are seeking to " under-
stand" each single word, and each separate
verse ; yet so far only are we to seek for their
" understanding," as to leave no one to doubt
that they are spoken of Christ.
15. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever" (ver. 6). Because God has "'blessed
Thee ' for ever," on account of the " grace poured
over Thy lips." Now the throne of the Jewish
Kingdom was a temporal one ; belonging to
those who were under the Law, not to those who
were under " grace : " He came to " redeem
those who were under the Law," and to place
them under " Grace." His " Throne is for ever
and ever." Why? for that first throne of the
Kingdom was but a temporal one : whence then
have we a " throne for ever and ever " ? Be-
cause it is God's throne. O divine Attribute of
Eternity ! ' for God could not have a temporal
throne. " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever — a sceptre of direction is the sceptre of
Thy Kingdom." "The sceptre of direction" is
that which directs mankind : they were before
crooked, distorted ; they sought to reign for
themselves j they loved themselves, loved their
own evil deeds : they submitted not their own
will to God ; but would fain have bent God's will
to conformity with their own lusts. For the
sinner and the unrighteous man is generally
angry with God, because it rains not ! 2 and yet
would have God not be angry with himself, be-
cause he is profligate.3 And it is pretty much
for this very reason that men daily sit, to dis-
pute against God : " This is what He ought to
have done : this He has not well done." Thou
forsooth seest what thou doest ; He knows not
what He does ! It is thou that art crooked !
His ways are right. When wilt thou make the
crooked coincide with the straight? It cannot
be made to coincide with it.4 Just as if you
were to place a crooked stick on a level pave-
ment ; it does not join on to it ; it does not co-
here ; it does not fit into the pavement. The
pavement is even in every part : but that is
crooked ; it does not fit into that which is level.
The will of God then is " equal," thine own is
" crooked : " it is because thou canst not be con-
formed unto it, that it seems " crooked " unto
thee : rule thou thyself by it ; seek not to bend
it to thine own will : for thou canst not accom-
plish it ; that is at all times " straight " !
Wouldest thou abide in Him ? " Correct thou
thyself;" so will the sceptre of Him who rules
thee, be unto thee " a rule of direction." Thence
is He also called King,' from "ruling." For
1 O trttrnitatit divinitat.
1 Quiafluit.
» Sex,
a rtgendo.
2 Quia non pluit.
* Collineari.
that is no " ruler " that does not correct.6
Hereunto is our King a King of " right ones." »
Just as He is a Priest (Sacerdos) by sanctifying
us, so is He our King, our Ruler, by '• ruling "
us. . . .
16. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated
iniquity" (ver. 7). See there "the rod of di-
rection " described. " Thou hast loved right-
eousness, and hated iniquity." Draw near to
that "rod;" let Christ be thy King: let Him
" rule " thee with that rod, not crush thee with
it. For that rod is " a rod of iron ; " an in-
flexible rod.8 " Thou shalt rule them with a rod
of iron : and break them in pieces like a potter's
vessel." ' Some He rules ; others He " breaks in
pieces : " He " rules " them that are spiritual :
He " breaks in pieces " them that are carnal. . . .
Would He so loudly declare that He was about
to smite thee, if He wished to smite thee? He
is then holding back Hfs hand from the punish-
ment of thine offences ; but do not thou hold
back. Turn thou thyself to the punishment of
thine offences : for unpunished offences cannot
be : punishment therefore must be executed
either by thyself, or by Him : do thou then plead
guilty, that He may reprieve thee. Consider an
instance in that penitential Psalm : " Hide Thy
face from my sins." IO Did he mean " from me " ?
No : for in another passage he says plainly,
" Hide not Thy face from me." " Turn " then
" Thy face from my sins." I would have Thee
not see my sins. For God's " seeing " is ani-
madverting upon. Hence too a Judge is said
to " animadvert " " on that which he punishes ;
i.e. to turn his mind on it, to bend it thereon,
even to the punishment of it, inasmuch as he
is the Judge. So too is God a Judge. "Turn
Thou Thy face from my sins." But thou thy-
self, if thou wouldest have God turn " His
face " from them, turn not thine own face
from them. Observe how he proposes this to
God in that very Psalm : " I acknowledge,"
he says, " my transgression, and my sin is ever
before me." '• He would fain have that which he
wishes to be ever before his own eyes, not be be-
fore God's eyes. Let no one flatter himself with
fond hopes of God's mercy. His sceptre is " a
sceptre of righteousness." Do we say that God
is not merciful? What can exceed His mercy,
who shows such forbearance to sinners ; who
takes no account of the past in all that turn unto
Him? So love thou Him for His mercy, as still
to wish that He should be truthful. For mercy
cannot strip Him of His attribute of justice :
nor justice of that of mercy. Meanwhile during
6 Non atttem regit qui non corrigit.
7 Rectorum.
8 Hac est tota virga. Ah tuta, " This is a safe rod.'
9 Ps. ii. 9. "> Ps. li. 9.
11 Animum adverteri.
11 Pi. li. 3.
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
I5i
the time that He postpones thy punishment, do
not thou postpone it.
1 7. " Therefore, God, Thy God, hath anointed
Thee." It was for this reason that He anointed
thee, that thou mightest love righteousness, and
hate iniquity. And observe in what way he ex-
presses himself. " Therefore, God, Thy God,
hath anointed Thee : " i.e. " God hath anointed
Thee, O God." " God " is " anointed " by God.
For in the Latin it is thought to be the same case
of the noun repeated : in the Greek however
there is a most evident distinction ; one being
the name of the Person addressed ; and one
His who makes the address, saying, " God
hath anointed Thee." " O God, Thy God hath
anointed Thee," just as if He were saying,
"Therefore hath Thy God, O God, anointed
Thee." Take it in that sense, understand it in
that sense ; that such is the sense is most evident
in the Greek. Who then is the God that is
"anointed" by God? Let the Jews tell us;
these Scriptures are common to us and them.
It was God, who was anointed by God : you
hear of an " Anointed " one ; understand it to
mean "Christ." For the name of "Christ"
comes from " chrism ; " this name by which He
is called " Christ " expresses " unction : " nor
were kings and prophets anointed in any king-
dom, in any other place, save in that kingdom
where Christ was prophesied of, where He was
anointed, and from whence the Name of Christ
was to come. It is found nowhere else at all :
in no one nation or kingdom. God, then, was
anointed by God ; with what oil was He
anointed, but a spiritual one? For the visible
oil is in the sign, the invisible oil is in the mys-
tery ; ■ the spiritual oil is within. " God " then
was " anointed " for us, and sent unto us ; and
God Himself was man, in order that He might
be " anointed : " but He was man in such a
way as to be God still. He was God in such
a way as not to disdain to be man. " Very man
and very God ; " in nothing deceitful, in nothing
false, as being everywhere true, everywhere " the
Truth " itself. God then is man ; and it was for
this cause that " God " was " anointed," be-
cause God was Man, and became " Christ."
18. This was figured in Jacob's placing a stone
at his head, and so sleeping.2 The patriarch
Jacob had placed a stone at his head : sleeping
with that stone at his head, he saw heaven
opened, and a ladder from heaven to earth, and
Angels ascending and descending ; 3 after this
vision he awaked, anointed the stone, and de-
parted. In that " stone " he understood Christ ;
1 Al. " The visible oil is for a sign of the oil invisible, for it is in
a sacrament." [The use of oil in confirmation, designed to teach
this, operated to conceal it rather; the material chrism absorbing
the spiritual idea. — CI
2 Gen. xxviii. 11-18.
3 [With which he subjoins a reference to John i. 51. — C]
for that reason he anointed it. Take notice
what it is whereby Christ is preached. What
is the meaning of that anointing of a stone,
especially in the case of the Patriarchs who
worshipped but One God? It was however
done as a figurative act : and he departed. For
he did not anoint the stone, and come to wor-
ship there constantly, and to perform sacrifice
there. It was the expression of a mystery ;
not the commencement of sacrilege. And notice
the meaning of "the stone." "The Stone
which the builders refused, this is become the
head of the corner." 4 Notice here a great mys-
tery. The " Stone " is Christ. Peter calls Him
"a living Stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God." 5 And the stone is set at
"the head," because "Christ is the Head of the
man." 6 And " the stone " was anointed, because
" Christ" was so called from His being anointed.
And in the revelation of Christ, the ladder from
earth to heaven is seen, or from heaven to earth,
and the Angels ascending and descending.
What this means, we shall see more clearly,
when we have quoted the testimony from the
Lord Himself in the Gospel. You know that
Jacob is the same as Israel. For when he
wrestled with the Angel, and " prevailed," and
had been blest by Him over whom he prevailed,
his named was changed, so that he was called
" Israel ; " just as the people of Israel " pre-
vailed " 7 against Christ, so as to crucify Him,
and nevertheless was (in those who believed in
Christ) blest by Him over whom it prevailed.
But many believed not ; hence the halting of
Jacob. Here we have at once, blessing and
halting. Blessing on those who became be-
lievers ; for we know that afterward many of
that people did believe : Halting on the other
hand in those who believed not. And because
the greater part believed not, and but few be-
lieved, therefore that a halting might be pro-
duced, He touched " the breadth 8 of his thigh." 9
What is meant by the breadth of the thigh?
The great multitude of his descendants."5 . . .
19. "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee."
We have been speaking of God, who was
" anointed ; " i.e. of Christ. The name of
Christ could not be more clearly expressed than
by His being called " God the Anointed." In
the same way in which He was " beautiful before
the children of men," so is He here " anointed
with the oil of gladness above His fellows."
Who then are His " fellows " ? The children of
men ; for that He Himself (as the Son of Man)
became partaker of their mortality in order to
make them partakers of His Immortality.
4 Ps. cxviii.aa. S i Pet. ii. 4. 6 1 Cor. xi. 3.
7 Luke xxiii. 33.
8 Lat tudinem ; but Vulgate, nervum. 9 Gen. xxxii. 25.
10 Multitude generis.
152
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
20. "Out of Thy garments is the smell of
myrrh, amber, and cassia" (ver. 8). Out of Thy
garments is perceived the smell of fragrant
odours. By His garments are meant His Saints,
His elect, His whole Church, which he shows
forth, as His garment, so to speak ; His robe
" without spot and wrinkle," ' which on account
of its spots He has " washed " in His blood ; on
account of its " wrinkles " extended on His
Cross. Hence the sweet savour which is sig-
nified by certain perfumes there mentioned.
Hear Paul, that " least of the Apostles " (that
" hem of that garment," which the woman with
the issue of blood touched, and was healed),
hear him saying : " We are a sweet savour of
Christ, in every place, both in them that are
saved, and in them that perish." 2 He did not
say, " We are a sweet savour in them that are
saved, and a foul savour in them that are lost : "
but, as far as relates to ourselves, " we are a
sweet savour both in them that are saved, and in
them that perish." . . . They who loved him
were saved by the odour of " sweet savour ; "
they who envied him, perished by means of that
" sweet savour." To them that perished then
he was not a foul "savour," but a "sweet
savour." For it was for this very reason they
the more envied him, the more excellent that
grace was which reigned in him : for no man
envies him who is unhappy. He then was glo-
rious in the preaching of God's Word, and in
regulating his life according to the rule of that
" rod of direction ; " and he was loved by those
who loved Christ in him, who followed after and
pursued the odour of sweet savour ; who loved
the friend of the bridegroom : that is to say,
by the Bride Herself, who says in the Song
of Songs,3 " We will run after the sweet savour of
thy perfumes." But the others, the more they
beheld him invested with the glory of the
preaching of the Gospel, and of an irreproach-
able life, were so much the more tortured with
envy, and found that sweet savour prove death
to them.
31. " Out of thy ivory palaces, whereby kings'
daughters have made Thee glad." Choose which-
ever you please, " ivory " palaces, or " magnifi-
cent," or " royal " palaces, it is out of these that
the kings' daughters have made Christ glad.
Would you understand the spiritual sense of
" ivory palaces " ? Understand by them the
magnificent houses, and tabernacles of God,
the hearts of the Saints ; and by these self-same
" kings " those who rule their flesh ; who bring
into subjection to themselves the rebellious com-
monalty of human affections, who chastise the
body, and reduce it to bondage : for it is from
these that the daughters of kings have made Him
' Eph. v. »7.
1 2 Cor. li. 14, 15.
' Sol. Song i. 3, Lat.
glad. For all the souls that have been born
through their preaching and evangelizing are
"daughters of kings : " and the Churches, as the
daughters of Apostles, are daughters of kings.
For He is " King of kings ; " they themselves
kings, of whom it was said, " Ye shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel."4 They preached the " Word of Truth ; "
and begat Churches not for themselves, but for
Him. . . . Therefore as " raising up seed 5 to
their brother," to as many as they begat, they
gave the name not of " Paulians " or " Petrians,"
but of " Christians." Observe whether that sense
is not wakefully kept 6 in these verses. For when
he said, " out of the ivory palaces, he spake of
mansions royal, ample, honourable, peaceful, like
the heart of the Saints ; he added, " Whereby the
kings' daughters have made Thee glad in Thine
honour." They are indeed daughters of kings,
daughters of thine Apostles, but still " in Thine
honour : " for they raised up seed to their
brother. Hence Paul, when he saw those whom
he had raised up unto his Brother, running after
his own name, exclaimed, " Was Paul crucified
for you? " ' . . . No; for he says, " Or were ye
baptized in the name of Paul?"
" The daughters of kings have made Thee glad
in Thine honour." Keep, hold fast this " in
Thine honour." This is meant by having " a wed-
ding garment ; " seeking His honour, His glory.
Understand moreover by" kings' daughters " the
cities, which were founded by kings, and have
received the faith : and out of the ivory palaces
(palaces rich, the proud, the lifted up). " Kings'
daughters have made Thee glad in Thine
honour ; " in that they sought not the honour of
their founders, but have sought Thine honour.
Show me at Rome a temple of Romulus held in
so great honour as I can show you the Monu-
ment of Peter.8 In Peter, who is honoured but
He who died for us ? For we are followers of
Christ, not followers of Peter. And even if we
were born from the brother of Him that is dead,
yet are we named after the name of Him who is
dead.' We were begotten by the one, but be-
gotten to the other. Behold, Rome, Carthage,
and several other cities are the daughters of kings,
and yet have they " made glad the King in His
honour : " and all these make up one single
Queen.
22. What a nuptial song ! Behold in the
midst of songs full of rejoicing, comes forth the
Bride herself. For the Bridegroom was coming.
It was He who was being described : it was on
Him all our attention was fixed.
* Matt. xix. 28.
5 Oxf. mss. add, " for the Brother's name's sake."
6 Vig'lat. * 1 Cor. i. 13.
8 Memoriam Petri. [The first basilica of St. Peter, on the
Vatican, is attributed to Constantine. — C]
5 Deut xxv. 36.
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
153
" Upon Thy right hand did stand the Queen "
(ver. 9). She which stands on the left is no
Queen. For there will be one standing on " the
left " also, to whom it will be said, " Go into
everlasting fire." ' But she shall stand on the
right hand, to whom it will be said, " Come, ye
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom pre-
pared for you from the foundation of the world."2
On Thy right hand did stand the Queen, " in a
vesture of gold, clothed about with divers col-
ours." What is the vesture of this Queen? It
is one both precious, and also of divers colours :
it is the mysteries of doctrine in all the various
tongues : one African, one Syrian, one Greek,
one Hebrew, one this, and one that ; it is these
languages that produce the divers colours of this
vesture.3 But just as all the divers colours of the
vesture blend together in the one vesture, so do
all the languages in one and the same faith. In
that vesture, let there be diversity, let there be
no rent. See we have " understood " the divers
colours of the diversity of tongues ; and the ves-
ture to refer to unity : but in that diversity itself,
what is meant by the "gold"? Wisdom itself.
Let there be any diversity of tongues you please,
but there is but one "gold " that is preached of:
not a different gold, but a different form of that
gold. For it is the same Wisdom, the same doc-
trine and discipline that every language preaches.
In the languages there is diversity ; gold in the
thoughts.
23. The Prophet addresses this Queen (for he
delights in singing to her) , and moreover each
one of us, provided, however, we know where we
are, and endeavour to belong to that body, and
do belong to it in faith and hope, being united
in the membership of Christ.4 For it is us whom
he addresses, saying, " Hearken, O daughter, and
behold " (ver. 10), as being one of the " Fathers"
(for they are " daughters of kings "), although it
be a Prophet, or although it be an Apostle 5 that
is addressing her ; addressing her, as a daughter,
for we are accustomed to speak in this way, " Our
fathers the Prophets, our fathers the Apostles ; "
if we address them as " fathers," they may ad-
dress us as children : and it is one father's voice
addressing one daughter. " Hearken, O daughter,
and see." " Hear " first ; afterward " see." For
they came to us with the Gospel ; and that has
been preached to us, which as yet we do not see,
and which on hearing of it we believed, which by
believing it, we shall come to see : even as the
Bridegroom Himself speaks in the Prophet, " A
people whom I have not known served me.
In the hearing of me with the ear it obeyed
1 Matt. xxv. 41. * Matt. xxv. 34.
3_ [Hence the beauty of a Liturgy is not that it should be in
(Latin)-one language, but in the many tongues of the many nations,
confessing one faith. A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 533. — C.J
* Uniti in tnembris Christ.
5 Al. " and thus a Prophet addresses her, and thus an Apostle
addresses her."
me." 5 What is meant by on " hearing of me
with the ear " ? That they did not " see." The
Jews saw Him, and crucified Him ; the Gentiles
saw Him not, and believed. Let the Queen
who comes from the Gentiles come in " the
vesture of gold, clothed with divers colours ; " 7
let her come from among the Gentiles clad in all
languages, in the unity of Wisdom : let it be said
unto her, " Hearken, O daughter, and see." If
thou wilt not hear, thou shalt not " see." . . .
" And incline thine ear." It is not enough to
" hearken ; " hearken with humility : bow down
thine ear. " Forget also thine own people, and
thy father's house." There was a certain
" people," and a certain house of thy father, in
which thou wast born, the people of Babylon,
having the devil for thy king. Whencesoever the
Gentiles came, they came from their father the
devil ; but they have renounced their sonship to
the devil. " Forget also thine own people, and
thy father's house." He, in making thee a sinner,
begat thee loathsome : the Other, in that " He
justifies the ungodly," 8 begetteth thee again in
beauty.
24. " For the King hath greatly desired thy
beauty " (ver. 1 1 ) . What " beauty " is that, save
that which is His own work ? " Greatly desired
the beauty" — Of whom? Of her the sinner,
the unrighteous, the ungodly, such as she was
with her " father," the devil, and among her
own "people"? No, but hers of whom it is
said, " Who is this that cometh up made white ? " 9
She was not white then at the first, but was
"made" white afterwards. For " though your
sins shall be as scarlet, I will make them white
as snow." IO "The king has greatly desired thy
beauty." What King is this? " For He is the
Lord thy God." " Now consider whether thou
oughtest not to forego that thy father, and thy
own people, and to come to this King, who is
thy God ? Thy God is " thy King," thy " King "
is also thy Bridegroom. Thou weddest to thy
King, who is thy God : being endowed by Him,
being adorned by Him ; redeemed by Him, and
healed by Him. Whatever thou hast, wherewith
to be pleasing to Him, thou hast from Him.
25. "And the daughters of Tyre shall wor-
ship Him with gifts" (ver. 12). It is that self-
same " King, who is thy God," that the daugh-
ters of Tyre shall worship with gifts. The
daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gen-
tiles ; the part standing for the whole. Tyre, a
city bordering on this country, where the proph-
ecy was delivered, typified the nations that were
to believe in Christ. Thence came that
6 Ps. xviii. 43, 44.
7 Ben. " with truth." Oxf. mss. varietate. 8 Rom. iv. 5.
9 Sol. Song viii. 5. Dealbata ; or, Vulgate, deliciis ajftuens.
10 Isa. i. 18.
" [With the Septuagint our author omits et adora cum. The
text of the Vulgate here, and that of St. Augustin and of Jerome's
Hebraic Psalter, differ widely. — C.J
154
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
Canaanitish woman, who was at first called " a
dog ; " for that ye may know that she was from
thence, the Gospel speaks thus. " He departed
into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a
woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts,"
with all the rest that is related there. She who
at first, at the house of her " father," and among
her "own people," was but "a dog," who by
coming to, and crying after that " King," was
made beautiful by believing in Him, what did
she obtain to hear ? " O woman, great is thy
faith."' "The King has greatly desired thy
beauty. And the daughters of Tyre shall wor-
ship with gifts."2 With what gifts? Even so
would this King be approached, and would have
His treasuries filled : and it is He Himself who
has given us that wherewith they may be filled,
and may be filled 3 by you. Let them come
(He says) and "worship Him with gifts." What
is meant by " with gifts "?..." Give alms,
and all things are clean unto you." Come with
gifts to Him that saith, " I will have mercy
rather than sacrifice." 4 To that Temple that ex-
isted aforetime as a shadow of that which was to
come, they used to come with bulls, and rams,
and goats, with every different kind of animal
for sacrifice : that with that blood one thing
should be done, and another be typified by it.
Now that very blood, which all these things used
to figure, hath come : the King Himself hath
come, and He Himself would have your "gifts."
What gifts? Alms. For He Himself will judge
hereafter, and will Himself hereafter account
" gifts " to certain persons. " Come" (He says),
" ye blessed of My Father." Why ? " I was an
hungred, and ye gave Me meat," 5 etc. These
are the gifts with which the daughters of Tyre
worship the King ; for when they said, " When
saw we Thee? " He who is at once above and
below (whence those " ascending " and " de-
scending" are spoken of6), said, "Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine, ye
have done it unto Me." 7
26. . . . "The rich among the people shall
entreat Thy face." Both they who shall entreat
that face, and He whose face they will entreat, are
all collectively but one Bride, but one Queen,
mother and children belonging all together
unto Christ, belonging unto their Head. . . .
27. " All the glory of her, the King's daughter,
is from within " (ver. 13). Not only is her robe,
outwardly, "of gold, and of divers colours;"
but He who loved her beauty, knew her to be
[A truly Punic out-
1 Matt. xv. 21-38.
2 "They shall worship Him with gifts,
burst, and full of point lor the Carthaginians.1 A. W. F. Tol. iii.
p. 3— C]
' Or, " and let them be rilled." A I. " and they are filled."
* Hos. vi. 6: Matt, ix 13.
* Matt. xxv. ;j4, 35.
* Gen. xxviii. 12. See § 18. John i. 51.
1 Matt. xxv. 40.
also beautiful within.8 What are those inward
charms?9 Those of conscience. It is there
Christ sees ; it is there Christ loves her : it is
there He addresses her, there punishes, there
crowns. Let then thine alms be done in secret ; for
" all the glory of her, the King's daughter, is from
within." " With fringes of gold, clothed with
divers colours" (ver. 14). Her beauty is from
within ; yet in the " fringes of gold " is the diver-
sity of languages : the beauty of doctrine. What
do these avail, if there be not that beauty " from
within " ? " The virgins shall be brought unto
the King after her." It has been fulfilled in-
deed. The Church has believed ; the Church
has been formed throughout all nations. And
to what a degree do virgins now seek to find
favour in the eyes of that King ! Whence are
they moved to do so ? Even because the Church
preceded them. " The virgins shall be brought
unto the King after her. Her near kinswomen '°
shall be brought unto Thee." For they that are
brought unto Him are not strangers, but her
" near kinswomen," that belong to her. And
because he had said, " unto the King," he says,
turning the discourse to Him, " her near kins-
women shall be brought unto Thee."
28. " With gladness and rejoicing shall they
be brought and shall be led into the Temple of
the King" (ver. 15). The "Temple of the
King" is the Church itself: it is the Church
itself that enters into " the Temple of the King."
Whereof is that Temple constructed? Of the
men who enter the Temple? Who but God's
" faithful " ones are its " living stones " ? " " They
shall be led into the Temple of the King." For
there are virgins without the Temple of the
King, the nuns among the heretics : ,2 they are
virgins, it is true ; but what will that profit them,
unless they be led into the "Temple of the
King"? The "Temple of the King" is in
unity: the "Temple of the King" is not ruin-
ous, is not rent asunder, is not divided. The
cement '3 of those living stones is " charity."
29. " Instead of thy fathers, children are bom
to thee " (ver. 16). Nothing can be more man-
ifest. Now consider the " Temple of the King "
itself, for it is on its behalf he speaks, on ac-
count of the unity of the body that is spread
throughout all the world : for those very per-
sons who have chosen to be virgins, cannot find
favour with the King unless they be led into the
Temple of the King. " Instead of thy fathers,
are thy children bom to thee." It was the
Apostles begat thee.: they were "sent:" they
were the preachers : they are " the fathers."
■ [Omnt's gloria filia- regis intrinsecus is Jerome's version
of the Hebrew: preferable, certainly, to the tame idea of modern
critics, that " within " means " (intus domum) within the palaces."
-C]
v Interior/* pulcriludinit. *° Proximo". " l Pet. u. 4.
u Hceretic* sanctimoniaUt. x> Juttctura.
Psalm XLVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
155
But was it possible for them to be with us in the
body for ever? Although one of them said, " I
desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is
far better : to abide in the flesh is necessary for
your sakes." It is true he said this, but how
long was it possible for him to remain here?
Could it be till this present time, could it be to
all futurity? Is the Church then left desolate
by their departure ? God forbid. " Instead of
thy fathers, children have been born to thee."
What is that? The Apostles were sent to thee
as " fathers," instead of the Apostles sons have
been born to thee : there have been appointed
Bishops. For in the present day, whence do
the Bishops, throughout all the world, derive
their origin? The Church itself calls them
fathers ; the Church itself brought them forth,
and placed them on the thrones of "the fa-
thers." Think not thyself abandoned then, be-
cause thou seest not Peter, nor seest Paul :
seest not those through whom thou wert born.
Out of thine own offspring has a body of " fa-
thers " been raised up to thee. " Instead of thy
fathers, have children been born to thee." Ob-
serve how widely diffused is the "Temple of
the King," that " the virgins that are not led
to the Temple of the King," may know that they
have nothing to do with that marriage. "Thou
shalt make them princes ' over all the earth."
This is the Universal Church : her children have
been made " princes over all the earth : " her
children have been appointed instead of the
" fathers." Let those who are cut off own the
truth of this, let them come to the One Body :
let them be led into the Temple of the King.
God hath established His Temple everywhere :
hath laid everywhere " the foundations of the
Prophets and Apostles."1 The Church has
brought " forth sons ; " has made them " instead
of her fathers" to be "princes over all the
earth."
30. "They shall be mindful of thy name in
every generation and generation ; therefore shall
the peoples confess unto3 Thee" (ver. 17).
What does it profit then to " confess " indeed,
and yet to confess out of " the Temple " ? What
does it profit to pray, and yet not to pray on the
Mount? "I cried," says he, "unto the Lord
with my voice : and He heard me out of His
holy hill." * Out of what " hill " ? Out of that
of which it is said, " A city set upon a hill can-
not be hid." s Of what " hill " ? Out of that hill
which Daniel saw " grow out of a small stone,
and break all the kingdoms of the earth ; and
cover all the face of the earth." 6 There let him
pray, who .hopes to receive : there let him ask,
1 [Not worldly princes, but spiritual chiefs and leaders of the
floclc.-C]
2 Eph. ii« 20. 3 E. V. " praise Thcc." * Ps. iii. 4.
5 Matt. v. 14. b Dan. ii. 34, 35.
who would have his prayer heard : there let him
confess, who wishes to be pardoned. " There-
fore shall the peoples confess unto thee for ever,
world without end." For in that eternal life it
is true indeed there will no longer be the mourn-
ing over sins : but yet in the praises of God by
that everlasting City which is above, there will
not be wanting a perpetual confession of the
greatness of that happiness. For to that City
itself, to which another Psalm ? sings, " Glorious
things are spoken of thee, O City of God," to
her who is the very Bride of Christ, the very
Queen, a " King's daughter, and a King's con-
sort ; " . . . the peoples shall for this very cause
confess even to herself; the hearts of all, now
enlightened by perfect charity, being laid bare,
and made manifest, that she may know the
whole of herself most completely, who here is,
in many parts of her, unknown to herself. . . .
PSALM XLVI.8
1. It is called, " A Psalm, to the end, for the
sons of Korah, for things secret." Secret is it
then ; but He Himself, who in the place of Cal-
vary was crucified, ye know, hath rent the veil,'
that the secrets of the temple might be discov-
ered. Furthermore since the Cross of our Lord
was a key, whereby things closed might be
opened ; let us trust that He will be with us,
that these secrets may be revealed. What is
said, " To the end," always ought to be under-
stood of Christ. For " Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to every one that believ- '
eth." '° But The End He is called, not because
He consumeth, but because He perfecteth.
For ended call we the food which is eaten, and
ended the coat which is woven, the former to
consumption, the latter to perfection. Because
then we have not where to go farther when we
have come to Christ, Himself is called the end
of our course. Nor ought we to think, that
when we have come to Him, we ought to strive
any further to come also to the Father. For this
thought Philip also, when he said to Him,
" Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
When he said, "It sufficeth us," lie sought the
end of satisfaction and perfection. Then said
He, " Have I been so long time with you, and
hast thou not known Me, Philip : he that hath
seen Me, hath seen the Father." " In Him then
have we the Father, because He is in the Father,
7 Ps. Ixxxvii. 3.
8 Lat. XLV. [In his exordium the Saint recurs to his favourite
idea as follows: " Korah is interpreted ' Baldness,' and that our l.ord,
since in the ' place of the Bald skull ' [Matt, xxvii 33] Hewascruci-
fied, hath drawn unto Him many; like that corn of wheat, which
except it die, should abide alone: and that those who are drawn unto
Him are called sons of Korah [John xii. 24, 32]. Thus much in the
mystery. There were indeed some sons of Korah at the time when
this was first sung [1 Chron. xxvi. 1], but to us ought the Spirit to
give life, not the Tetter to be a veil " [2 Cor. iii. 6] — C]
9 Matt, xxvii. 51.
Rom. x. 4.
John xiv. 8, 9.
^56
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVI.
and the Father in Him, and He and His Father
are One.'
2. " Our God is a refuge and strength " (ver.
i). There are some refuges wherein is no
strength, whereto when any fleeth, he is more
weakened than strengthened. Thou fleest, for
example, to some one greater in the world, that
thou mayest make thyself a powerful friend ;
this seemeth to thee a refuge. Yet so great are
this world's uncertainties, and so frequent grow
the ruins of the powerful day by day, that when
to such refuge thou art come, thou beginnest to
fear more than ever therein. . . . Our refuge is
not such, but our refuge is strength. When
thither we have fled, we shall be firm.
3. " A helper in tribulations, which find us out
too much." Tribulations are many, and in every
tribulation unto God must we flee ; whether it
be a tribulation in our estate, or in our body's
health, or about the peril of those dearest to us,
or any other thing necessary to the sustaining of
this life, refuge ought there to be none at all to a
Christian man, other than his Saviour, other than
his God, to whom when he has fled, he is strong.
For he will not in himself be strong, nor will
he to himself be strength, but He will be his
strength, who has become his refuge. But,
dearly beloved, among all tribulations of the
human soul is no greater tribulation than the
consciousness of sin. For if there be no wound
herein, and that be sound within man which is
called conscience, wherever else he may suffer
tribulation, thither will he flee, and there find
God. ... Ye see, dearly beloved, when trees
are cut down and proved by the carpenters,
sometimes in the surface they seem as though
injured and rotten ; but the carpenter looks into
the inner marrow as it were of the tree, and if
within he find the wood sound, he promises
that it will last in a building ; nor will he be very
anxious about the injured surface, when that
which is within he declares sound. Further-
more, to man anything more inward than con-
science is not found ; what then profits it, if
what is without is sound, and the marrow of
conscience has become rotton? These are close
and vehement overmuch, and as this Psalm
saith, too great tribulations ; yet even in these
the Lord hath become a helper by forgiving sin.
For the consciences of the ungodly hateth noth-
ing save indulgence ; for if one saith he hath
great tribulations, being a confessed debtor to
the treasury, when he beholdeth the narrowness
of his estate, and seeth that he cannot be sol-
vent ; if on account of the distrainers every year
hanging over him, he saith that he suffereth
great tribulations, and doth not breathe freely
except in hope of indulgence, and that in things
1 John x. 30, 38.
earthly ; ' how much more the debtor of penal-
ties out of the abundance of sins : when shall
he pay what he owes out of his evil conscience,
when if he pay, he perisheth? For to pay this
debt, is to undergo the penalties. Remaineth
then that of His indulgence, we may be secure,
yet so that, indulgence received, we return not
again to contract debts. . . .
4. Now then, such security received, what say
they ? " Therefore will not we fear, when the
earth shall be confounded" (ver. 2). Just be-
fore anxious, suddenly secure ; out of too great
tribulations set in great tranquillity. For in
them Christ was sleeping, therefore were they
tossed : Christ awoke (as but now we heard out
of the Gospel), He commanded the winds, and
they were still.3 Since Christ is in each man's
heart by faith, it is signified to us, that his heart
as a ship in this world's tempest is tossed, who
forgetteth his faith : as though Christ sleeping it
is tossed, but Christ awaking cometh tranquil-
lity. Nay, the Lord Himself, what said He?
"Where is your faith?"4 Christ aroused,
aroused up faith, that what had been done in
the ship, might be done in their hearts. "A
helper in tribulations, which found us 5 out too
much." He caused that therein should be great
tranquillity.
5 . See what tranquillity : " Therefore will not
we fear when the earth shall be confounded,
and the mountains shall be carried into the
heart of the sea." Then we shall find not fear.
Let us seek mountains carried, and if we can
find, it is manifest that this is our security. The
Lord truly said to His disciples, " If ye have
faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to
this mountain, Be Thou removed, and be Thou
cast into the sea, and it shall be done." 6 Hap-
ly " to this mountain," He said of Himself;
for He is called a Mountain : " It shall come to
pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
Lord shall be manifest." 7 But this Mountain
is placed above other mountains ; because the
Apostles also are mountains, supporting this
Mountain. Therefore followeth, " In the last
days the Mountain of the Lord shall be mani-
fest, established in the top of the mountains."
Therefore passeth It the tops of all mountains,
and on the top of all mountains is It placed ;
because the mountains are preaching The Moun-
tain. But the sea signified! this world, in com-
parison of which sea, like earth seemed the
nation of the Jews. For it was not covered
over with the bitterness of idolatry, but, like
dry land, was surrounded with the bitterness of
the Gentiles as with sea. It was to be, that the
earth be confounded, that is, that nation of
3 Many mss. " of earthly princes."
* Luke viii. 25.
6 Matt. xvit. to, xxi. ai.
3 Matt. viii. 24-26.
5 At. " them.'7
7 l&a. ii. 2.
Psalm LXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
157
the Jews ; and that the mountains be carried
into the heart of the sea, that is, first that great
Mountain established in the top of the moun-
tains. For He deserted the nation of the Jews,
and came among the Gentiles. He was carried
from the earth into the sea. Who carrying
Him? The Apostles, to whom He had said,
" If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed,
and be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be
done : " that is, through your most faithful
preaching it shall come to pass, that this moun-
tain, that is, I Myself, be preached among the
Gentiles, be glorified among the Gentiles, be
acknowledged among the Gentiles, and that be
fulfilled which was predicted of Me, " A people
whom I have not known shall serve Me." "...
6. " The waters thereof roared, and were
troubled " (ver. 3) : when the Gospel was
preached, "What is this? He seemeth to
be a setter forth of strange gods : " 2 this the
Athenians ; but the Ephesians, with what tumult
would they have slain the Apostles, when in the
theatre, for their goddess Diana, they made such
an uproar, as to be shouting, " Great is Diana
of the Ephesians ! " 3 Amidst which waves and
roaring of the sea, feared not they who to that
refuge had fled. Nay, the Apostle Paul would
enter in to the theatre, and was kept back by
the disciples, because it was necessary that he
should still abide in the flesh for their sakes.
But yet, " the waters thereof roared, and were
troubled : the mountains shook at the mighti-
ness thereof." Whose might? The sea's? or
rather God's, of whom was said, " refuge and
strength, a helper in tribulations, which have
found us out too much? " For shaken were the
mountains, that is, the powers of this world.
For one thing are the mountains of God, another
the mountains of the world : the mountains of
the world, they whose head is the devil, the
mountains of God, they whose Head is Christ.
But by these mountains were shaken those
mountains. Then gave they their voices against
Christians, when the mountains were shaken, the
waters roaring ; for the mountains were shaken,
and there was made a great earthquake, with
quaking of the sea. But against whom this?
Against the City founded upon a rock. The
waters roar, the mountains shake, the Gospel
being preached. What then, jhe City of God?
Hear what followeth.
7. " The streams of the river make glad the
City of God " (ver. 4). When the mountains
shake, when the sea rages, God deserteth not
His City, by the streams of the river. What are
these streams of the river? That overflowing
of the Holy Spirit, of which the Lord said, " If
1 Ps. xviii. 43.
2 Acts xvii. 18.
3 Acts xix. 34.
any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and
drink. He that believeth on Me, out of his
bosom4 shall flow rivers of living water." s These
rivers then flowed out of the bosom 4 of Paul,
Peter, John, the other Apostles, the other faith-
ful Evangelists. Since these rivers flowed from
one river, many " streams of the river make glad
the City of God." For that ye might know this
to be said of the Holy Spirit, in the same Gos-
pel next said the Evangelist, " But this spake He
of the Spirit, which they that were to believe on
Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was
not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified."6 Jesus being glorified after His
Resurrection, glorified after His Ascension, on
the day of Pentecost came the Holy Spirit, and
filled the believers,7 who spake with tongues,
and began to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Hence was the City of God made glad, while
the sea was troubled by the roaring of its waters,
while the mountains were confounded, asking
what they should do, how drive out the new doc-
trine, how root out the race of Christians from
the earth. Against whom ? Against the streams
of the river making glad the City of God. For
thereby showed He of what river He spake ;
that He signified the Holy Spirit, by " the
streams of the river make glad the City of God."
And what follows? "The Most High hath sanc-
tified His tabernacle : " since then there follow-
eth the mention of Sanctification, it is manifest
that these streams of the river are to be under-
stood of the Holy Spirit, by whom is sanctified
every godly soul believing in Christ, that it may
be made a citizen of the City of God.
8. " God. is in the midst of her : she shall not
be moved " (ver. 5 ) . Let the sea rage, the moun-
tains shake ; " God is in the midst of her : she
shall not be moved." What is, " in the midst of
her"? That God stands in any one place, and
they surround Him who believe in Him? Then
is God circumscribed by place ; and broad that
which surroundeth, narrow that which is sur-
rounded? God forbid. No such thing imagine
of God, who is contained in no place, whose
seat is the conscience of the godly : and so is
God's seat in the hearts of men, that if man fall
from God, God in Himself abideth, not falleth
like one not finding where to be. For rather
doth He lift up thee, that thou mayest be in
Him, than so lean upon thee, as if thou with-
draw thyself, to fall. Himself if He withdraw,
fall wilt thou : thyself if thou withdraw, fall will
not He. What then is, " God is in the midst
of her "? It signifieth that God is equal to all,
and accepteth not persons. For as that which
4 [" Belly," English version. But I have not hesitated to sub-
stitute a word more literal in fact, which relieves the text of a ludi-
crous profanation. — C.J
5 John vii. 37, 38. 6 John vii. 39. 1 Acts ii. i, 2.
158
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVI.
is in the middle has equal distances to all the
boundaries, so God is said to be in the middle,
because He consulteth equally for all. " God
is in the midst of her : she shall not be moved."
Wherefore shall she not be moved? Because
God is in the midst of her. He is " the Helper
in tribulations that have found us out too much.
God shall help her with His Countenance."
What is, " with His Countenance " ? With mani-
festation of Himself. How manifests God Him-
self, so as that we see His Countenance ? I have
already told you ; ye have learned God's Pres-
ence ; we have learned it through His works.
When from Him we receive any help so that we
cannot at all doubt that it was granted to us by
the Lord, then God's Countenance is with us.
9. "The heathen are troubled" (ver. 6).
And how troubled? why troubled? To cast
down the City of God, in the midst whereof is
God ? To overthrow the tabernacle sanctified,
which God helpeth with His Countenance?
No : with a wholesome trouble are the heathen
now troubled. For what followeth ? " And the
kingdoms are bowed." Bowed, saith He, are
the kingdoms ; not now erected that they may
rage, but bowed that they may adore. When
were the kingdoms bowed? When that came
to pass which was predicted in another Psalm,
" All kings shall fall down before Him, all nations
shall serve Him." ■ What cause made the king-
doms to bow? Hear the cause. "The Most
High gave His Voice, and the earth was moved."
The fanatics2 of idolatry, like frogs in the
marshes, clamoured, the more tumultuously, the
more sordidly, in filth and mire. And what is
the brawling of frogs to the thunder of the
clouds? For out of them "the Most High
gave His Voice, and the earth was moved : "
He thundered out of His clouds. And what
are His clouds? His Apostles, His preachers,
by whom He thundered in precepts, lightened
in miracles. The same are clouds who are also
mountains : mountains for their height and firm-
ness, clouds for their rain and fruitfulness. For
these clouds watered the earth, of which it was
said, " The Most High gave His Voice, and the
earth was moved." For it is of those clouds
that He threateneth a certain barren vineyard,
whence the mountains were carried into the
heart of the sea ; " I will command," saith He,
" the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." '
This was fulfilled in that which I have men-
tioned, when the mountains were carried into
the heart of the sea ; when it was said, " It was
necessary that the word of God should have
been spoken first to you ; but seeing ye put it
from you, we turn to the Gentiles ; " * then was
fulfilled, " I will command the clouds that they
1 P». lxxii. 11.
* Acta xiii. 46.
* Arrtptitii.
• I«a. v. 6.
rain no rain upon it." The nation of the Jews
hath just so remained as a fleece dry upon the
ground. For this, ye know, happened in a
certain miracle, the ground was dry, the fleece
only was wet, yet rain in the fleece appeared not.'
So also the mystery of the New Testament
appeared not in the nation of the Jews. What
there was the fleece, is here the veil. For in
the fleece was veiled the mystery. But on the
ground, in all the nations open lieth Christ's
Gospel ; the rain is manifest, the Grace of Christ
is bare, for it is not covered with a veil. But
that the rain might come out of it, the fleece
was pressed. For by pressure they from them-
selves excluded Christ, and the Lord now from
His clouds raineth on the ground, the fleece
hath remained dry. But of them then " the
Most High gave His Voice," out of those clouds ;
by which Voice the kingdoms were bowed and
worshipped.
10. "The Lord of Hosts is with us ; the God
of Jacob is our taker up" (ver. 7). Not any
man, not any power, not, in short, Angel, or
any creature either earthly or heavenly, but
" the Lord of Hosts is with us ; the God of
Jacob is our taker up." He who sent Angels,
came after Angels, came that Angels might
serve Him, came that men He might make
equal to Angels. Mighty Grace ! If God be
for us, who can be against us ? " The Lord of
Hosts is with us." What Lord of Hosts is with
us? " If" (I say) "God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all ; how hath He
not with Him also freely given 6 us all things." 1
Therefore be we secure, in tranquillity of heart
nourish we a good conscience with the Bread of
the Lord. " The Lord of Hosts is with us ; the
God of Jacob is our taker up." However great
be thy infirmity, see who taketh thee up. One
is sick, a physician is called to him. His own
taken-up, the Physician calleth the sick man.
Who hath taken him up? Even He. A great
hope of salvation ; a great Physician hath taken
him up. What Physician ? 8 Every Physician
save He is man : every Physician who cometh
to a sick man, another day can be made sick,
beside Him. " The God of Jacob is our taker
up." Make thyself altogether as a little child,
such as are taken up by their parents. For
those not taken up, are exposed ; those taken
up are nursed. Thinkest thou God hath so
taken thee up, as when an infant thy mother
took thee up? Not so, but to eternity. For
thy voice is in that Psalm, " My father and my
mother forsake me, but the Lord hath taken me
up." »
5 Judg. vi. 36-40. 6 So Vulgate. 7 Rom. viii. 31. 33.
s OxC mss. add, " hath taken him up ? What Physician? "
9 P». xxvii. 10.
Psalm XLVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
159
11. "Come and see the works of the Lord"
(ver. 8). Now of this taking up, what hath the
Lord done? Consider the whole world, come
and see. For if thou comest not, thou seest
not ; if thou seest not, thou believest not ; if
thou believest not, thou standest afar off : if thou
believest thou comest, if thou believest thou seest.
For how came we to that mountain ? Not on
foot? Is it by ship? Is it on the wing? Is it
on horses? For all that pertain to space and
place, be not concerned, trouble not thyself, He
cometh to thee. For out of a small stone He
hath grown, and become a great mountain, so
that He hath filled all the face of the earth.
Why then wouldest thou by land come to Him,
who filleth all lands? Lo, He hath already
come : watch thou. By growing He waketh
even sleepers ; if yet there is not in them so
deep sleep, as that they be hardened even
against the mountain coming ; but they hear,
" Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light." ' For it
was a great thing for the Jews to see the
stone. For the stone was yet small : and small
they deservedly despised it, and despising they
stumbled, and stumbling they were broken ; re-
mains that they be ground to powder. For so
was it said of the stone, " Whosoever shall fall
upon that stone shall be broken ; but on whom-
soever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."2
It is one thing to be broken, another to be
ground to powder. To be broken is less than
to be ground to powder : but none grindeth He
coming exalted, save whom He brake lying low.
For now before His coming He lay low before
the Jews, and they stumbled at Him, and were
broken ; hereafter shall He come in His Judg-
ment, glorious and exalted, great and powerful,
not weak to be judged, but strong to judge, and
grind to powder those who were broken stum-
bling at Him. For " A stone of stumbling and a
rock of offence,"3 is He to them that believe not.
Therefore, brethren, no wonder if the Jews
acknowledged not Him, whom as a small stone
lying before their feet they despised. They are
to be wondered at, who even now so great a
mountain will not acknowledge. The Jews at
a small stone by not seeing stumbled ; the here-
tics stumble at a mountain. For now that stone
hath grown, now say we unto them, Lo, now is
fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel, " The stone that
was small became a great mountain, and filled
the whole earth." 4 Wherefore stumble ye at
Him, and go not rather up to Him? Who is so
blind as to stumble at a mountain? Came He
to thee that thou shouldest have whereat to
stumble, and not have whereto to go up?
" Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of
1 Eph. v. 14.
* Dan. U. 35.
2 Luke xx. 18.
3 i Pet. ii. 8.
the Lord." 5 Isaiah saith this : " Come ye, and
let us go up." What is, " Come ye, and let us
go up " ? " Come ye," is, Believe ye. " Let us
go up," is, Let us profit.6 But they will neither
come, nor go up, nor believe, nor profit. They
bark against the mountain. Even now by so
often stumbling on Him they are broken, and
will not go up, choosing always to stumble. Say
we to them, " Come ye, and see the works of
the Lord : " what " prodigies He hath set forth
through the earth." Prodigies are called, be-
cause they portend something, those signs of
miracles which were done when the world be-
lieved. And what thereafter came to pass, and
what did they portend ?
12. " He maketh wars to cease unto the end
of the earth " (ver. 9). This not yet see we ful-
filled : yet are there wars, wars among nations for
sovereignty ; among sects, among Jews, Pagans,
Christians, heretics, are wars, frequent wars, some
for the truth, some for falsehood contending. Not
yet then is this fulfilled, "He maketh wars to
cease unto the end of the earth ; " but haply it
shall be fulfilled. Or is it now also fulfilled? In
some it is fulfilled ; in the wheat it is fulfilled, in
the tares it is not yet fulfilled. What is this then,
" He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the
earth " ? Wars He calleth whereby it is warred
against God. But who warreth against God ?
Ungodliness. And what to God can ungodliness
do? Nothing. What doth an earthen vessel
dashed against the rock, however vehemently
dashed ? With so much greater harm to itself
it cometh, with how much the greater force it
cometh. These wars were great, frequent were
they. Against God fought ungodliness, and
earthen vessels were dashed in pieces, even men
by presuming on themselves, by too much pre-
vailing by their own strength. This is that, the
shield whereof Job also named concerning one
ungodly. " He runneth against God, upon the
stiff neck of his shield." ' What is, " upon the
stiff neck of his shield " ? Presuming too much
upon his own protection. Were they such who
said, " God is our refuge and strength, a Helper
in tribulations which have found us out too
much"? or in another Psalm, "For I will not
trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save
me." 8 When one learneth that in himself he is
nothing, and help in himself has none, arms in
him are broken in pieces, wars are made to cease.
Such wars then destroyed that Voice of the Most
High out of His holy clouds, whereby the earth
was moved, and the kingdoms were bowed.
These wars hath He made to cease unto the end
of the earth. " He shall break the bow, and
5 Isa. ii. 3.
6 Oxf. mss. add, M come, and let us go up, believe, and let us
profit."
7 Job xv, a6. 8 Ps. xliv. 6.
i6o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVII.
dash in pieces the arms, and burn the shield
with fire." Bow, arms, shield, fire.1 The bow
is plots ; arms, public warfare ; shields, vain pre-
suming of self-protection : the fire wherewith
they are burned, is that whereof the Lord said,
" I am come to send fire on the earth ;"' of
which fire saith the Psalm, "There is nothing
hid from the heat thereof." J This fire burning,
no arms of ungodliness shall remain in us, needs
must all be broken, dashed in pieces, burned.
Remain thou unharmed, not having any help of
thine own ; and the more weak thou art, having
no arms thine own, the more He taketh thee
up, of whom it is said, " The God of Jacob is
our taker up." . . . But when God taketh us
up, doth He send us away unarmed ? He arm-
eth us, but with other arms, arms Evangelical,
arms of truth, continence, salvation, faith, hope,
charity. These arms shall we have, but not of
ourselves : but the arms which of ourselves we
had, are burnt up : yet if by that fire of the
Holy Spirit we are kindled, whereof it is said,
" He shall burn the shields with fire ; " thee,
who didst wish to be powerful in thyself, hath
God made weak, that He may make thee strong
in Him, because in thyself thou wast made weak.
13. What then followeth? "Be still." To
what purpose? "And see that I am God"
(ver. 10). That is, Not ye, but I am God. I
created, I create anew ; I formed, I form anew ;
I made, I make anew. If thou couldest not
make thyself, how canst thou make thyself anew ?
This seeth not the contentious tumult of man's
soul ; to which contentious tumult is it said, " Be
still." That is, restrain your souls from contra-
diction. Do not argue, and, as it were, arm
against God. Else yet live thy arms, not yet
burned up with fire. But if they are burned,
" Be still ; " because ye have not wherewith to
fight. But if ye be still in yourselves, and from
Me seek all, who before presumed on yourselves,
then shall ye " see that I am God." " I will be
exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in
the earth." Just before I said, by the name of
earth is signified the nation of the Jews, by the
name of sea the other nations. The mountains
were carried into the heart of the sea; the
nations are troubled, the kingdoms are bowed ;
the Most High gave His Voice, and the earth
was moved. "The Ix>rd of Hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is our taker up" (ver. n).
Miracles are done among the heathen, full filled
is the faith of the heathen ; burned are the arms
of human presumption. Still are they, in tran-
quillity of heart, to acknowledge God the Author
of all their gifts. And after this glorifying, doth
He yet desert the people of the Jews? of which
saith the Apostle, " I say unto you, lest ye should
1 Oxf. MSB.
» Ps. xix. 6.
' with fire.'
2 Luke xii. 49.
be wise in your own conceits ; that blindness in
part is happened unto Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in." 4 That is, until the
mountains be carried hither, the clouds rain
here, the Lord here bows the kingdoms with
His thunder, " until the fulness of the Gentiles
become in." And what thereafter? "And so
all Israel shall be saved." Therefore, here too
observing the same order, " I will be exalted "
(saith He) " among the heathen, I will be exalted
in the earth ; " that is, both in the sea, and in
the earth, that now might all say what followeth :
" the God of Jacob is our taker up."
PSALM XLVII.s
1. The title of the Psalm goeth thus. "To
the end : for the sons of Korah : a Psalm of
David himself." These sons of Korah have the
title also of some other Psalms, and indicate
a sweet mystery, insinuate a great Sacrament :
wherein let us willingly understand ourselves, and
let us acknowledge in the title us who hear,
and read, and as in a glass set before us behold
who we are. The sons of Korah, who are they ?5
. . . Haply the sons of the Bridegroom. For
the Bridegroom was crucified in the place of
Calvary. Recollect the Gospel,7 where they cru-
cified the Lord, and ye will find Him crucified
in the place of Calvary. Furthermore, they who
deride His Cross, by devils, as by beasts, are
devoured. For this also a certain Scripture sig-
nified. When God's Prophet Elisha was going
up, children called after him mocking, " Go up
thou bald head, Go up thou bald head : " but
he, not so much in cruelty as in mystery, made
those children to be devoured by bears out of
the wood.8 If those children had not been de-
voured, would they have lived even till now?
Or could they not, being born mortal, have been
taken off by a fever? But so in them had no
mystery been shown, whereby posterity might be
put in fear. Let none then mock the Cross of
Christ. The Jews were possessed by devils, and
devoured ; for in the place of Calvary, crucifying
Christ, and lifting on the Cross, they said as it
were with childish sense, not understanding what
they said, " Go up, thou bald head." For what
is, " Go up " ? " Crucify Him, Crucify Him." »
For childhood is set before us to imitate humil-
ity, and childhood is set before us to beware of
foolishness. To imitate humility, childhood was
set before us by the Lord, when He called chil-
dren to Him,'° and because they were kept from
Him, He said, " Suffer them to come unto Me,
for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." " The
< Rom. xi. 25. 5 Lat. XLVI.
6 Numb. xvi. 1. [See p. 155, note 8, supra. — C]
7 Matt, xxvii. 33. 8 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. 9 Luke xxiii. 21.
10 Matt, xviii. 2. " Matt. xix. 14.
Psalm XI,VII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
161
example of childhood is set before us to beware
of foolishness by the Apostle, " Brethren, be not
children in understanding : " and again he pro-
poseth it to imitate, " Howbeit in malice be ye
children, that in understanding ye may be men." '
" For the sons of Korah " the Psalm is sung ; for
Christians then is it sung. Let us hear it as sons
of the Bridegroom, whom senseless children cru-
cified in the place of Calvary. For they earned
to be devoured by beasts ; we to be crowned by
Angels. For we acknowledge the humility of
our Lord, and of it are not ashamed. We are
not ashamed of Him called in mystery " the
bald " ( Calvus), from the place of Calvary. For
on the very Cross whereon He was insulted, He
permitted not our forehead to be bald ; for with
His own Cross He marked it. Finally, that ye
may know that these things are said to us, see
what is said.
2. "O clap your hands, all ye nations"
(ver. i). Were the people of the Jews all the
nations? No, but blindness in part is happened
to Israel, that senseless children might cry,
" Calve," " Calve ; " and so the Lord might be
crucified in the place of Calvary, that by His
Blood shed He might redeem the Gentiles, and
that might be fulfilled which saith the Apostle,
" Blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." 2 Let
them insult, then, the vain, and foolish, and
senseless, and say, "Calve," "Calve;" but ye
redeemed by His Blood which was shed in the
place of Calvary, say, " O clap your hands, all
ye nations ; " because to you hath come down
the Grace of God. " O clap your hands."
What is "O clap"? Rejoice. But wherefore
with the hands? Because with good works. Do
not rejoice with the mouth while idle with the
hands. If ye rejoice, " clap your hands." The
hands of the nations let Him see, who joys hath
deigned to give them. What is, the hands of
the nations? The acts of them doing good
works. " O clap your hands, all ye nations :
shout unto God with the voice of triumph."
Both with voice and with hands. If with the
voice only it is not well, because the hands are
slow ; if only with the hands it is not well, be-
cause the tongue is mute. Agree together must
the hands and tongue. Let this confess, these
work. " Shout unto God with the voice of
triumph."
3. " For the Lord Most High is terrible "
(ver. 2). The Most High in descending made
like one ludicrous, by ascending into Heaven is
made terrible. " A great King over all the earth."
Not only over the Jews ; for over them also He
is King. For of them also the Apostles believed,
and of them many thousands of men sold their
1 1 Cor. xiv. 20.
3 Rom. xi. 35.
goods, and laid the price at the Apostles' feet,3
and in them was fulfilled what in the title of the
Cross was written, " The King of the Jews." *
For He is King also of the Jews. But " of the
Jews " is little.5 " O clap your hands, all ye
nations : for God is the King of all the earth."
For it sufficeth not Him to have under Him one
nation : therefore such great price gave He out
of His side, as to buy the whole world.
4. " He hath subdued the people under us,
and the nations under our feet " (ver. 3). Which
subdued, and to whom? Who are they that
speak? Haply Jews? Surely, if Apostles ; surely,
if Saints. For under these God hath subdued
the people and the nations, that to-day are they
honoured among the nations, who by their own
citizens earned to be slain : as their Lord was
slain by His citizens, arid is honoured among the
nations ; was crucified by His own, is adored by
aliens, but those by a price made His own. For
therefore bought He us, that aliens from Him
we might not be. Thinkest thou then these are
the words of Apostles, " He hath subdued the
people under us, and the nations under our feet " ?
I know not. Strange that Apostles should speak
so proudly, as to rejoice that the nations were
put under their feet, that is, Christians under the
feet of Apostles. For they rejoice that we are
with them under the feet of Him who died for
us. For under Paul's feet ran they, who would
be of Paul, to whom He said, " Was Paul cruci-
fied for you?"6 What then here, what are we
to understand ? " He hath subdued the people
under us, and the nations under our feet." All
pertaining to Christ's inheritance are among " all
the nations," and all not pertaining to Christ's
inheritance are among " all the nations : " and
ye see so exalted in Christ's Name is Christ's
Church, that all not yet believing in Christ lie
under the feet of Christians. For what numbers
now run to the Church ; not yet being Christians,
they ask aid of the Church ;' to be succoured
by us temporally they are willing, though eter-
nally to reign with us as yet they are unwilling.
When all seek aid of the Church, even they who
are not yet in the Church, hath He not " sub-
dued the people under us, and the nations under
our feet"?
5. " He hath chosen an inheritance for us, the
excellency 8 of Jacob, whom He loved " (ver.
4). A certain beauty of Jacob He hath chosen
for our inheritance. Esau and Jacob were two
brothers ; in their mother's womb both struggled,
and by this struggle their mother's bowels were
shaken ; and while they two were yet therein,
the younger was elected and preferred to the
3 Acts iv. 34. * Matt, xxvii. 37. 5 [Isa. xtix. 6. — C]
6 1 Cor. i. 13.
7 [See (A. N. F. vol. v. p. 563) the noble charities of early
Christians. — C.]
8 SpccitiH.
l62
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[fSALM XLVII.
elder, and it was said, "Two peoples are in thy
womb, and the elder shall serve the younger." '
Among all nations is the elder, among all nations
the younger ; but the younger is in good Chris-
tians, elect, godly, faithful ; the elder in the
proud, unworthy, sinful, stubborn, defending
rather than confessing their sins : as was also
the very people of the Jews, " being ignorant of
God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness." 2 But for that it is
said, " The elder shall serve the younger ; " it
is manifest that under the godly are subdued
the ungodly, under the humble are subdued the
proud. Esau was born first, and Jacob was born
last ; but he who was last born, was preferred to
the first-born, who through gluttony lost his
birthright. So thou hast it written,3 He longed
for the pottage, and his brother said to him, If
thou wilt that I give it thee, give me thy birth-
right. He loved more that which carnally he
desired, than that which spiritually by being born
first he had earned : 4 and he laid aside his birth-
right, that he might eat lentils. But lentils we
find to be the food of the Egyptians, for there it
abounds in Egypt. Whence is so magnified the
lentil of Alexandria, that it comes even to our
country, as if here grew no lentil. Therefore by
desiring Egyptian food he lost his birthright. So
also the people of the Jews, of whom it is said,
" in their hearts they turned back again into
Egypt." s They desired in a manner the lentil,
and lost their birthright.
6. " God is gone up with jubilation " (ver. 5).
Even He our God, the Lord Christ, is gone up
with jubilation ; " the Lord with the sound of a
trumpet." " Is gone up : " whither, save where
we know ? Whither the Jews followed Him not,
even with their eyes. For exalted on the Cross
they mocked Him, ascending into Heaven they
did not see Him. " God hath gone up with ju-
bilation." What is jubilation, but admiration of
joy which cannot be expressed in words? As
the disciples in joy admired, seeing Him go into
Heaven, whom they had mourned dead ; truly
for the joy, words sufficed not : remained to ju-
bilate what none could express. There was also
the voice of the trumpet, the voice of Angels.
For it is said, " Lift up thy voice like a trumpet."
Angels preached the ascension of the Lord : they
saw the Disciples, their Lord ascending, tarrying,
admiring, confounded, nothing speaking, but in
heart jubilant : and now was the sound of the
trumpet in the clear voice of the Angels, " Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into
Heaven? this is Jesus."6 As if they knew not
that it was the same Jesus. Had they not just
before seen Him before them ? Had they not
heard Him speaking with them ? Nay, they not
1 Gen. xxv. 23.
* Merucrat.
* Rom. x. 3.
» Acts vii. 39.
* Gen. xxv. 30-34.
6 Acts i. 11,
only saw the figure of Him present, but handled
also His limbs. Of themselves then knew they
not, that it was the same Jesus? But they being
by very admiration, from joy of jubilation, as it
were transported in mind, the Angels said, "that
same is Jesus." As though they said, If ye be-
lieve Him, this is that same Jesus, whom cruci-
fied, your feet stumbled, whom dead and buried,
ye thought your hope lost. Lo, this is the same
Jesus. He hath gone up before you, " He shall
so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go
into Heaven." His Body is removed indeed
from your eyes, but God is not separated from
your hearts : see Him going up, believe on Him
absent, hope for Him coming ; but yet through
His secret Mercy, feel Him present. For He
who ascended into Heaven that He might be
removed from your eyes, promised unto you,
saying, " Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." I Justly then the Apostle
so addressed us, " The Lord is at hand ; be care-
ful for nothing."8 Christ sitteth above the
Heavens ; the Heavens are far off, He who there
sitteth is near. . . .
7. "Sing praises to our God, sing praises"
(ver. 6). YVhom as Man mocked they, who
from God were alienated. " Sing praises to our
God." For He is not Man only, but God.
Man of the seed of David,9 God the Lord of
David, of the Jews having flesh. " Whose "
(saith the Apostle) "are the fathers, of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came." '° Of the Jews
then is Christ, but according to the flesh. But
who is this Christ who is of the Jews according
to the flesh ? " Who is over all, God blessed for
ever." God before the flesh, God in the flesh,
God with the flesh. Nor only God before the
flesh, but God before the earth whence flesh was
made ; nor only God before the earth whereof
flesh was made, but even God before the Heaven
which was first made ; God before the day which
was first made ; God before Angels ; the same
Christ is God : for " In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." "
8. " For God is the King of all the earth "
(ver. 7). What? And before was He not God
of all the earth? Is He not God of both heaven
and earth, since by Him surely were all things
made ? Who can say that He is not his God ?
But not all men acknowledged Him their God ;
and where He was acknowledged, there only, so
to say, He was God. " In Judah is God known." "
Not yet was it said to the sons of Korah, " O
clap your hands, all ye nations." For that God
known in Judah, is King of all the earth : now
by all He is acknowledged, for that is fulfilled
which Isaiah saith, " He is thy God who hath
7 Matt, xxviii. ao.
10 Rom. ix. }.
' Phil. iv. 5, 6.
11 John i. 1.
9 Rom i. 3.
12 Ps. txxvi. 1.
TSALM XLVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
163
delivered thee, the God of the whole earth shall
He be called." ' " Sing ye praises with under-
standing." He teacheth us and warneth us to
sing praises with understanding, not to seek the
sound of the ear, but the light of the heart.
The Gentiles, whence ye were called that ye
might be Christians, adored gods made with
hands, and sang praises to them, but not with
understanding. If they had sung with under-
standing, they had not adored stones. When a
man sensible sang to a stone insensible, did he
sing with understanding? But now, brethren,
we see not with our eyes Whom we adore, and
yet correctly 2 we adore.3 Much more is God
commended to us, that with our eyes we see
Him not. If with our eyes we saw Him, haply
we might despise. For even Christ seen, the
Jews despised ; unseen, the Gentiles adored.
9. " God shall reign over all nations " (ver.
8). Who reigned over one nation, " shall reign "
(saith He) " over all nations." When this was
said, God reigned over one nation. It was a
prophecy, the thing was not yet shown. Thanks
be to God, we now see fulfilled what before was
prophesied. A written promise God sent unto
us before the time, the time fulfilled He hath
repaid us. "God shall reign over all nations,"
is a promise. " God sitteth upon His Holy
Seat." What then was promised to come, now
being fulfilled, is acknowledged and held. " God
sitteth upon His Holy Seat." What is His
Holy Seat? Haply saith one, The Heavens,
and he understandeth well. For Christ hath
gone up,4 as we know, with the Body, wherein
He was crucified, and sitteth at the right hand
of the Father ; thence we expect Him to come
to judge the quick and the dead.s " God sitteth
upon His Holy Seat." The Heavens are His
Holy Seat. Wilt thou also be His Seat? think
not that thou canst not be ; prepare for Him a
place in thy heart. He cometh, and willingly
sitteth. The same Christ is surely " the Power
of God, and the Wisdom of God : " 6 and what
saith the Scripture of Wisdom Herself ? The
soul of the righteous is the seat of Wisdom.7 If
then the soul of the righteous is the seat ot
Wisdom, be thy soul righteous, and thou shalt
be a royal seat of Wisdom. And truly, breth-
ren, all men who live well, who act well, con-
verse in godly charity, doth not God sit in them,
and Himself command? Thy soul obeyeth God
sitting in it, and itself commandeth the mem-
bers. For thy soul commandeth thy members,
that so may move the foot, the hand, the eye,
the ear, and itself commandeth the members as
1 Tsa. liv. 5.
2 Correcti. ms. Vat. ap. Ben. corde recti, " right in heart."
3 [The adoration of the Host was unknown to the ancient
Church. — C]
* Acts i. 2.
7 Wisd. vii. 27.
3 2 Tim. iv. 1.
6 1 Cor. i. 24.
its servants, but yet itself serveth its Lord sitting
within. It cannot well rule its inferior, unless
its superior it have not disdained to serve.
10. " The princes of the peoples are gathered
together unto the God of Abraham" (ver. 9).
The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.8 True it is, God said
this, and thereupon the Jews prided themselves,
and said, " We are Abraham's children ; " » prid-
ing themselves in their father's name, carrying
his flesh, not holding his faith ; by seed cleaving
to Him, in manners degenerating. But the
Lord, what said He to them so priding them-
selves ? " If ye are Abraham's children, do the
works of Abraham." '° Again ..." The princes
of the peoples : " the princes of the nations : not
the princes of one people, but the princes of all
people have "gathered together unto the God
of Abraham." Of these princes was that Cen-
turion too, of whom but now when the Gospel
was read ye heard. For he was a Centurion
having honour and power among men, he was
a prince among the princes of the peoples.
Christ coming to him, he sent his friends to
meet Him, nay unto Christ truly passing over
to him he sent his friends, and asked that He
would heal his servant who was dangerously sick.
And when the Lord would come, he sent to
Him this message : " I am not worthy that Thou
shouldest enter under my roof, but say in a word
only, and my servant shall be healed." " For I
also am a man set under authority, having under
me soldiers." " See how he kept his rank ! first
he mentioned that he was under another, and
afterwards that another was under him. I am
under authority, and I am in authority ; both
under some I am, and over some I am. ... As
though he said, If I being set under authority
command those who are under me, Thou who
art set under no man's authority, canst not Thou
command Thy creature, since all things were
made by Thee, and without Thee was nothing
made. " Say," then, said he, " in a word, and
my servant shall be healed. For I am not
worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my
roof." . . . Admiring at his faith, Jesus reprobates
the Jews' misbelief. For sound to themselves
they seemed, whereas they were dangerously
sick, when their Physician not knowing they
slew. Therefore when He reprobated, and re-
pudiated their pride, what said he ? "I say
unto you, that many shall come from the east
and west," not belonging to the kindred of
Israel : many shall come to whom He said, " O
clap your hands, all ye nations ; " " and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in
the kingdom of heaven." Abraham begat them
not of his own flesh ; yet shall they come and
8 Exod. iii. 6.
11 Luke vii. 6, 7.
9 John viii. 33.
10 John viii. 39.
]64
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVIII.
sit down with him in the kingdom of heaven,
and be his sons. Whereby his sons? Not as
bom of his flesh, but by following his faith.
" But the children of the kingdom," that is, the
Jews, " shall be cast into outer darkness, there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." ' They
shall be condemned to outer darkness who are
born of the flesh of Abraham, and they shall sit
down with him in the kingdom of heaven, who
have imitated Abraham's faith.
n. And what they who belonged to the God
of Abraham ? " For the mighty gods of the
earth are greatly lifted up." They who were
gods, the people of God, the vineyard of God,
whereof it is said, " Judge betwixt Me and My
vineyard," 2 shall go into outer darkness, shall not
sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
are not gathered unto the God of Abraham.
Wherefore ? " For the mighty gods of the
earth ; " they who were mighty gods of the
earth, presuming upon earth. What earth?
Themselves ; for every man is earth. For to
man was it said, " Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return." 3 But man ought to pre-
sume upon God, and thence to hope for help,
not from himself. For the earth raineth not
upon itself, nor shineth for itself; but as the
earth from heaven expecteth rain and light, so
man from God ought to expect mercy and
truth. They then, " the mighty gods of the
earth, were greatly lifted up," that is, greatly
prided themselves : they thought no physician
necessary for themselves, and therefore remained
in their sickness, and by their sickness were
brought down even to death. The natural
branches were broken off that the humble wild
olive tree might be grafted in.'* Hold we fast
then, brethren, humility, charity, godliness : since
we are called, on their proving reprobate, even
by their example let us fear to pride ourselves.
PSALM XLVIII.s
i. The title of this Psalm is, "A song of
praise, to the sons of Korah, on the second day
of the week." Concerning this what the Lord
deigneth to grant receive ye like sons of the
firmament. For on the second day of the week,
that is, the day after the first which we call the
Lord's day, which also is called the second
week-day, was made the firmament of Heaven.6
. . . The second day of the week then we ought
not to understand but of the Church of Christ : but
the Church of Christ in the Saints, the Church
of Christ in those who are written in Heaven,
the Church of Christ in those who to this world's
temptations yield not. For they are worthy of
the name of "firmament." The Church of
1 Matt. viii. 12.
* Rom. xi. 17.
2 Isa. 1. 3.
» Lat. XLVII.
3 Gen. iii. to.
* Gen. i. 6-8.
Christ, then, in those who are strong, of whom
saith the Apostle, " We that are strong ought to
bear the infirmities of the weak," 7 is called the
firmament. Of this it is sung in this Psalm.
Let us hear, acknowledge, associate, glory,
reign. For Her called firmament, hear also in
the Apostolic Epistles, " the pillar and firma-
ment8 of the truth." 9 . . .
2. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be
praised" (ver. i). . . . That is, "in the city of
our God, in His holy mountain." This is the
city set upon an hill, which cannot be hid : this
is the candle which is not hidden under a
bushel, "° to all known, to all proclaimed. Yet are
not all men citizens thereof, but they in whom
" great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised."
What then is that city: let us see' whether per-
haps, since it is said, " In the city of our God,
in His holy mountain," we ought not to enquire for
this mountain where also we may be heard. . . .
What then is that mountain, brethren? One is
it with great care to be enquired for, with great
solicitude investigated, with labour also to be
occupied and ascended. But if in any part of
the earth it is, what shall we do ? Shall we go
abroad out of our own country, that to that
mountain we may arrive? Nay, then we are
abroad, when in it we are not. For that is our
city, if we are members of the King, who is the
head of the same city. . . . For there was a
certain corner-stone contemptible, whereat the
Jews stumbled," cut out of a certain mountain
without hands, that is, coming of the kingdom
of the Jews without hands, because human
operation went not with Mary of whom was born
Christ.'2 But if that stone, when the Jews stum-
bled thereat, had remained there, thou hadst
not had whither to ascend. But what was done ?
What saith the prophecy of Daniel ? What but
that the stone grew, and became a great moun-
tain? How great? So that it filled the whole
face of the earth. 'J By growing, then, and by
filling the whole face of the earth, that moun-
tain came to us. Why then seek we the mountain
as though absent, and not as being present
ascend to it ; that in us the Lord may be
"great, and greatly to be praised"?
3. Further, . . . when he had said, " in the
city of our God, in His holy mountain," what
added he ? " Spreading abroad the joys of the
whole earth, the mountains of Sion " (ver. 2).
Sion is one mountain, why then " mountains " ?
Is it that to Sion belonged also those which came
from the other side, so as to meet together on
the Corner Stone, and become two walls, as it
were two mountains, one of the circumcision,
the other of the uncircumcision ; one of the
7 Rom. xv. 1.
'° Matt. v. 14, 15.
13 Dan. ii. 35.
8 E. V. "ground."
11 Rom. ix. 32.
9 1 Tim. iii. 15.
" Matt. i. 16.
Psalm XLVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
165
Jews, the other of the Gentiles : no longer ad-
verse, although diverse, because from different
sides, now in the corner not even diverse. " For
He is our peace, who hath made both one." '
The same Corner Stone " which the builders
rejected, is become the Head Stone of the cor-
ner." * The mountain hath joined in itself two
mountains ; one house there is, and two houses ;
two, because coming from different sides ; one,
because of the Corner Stone, wherein both are
joined together. Hear also this, " the mountains
of Sion : the sides of the North are the city of
the great King." . . . See the Gentiles ; " the
sides of the North : " the sides of the North are
joined to the city of the great King. The North
is wont to be contrary to Sion : Sion forsooth is
in the South, the North over against the South.
Who is the North, but He who said, " I will sit
in the sides of the North, I will be like the Most
High"?' The devil had held dominion over
the ungodly, and possessed the nations serving
images, adoring demons ; and all whatsoever
there was of human kind anywhere throughout
the world, by cleaving to Him, had become
North. But since He who binds the strong
man, taketh away his goods,4 and maketh them
His own goods ; men delivered from infidelity
and superstition of devils, believing in Christ,
are fitted on to that city, have met in the corner
that wall that cometh from the circumcision, and
that was made the city of the great King, which
had been the sides of the North. Therefore
also in another Scripture is it said, " Out of the
North come clouds of golden colour : great is
the glory and honour of the Almighty." 5 For
great is the glory of the physician, when from
being despaired of the sick recovers. " Out of
the North come clouds," and not black clouds,
not dark clouds, not lowering, but " of golden
colour." Whence but by grace illumined
through Christ ? See, " the sides of the North
are the city of the great King." . . .
4. Let the Psalm then follow, and say, " God
shall be known in her houses." Now in her
" houses," because of the mountains, because of
the two walls, because of the two sons. " God
shall be known in her houses," but he commend-
eth grace, therefore he added, " when He shall
take her up." For what would that city have
been, unless He had taken her up? Would it
not immediately have fallen, unless it had such
foundation ? For " other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 6
Let none then glory in his own merits ; but " he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 1 . . .
The Lord then hath taken up this city, and is
known therein, that is, His grace is known in
1 Eph. ii.14.
* Matt. xii. 39.
' 1 Cor. i. 31.
2 Ps. cxviii 22.
5 Job xxxvii. 22.
3 Isa. xiv. 13, 14.
6 1 Cor. iii. 11.
that city : for whatever that city hath, which
glorieth in the Lord, it hath not of itself. For
because of this it is said, " What hast thou that
thou didst not receive ? " 8
5. "For, lo, the kings of the earth are
gathered together " (ver. 3) . Behold now those
sides of the North, see how they come, see how
they say, " Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord : and He will teach us
His way, and we will walk in it."9 "And
have come together in one." In what one, but
that " corner-stone "? '° "They saw it, and so
they marvelled" (ver. 4). After their marvel-
ling at the miracles and glory of Christ, what
followed? "They were troubled, they were
moved" (ver. 5), "trembling took hold upon
them." Whence took trembling hold upon them,
but from the consciousness of sins? Let them
run then, kings after a king : kings, let them ac-
knowledge the King. Therefore saith He else-
where, "Yet have I been set by Him a King
upon His holy hill of Sion." "... A King then
was heard of, set up in Sion, to Him were de-
livered possessions even to the uttermost parts
of the earth. Kings behoved to fear lest they
should lose the kingdom, lest the kingdom be
taken from them. As wretched Herod feared,
and for the Child slew the children.'2 But fear-
ing to lose his kingdom, he deserved not to know
the King. Would that he too had adored the
King with the Magi : not by ill-seeking the king-
dom, slain the Innocents, and perished guilty.
For as concerning him, he destroyed the Inno-
cents : but as for Christ, even a Child, the chil-
dren dying for Him did He crown. Therefore
behoved kings to fear when it was said, " Yet
have I been set a King by Him upon His holy
hill of Sion," and inheritance, to the uttermost
parts of the earth shall He give Him, who set
Him up King. . . . Thence also this is said to
them, " Understand now therefore, O ye kings :
be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve
the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with
trembling.'"3 And what did they? "There
pains as of a woman in travail." What are the
pains " as of a woman in travail," but the pangs
of a penitent? See the same conception of
pain and travail : " Of Thy fear" (saith Isaiah)
" we have conceived, we have travailed of the
Spirit of salvation." '4 So then the kings con-
ceived from the fear of Christ, that by travailing
they brought forth salvation by believing on Him
whom they had feared. " There pains as of a
woman in travail : " when of travail thou hearest,
expect a birth. The old man travaileth, but the
new man is born.
8 I Cor. iv. 7.
» Ps. ii. 6.
13 Ps. ii. 10, 11.
'« Isa. xxvi. 17, 18.
9 Isa ii. 3.
" Matt. if. 16.
10 Eph. ii. 20.
1 66
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVIII.
6. " With a strong wind Thou shalt break the
ships of Tarshish " (ver. 6) . Briefly understood,
this is, Thou shalt overthrow the pride of the
nations. But where in this history is mentioned
the overthrowing of the pride of the nations?
Because of " the ships of Tarshish." Learned
men have enquired for Tarshish a city, that is,
what city was signified by this name : and to
some it has seemed that Cilicia is called Tar-
shish, because its metropolis is called Tarsus.
Of which city was the Apostle Paul, being born
in Tarsus of Cilicia.1 But some have under-
stood by it Carthage, being haply sometimes so
named, or in some language so signified. For
in the Prophet Isaiah it is thus found : " Howl,
ye ships of Carthage." 2 But in Ezekiel3 by some
interpreters the word is translated Carthage, by
some Tarshish : and from this diversity it can
be understood that the same which was called
Carthage, is called Tharsus. But it is manifest,
that in the beginning of its reign Carthage flour-
ished with ships, and so flourished, that among
other nations they excelled in trafficking and
navigation. For when Dido, flying from her
brother, escaped to the parts of Africa, where
she built Carthage, the ships which had been
prepared for commerce in his country she had
taken with her for her flight, the princes of the
country consenting to it ; and the same ships
also when Carthage was built failed not in traffic.
And hence that city became too proud, so that
justly by its ships may be understood the pride
of the nations, presuming on things uncertain,
as on the breath of the winds. Now let none
presume on full sails, and on the seeming fair
state of this life, as of the sea. Be our founda-
tion in Sion : there ought we to be stablished,
not to be " carried about with every wind of doc-
trine." * Whoso then by the uncertain things
of this life had been puffed up, let them be over-
thrown, and be all the pride of the nations sub-
jected to Christ, who shall " with a strong wind
break all the ships of Tarshish : " not of any
city, but of " Tarshish." How " with a strong
wind"? With very strong fear. For so all
pride feared Him that shall judge, as on Him
humble to believe, lest Him exalted it should
fear.
7. " As we have heard, so have we seen "
(ver. 7). Blessed Church ! at one time thou
hast heard, at another time thou hast seen.
She heard in promises, seeth in performance :
heard in Prophecy, seeth in the Gospel. For
all things which are now fulfilled were before
prophesied. Lift up thine eyes then, and stretch
them over the world ; see now His " inheritance
1 Acts xxi. 39.
» So LXX.; Heb. Tarshiih. Isa. xxiii i.
3 Kzck. xxxviii. 13. [Note the author's interest in all that bears
upon his own field of labour. — C.J
4 Eph. iv. 14.
even to the uttermost parts of the earth : " 5 see
now is fulfilled what was said, " All kings shall
fall down before Him : all nations shall serve
Him : " 6 see fulfilled what was said, " Be Thou
exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy
glory above all the earth."' See Him whose
feet and hands were pierced with nails, whose
bones hanging on the tree were counted, upon
whose vesture lots were cast : 8 see reigning whom
they saw hanging ; see sitting in Heaven ' whom
they despised walking on earth : see thus ful-
filled, " All the ends of the earth shall remember,
and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before Him." Seeing all
this, exclaim with joy, " As we have heard, so
have we seen." Justly the Church herself is so
called out of the Gentiles. . . . They to whom
the Prophets were not sent, first heard and un-
derstood the Prophets : they who first heard not,
afterwards hearing marvelled. They remained
behind to whom they were sent, carrying the
books, understanding not the truth : having the
tables of the Testament, and not holding the in-
heritance. But we, . . . " As we have heard, so
have we seen." And where hearest thou ? where
seest thou? " In the city of the Lord of Hosts,
in the city of our God. God hath founded it
for ever." Let not heretics insult, divided into
parties, let them not exalt themselves who say,
" Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there." lo Whoso
saith, " Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there," inviteth
to parties. Unity God promised. The kings
are gathered together in one, not dissipated
through schisms. But haply that city which hath
held the world, shall sometime be overthrown?
Far be the thought ! " God hath founded it
for ever." If then God hath founded it for ever,
why fearest thou lest the firmament should fall ?
8. " We have received Thy mercy, O God, in
the midst of Thy people " (ver. 8). Who have
received, and where received? Hath not the
same Thy people received Thy mercy. If Thy
people hath received Thy mercy, how then, " in
the midst of Thy people " ? As if they who
received were one party, they in the midst of
whom they received another. A great mystery,
but yet well known. When hence also, that is,
out of these verses, hath been extracted and
brought forth what ye know, it will be not ruder,
but sweeter. Now forsooth all are reckoned the
people of God, who carry His Sacraments, but
not all belong to His Mercy. All forsooth re-
ceiving the Sacrament of the Baptism of Christ,
are called Christians, but not all live worthily of
that Sacrament. There are some of whom saith
the Apostle, " Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof." " Yet on account of
5 Ps. ii. 8.
8 Matt, xxyii. 35.
11 2 Tim. iii. 5.
6 Ps. lxxii. 11.
9 Matt. xxvi. 64.
7 Ps. rviii. 5.
10 Mail. xxiv. 33.
Psalm XLVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
167
this form of godliness they are named among
God's people. As to the floor, until the corn is
threshed, belongs not the wheat only, but the
chaff. But will it also belong to the garner? In
the midst then of an evil people is a good peo-
ple, which hath received the Mercy of God.
He liveth worthily of the Mercy of God who
heareth, and holdeth, and doeth what the Apostle
saith, " We beseech you that ye receive not the
Grace of God in vain." ' Whoso then receiveth
not the Grace of God in vain, the same receiveth
not only the Sacrament, but also the Mercy of
God as well. ... So those who have the Sacra-
ments, and have not good manners, are both
said to be of God, and not of God ; are both said
to be His, and to be strangers : His because
of His own Sacraments, strangers because of
their own vice. So also strange daughters : 2
daughters, because of the form of godliness ;
strange, because of their loss of virtue. Be the
lily there ; let it receive the Mercy of God :
hold fast the root of a good flower, be not un-
grateful for soft rain coming from heaven. Be
thorns ungrateful, let them grow by the showers :
for the fire they grow, not for the garner. In the
midst of Thy people not receiving Thy mercy,
we have received Thy mercy. For " He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not,"
yet, in the midst of them, " as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the
sons of God." J . . . .
9. For when he had said, "We have re-
ceived Thy mercy in the midst of Thy people,"
he signified that there is a people not receiving
the mercy of God, in the midst of whom some
do receive the mercy of God : and then lest it
should occur to men that there are so few, as to
be nearly none, how did He console them in the
words following? "According to Thy Name,
O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the
earth" (ver. 9). What is this? . . . That is,
as Thou art known through all the earth, so
Thou art also praised through all the earth, nor
are there wanting who now praise Thee through
all the earth. But they praise Thee who live
well. For, " According to Thy Name, O God,
so is Thy praise," not in a part, but " unto the
ends of the earth." "Thy right hand is full of
righteousness." That is, many are they also who
shall stand at Thy right hand. Not only shall
they be many who shall stand at Thy left hand,
but there also shall be a full heap set at Thy
right hand.
10. " Let mount Zion rejoice, and the daugh-
ters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments,
O Lord " (ver. 10). O mount Zion, O daugh-
ters of Judah, ye labour now among tares,
among chaff, among thorns ye labour : yet be
1 a Cor. vi. i.
' Cant. ii. a.
5 John i. n, n.
glad because of God's judgments. God erreth
not in judgment. Live ye separate, though
separate ye were not born ; not vainly hath a
voice gone forth from your mouth and heart,
" Destroy not my soul with sinners, nor my life
with bloody men." 4 He shall winnow with such
art, carrying in His hand a fan, that not one
grain of wheat shall fall into the heap of chaff
prepared to be burned, nor one beard of chaff
pass to the heap to be laid up in the garner.'
Be glad, O ye daughters of Judaea, because of
the judgments of God that erreth not, and do
not yet judge rashly. To you let it belong to
collect, to Him let it belong to separate. But
think not that the " daughters of Judah " are
Jews. Judah is confession ; all the sons of con-
fession are all the sons of Judah. For " salva-
tion is of the Jews," 6 is nothing else than that
Christ is of the Jews. This saith also the Apos-
tle, " He is not a Jew which is one outwardly ;
neither is that circumcision which is outward in
the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not
of men, but of God." 7 Be such a Jew ; glory
in the circumcision of the heart, though thou
hast not the circumcision of the flesh. Let the
daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy
judgments, O Lord.
11. "Walk about Zion, and embrace her"
(ver. 11). Be it said to them who live ill, in
the midst of whom is the people, which hath
received the mercy of God. In the midst of
you is a people living well, " Walk about Zion."
But how? "embrace her." Not with scandals,
but with love go round about her : that so those
who live well in the midst of you ye may
imitate, and by imitation of them, be incorporate
with Christ, whose members they are. " Walk
about Zion, go round about her : speak in the
towers thereof." In the height of her bulwarks,
set forth the praises thereof.
1 2. " Set your hearts upon her might " (ver.
12). Not that ye may have the form of godli-
ness, deny the power thereof,8 but, " upon her
might set your hearts. Speak ye in her towers."
What is the might of this city? Whoso would
understand the might of this city, let him un-
derstand the force of love. That is a virtue
which none conquereth. Love's flame no waves
of the world, no streams of temptation, extin-
guish. Of this it is said, " Love is strong as
death." » For as when death cometh, it cannot
be resisted ; by whatever arts, whatever medi-
cines, you meet it ; the violence of death can
none avoid who is born mortal ; so against the
violence of love can the world do nothing. For
from the contrary the similitude is made of
< Ps. xxvi. 9.
7 Rom. ii. 28, 29.
5 Matt. iii. 12.
8 2 Tim. iii. 5.
6 John iv. 22.
9 Cant. viii. 6.
1 68
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVIIL.
death ; for as death is most violent to take
away, so love is most violent to save. Through
love many have died to the world, to liye to
God ; by this love inflamed, the martyrs, not
pretenders, not puffed up by vain-glory, not such
as they of whom it is written, " Though I give
my body to be burned, and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing," ■ but men whom truly a
love of Christ and of the truth led on to this
passion ; what to them were the temptations of
the tormentors ? Greater violence had the eyes
of their weeping friends, than the persecutions
of enemies. For how many were held by their
children, that they might not suffer? to how
many did their wives fall upon their knees, that
they might not be left widows? How many
have their parents forbidden to die, as we know
and read in the Passion of the Blessed Perpetua ! 2
All this was done ; but tears, however great, arid
with whatever force flowing, when did they ex-
tinguish the ardour of love ? This is the might
of Sion, to whom elsewhere it is said, " Peace
be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy
palaces." 3
13. What here understand we, "Set your
hearts upon her might, and distribute her
houses " ? That is, distinguish house from house.
Do not confound. For there is a house having
the form of godliness, and not having godliness ;
but there is a house having both form and god-
liness. Distribute, confound not. But then ye
distribute and confound not, when ye " set your
hearts upon her might ; " that is, when through
love ye are made spiritual. Then ye will not
judge rashly, then ye will see that the evil harms
not the good as long as we are in this floor.
" Distribute her houses." There can be also
another understanding. The two houses, one
coming of the circumcision, one of the uncir-
cumcision, it is commanded the Apostles to dis-
tribute. For when Saul was called, and made
the Apostle Paul, agreeing in unity with his fel-
low Apostles, he so with them determined, that
they should go to the circumcision, he to the
uncircumcision. By that dispensation of their
Apostleship, they distributed the houses of the
city of the great King; and meeting in the
corner, divided the Gospel in dispensation, in
love united it. And truly this is rather to be
understood; for it followeth and showeth that
it is here said to the preachers, " distribute her
houses : that ye may tell it to the generation
following : " that is, that even to us, who were to
come after them, their dispensation of the Gos-
pel should reach; For not for those only they
laboured, with whom they lived in the earth ; nor
1 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
9 Ruinart. Acta Martyrum,?. 86, which supports the read-
ing adopted from the Oxford mss. Ben. has, " How many parents did
their sons forbid." [Sec A. N. T. vol. iii., p. 700. — C.J
3 P». exxii. 7.
the Lord for those Apostles only to whom He
deigned to show Himself alive after His Resur-
rection, but for us also. For to them He spake,
and signified us when He spake, " Lo, I am
with you alway, even to the end of the world."4
Were they then to be here alway, even to the
end of the world ? Also He said, " Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on Me through their word." 5 There-
fore He considereth us, because He suffered on
account of us. Justly then it is said, " That ye
may tell it to the generation following."
14. Tell what? " For this is God, even our
God " (ver. 13) . The earth was seen, the earth's
Creator was not seen ; the flesh was held, God
in the flesh was not acknowledged. For the
flesh was held by those from whom had been
taken the same flesh, for of the seed of Abraham
was the Virgin Mary. At the flesh they stayed,
the Divinity they did not understand. O Apos-
tles, O mighty city, preach thou on the towers,
and say, " This is God, even our God." So,
even so as He was despised, as He lay a stone
before the feet of the stumbling, that He might
humble the hearts of the confessing ; even so,
"This is God, even our God." Certainly He
was seen, as was said, " Afterward did He show
Himself upon earth, and conversed with men."6
" This is God, even our God." He is also Man,
and who is there will know Him? "This is
God, even our God." But haply for a time as
the false gods. For because they can be called
gods, but cannot be so, for a time they are even
called so. For what saith the Prophet, or what
warneth He to be said to them ? This shall ye
say to them, " The gods that have not made the
heavens and the earth, even they shall perish
from the earth, and from those that are under
the heavens." 7 He is not such a god : for our
God is above all gods. Above all what gods?
" For all the gods of the nations are idols, but
the Lord made the heavens." 8 The same then
is our God. "This is God, even our God."
For how long ? " For ever and ever : He shall
rule us for ever." If He is our God, He is also
our King. He protecteth us, being our God,
lest we die ; He ruleth us, being our King, lest
we fall. But by ruling us He doth not break
us ; for whom He ruleth not, He breaketh.
"Thou shalt rule them," saith He, "with a rod
of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel." 9 But there are whom He ruleth not ;
these He spareth not, as a potter's vessel dashing
them in pieces. By Him then let us wish to be
ruled and delivered, " for He is our God for
ever and ever, and He shall rule us for ever."
4 Matt, xxviii. ao.
* Baruch iii. 37.
7 Jer. x. xi,
8 Ps. xcvi. 5.
» Ps. ii. 9.
* John xvii. ao.
Psalm XLIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
169
PSALM XLIX.'
The First Part.
i. . . . " Hear ye these things, all ye nations "
(ver. 1). Not then you only who are here.
For of what power is our voice so to cry out, as
that all nations may hear? For Our Lord Jesus
Christ hath proclaimed it through the Apostles,
hath proclaimed it in so many tongues that He
sent ; and we see this Psalm, which before was
only repeated in one nation, in the Synagogue
of the Jews, now repeated throughout the whole
world, throughout all Churches ; and that fulfilled
which is here spoken of, " Hear ye these words,
all ye nations." ... Of whom ye are : " With
ears ponder, all ye that dwell in the world."
This He seemeth to have repeated a second
time, lest to have said " hear," before, were too
little. What I say, he saith, "hear, with ears
ponder," that is, hear not cursorily. What is,
" with ears ponder " ? It is what the Lord said,
" he that hath ears to hear, let him hear : " 2 for
as all who were in His presence must have had
ears, what ears did He require save those of the
heart, when He said, " he that hath ears to hear,
let him hear " ? The same ears also this Psalm
doth smite. "With ears ponder, all ye that
dwell in the world." Perhaps there is here some
distinction. We ought not indeed to narrow
our view, but there is no harm in explaining
even this view of the sense. Perhaps there is
some difference between the saying, " all na-
tions," and the saying, " all ye that dwell in the
world." For perchance he would have us under-
stand the expression, " dwell in," with a further
meaning, so as to take all nations for all the
wicked, but the dwellers of the world all the just.
For he doth inhabit who is not held fast : but he
that is occupied is inhabited, and doth not in-
habit. Just as he doth possess whatever he
hath, who is master of his property : but a master
is one who is not held in the meshes of covet-
ousness : while he that is held fast by covetous-
ness is the possessed, and not the possessor. . . .
2. Therefore let even the ungodly hear :
" Hear ye this, all ye nations." Let the just
also hear, who have not heard to no purpose,
and who rather rule the world than are ruled by
the world : " with ears ponder, all ye that dwell
in the world."
3. And again he saith, " both all ye earthborn,
and sons of men" (ver. 2). The expression
" earthborn " he doth refer to sinners ; the ex-
pression "sons of men" to the faithful and
righteous. Ye see then that this distinction is
observed. Who are the "earthborn"? The
children of the earth. Who are the children of
the earth ? They who desire earthly inheritances.
■ Lat. XLVIII.
3 Matt. xi. 15.
[From a sermon preached before a bishop.]
Who are the "sons of men "? They who ap-
pertain to the Son of Man. We have already
before explained this distinction to your Sanctity,3
and have concluded that Adam was a man, but
not the son of man ; that Christ was the Son of
Man, but was God also. For whosoever pertain
to Adam, are "earthborn : " whosoever pertain to
Christ, are "sons of men." Nevertheless, let
all hear, I withhold my discourse from no one.
If one is "earthborn," let him hear, because of
the judgment : another is a " son of man," let
him hear for the kingdom's sake. " The rich
and poor together." Again, the same words are
repeated. The expression " rich " refers to the
" earthborn ; " but the word " poor " to the " sons
of men." By the " rich " understand the proud,
by the " poor " the humble. . . . He saith in
another Psalm, "The poor shall eat and be satis-
fied."4 How hath he commended the poor?
"The poor shall eat and be satisfied." What
eat they? That Food which the faithful know.
How shall they be satisfied? By imitating the
Passion of their Lord, and not without cause
receiving their recompense. "The poor shall
eat and be satisfied, and they shall praise the
Lord who seek Him." What of the rich ? Even
they eat. But how eat they ? " All the rich
upon the earth have eaten and worshipped." 5
He said not, " Have eaten and are satisfied ; "
but, " have eaten and worshipped." They wor-
ship God indeed, but they will not display
brotherly humaneness. These eat and worship ;
those eat and are filled : yet both eat. Of the
eater what he eateth is required : let him not
be forbidden by the distributor to eat, but let
him be admonished to fear him who doth require
his account. Let these words then be heard by
sinners and righteous, nations, and those who
inhabit the world, " earthborn and sons of men,
the rich and the poor together : " not divided,
not separated. That is for the time of the har-
vest to do, the hand of the winnower will effect
that.5 Now together let rich and poor hear, let
goats and sheep feed in the same pasture, until
He come who shall separate the one on His
right hand, the other on His left.' Let them all
hear together the teacher, lest separated from
one another they hear the voice of the Judge.
4. And what is it they are now to hear ? " My
mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation
of my heart understanding" (ver. 3). And this
repetition is perhaps made, lest perchance if he
had said only " my mouth," thou shouldest sup-
pose that one spake to thee who had under-
standing but in his lips. For many have under-
standing in their lips, but have not in their
heart, of whom the Scripture saith, " This peo-
ple honoureth me with their lips, but their heart
3 On Ps. viii.
6 Matt. iii. 13.
* Ps. xxii. 26.
7 Matt. xxv. 33.
5 Ps. xxii. 29.
170
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIX.
is far from me." ' What saith he then who
speaketh to thee ? when he hath said, " My
mouth shall speak of wisdom," in order that
thou mayest know that what is poured forth
from the mouth floweth from the bottom of the
heart, he hath added, "And the meditation of
my heart of understanding."
5. " I will incline mine ear to the parable, I
will show my proposition upon the harp " (ver.
4). . . . And why "to a parable"? Because
" now we see through a glass darkly," 2 as saith
the Apostle ; " whilst we are at home in the
body, we are absent from the Lord." 3 For our
vision is not yet that face to face, where there
are no longer parables, where there no longer are
riddles and comparisons. Whatever now we
understand we behold through riddles. A rid-
dle is a dark parable which it is hard to under-
stand. Howsoever a man may cultivate his
heart and apply himself to apprehend mysteries,
so long as we see through the corruption of this
flesh, we see but in part. . . . But as He was
seen by those who believed, and by those who
crucified Him, when He was judged ; so will
He be seen, when He shall have begun to be
judge, both by those whom He shall condemn,
and by those whom He shall crown. But that
vision of divinity, which He hath promised to
them that love Him, when He saith, "He that
loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and he
that loveth Me keepeth My commandments, and
I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him : " «
this the ungodly shall not see. This manifesta-
tion is in a certain way familiar : He keepeth it
for His own, He will not show it to the ungodly.
Of what sort is the vision itself? Of what sort
is Christ ? Equal to the Father. Of what sort is
Christ? " In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." 5 For this vision we sigh now, and groan
so long as we sojourn here ; to this vision we
shall be brought home at the last, this vision
now we see but darkly. If then we see now
darkly, let us " incline our ear to the parable,"
and then let us " show our proposition upon the
harp : " 6 let us hear what we say, do what we
enjoin.
6. And what hath he said ? " And wherefore
shall I fear in the evil day? The iniquity of
my heel shall compass me " (ver. 5 ) . He be-
ginneth something obscurely. Therefore he
ought the rather to fear if the iniquity of his
heel shall compass him. Nay, for let not man
fear, he saith, who hath not power to escape.
For example, he who feareth death, what shall
he do to escape death ? Let him tell me how
x Isa. xxix. 13. s 1 Cor. xiii. 13. 3 a Cor. v. 6.
* John xiv. ai. * John i. x.
6 [He explains " the Inrp " elsewhere as the body, used by the
soul "as the harper useth the harp"; and see p. 139, supra. — C]
he is to escape what Adam oweth, he who is
born of Adam. But let him consider that he
is bom of Adam, and hath followed Christ, and
ought to pay what Adam oweth, and obtain what
Christ hath promised. Therefore, he who fear-
eth death can no wise escape : but he who
feareth the damnation which the ungodly shall
hear, " Go ye into everlasting fire," 7 hath an
escape. Let him not fear then. For why should
he fear? Will the iniquity of his heel compass
him? If then he avoid "the iniquity of his
heel," and walk in the ways of God, he shall
not come to the evil day : the evil day, the last
day, shall not be evil to him. . . . Now while
they live, let them take heed to themselves, let
them put away iniquity from their heel : let
them walk in that way, let them walk in the way
of which He saith Himself, " I am the way, the
truth, and the life : " 8 and let them not fear in
the evil day, for He giveth them safety who be-
came " The Way." Therefore let them avoid
the iniquity of their heel. With the heel a man
slippeth. Let your Love observe. What was
said by God to the Serpent ? " She shall mark
thy head, and thou shalt mark her heel." » The
devil marketh thy heel, in order that when thou
slippest he may overthrow thee. He marketh
thy heel, do thou mark his head. What is his
head? The beginning of an evil suggestion.
When he beginneth to suggest evil thoughts,
then do thou thrust him away before pleasure
ariseth, and consent followeth ; and so shalt
thou avoid his head, and he shall not grasp thy
heel. But wherefore said He this to Eve?
Because through the flesh man doth slip. Our
flesh is an Eve within us. " He that loveth his
wife," he saith, " loveth himself." What mean-
eth " himself " ? He continueth, and saith,
" For no man ever yet hath hated his own
flesh." 10 Because then the devil would make us
slip through the flesh, just as he made that man
Adam to slip, through Eve ; Eve is bidden to
mark the head of the devil, because the devil
marketh her heel." " If then the iniquity of
our heel shall compass us, why fear we in the
evil day," since being converted to Christ we
are able not to do iniquity ; and there will be
nothing to compass us, and we shall joy and not
sorrow in the last day ?
7. But who are they whom the " iniquity of
their heel shall compass " ? " They who trust
in their virtue," and in the abundance of their
riches do glory" (ver. 6). Therefore such sins
7 Matt. xxv. 41. 8 John xiv. 6.
9 Gen. iii. 15. [" She shall mark," etc. So the Vulgate, but not
in the older editions. The Septuagint is conclusive as to the ancient
exposition of the Jews, for the neuter (viripua) had a masculine
pronoun (avros) as nominative to the verb. So Jerome, Dominus
noster conteret Satanam. It is noteworthy that our author attaches
no such force to his reading as Mariolatry demands. — C]
10 Eph. v. 28, 29.
" [See Hippolytus, A. N. F. vol. v. p. 166.— C.J
" Or, "might (virtute).
Psalm XLIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
171
will I avoid, and the " iniquity of my heel "
shall never compass me. What is avoiding
such sins ? Let us not trust in our own virtue,
let us not glory in the abundance of our own
riches, but let us glory in Him who hath prom-
ised to us, being humble, exaltation, and hath
threatened condemnation to men exalted ; and
then iniquity of our heel shall never compass us.
8. There are some who rely on their friends,
others rely on their virtue, others on their riches.
This is the presumption of mankind which re-
lieth not on God. He hath spoken of virtue,
he hath spoken of riches, he speaketh of friends.
" Brother redeemeth not,' shall man redeem ? "
(ver. 7). Dost thou expect that man shall
redeem thee from the wrath to come? If
brother redeem thee not, shall man redeem
thee? Who is the brother, who if He hath not
redeemed thee, no man will redeem? It is He
whs said after His resurrection, " Go, tell My
brethren." * Our Brother He hath willed to be :
and when we say to God, " Our Father," this is
manifested in us. For he that saith to God,
" Our Father ; " saith to Christ, " Brother." 3
Therefore let him that hath God for his Father
and Christ for his Brother, not fear in the evil
day. " For the iniquity of his heel shall not
compass him ; " for he relieth not on his virtue,
nor glorieth in the abundance of his riches, nor
vaunteth himself cf his powerful friends. Let
him rely on Him who died for him, that he
might not die eternally : who for his sake was
humbled, in order that he might be exalted ;
who sought him ungodly, in order that He
might be sought by him faithful. Therefore if
He redeem not, shall man redeem? Shall any
man redeem, if the Son of man redeem not?
If Christ redeem not, shall Adam redeem?
" Brother redeemeth not, shall man redeem ? " 4
9. " He shall not give to God his propitiation,
and the price of the redemption of his soul "
(ver. 8). He trusteth in his virtue, and in the
abundance of his riches doth glory, who " shall
not give to God his propitiation : " that is, satis-
faction whereby he may prevail with God for his
sins : " nor the price of the redemption of his
soul," who relieth on his virtue, and on his friends,
and on his riches. But who are they that give
the price of the redemption of their souls? They
to whom the Lord saith, " Make to yourselves
friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, that
they may receive you into everlasting habita-
tions." s They give the price of the redemption
of their soul who cease not to do almsdeeds.
So those whom the Apostle chargeth by Timothy
1 Oxf. mss. " hath not redeemed," and so through the paragraph.
2 Matt, xxviii. 10.
3 See on St. John, Horn. xxi. § 3.
* [The Latin versions do not divide into verses such as our
author seems to have made. — C]
5 Luke xvi. q.
he would not have to be proud, lest they should
glory in the abundance of their riches. Lastly,
what they possessed he would not have to grow
old in their hands : but that something should
be made of it to be for the price of the redemp-
tion of their souls. For he saith, " Charge them
that are rich in this world, that they be not high-
minded : nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the
living God, who giveth us richly all things to
enjoy." 6 And as if they had said, " What shall
we then make of our riches?" he continueth,
" Let them be rich in good works, ready to dis-
tribute, willing to communicate," ^ and they will
not lose that. How know we ? Hear what fol-
loweth. " Let them lay up for themselves a
good foundation against the time to come, that
they may lay hold on the true life." 8 So shall
they give the price of the redemption of their
soul. And our Lord counselled! this : " Make
for yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure
in the heavens that faileth not, where thief ap-
proacheth not, neither moth corrupteth." "> God
would not have thee lose thy wealth, but He
hath given thee counsel to change the place
thereof. Let your love understand. Suppose
thy friend were just now to enter thy house, and
find thou hadst placed thy store of grain in a
damp place, and he knew the natural proneness
of grain to decay, which thou perchance knewest
not, he would give thee counsel of this sort, say-
ing, " Brother, thou art losing what with great
toil thou hast gathered, thou hast placed it in a
damp place, in a few days this grain will decay."
" And what am I to do, brother?" "Raise it
into a higher place." Thou wouldest hearken
to thy friend suggesting that thou shouldest raise
grain from a lower to a higher chamber, and
dost thou not hearken to Christ charging thee
to lift thy treasure from earth to heaven, where
not what thou keepest in store may be paid to
thee, but that thou mayest keep in store- earth,
mayest receive heaven, mayest keep in store
things mortal, mayest receive things everlasting,
that while thou lendest Christ to receive at thy
hands but a small loan upon earth, He may re-
pay thee a great recompense in Heaven ? Never-
theless, they whom " the iniquity of their heel
shall compass," because they trust in their virtue,
and in the abundance of their riches do glory,
and rely on human friends who are able to help
them in nothing, " shall not give to God their
propitiation, and the price of the redemption of
their souls."
10. And what hath he said of such a man?
" Yea, he hath laboured for ever, and shall live
till the end " (ver. 9). His labour shall be with-
out end, his life shall have an end. Wherefore
saith he, " He shall live till the end " ? Because
6 1 Tim vi. 17.
9 Luke xii. 33.
7 1 Tim. vi. 18.
8 1 Tim. vi. 19.
172
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIX.
such men think life to be nought but daily
enjoyments. So when many poor and needy
men of our times, unstable, and not looking to
what God doth promise them for their labours,
see rich men in daily feastings, in the splendour
and glitter of gold and of silver, they say what ?
" These are the only people ; ■ they really live ! "
This is a saying, be it said no longer : we both
warn you, and it remains to warn you, that it be
said by fewer persons than it would be said, if
we had not warned you. For we do not pre-
sume to say that we so say these words, as that
it be not said, but that it be said by fewer per-
sons : for it will be said even unto the end of
the world. It is too little that he saith, " he
liveth ; " he addeth and saith, he thundereth,
thinkest thou that he alone liveth? Let him
live ! his life will be ended : because he giveth
not the price of the redemption of his soul, his
life will end, his labour will not end. " He
laboured for ever, and shall live till the end."
How shall he live till the end ? As he lived that
was " clothed with purple and fine linen, and
fared sumptuously every day,"2 who, being proud
and puffed up, spurned the man full of sores
lying before his gate, whose sores the dogs
licked, and who longed for the crumbs which
fell from his table. What did those riches profit
him ? Both changed places : the one was borne
from the rich man's gate into Abraham's bosom,
the other from his rich feasts was cast into the
fire ; the one was in peace, the other burned ;
the one was sated, the other thirsted ; the one
had laboured till the end, but he lived for ever ;
the other had lived till the end, but he laboured
for ever. And what did it profit the rich man,
who asked, while lying in torments in hell, that
a drop of water should be poured upon his
tongue from the finger of Lazarus, saying, " For
I am burning here in this flame," 3 and it was
not granted to him? One longed for the drop
from the finger, as the other had for the crumbs
from the rich man's table ; but the labour of the
one is ended, and the life of the other is ended :
the labour of this is for ever, the life of that is
for ever. We who labour perchance here on the
earth, have not our life here : and shall not be
so placed hereafter, for our life shall be Christ
for ever : while they who " will " have their life
here, shall labour for ever and live till the end.
11." For he shall not see death, though he
shall have seen wise men dying " (ver. 10). The
man who laboured for ever and shall live till the
end, " shall not see death, though he shall have
seen wise men dying." What is this? He shall
not comprehend what death is, whenever he
shall have seen wise men dying. For he saith
to himself, " this fellow, for all he was wise and
1 Soli sunt isti. 2 Luke xvi. 19. 3 Luke xvi. 34.
dwelled with wisdom and worshipped God with
piety, is he not dead? Therefore I will enjoy
myself while I live ; for if they that are wise in
other respects, could do anything, they would
not have died." Just as the Jews saw Christ
hanging on the Cross and despised Him, saying,
" If this Man were the Son of God, He would
come down from the Cross :" * not seeing what
death is. If they had seen what death is ; if
they had seen, I say.5 He died for a time, that
He might live again for ever : they lived for a
time, that they might die for ever. But because
they saw Him dying, they saw not death, that is
to say, they understood not what was very death.
What say 'they even in Wisdom? " Let us con-
demn Him with a most shameful death, for by
His own sayings He shall be respected ; " 5 for
if he is indeed the Son of God, He will deliver
Him from the hands of His adversaries : He
will not suffer His Son to die, if He is truly His
Son. But when they saw themselves insulting
Him upon the Cross, and Him not descending
from the Cross, they said, He was indeed but a
Man. Thus was it spoken : and surely He could
have come down from the Cross, He that could
rise again from the tomb : but He taught us
to bear with those who insult us ; He taught us to
be patient of the tongues of men, to drink now
the cup of bitterness, and afterwards to receive
everlasting salvation. . . .
12. "The imprudent and unwise shall perish
together." Who is " the imprudent " ? He that
looketh not out for himself for the future. Who
is " the unwise " ? He that perceiveth not in
what evil case he is. But do thou perceive in
what evil case thou art now, and look out that
thou be in a good case for the future. By per-
ceiving in what evil case thou art, thou wilt not
be unwise : by looking out for thyself for the
future, thou wilt not be imprudent. Who is he
that looketh out for himself? That servant to
whom his master gave what he should expend,
and afterwards said to him, " Thou canst not be
my steward, give an account of thy steward-
ship ; " and who answered, " What shall I do? I
cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed ; " 7 had, never-
theless, by even his master's goods made to him-
self friends, who might receive him when he was
put out of his stewardship. Now he cheated his
master in order that he might get to himself
friends to receive him : fear not thou lest thou
be cheating, the Lord Himself exhorteth thee to
do so : He saith Himself to thee, " Make to thy-
self friends of the mammon of unrighteousness."8
Perhaps what thou hast got, thou hast gotten of
* Matt, xxvii. 40, 42. 5 Al. " if they had seen themselves."
6 Wisd. ii. 20. [The Jews, even in their own book of Wisdom,
show what they did to " the Just One." The whole passage is so
remarkable, that we need not wonder at the esteem in which this book
was held by the Fathers. St. James (v. 6) seems to refer to this
passage. — C.J
1 Luke xvi. 1, 2, etc. B Luke xvi. 9.
Psalm XLIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
173
unrighteousness : or perhaps this very thing is
unrighteousness, that thou hast and another hath
not, thou aboundest and another needeth. Of
this mammon of unrighteousness, of these riches
which the unrighteous call riches, make to thy-
self friends, and thou shalt be prudent : thou art
gaining for thyself, and art not cheating. For
now thou seemest to lose it. Wilt thou lose it
if thou place it in a treasury? For boys, my
brethren, no sooner find some money, wherewith
to buy something, than they put it in a money-
box,' which they open not until afterwards : do
they, because they see not what they have got,
on that account lose it ? Fear not : boys put in
a money-box, and are secure : dost thou place
it in the hand of Christ, and fear? Be prudent,
and provide for thyself against the future in
Heaven. Be therefore prudent, copy the ant, as
saith the Scripture : 3 " Store in summer, lest thou
hunger in winter ; " the winter is the last day,
the day of tribulation ; the winter is the day of
offences and of bitterness : gather what may be
there for thee for the future : but if thou doest
not so, thou wilt perish both imprudent and un-
wise.
13. But that rich man3 too died, and a like
funeral was made for him. See to what men
have brought themselves : they regard not what
a wicked life he led while he lived, but what
pomp followed him when he died ! O happy
he, whom so many lament ! But the other lived
in such sort, that few lament. For all ought to
lament a man living so sadly. But there is the
funeral train ; he is received in a costly tomb,
he is wound in costly robes, he is buried in per-
fumes and spices. Secondly, what a monument
he hath ! How marbled ! Doth he live in that
same monument? He is therein dead. Men
deeming these to be good things, have strayed
from God, and have not sought the true good
things, and have been deceived with the false.
To this end see what followeth. He who gave
not the price of the redemption of his soul, who
understood not death, because he saw wise men
dying, he became imprudent and unwise, in
order that he might die with them. And how
shall they perish, who " shall leave their riches
to aliens"? . . .
14. But do those same aliens indeed serve
them who are called their own ? Hear in what
they serve them, observe how they are ridiculed :
why hath he said, " to strangers " ? Because they
can do them no good. Nevertheless, wherein
do they seem to themselves to do good ? " And
their tombs shall be their house for ever"
( ver. n). Now because these tombs are erected,
the tombs are a house. For often thou hearest
a rich man saying, I have a house of marble
1 Thcsaurario. 3 Prov. vi. 8, xxx. 2$. 3 Luke xvi. aa.
which I must quit, and I think not for myself of
an eternal house, where I shall alway be. When
he thinketh to make for himself a monument of
marble or of sculpture, he is deeming as it were
of an eternal house : as if therein this rich man
would abide ! If he would abide there, he would
not burn in hell. We must consider that the
place where the spirit of an evil doer abideth, is
not where the mortal body is laid : but " their
tombs shall be their house for ever. Their dwell-
ing places are from generation to generation."
" Dwelling places " are wherein they abode for
a season : " house " is wherein they will abide
as it were for ever, that is to say, their tombs.
Thus they leave their dwelling places, where they
abode while they lived, to their families, and
they pass as it were to everlasting houses, to their
tombs. What profit to them are " their dwelling
places, from generation to generation " ? Now
suppose a generation and generation are sons,
grandsons there will be, and great grandsons ;
what do their dwelling places, what do they profit
them ? What ? Hear : " they shall invoke their
names in their lands." What is this? They
shall take bread and wine to their tombs, and
there they shall invoke the names of the dead.
Dost thou consider how loudly was invoked the
name of the rich man after his death, when men
drank them drunk at his monument, and there
came down not one drop upon his own burning
tongue? Men minister to their own belly, not
to the ghosts of their friends. The souls of the
dead nothing doth reach, but what they have
done of themselves while alive : but if they
have done nought of themselves while alive,
nothing doth reach them dead. But what do
the survivors ? They will but " invoke their
names in their lands."
15. " And man though he was in honour per-
ceived not, he was compared to the beasts with-
out sense, and was made like to them " (ver. 12).
. . . They ought, on the contrary, to have made
ready for themselves an eternal house in good
works, to have made ready for themselves ever-
lasting life, to have sent before them expenditure,
to have followed their works, to have ministered
to a needy companion, to have given to him with
whom they were walking, not to have despised
Christ covered with sores before their gate, who
hath said, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these My brethren, ye have
done it unto Me."4 However, "man being in
honour hath not understood." What is, " being
in honour " ? Being made after the image and
likeness of God, man is preferred to beasts. For
God hath not so made man as He made a beast :
but God hath made man for beasts to minister
to : is it to his strength then, and not to his
* Matt. xxv. 40.
174
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XL1X.
understanding? Nay. But he "understood
not ; " and he who was made after the image of
God, " is compared to the beasts without sense,
and is made like unto them." Whence it is said
elsewhere, " Be ye not like to horse and mule,
in which there is no understanding." '
1 6. "This their own way is an offence to
them " (ver. 13). Be it an offence to them, not
to thee. But when will it be so to thee too?
If thou thinkest such men to be blessed. If thou
perceivest that they be not blessed, their own way
will be an offence to themselves ; not to Christ,
not to His Body, not to His members. " And
afterwards they shall bless with their mouth."
What meaneth, " Afterwards they shall bless with
their mouth " ? Though they have become such,
that they seek nothing but temporal goods, yet
they become hypocrites : and when they bless
God, with lips they bless, and not with heart.
Christians like these, when to them eternal life is
commended, and they are told, that in the name
of Christ they ought to be despisers 2 of riches,
do make grimaces in their hearts : and if they
dare not do it with open face, lest they blush, or
lest they should be rebuked by men, yet they do
it in heart, and scorn ; and there remaineth in
their mouth blessing, and in their heart cursing.
The Second Part.
I. "Like sheep laid in hell, death is their
shepherd" (ver. 14). Whose? Of those whose
way is a stumbling-block to themselves. Whose ?
Of those who mind only things present, while
they think not of things future : of those who
think not of any life, but of that which must be
called death. Not without cause, then, like sheep
in hell, have they death to their shepherd.
What meaneth, " they have death to their shep-
herd " ? For is death either some thing or some
power? Yea, death is either the separation of
the soul from the body, or a separation of the
soul from God,3 and that indeed which men fear
is the separation of the soul from the body : but
the real death, which men do not fear, is the
separation of the soul from God. And ofttimes
when men fear that which doth separate the soul
from the body, they fall into that wherein the
soul is separated from God. This then is death.
But how is " death their shepherd " ? If Christ
is life, the devil is death. But we read in many
places in Scripture, how that Christ is life. But
the devil is death, not because he is himself death,
but because through him is death. For whether
that (death) wherein Adam fell was given man
to drink by the persuasion of him : or whether
that wherein the soul is separated from the body,
still they have him for the author thereof, who
first falling through pride envied him who stood,
1 Ps. xxxii. 9.
3 Oxf. mss. add, '
2 Most MSS. " there should be a despising."
or a separation of the soul from God."
and overthrew him who stood with an invisible
death, in order that he might have to pay 4 the
visible death. They who belong to him have
death to their shepherd : but we who think of
future immortality, and not without reason do
wear the sign of the Cross of Christ on the fore-
head, have no shepherd but life. Of unbelievers
death is the shepherd, of believers life is the shep-
herd. If then in hell are the sheep, whose
shepherd is death, in heaven are the sheep, whose
shepherd is life. What then ? Are we now in
heaven? In heaven we are by faith. For if not
in heaven, where is the " Lift up your heart "?
If not in heaven, whence with the Apostle Paul,
" For our conversation is in heaven " ? 5 In body
we walk on earth, in heart we dwell in heaven.
We dwell there, if thither we send anything which
holdeth us there. For no one dwelleth in heart,
save where thought is : but there his thought is,
where his treasure is. He hath treasured on
earth, his heart doth not withdraw from earth :
he hath treasured in heaven, his heart from
heaven doth not come down : for the Lord saith
plainly, " Where thy treasure is, there will thy
heart be also." 6
2. They, then, whose shepherd is death, seem
to flourish for a time, and the righteous to labour :
but why ? Because it is yet night. What mean-
eth, it is night ? The merits of the righteous ap-
pear not, and the felicity of the unrighteous hath,
as it were, a name. So long as it is winter, grass
appeareth more verdant than a tree. For grass
fiourisheth through the winter, a tree is as it were
dry through the winter : when in summer time
the sun hath come forth with greater heat, the
tree, which seemed dry through the winter, is
bursting with leaves, and putteth forth fruits, but
the grass withereth : thou wilt see the honour of
the tree, the grass is dried. So also now the
righteous labour, before that summer cometh.
There is life in the root, it doth not yet appear
in the branches. But our root is love. And
what saith the Apostle ? That we ought to have
our root above, in order that life may be our
shepherd, because our dwelling ought not to quit
heaven, because in this earth we ought to walk as
if dead ; so that living above, below we may be
dead ; not so as that being dead above, we may
live below. . . . Our labour shall appear in the
morning, and there shall be fruit in the morning :
so that they that now labour shall hereafter reign,
and they that now boast them and are proud,
shall hereafter be brought under. For what fol-
lowed! ? " Like sheep laid in hell, death is their
shepherd ; and the righteous shall reign over
them in the morning."
3. Endure thou the night, yearn for the
morning. Think not because the night hath
* Al. '* destroy him with the visible death."
5 Philip, in. 20. 6 Matt. vt. ta.
Psalm XLIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
175
life, the morning too hath not life. Doth then
he that sleepeth live, and he that riseth live not ?
Is not he that sleepeth more like death ? r And
who are they that sleep? They whom the
Apostle Paul rouseth, if they choose but to
awake. For to certain he saith, " Awake, thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light." 2 They then that are
lightened by Christ watch now, but the fruit of
their watchings appeareth not yet : in the morn-
ing it shall appear, that is, when doubtful things
of this world shall have passed away. For these
are very night : for do they not appear to thee
like darkness? . . . But they on whom men
have trampled, and who were ridiculed for be-
lieving, shall hear from Life Itself, whom they
have for shepherd, " Come, ye blessed of My
Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared
for you from the foundation of the world."
Therefore the righteous " shall reign over them,"
not now, but " in the morning." Let no one
say, Wherefore am I a Christian? I rule no
one,3 I would rule the wicked. Be not in haste,
thou shalt reign, but " in the morning." " And
the help of them shall grow old in hell from their
glory." Now they have glory, in hell they shall
grow old. What is " the help of them " ? Help
from money, help from friends, help from their
own might. But when a man shall be dead,
"in that day shall perish all his thoughts."4
How great glory he seemed to have among men,
while he lived, so great oldness and decay of
punishments shall he have, when he shall be
dead in hell.
4. " Nevertheless, God shall redeem my soul "
(ver. 15). Behold the voice of one hoping in
the future : " Nevertheless, God shall redeem
my soul." s Perhaps it is the voice of one still
wishing to be relieved from oppression. Some
one is in prison, he saith, " God shall redeem
my soul : " some one is in bond, " God shall
redeem my soul : " some one is suffering peril
by sea, is being tossed by waves and raging
tempests, what saith he ? " God shall redeem
my soul." They would be delivered for the
sake of this life. Not such is the voice of this
man. Hear what followeth : " God shall redeem
my soul from the hand of hell, when He shall
have received me." He is speaking of this
redemption, which Christ now showeth in Him-
self. For He hath descended into hell, and
hath ascended into heaven. What we have seen
in the Head we have found in the Body. For
what we have believed in the Head, they that
have seen, have themselves told us, and by
themselves we have seen : " For we are " all
1 Or, " a dead person."
2 Eph. v. 14.
3 Most mss. omit, " I rule no one." See Ser. 72, ad. Fr. in Erem.
* Ps. cxlvi. 4. 5 [Compare vcr. 7, p. 171, supra. — CJ
" one body." 6 But are they better that hear., we
worse to whom it hath been told ? Not so saith
The Life Itself, Our Shepherd Himself. For
He rebuketh a certain disciple of His, doubting
and desiring to handle His scars, and when he
had handled the scars and had cried out, saying,
" My Lord and my God," ? seeing His disciple
doubting, and looking to the whole world about
to believe, " Because thou hast seen Me," He
saith, " thou hast believed : blessed are they
that see not, and believe." " But God shall re-
deem my soul from the land of hell, when He
hath received me." Here then what? Labour,
oppression, tribulation, temptation : expect noth-
ing else. Where joy? In future hope. . . .
5. . . . Perchance thy heart saith, Wretch
that I am, I suppose to no purpose I have be-
lieved, God doth not regard things human. God
therefore doth awaken us : and He saith what ?
" Fear not, though a man have become rich "
(ver. 16). For why didst thou fear, because a
man hath become rich? Thou didst fear that
thou hadst believed to no purpose, that per-
chance thou shouldest have lost the labour for
thy faith, and the hope of thy conversion : be-
cause perchance there hath come in thy way
gain with guilt, and thou couldest have been rich,
if thou hadst seized upon that same gain with
the guilt, and neededst not have laboured ; and
thou, remembering what God hath threatened,
hast refrained from guilt, and hast contemned
the gain : thou seest another man that hath
made gain by guilt, and hath suffered no harm ;
and thou fearest to be good. " Fear not," saith
the Spirit of God to thee, " though a man shall
have become rich." Wouldest thou not have
eyes but for things present? Things future He
hath promised, who hath risen again ; peace in
this world, and repose in this life, He hath not
promised. Every man doth seek repose ; a
good thing he is seeking, but not in the proper
region thereof he is seeking it. There is no
peace in this life ; in Heaven hath been prom-
ised that which on earth we are seeking : in the
world to come hath been promised that which
in this world we are seeking.
6. " Fear not, though a man be made rich,
and though the glory of his house be multi-
plied." Wherefore "fear not"? "For when
he shall die, he shall not receive anything "
(ver. 17). Thou seest him living, consider him
dying. Thou markest what he hath here, mark
what he taketh with him. What doth he take
with him ? He hath store of gold, he hath store
of silver, numerous estates, slaves : he dieth,
these remain, he knoweth not for whom. For
though he leaveth them for whom he will, he
keepeth them not for whom he will. For many
6 Rom. xii. 5.
7 John xx. 28.
176
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIX.
have gained even what was not left them, and
many have lost what was left them. All these
things then remain, and he taketh with him
what? Perhaps some one saith, He taketh that
with him in which he is wound, and that which
is expended upon him for a costly and marble
tomb, to erect a monument, this he taketh with
him. I say, not even this. For these things
are presented to him without his feeling them.
If thou deckest a man sleeping and not awake,
he hath the decorations with him on the couch :
perhaps the decorations are resting upon the
body of him as he lieth, and perhaps he seeth
himself in tatters during sleep. What he feeleth
is more to him than what he feeleth not.
Though even this when he shall have awaked
will not be : yet to him sleeping, that which he
saw in sleep was more than that which he felt
not. Why then, brethren, should ' men say to
themselves, Let money be spent at my death :
why do I leave my heirs rich? Many things
will they have of mine, let me too have some-
thing of my own for my body. What shall a
dead body have ? what shall rotting flesh have ?
what shall flesh not feeling have ? If that rich
man had anything, whose tongue was dry, then
man hath something of his own. My brethren,
do we read in the Gospel, that this rich man ap-
peared in the fire with all-silken and fine-linen
coverings? Was he of such sort in hell as he
was in feastings at table ? When he thirsted and
desired a drop, all those things were not there.
Therefore man carrieth not with him anything,
nor doth the dead take with him that which the
burial taketh. For where feeling is, there is the
man ; where is no feeling, the man is not. There
lieth fallen the vessel which contained the man,
the house which held the man. The body let
us call the house, the spirit let us call the inhab-
itant of the house. The spirit is tormented in
hell : what doth it profit him, that the body lieth
in spices and perfumes, wound in costly linens?
just as if the master of the house should be sent
into banishment, and thou shouldest garnish the
walls of his house. He in banishment is in
need, and doth faint with hunger, he scarce
findeth to himself one hovel where he may
snatch a sleep, and thou sayest, " Happy is he,
for his house hath been garnished." Who would
not judge that thou wast either jesting or wast
mad ? Thou dost garnish the body, the spirit is
tormented. Give something to the spirit, and
ye have given something to the dead man. But
what wilt thou give him, when he desired one
drop, and received not? For the man scorned
to send before him anything. Wherefore
scorned ? " because this their way is a stum-
bling-block to them."2 He minded not any
' OxtMss. "do."
' P«. xlix. 13.
but the present life, he thought not but how he
might be buried, wound in costly vestments.
His soul was taken from him, as the Lord saith :
" Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be taken
from thee, and whose shall those things be
which thou hast provided?"3 And that is ful-
filled which this Psalm saith : " Fear not, though
a man be made rich, and though the glory of his
house be multiplied : for when he shall die he
shall not receive anything, nor shall his glory
descend together with him."
7. Let your love observe : " For his soul shall
be blessed in his life" (ver. 18). As long as
he lived he did well for himself. This all men
say, but say falsely. It is a blessing from the
mind of the blesser, not from the truth itself.
For what sayest thou ? Because he ate and
drank, because he did what he chose, because
he feasted sumptuously, therefore he did well
with himself. I say, he did ill for himself. Not
I say, but Christ. He did ill for himself. For
that rich man, when he feasted sumptuously
every day, was supposed to do well with him-
self: but when he began to burn in hell, then
that which was supposed to be well was found
to be ill. For what he had eaten with men
above,4 he digested in hell beneath. Unright-
eousness I mean, brethren, on which he used to
feast. He used to eat costly banquets with the
mouth of flesh, with his heart's mouth he used
to eat unrighteousness. What he ate with his
heart's mouth with men above, this he digested
amid those punishments in the places beneath.
And verily he had eaten for a time, he digested
ill for everlasting. Is then unrighteousness
eaten ? perhaps some one saith : what is it that
he saith ? Unrighteousness eaten ? It is not I
that say : hear the Scripture : "As a sour
grape is vexation to the teeth, and smoke to the
eyes, so is unrighteousness to them that use it." '
For he that shall have eaten unrighteousness,
that is, he that shall have had unrighteousness wil-
fully, shall not be able to eat righteousness. For
righteousness is bread. Who is bread ? "I
am the living bread which came down from
heaven."6 Himself is the bread of our heart.
... Is then even righteousness eaten ? If it
were not eaten, the Lord would not have said,
" Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness." 7 Therefore " since his
soul shall be blessed in life," in life it " shall "
be blessed, in death it shall be tormented. . . .
8. " He shall confess to Thee, when Thou
shalt have done him good." Be not of such
sort, brethren : see ye how that to this end we
say these words, to this end we sing, to this end
we treat, to this end toil — do not these things.
Your business doth prove you : sometimes in
3 Luke xii. 30.
6 John vi. 51.
* Afiud superos.
1 Matt. v. 6.
s Prov. x. 26.
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
177
your business ye hear the truth, and ye blas-
pheme. The Church ye blaspheme. Where-
fore ? Because ye are Christians. " If so it be,
I betake myself to Donatus's party : I will be a
heathen." ' Wherefore? Because thou hast eaten
bread, and the teeth are in pain. When thou
sawest the bread itself, thou didst praise ; thou
beginnest to eat, and the teeth are in pain ;
that is, when thou wast hearing the Word of
God thou didst praise : when it is said to thee,
" Do this," thou blasphemest : do not so ill :
say this, " The bread is good, but I cannot eat
it." But now if thou seest with the eyes, thou
praisest : when thou beginnest to close the teeth,
thou sayest, " Bad is this bread, and like him
that made it." So it cometh to pass that thou
confessest to God, when God doeth thee good :
and thou liest when thou singest, " I will alway
bless God, His praise is ever in my mouth." 2
How alway? If alway gain, alway He is blessed :
if sometime there is loss, He is not blessed, but
blasphemed. Forsooth thou blessest alway, for-
sooth His praise is ever in thy mouth ! Thou
wilt be such as just now he describeth : " He
will confess to Thee, when Thou shalt have done
him good."
9. " He shall enter even unto the generations
of his fathers " (ver. 19) : that is, he shall imi-
tate his fathers. For the unrighteous, that now
are, have brothers, have fathers. Unrighteous
men of old, are the fathers of the present ; and
they that are now unrighteous, are the fathers
of unrighteous posterity : just as the fathers of
the righteous, the righteous of old, are the
fathers of the righteous that now are ; and they
that now are, are the fathers of them that are
to be. The Holy Spirit hath willed to show
that righteousness is not evil when men murmur
against her : but these men have their father
from the beginning, even to the generation of
their fathers. Two men Adam begat, and in one
was unrighteousness, in one was righteousness :
unrighteousness in Cain, righteousness in Abel.3
Unrighteousness seemed to prevail over right-
eousness, because Cain unrighteous slew Abel
righteous 4 in the night. Is it so in the morning?
Nay, " but the righteous shall reign over them in
the morning." 5 The morning shall come, and it
shall be seen where Abel is, and where Cain.
So all men who are after Cain, and so all who
are after Abel, even unto the end of the world.
" He shall enter even unto the generations of
his fathers : even to eternity he shall not see
light." Because even when he was here, he was
in darkness, taking pleasure in false goods, and
not loving real goods : even so he shall go hence
1 Those who became Donatists declared themselves not yet
Christians, in order to be rebaptized.
2 Ps. xxxiv. 1. 3 1 John iii. 12. 4 Gen. iv. 8.
5 Ps. xlix. 14.
into hell : from the darkness of his dreams the
darkness of torments shall receive him. There-
fore, " even to eternity he shall not see light."
But wherefore this ? What he hath written in
the middle of the Psalm,6 the same also he hath
writ at the end : " Man, though he was in
honour, understood not, was compared to the
beasts without sense, and was made like to
them" (ver. 20). But ye, brethren, consider
that ye be men made after the image and like-
ness of God. The image 7 of God is within, is
not in the body ; is not in these ears which ye
see, and eyes, and nostrils, and palate, and
hands, and feet ; but is made nevertheless : 8
wherein is the intellect, wherein is the mind,
wherein the power of discovering truth, wherein
is faith, wherein is your hope, wherein your
charity, there God hath His Image : there at
least ye perceive and see that these things pass
away ; for so he hath said in another Psalm,
" Though man walketh in an image, yet he is
disquieted in vain : he heapeth up treasures,
and knoweth not for whom he shall gather
them." 9 Be not disquieted, for of whatsoever
kind these things be, they are transitory, if
ye are men who being in honour understand.
For if being men in honour ye understand not,
ye are compared to the beasts without sense,
and are made like to them.
PSALM L.-°
1 . How much availeth the Word of God to
us for the correction of our life, both regarding
His rewards to be expected, and His punish-
ments to be feared, let each one measure " in
himself; and let him put his conscience without
deceit before His eyes, and not flatter himself in
a danger so great : for ye see that even our Lord
God Himself doth flatter no one : though He
comforteth us by promising His blessings, and
by strengthening our hope ; yet them that live
ill and despise His word He assuredly spareth
not. Let each one examine himself, while it is
time, and let him see where he is, and either
persevere in good, or be changed from evil.
For as he saith in this Psalm, not any man what-
ever nor any angel whatever, but, " The Lord,
the God of gods, hath spoken " (ver. 1). But
in speaking, He hath done what? " He hath
called the earth from the rising of the sun unto
the going down." He that " hath called the
world from the rising of the sun unto the going
down," is Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
" the Word made Flesh," 12 in order that He
might dwell in us. Our Lord Jesus Christ then
6 Ps. xlix. 12. 7 Gen. i. 26. 8 Most mss. " made a mind."
9 Ps. xxxix. 6.
10 Lat. XLIX. From a sermon to the people.
11 Some mss. " meditate." a John i. 14.
1 78
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L,
is the " God of gods ; " because by Himself
were all things made, and without Himself was
nothing made. The Word of God, if He is
God, is truly the God of gods ; but whether He
be God the Gospel answereth, " In the begin-
ning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God." ' And if all things
were made by Himself, as He saith in the
sequel, then if any were made gods, by Himself
were they made. For the one God was not
made, and He is Himself alone truly God.
But Himself the only God, Father and Son and
Holy Ghost, is one God.
2. But then who are those gods, or where are
they, of whom God is the true God? Another
Psalm saith, " God hath stood in the synagogue
of gods, but in the midst He judgeth gods." 2
As yet we know not whether perchance any gods
be congregated in heaven, and in their congre-
gation, for this is " in the synagogue," God hath
stood to judge. See in the same Psalm those
to whom he saith, " I have said, Ye are gods,
and children of the Highest all ; but ye shall
die like men, and fall like one of the princes." 3
It is evident then, that He hath called men gods,
that are deified of His Grace, not born of His
Substance. For He doth justify, who is just
through His own self, and not of another ; and
He doth deify who is God through Himself, not
by the partaking of another. But He that
justifieth doth Himself deify, in that by justify-
ing He doth make sons of God. " For He
hath given them power to become the sons of
God." * If we have been made sons of God, we
have also been made gods : but this is the effect
of Grace adopting, not of nature generating.
For the only Son of God, God, and one God
with the Father, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, was in the beginning the Word, and the
Word with God, the Word God. The rest that
are made gods, are made by His own Grace, are
not born of His Substance, that they should be
the same as He, but that by favour they should
come to Him, and be fellow-heirs with Christ.
For so great is the love in Him the Heir, that
He hath willed to have fellow-heirs. What
covetous man would will this, to have fellow-
heirs? But even one that is found so to will,
will share with them the inheritance, the sharer
having less himself, than if he had possessed
alone : but the inheritance wherein we are fel-
low-heirs of Christ, is not lessened by multitude
of possessors, nor is it made narrower by the
number of fellow-heirs : but is as great for
many as it is for few, as great for individuals as
for all. "See," saith the Apostle, "what love
God hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called, and be, the sons of God."' And in
'J
ohn i. i.
ohn i. is.
2 I's. lxxxii. i.
5 i John lii. i.
3 P». lxxxii. 6, 7.
another place, " Dearly beloved, we are the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be." We are therefore in hope, not yet in
substance. " But we know," he saith, " that
when He shall have appeared, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 6 The
Only Son is like Him by birth, we like by see-
ing. For we are not like in such sort as He,
who is the same as He is by whom He was be-
gotten : for we are like, not equal : He, because
equal, is therefore like. We have heard who are
the gods that being made are justified, because
they are called the sons of God : and who are
the gods that are not Gods, to whom the God
of gods is terrible? For another Psalm saith,
" He is terrible over all gods." 7 And as if thou
shouldest enquire, what gods? He saith, "For
all the gods of the nations are devils." To the
gods of the nations, to the devils, terrible : to
the gods made by Himself, to sons, lovely.
Furthermore, I find both of them confessing
the Majesty of God, both the devils confessed
Christ, and the faithful confessed Christ.
" Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God," 8
said Peter. " We know who Thou art, Thou art
the Son of God," 9 said the devils. A like
confession I hear, but like love I find not ;
nay even here love, there fear. To whom
therefore He is lovely, the same are sons ; to
whom He is terrible, are not sons ; to whom He
is lovely, the same He hath made gods ; those
to whom He is terrible He doth prove not to be
gods. For these are made gods, those are re-
puted gods : these Truth maketh gods, those
error doth so account.
3. " The God," therefore, " of gods, the Lord
hath spoken"10 (ver. 1). Hath spoken many
ways. By Angels He hath Himself spoken, by
Prophets He hath Himself spoken, by His own
mouth He hath Himself spoken, by His faithful
He doth Himself speak, by our lowliness, when
we say anything true, He doth Himself speak.
See then, by speaking diversely, many ways, by
many vessels, by many instruments, yet He doth
Himself sound everywhere, by touching, mould-
ing, inspiring : see what He hath done. For
" He hath spoken, and hath called the world."
What world ? Africa, perhaps ! for the sake of
those that say, the Church of Christ is the por-
tion of Donatus. Africa indeed alone He hath
not called, but even Africa He hath not severed.
For He that "hath called the world from the
rising of the sun unto the going down," leaving
out no parts that He hath not called, in His
calling hath found Africa. Let it rejoice there-
fore in unity, not pride itself in division. We
say well, that the voice of the God of gods hath
come even into Africa, hath not stayed in Africa.
6 1 John iii. a. J Ps. xcvi. 4.
9 Mark 111. 11; Luke iv. 41.
8 Matt, xvi 16.
>° lid. Heb. i. 1.
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
179
For " He hath called the world from the rising
of the sun unto the going down." There is no
place where may lurk, the conspiracies of here-
tics, they have no place wherein they may hide
themselves under the shadow of falsehood ; for
" there is none that can hide himself from the
heat thereof." ' He that hath called the world,
hath called even the whole world : He that
hath called the world, hath called as much as
He hath formed. Why do false christs and
false prophets rise up against me ? why is it that
they strive to ensnare me with captious words,
saying, " Lo ! here is Christ, Lo ! He is there ! "2
I hear not them that point out portions : the
God of gods hath pointed out the whole : " He"
that " hath called the world from the rising of
the sun unto the going down," hath redeemed the
whole ; but hath condemned them that lay false
claim to3 portions.
4. But we have heard the world called from
the rising of the sun unto the going down :
whence doth He begin to call, who hath called?
This thing also hear ye : " Out of Sion is the
semblance of His beauty" (ver. 2). Evident-
ly the Psalm doth agree with the Gospel, which
saith, " Throughout all nations* beginning at
Jerusalem." 4 Hear, " Throughout all nations : "
He hath called the world from the rising of the
sun unto the going down." Hear, " Beginning
at Jerusalem : " " Out of Sion is the semblance
of His beauty." Therefore, " He hath called
the world from the rising of the sun unto the
going down," agreeth with the words of the
Lord, who saith, " It behoved Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day ; and
that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His Name throughout all nations." 5
For all nations are from the rising of the sun
unto the going down. But that, " Out of Sion
is the semblance of His beauty," that thence
beginneth the beauty of His Gospel, that thence
He began to be preached, being " beautiful in
form beyond the sons of men," 5 agreeth with
the words of the Lord, who saith, " Beginning
at Jerusalem." New things are in tune with
old, old things with new : the two Seraphim say
to one another, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
Sabaoth." 1 The two Testaments are both in
tune, and the two Testaments have one voice :
let the voice of the Testaments in tune be
heard, not that of pretenders disinherited.
This thing then hath the God of gods done,
" He hath called the world from the rising of
the sun unto the going down, His semblance
going before out of Sion." For in that place
were His disciples,8 who received the Holy
Ghost sent from heaven on the fiftieth day after
1 Ps xix. 6.
* Luke xxiv. 47.
7 Isa. vi. 3.
2 Matt. xxiv. 23.
5 Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
8 Acts 1. 4.
3 Calumniantes.
6 Ps. xlv. 2.
His resurrection. Thence the Gospel, thence
the preaching, thence the whole world filled,
and that in the Grace of Faith.
5. For when the Lord Himself had come,
because He came to suffer, He came hidden :
and though He was strong in Himself, He ap-
peared in the flesh weak. For He must needs
appear in order that He might not be perceived ;
be despised, in order that He might be slain.
There was semblance of glory in divinity, but it
lay concealed in flesh. " For if they had known,
they would never have crucified the Lord of
glory."9 So then He walked hidden among the
Jews, among His enemies, doing marvels, suffer-
ing ills, until He was hanged on the tree, and
the Jews seeing Him hanging both despised Him
the more, and before the Cross wagging their
heads they said, " If He be the Son of God, let
Him come down from the Cross." IO Hidden
then was the God of gods, and He gave forth
words more out of compassion for us than out
of His own majesty. For whence, unless as-
sumed from us, were those words, " My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" " But
when hath the Father forsaken the Son, or the
Son the Father? Are not Father and Son one
God ? Whence then, " My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me," save that in the Flesh
of infirmity there was acknowledged the voice
of a sinner? For as He took upon Him the
likeness of the flesh of sin,'2 why should He not
take upon Him the voice of sin? Hidden then
was the God of gods, both when He walked
among men, and when He hungered, and when
He thirsted, and when fatigued He sat, and
when with wearied body He slept, and when
taken, and when scourged, and when standing
before the judge, and when He made answer to
him in his pride, " Thou couldest have no power
against Me, except it had been given thee from
above ; " '3 and while led as a victim " before
His shearer He opened not His mouth," '4 and
while crucified, and while buried, He was always
hidden God of gods. What took place after
He rose again ? The disciples marvelled, and at
first believed not, until they touched and han-
dled. '5 But flesh had risen, because flesh had
been dead : Divinity which could not die, even
still lay hid in the flesh of Him rising. Form
could be seen, limbs held, scars handled : the
Word by whom all things were made, who doth
see ? who doth hold ? who doth handle ? And
yet " the Word was made flesh, and dwelled
among us." l6 And Thomas, that was holding
Man, understood God as he was able. For
when he had handled the scars, he cried out,
9 1 Cor.
11 Ps. xxii
Matt, xxvii. 46.
ike xxiv. 37-40.
13 John xix. 1
" Lu
10 Matt, xxvii. 39, 40.
12 Rom. viii. 3,
** Isa. liii. 7.
16 John i. 14.
i8o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L.
" My Lord, and my God." Yet the Lord was
showing that form, and that flesh, which they
had seen upon the Cross, which had been laid
in the sepulchre. He stayed with them forty
days. . . . But what was said to Thomas han-
dling ? " Because thou hast seen, thou hast
believed ; blessed are they that see not, and
believe." ' We are foretold. That world called
from the rising of the sun unto the going down
seeth not, and believeth. Hidden then is the
God of gods, both to those among whom He
walked, and to those by whom He was crucified,
and to those before whose eyes He rose, and to
us who believe on Him in heaven sitting, whom
we have not seen on earth walking. But even
if we were to see, should we not see that which
the Jews saw and crucified? It is more, that
not seeing we believe Christ to be God, than
that they seeing deemed Him only to be man.
They in a word by thinking evil slew, we by
believing well are made alive.
6. What then, brethren ? This God of gods,
both then hidden, and now hidden, shall He
ever be hidden ? Evidently not : hear what fol-
loweth : " God shall come manifest " (ver. 3).
He that came hidden, shall come manifest.
Hidden He came to be judged, manifest He
shall come to judge : hidden He came that
He might stand before a judge, manifest He shall
come that He may be judge even of judges:
" He shall come manifest, and shall not be
silent." But why? Is He now silent? And
whence are all the words that we say ? whence
those precepts ? whence those warnings ? whence
that trumpet of terror? He is not silent, and
is silent : is not silent from warning, is silent
from avenging : is not silent from precept, is
silent from judgment. For He suffereth sin-
ners daily doing evil things, not caring for God,
not in their conscience, not in heaven, not in
earth : all these things escape Him not, and
universally He doth admonish all ; and when-
ever He chastiseth any on earth, it is admoni-
tion, not yet condemnation. He is silent then
from judgment, He is hidden in heaven, as yet
He intercedeth for us : He is long-suffering to
sinners, not putting forth His wrath, but awaiting
penitence. He saith in another place : " I have
held my peace, shall I always hold my peace ? " *
When then He shall not hold His peace, "God
shall come manifest." What God ? " Our God."
And the God Himself, who is our God : for he
is not God, who is not our God. For the gods
of the nations are devils : the God of Chris-
tians is very God. Himself shall come, but
" manifest," not still to be mocked, not still to
be buffeted and scourged : He shall come, but
" manifest," not still to be smitten with a reed
1 John xx. ao.
3 Isa. xlii. 14.
upon the head, not still to be crucified, slain,
buried : for all these things God being hidden
hath willed to suffer. " He shall come mani-
fest, and shall not be silent."
7. But that He shall come to judgment, the
following words teach. " Fire shall go before
Him." 3 Do we fear? Be we changed, and we
shall not fear. Let chaff fear the fire : what
doth it to gold? What thou mayest do is now
in thy power, so thou mayest not experience, for
want of being corrected, that which is to come
even against thy will. For if we might so bring
it about, brethren, that the day of judgment
should not come ; I think that even then it were
not for us to live ill. If the fire of the day of
judgment were not to come, and over sinners
there impended only separation from the face of
God, in whatever affluence of delights they might
be, not seeing Him by whom they were created,
and separated from that sweetness of His in-
effable4 countenance, in whatever eternity and
impunity of sin, they ought to bemoan them-
selves. But what shall I say, or to whom shall
I say? This is a punishment to lovers, not to
despisers. They that have begun to feel in any
degree the sweetness of wisdom and truth, know
what I say, how great a punishment it is to be
only separated from the face of God : but they
that have not tasted that sweetness, if not yet
they yearn for the face of God, let them fear
even fire ; let punishments terrify those, whom
rewards win not. Of no value to thee is what
God promiseth, tremble at what He threateneth.
The sweetness of His presence shall come ; thou
art not changed, thou art not awakened, thou
sighest not, thou longest not : thou embracest
thy sins and the delights of thy flesh, thou art
heaping stubble to thyself, the fire will come.
" Fire shall burn in His presence." This fire
will not be like thy hearth- fire, into which never-
theless, if thou art compelled to thrust thy hand,
thou wilt do whatsoever he would have thee who
doth threaten this alternative. If he say to thee,
" write against the life 5 of thy father, write
against the lives of thy children, for if thou do
not, I thrust thy hand into thy fire : " thou wilt
do it in order that thy hand be not burned, in
order that thy member be not burned for a time,
though it is not to be ever in pain. Thine enemy
threateneth then but so light an evil, and thou
doest evil ; God threateneth eternal evil, and
doest thou not good? To do evil not even
menaces should compel thee : from doing good
not even menaces should deter thee. But by
the menaces of God, by menaces of everlasting
fire, thou art dissuaded from evil, invited to
good. Wherefore doth it grieve thee, except
because thou believest not ? Let each one then
3 Ps. xcvii. 3.
J Head.
* Oxf. MSS. " ineffable sweetness of His.'
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
181
examine his heart, and see what faith doth ' hold
there. If we believe a judgment to come, breth-
ren, let us live well. Now is time of mercy,
then will be time of judgment. No one will say,
"Call me back to my former years." Even then
men will repent, but will repent in vain : now let
there be repentance, while there is fruit of re-
pentance ; now let there be applied to the roots
of the tree a basket of dung,2 sorrow of heart,
and tears ; lest He come and pluck up by the
roots. For when He shall have plucked up, then
the fire is to be looked for. Now, even if the
branches have been broken, they can again be
grafted in : 3 then, " every tree which bringeth
not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall
be cast into the fire." 4 " Fire shall burn in His
presence."
8. "And a mighty tempest round about Him "
(ver. 3). "A mighty tempest," in order to
winnow so great a floor. In this tempest shall be
that winnowing whereby from the saints shall
be put away everything impure, from the faith-
ful every unreality ; from godly men and them
that fear the Word of God, every scorner and
every proud man. For now a sort of mixture
doth lie there, from the rising of the sun unto
the going down. Let us see then how He will
do that is to come, what He will do with that
tempest which "shall be a mighty tempest round
about Him." Doubtless this tempest is to make
a sort of separation. It is that separation
which they waited not for, who brake the nets,
before they came to land.5 But in this separa-
tion there is made a sort of distinction between
good men and bad men. There be some that
now follow Christ with lightened shoulders with-
out the load of the world's cares, who have not
heard in vain, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and
sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven : and come,
follow Me ; " 6 to which sort is said, "Ye shall sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel." 7 Some then shall be judging with the
Lord : but others to be judged, but to be placed
on the right hand. For that there will be cer-
tain judging with the Lord, we have most evi-
dent testimony, which I have but now quoted :
" Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel." . . .
9. But what the Lord did after His resurrec-
tion, signified what is to be to us after our res-
urrection, in that number of the kingdom of
heaven, where shall be no bad man. . . . Lastly,
those seven thousand of whom reply was made to
Elias, " I have left me seven thousand men that
have not bowed knees before Baal," 8 far exceed
that number of fishes. Therefore the hundred
■ Al. "he doth."
* Matt. iii. 10.
' Matt. xix. 28.
* Luke xiii. 8.
3 Luke v. 6.
* 1 Kings xix. iS.
3 Rom. xi. tg.
6 Matt. xix. 31.
and fifty- three fishes' doth not alone express just
such a number of saints, but Scripture doth ex-
press the whole number of saints and righteous
men by so great a number for a particular
reason ; to wit, in order that in those hundred
and fifty-three all may be understood that per-
tain to the resurrection to eternal life. For the
Law hath ten commandments : IO but the Spirit
of Grace, through which alone the Law is ful-
filled," is called sevenfold. The number then
must be examined, what mean ten and seven :
ten in commandments, seven in the grace of the
Holy Spirit : by which grace the commandments
are fulfilled. Ten then and seven contain all
that pertain to the resurrection, to the right
hand, to the kingdom of heaven, to life eternal,
that is, they that fulfil the Law by the Grace of
the Spirit, not as it were by their own work or
their own merit. But ten and seven, if thou
countest from one unto seventeen, by adding all
the numbers by steps, so that to one thou may-
est add two, add three, add four, that they may
become ten, by adding five that they may be-
come fifteen, by adding six that they may become
twenty-one, by adding seven that they may be-
come twenty-eight, by adding eight that they
may become thirty-six, by adding nine that they
may become forty-five, by adding ten that they
may become fifty-five, by adding eleven that
they may become sixty- six, by adding twelve
that they may become seventy-eight, by adding
thirteen that they may become ninety-one, by
adding fourteen that they may become one hun-
dred and five, by adding fifteen that they may
become one hundred and twenty, by adding six-
teen that they may become one hundred and
thirty-six, by adding seventeen, make up one
hundred and fifty-three, thou wilt find a vast
number of all saints to belong to this number of
a few fishes. In like manner then as in five
virgins, countless virgins ; as in five brethren of
him that was tormented in hell, thousands of the
people of the Jews ; as in the number of one
hundred and fifty-three fishes, thousands of
thousands of saints : so in twelve thrones, not
twelve men, but great is the number of the per-
fect."
10. But I see what is next required of us ; in
like manner as in the case of the five virgins, a
reason was given why many should belong to
five, and why to those five many Jews, and why
to a hundred and fifty-three many perfect — to
show why and how to the twelve thrones not
twelve men, but many belong. What mean
the twelve thrones, which signify all men every-
9 John xxi. 11.
10 Deut. iv. 13.
11 Isa. xi. 3, 3.
12 [That there is ground for all this regard to numbers, fanciful
though it seems, has been demonstrated. See Dan. viii. 13 ; also note
1, p. 514, vol. ii. A. N. F. Compare margin of our English Version
on the text of Daniel : Heb. Palmom, " the Wonderful Num-
bcrer," See Dr. Mahan's " Palmoni," Ed. New York, 1863. — C.J
182
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L.
where that have been enabled to be so perfect
as they must be perfect, to whom it is said, " Ye
shall sit over the twelve tribes of Israel " ? ' And
why do all men everywhere belong to the num-
ber twelve ? Because the very " everywhere "
which we say, we say of the whole world : but
the compass of lands is contained in four par-
ticular quarters, East, West, South, and North :
from all these quarters they being called in the
Trinity and made perfect in the faith and precept
of the Trinity, — seeing that three times four
are twelve, ye perceive wherefore the saints be-
long to the whole world ; they that shall sit upon
twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of
Israel, since the twelve tribes of Israel, also, are
the twelve tribes of the whole of Israel. For
like as they that are to judge are from the whole
world, so also they that are to be judged are
from the whole world. The Apostle Paul of
himself, when he was reproving believing lay-
men, because they referred not their causes to
the Church, but dragged them with whom they
had matters before the public, said, " Know ye
not that we shall judge Angels?"2 See after
what sort He hath made Himself judge : not
only himself, but also all that judge aright in the
Church.
1 1 . Since then it is evident, that many are to
judge with the Lord, but that others are to be
judged, not however on equality, but according
to their deserts ; He will come with all His
Angels,3 when before Him shall be gathered all
nations, and among all the Angels are to be
reckoned those that have been made so perfect,
that sitting upon twelve thrones they judge the
twelve tribes of Israel. For men are called
Angels : the Apostle saith of himself, " As an
angel of God ye received me." 4 Of John Bap-
tist it is said, "Behold, I send My Angel be-
fore Thy face, that shall prepare Thy way before
Thee." s Therefore, coming with all Angels,
together with Him He shall have the Saints also.
For plainly saith Isaias also, " He shall come
to judgment with the elders of the people." 6
Those " elders of the people," then, those but
now named Angels, those thousands of many
men made perfect coming from the whole world,
are called Heaven. But the others are called
earth, yet fruitful. Which is the earth that is
fruitful? That which is to be set on the right
hand, unto which it shall be said, " I was an hun-
gred, and ye gave Me to eat : " 7 truly fruitful earth
in which the Apostle doth joy, when they sent
to him to supply his necessities : " Not because I
ask a gift," he saith, " but I require fruit." 8 And
he giveth thanks, saying, " Because at length ye
have budded forth again to be thoughtful for
1 Matt. xix. 38. a 1 Cor. vi. 3. » Matt. xxv. 31.
* Gal. iv. 14. * Mai. iii. 1 ; Matt. xi. 10.
* Ua. iii. 14. 1 Matt. xxv. 33. ' Phil. iv. 17.
me." 9 He saith, " Ye have budded forth again,"
as to trees which had withered away with a kind
of barrenness. Therefore the Lord coming to
judgment (that we may now hear the Psalm,
brethren), He will do what? "He will call the
heaven from above " (ver. 4). The heaven, all
the Saints, those made perfect that shall judge,
them He shall call from above, to be sitters
with Him to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.
For how shall " He call the heaven from above,"
when the heaven is always above? But those
that He here calleth heaven, the same elsewhere
He calleth heavens. What heavens? That tell
out the glory of God : for, " The heavens
tell out the glory of God : " '° whereof is said,
" Into all the earth their sound hath gone forth,
and into the ends of the world their words."
For see the Lord severing in judgment : " He
shall call the heaven from above and the earth,
to sever His people." From whom but from
evil men ? Of whom here afterwards no mention
is made, now as it were condemned to punish-
ment. See these good men, and distinguish.
" He shall call the heaven from above, and the
earth, to sever His people." He calleth the eanh
also, not however to be associated, but to be
dissociated. For at first He called them to-
gether, " when the God of gods spake and called
the world from the rising of the sun unto the
going down," He had not yet severed : those
servants had been sent to bid to the marriage,"
who had gathered good and bad. But when
the God of gods shall come manifest and shall
not keep silence, He shall so call the " heaven
from above " that it may judge with Him. For
what the heaven is, the heavens themselves are ;
just as what the earth is, the lands themselves,
just as what the Church is, the Churches them-
selves : " He shall call the heaven from above,
and the earth, to sever His people." Now with
the heaven He severeth the earth, that is, the
heaven with Him doth sever the earth. How
doth He sever the earth ? In such sort that He
setteth on the right hand some, others on the
left. But to the earth severed, He saith what?
" Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the
kingdom which was prepared for you from
the beginning of the world. For I was an
hungred, and ye gave me to eat," and so forth.
But they say, " When saw we Thee an hungred ? "
And He, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of Mine, ye have done it unto
Me." I2 " He shall call therefore the heaven from
above, and the earth, to sever His people."
12. "Gather to Him His righteous" (ver. 5).
The voice divine and prophetic, seeing future
things as if present doth exhort the Angels gath-
ering. For He shall send His Angels, and before
9 Phil. iv. 10. I0 P«. xix. i.
" Matt. xxv. 34, etc
11 Matt. xxii. 3.
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
183
Him shall be gathered all nations.1 Gather to
Him His righteous. What righteous men save
those that live of faith and do works of mercy?
For those works are works of righteousness.
Thou hast the Gospel : " Beware of doing your
righteousness before men to be seen of them."2
And as if it were inquired, What righteousness ?
" When therefore thou doest alms," He saith.
Therefore alms He hath signified to be works
of righteousness. Those very persons gather
for His righteous : gather those that have had
compassion on the " needy," that have con-
sidered the needy and poor : 3 gather them, " The
Lord preserve them, and make them to live ; "
"Gather to Him His righteous : who order His
covenant above sacrifices : " that is, who think
of His promises above those things which they
work. For those things are sacrifices, God say-
ing, " I will have mercy more than sacrifice." 4
"Who keep His covenant more than sacrifice."
13. "And the Heaven shall declare His
righteousness" (ver. 6). Truly this righteous-
ness of God to us the " heavens have declared,"
the Evangelists have foretold. Through them
we have heard that some will be on the right
hand, to whom the Householder saith, " Come,
ye blessed of My Father, receive, s Receive
what? "A kingdom." In return for what
thing ? "I was an hungred, and ye gave Me
to eat." What so valueless, what so earthly, as
to break bread to the hungry? At so much is
valued the kingdom of heaven. " Break thy
bread to the hungry, and the needy without
covering bring into thy house ; if thou seest one
naked, clothe him."6 If thou hast not the
means of breaking bread, hast not house into
which thou mayest bring, hast not garment
wherewith thou mayest cover : give a cup of
cold water,7 cast two mites into the treasury.8
As much the widow doth buy with two mites, as
Peter buyeth, by leaving the nets,9 as Zacchsus
buyeth by giving half his goods.10 Of so much
worth is all that thou hast. " The heavens shall
declare His righteousness, for God is Judge."
Truly judge not confounding but severing. For
" the Lord knoweth them that are His." " Even
if grains lie hid in the chaff, they are known to
the husbandman. Let no one fear that he is a
grain even among the chaff; the eyes of our
winnower are not deceived. Fear not lest that
tempest, which shall be round about Him, should
confound thee with chaff. Certainly mighty will
be the tempest ; yet not one grain will it sweep
from the side of the corn to the chaff: because
not any rustic with three-pronged fork, but God,
Three in One, is Judge. And the heavens shall
1 Matt. xxv. 32.
4 Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. i
6 Isa. lviii. 7.
9 Matt. iv. 20.
1 Matt. vi. 1.
Matt. x. 42.
10 Luke xix. 8.
' Ps. xli. 1.
5 Matt. xxv. 34.
8 Mark xii. 42.
11 a Tim. ii. 19.
declare His righteousness : for God is Judge.
Let heavens go, let the heavens tell, into every
land let their sound go out, and unto the ends
of the world their words : ,2 and let that body say,
" From the ends of the world unto Thee have I
cried, when my heart was in heaviness." '3 For
now mingled it groaneth, divided it shall rejoice.
Let it cry then and say, " Destroy not my soul
with ungodly men, and with men of blood my
life." '* He destroyeth not together, because
God is Judge. Let it cry to Him and say,
" Judge me, O Lord, and sever my cause from
the nation unholy : " 's let it say, He shall do it :
there shall be gathered to Him His righteous
ones. He hath called the earth that He may
sever His people.
14. "Hear, my people, and I will speak to
thee" (ver. 7). He shall come and shall not
keep silence ; see how that even now, if ye hear,
He is not silent. Hear, my people, and I will
speak to thee. For if thou hearest not, I
will not speak to thee. " Hear, and I will speak
to thee." For if thou hearest not, even though
I shall speak, it will not be to thee. When then
shall I speak to thee ? If thou hearest. When
hearest thou? If thou art my people. For,
" Hear, my people : " thou hearest not if thou
art an alien people. " Hear, my people, and I
will speak to thee : Israel, and I will testify to
thee." . . . For "Thy God," is properly said
to that man whom God doth keep more as one of
His family, as though in His household, as though
in His peculiar : " Thy God am I." What wilt
thou more ? Requirest thou a reward from God,
so that God may give thee something ; so that
what He hath given thee may be thine own?
Behold God Himself, who shall give, is thine own.
What richer than He? Gifts thou wast desiring,
thou hast the Giver Himself. " God, thy God,
I am."
15. What He requireth of man, let us see;
what tribute our God, our Emperor and our King
doth enjoin us ; since He hath willed to be our
King, and hath willed us to be His province?
Let us hear His injunctions. Let not a poor man
tremble beneath the injunction of God : what
God enjoineth to be given to Himself, He doth
Himself first give that enjoineth : be ye only
devoted. God doth not exact what He hath
not given, and to all men hath given what He
doth exact. For what doth He exact ? Let us
hear now : " I will not reprove thee because of
thy sacrifices" (ver. 8). I will not say to thee,
Wherefore hast thou not slain for me a fat bull ?
why hast thou not selected the best he-goat from
thy flock? Wherefore doth that ram amble
among thy sheep, and is not laid upon mine altar?
I will not say, Examine thy fields and thy pen l6
" Ps. xix. 4.
ss Ps. xxvi. 1.
" Ps. lxi. 3.
■» Curtt.
l* Ps. xxvi. 9.
1 84
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L.
and thy walls, seeking what thou mayest give
Me. " I will not reprove thee because of thy
sacrifices." What then : Dost Thou not accept
my sacrifices ? " But thy holocausts are always
in My sight " (ver. 9). Certain holocausts con-
cerning which it is said in another Psalm, " If
Thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would surely have
given, with holocausts Thou wilt not be de-
lighted : " ■ and again he turneth himself, " Sacri-
fice to God is a troubled spirit, a heart broken
and humbled God doth not despise." 2 Which be
then holocausts that He despiseth not? Which
holocausts that are always in His sight?
" Kindly, O Lord," he saith, " deal in Thy good
will with Sion, and be the walls of Jerusalem
builded, then shalt Thou accept the sacrifice of
righteousness, oblations, and holocausts." He
saith that certain holocausts God will accept.
But what is a holocaust? A whole consumed
with fire : causis is burning, holon is whole :
but a "holocaust" is a whole consumed with
fire. There is a certain fire of most burning
love : be the mind inflamed with love, let the
same love hurry off the limbs to its use, let it not
allow them to serve cupidity, in order that we
may wholly glow with fire of divine love that will
offer to God a holocaust. Such " holocausts of
thine are in My sight always."
16. As yet that Israel perchance doth not un-
derstand what are the holocausts thereof which
He hath in His sight always, and is still think-
ing of oxen, of sheep, of he-goats : let it not so
think : " I will not accept calves of thy house."
Holocausts I named ; at once in mind and
thought to earthly flocks thou wast running,
therefrom thou wast selecting for Me some fat
thing : " I will not accept calves of thy house."
He is foretelling the New Testament, wherein
all those sacrifices have ceased. For they were
then foretelling a certain Sacrifice which was to
be, with the Blood whereof we should be
cleansed. " I will not accept calves of thy
house, nor he-goats of thy flocks."
1 7. " For mine are all the beasts of the
wood" (ver. 10). Why should I ask of thee
what I have made ? Is it more thine, to whom
I have given it to possess, than Mine, who have
made it? " For mine are all the beasts of the
wood." But perchance that Israel saith, The
beasts are God's, those wild beasts which I en-
close not in my pen, which I bind not to my
stall ; but this ox and sheep and he-goat —
these are mine own. " Cattle on the mountain,
and oxen." } Mine are those which thou pos-
sessest not, Mine are these which thou possess-
est. For if thou art My servant, the whole of
thy property is Mine. For it cannot be, that
that is the property of the master which the ser-
1 P». li. 16.
* Ox!, hss. add " are Mine."
* Ps. li. 17.
vant hath gotten to himself, and yet that not be
the property of the Master which the Master
Himself hath created for the servant. Therefore
Mine are the beasts of the wood which thou hast
not taken ; Mine are also the cattle on the
mountains which are thine, and the oxen which
are at thy stall : all are Mine own, for I have
created them.
18. " I know all the winged creatures of
heaven" (ver. n). How doth He know?
He hath weighed them, hath counted. Which
of us knoweth all the winged creatures of
heaven? But even though to some man God
give knowledge of all the winged creatures of
heaven, He doth not Himself know in the same
manner as He giveth man to know. One thing
is God's knowledge, another man's : in like
manner as there is one possession of God's, an-
other of man's : that is, God's possessing is one
thing, man's another. For what thou possessest
thou hast not wholly in thy power, or else thy
ox, so long as it liveth, is in thy power ; so as
that it either die not, or be not to be fed. With
whom there is the highest power, there is high-
est and most secret cognition. Let us ascribe
this to God, while praising God. Let us not
dare to say, How knoweth God? Do not, I
pray you, brethren, of me expect this, that I
should unfold to you, how God doth know :
this only I say, He doth not so know as a man,
He doth not so know as an Angel : and how He
knoweth I dare not say, because also I cannot
ken. One thing, nevertheless, I ken, that even
before all the winged creatures of heaven were,
God knew that which He was to create. What
is that knowledge? O man, thou beginnest to
see, after that thou hadst been formed, after that
thou hadst received sense of seeing. These
fowls sprung of the water at the word of God,
saying, "Let the waters bring forth fowls."4
Whereby did God know the things which He
commanded the water to bear forth? Now
surely He knew what He had created, and before
He created He knew. So great then is the
knowledge of God, so that with Himself they
were in a certain ineffable manner before they
were created : and of thee doth He expect to
receive what He had, before He created ? "I
know all the winged creatures of heaven,"
which thou to Me canst not give. The things
which thou wast about to slay for Me, I know
all : not because I made I know, but in order
that I might make. " And the beauty of the
field is with Me." The fairness of the field,
the abundance of all things engendering upon
earth, " is with Me," He saith. How with Him?
Were they so, even before they were made?
Yea, for with Him were all things to come, and
* Gen. i. ao.
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
185
with Him are all things by-gone : things to come
in such sort, that there be not withdrawn from
Him all things by-gone. With Him are all
things by a certain cognition of the ineffable wis-
dom of God residing in the Word, and the '
Word Himself is all things. Is not the beauty
of the field in a manner with Him, inasmuch as
He is everywhere, and Himself hath said,
" Heaven and earth I fill " ? 2 What with Him is
not, of whom it is said, " If I shall have as-
cended into heaven, Thou art there ; and if I
shall have descended into hell, Thou art pres-
ent"?3 With Him is the whole: but it is not
so with Him as that He doth suffer any contam-
ination from those things which He hath created,
or any want of them. For with thee, perchance,
is a pillar near which thou art standing, and
when thou art weary, thou leanest against it.
Thou needest that which is with thee, God need-
eth not the field which is with Him. With
Him is field, with Him beauty of earth, with Him
beauty of heaven, with Him all winged crea-
tures, because He is Himself everywhere. And
wherefore are all things near Him? Because
even before that all things were, or were created,
to Him were known all things.
19. Who can explain, who expound that which
is said to Him in another Psalm, " For my goods
Thou needest not"?4 He hath said that He
needeth not from us any necessary thing. " If
I shall be hungry, I will not tell thee " (ver.
12). He that keepeth Israel shall neither hun-
ger nor thirst, nor be weary, nor fall asleep.5
But, lo ! according to thy carnality I speak :
because thou wilt suffer hunger when thou hast
not eaten, perhaps thou thinkest even God doth
hunger that He may eat. Even though He shall
be hungry, He telleth not thee : all things are
before Him, whence He will He taketh what is
needful for Him. These words are said to con-
vince little understanding ; not that God hath
declared His hunger. Though for our sake this
God of gods deigned even to hunger. He came
to hunger, and to fill ; He came to thirst, and
give drink ; He came to be clothed with mor-
tality, and to clothe with immortality ; He came
poor, to make rich. For He lost not His riches
by taking to Him our poverty, for, " In him are
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hid-
den." 6 " If I shall be hungry, I will not tell
thee. For Mine is the whole world, and the
fulness thereof." Do not then labour to find
what to give Me, without whom I have what I
will.
20. Why then dost still think of thy flocks ?
" Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or shall I drink
the blood of he-goats?" (ver. 13). Ye have
1 Or, " In (or with) the Word Himself are all things."
3 Jer. xxiii. 24. 3 ps, exxxix. 8. ■* Ps. xvi. 2.
» Ps.
. exxt. 4.
6 Col. U. 3.
heard what of us He requireth not, who willeth
to enjoin us somewhat. If of such things ye
were thinking, now withdraw your thoughts from
such things : think not to offer God any such
thing. If thou hast a fat bull, kill for the poor :
let them eat the flesh of bulls, though they shall
not drink the blood of he-goats. Which, when
thou shalt have done, He will account it to thee,
that hath said, " If I shall be hungry, I will not
tell thee : " and He shall say to thee, " I was
hungry, and thou gavest Me to eat." 7 " Shall I
eat the flesh of bulls, or shall I drink the blood
of he-goats ? "
2 1 . Say then, Lord our God, what dost Thou
enjoin thy people, Thy Israel ? " Immolate to
God the sacrifice of praise" (ver. 14). Let
us also say to Him, " In me, O God, are thy
vows, which 1 will render of praise to Thee."
I had feared lest Thou mightest enjoin some-
thing which would be out of my power, which I
was counting to be in my pen, and but now per-
chance it had been taken away by a thief. What
dost Thou enjoin me ? " Immolate to God the
sacrifice of praise." Let me revert to myself,
wherein I may find what I may immolate : let
me revert to myself; in myself may I find im-
molation of praise : be Thy altar my conscience.
We are without anxiety, we go not into Arabia
in quest of frankincense : 8 not any bags of cov-
etous dealer do we sift : God requireth of us the
sacrifice of praise. Zacchaeus had this sacrifice
of praise in his patrimony ; 9 the widow had it in
her bag ; IO some poor host or other hath had it
in his jar : another neither in patrimony, nor in
bag, nor in jar, hath had anything, had it wholly
in his heart : salvation was to the house of
Zacchaeus ; and more this poor widow cast in
than those rich men : this man, that doth offer
a cup of cold water, shall not lose his reward : "
but there is even " peace on earth to men of
good will." " " Immolate to God the sacrifice
of praise." O sacrifice gratuitous, by grace
given ! I have not indeed bought this to offer,
but Thou hast given : for not even this should I
have had. And this is the immolation of the
sacrifice of praise, to render thanks to Him from
whom thou hast whatever of good thou hast,
and by whose mercy is forgiven thee whatsoever
of evil of thine thou hast. " Immolate to God
the sacrifice of praise : and render to the High-
est thy prayers." With this odour the Lord is
well pleased.'3
22. "And call thou upon Me in the day of
thy tribulation : and I will draw thee forth, and
thou shalt glorify Me" (ver. 15). For thou
7 Matt. xxv. 35.
8 [A. N. F. (Tertullian), vol. iii. p. 67, and (Irenaeus) vol. I.
p. 484, note o. — C.}
* Luke xix. 8. I0 Mark xii. 42. " Matt. x. 42.
" Luke ii. 14.
« [A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 553, note 6. — C]
1 86
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L.
oughtest not to rely on thy powers, all thy aids
are deceitful. " Upon Me call thou in the day
of tribulation : I will draw thee forth, and thou
shalt glorify Me." For to this end I have
allowed the day of tribulation to come to thee :
because perchance if thou wast not troubled,
thou wouldest not call on Me : but when thou
art troubled, thou callest on Me ; when thou
callest upon Me, I will draw thee forth ; when I
shall draw thee forth, thou shalt glorify Me, that
thou mayest no more depart from Me. A cer-
tain man had grown dull and cold in fervour of
prayer, and said, " Tribulation and grief I found,
and on the Name of the Lord I called." ' He
found tribulation as it were some profitable
thing ; he had rotted in the slough of his sins ;
now he had continued without feeling, he found
tribulation to be a sort of caustic and cutting.
" I found," he saith, " tribulation and grief, and
on the Name of the Lord I called." And truly,
brethren, tribulations are known to all men. Be-
hold those afflictions that abound in mankind ;
one afflicted with loss bewaileth ; another smit-
ten with bereavement mourneth ; another exiled
from country grieveth and desireth to return,
deeming sojourning intolerable ; another's vine-
yard is hailed upon, he observeth his labours and
all his toil spent in vain. When can a human
being not be made sad ? An enemy he findeth
in a friend. What greater misery in mankind ?
These things all men do deplore and grieve at,
and these are tribulations : in all these they call
upon the Lord, and they do rightly. Let them
call upon God, He is able either to teach how it
must be borne, or to heal it when borne. He
knoweth how not to suffer us to be tried above
that we are able to bear.2 Let us call upon God
even in those tribulations : but these tribulations
do find us ; as in another Psalm is written,
" Helper in tribulations which have found us too
much : " 3 there is a certain tribulation which we
ought to find. Let such tribulations find us :
there is a certain tribulation which we ought to
seek and to find. What is that? The above-
named felicity in this world, abundance of
temporal things : that is not indeed tribulation,
these are the solaces of our tribulation. Of
what tribulation ? Of our sojourning. For the
very fact that we are not yet with God, the very
fact that we are living amid trials and difficul-
ties, that we cannot be without fear, is tribula-
tion : for there is not that peace which is prom-
ised us. He that shall not have found this
tribulation in his sojourning, doth not think of
going home to his father-land. This is tribula-
tion, brethren. Surely now we do good works,
when we deal bread to the hungry, home to the
stranger, and the like : tribulation even this is.
' Pi. cxvi.
[ Cor.
x. 13.
' Ps. xlvi. i.
For we find pitiful objects upon whom we show
pity ; and the pitiful case of pitiful objects
maketh us compassionate. How much better
now would it be with thee in that place, where
thou findest no hungry man whom thou mayest
feed, where thou findest no stranger whom thou
mayest take in, no naked man whom thou mayest
cover, no sick man whom thou mayest visit, no
litigant whom thou mayest set at one ! For all
things in that place are most high, are true, are
holy, are everlasting. Our bread in that place is
righteousness, our drink there is wisdom, our
garment there is immortality, our house is ever-
lasting in the heavens, our stedfastness 4 is im-
mortality: doth sickness come over? Doth
weariness weigh down to sleep ? No death, no
litigation : there peace, quiet, joy, righteousness.
No enemy hath entrance, no friend falleth away.
What is the quiet there ? If we think and ob-
serve where we are, and where He that cannot
lie hath promised that we are to be, from His
very promise we find in what tribulation we are.
This tribulation none findeth, but he that shall
have sought it. Thou art whole, see if thou art
miserable ; for it is easy for him that is sick to
find himself miserable : when thou art whole,
see if thou art miserable ; that thou art not yet
with God. " Tribulation and grief I found, and
on the Name of the Lord I called." 5 " Immo-
late," therefore, " to God the sacrifice of praise."
Praise Him promising, praise Him calling, praise
Him exhorting, praise Him helping : and un-
derstand in what tribulation thou art placed.
Call upon (Him), thou shalt be drawn forth,
thou shalt glorify, shalt abide.
23. But see what followeth, my brethren.
For now some one or other, because God had
said to him, " Immolate to God the sacrifice of
praise," and had enjoined in a manner this trib-
ute, did meditate to himself and said, I will rise
daily, I will proceed to Church, I will say one
hymn at matins, another at vespers, a third or
fourth in my house, daily I do sacrifice the sac-
rifice of praise, and immolate to my God. Well
thou doest indeed, if thou doest this : but take
heed, lest now thou be careless, because now
thou doest this : and perchance thy tongue bless
God, and thy life curse God. O my people,
saith to thee the God of gods, the Lord that
spake, " calling the earth from the rising of the
sun unto the setting," though yet thou art placed
amid the tares,6 " Immolate the sacrifice of
praise to thy God, and render to Him thy
prayers : " but take heed lest thou live ill, and
chant well. Wherefore this? For, "Unto the
sinner, saith God, why dost thou tell out My
judgments, and takest My Covenant in thy
mouth?" (ver. 16). Ye see, brethren, with
4 Firmitai (perhaps " health").
J Matt. xiii. a$
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
187
what trembling we say these words. We take
the Covenant of God in our mouth, and we
preach to you the instruction and judgment of
God. And what saith God to the sinner?
"Why dost thou?" Doth He then forbid
preachers that be sinners? And where is that,
" What they say do, but what they do, do not " ? >
Where is that, " Whether in truth or on occasion
Christ be preached"?2 But these words were
said, lest they should fear that hear, from whom-
soever it be that they hear : not that they should
be without care that speak good words, and do
evil deeds. Now therefore, brethren, ye are
without care : if ye hear good words ye hear
God,3 through whomsoever it be that ye may
hear. But God would not dismiss without re-
proof them that speak : lest with their speaking
alone, without care for themselves they should
slumber in evil life, and say to themselves, " For
God will not consign us to perdition, through
whose mouth He has willed that so many good
words should be spoken to His people." Nay,
but hear what thou speakest, whoever thou art
that speakest : and thou that wilt be heard thy-
self, first hear thyself; and speak what a certain
man doth speak in another Psalm,4 " I will hear
what in me speaketh the Lord God, for He shall
speak peace to His people." What am I then,
that hear not what in me He speaketh, and will
that other hear what through me He speaketh ?
I will hear first, will hear, and chiefly I will hear
what speaketh in me the Lord God, for He shall
speak peace to His people. Let me hear, and
" chasten my body, and to servitude subject it,
lest perchance to others preaching, myself be
found a cast-away." 5 " Why dost thou tell out
my judgments ? " Wherefore to thee what
profiteth not thee? He admonisheth him to
hear : not to lay down preaching, but to take
up obedience. " But thou, why dost thou take
My Covenant in thy mouth?"
24. "But thou hatest instruction" (ver. 17).
Thou hatest discipline. When I spare, thou
singest and praisest : when I chasten, thou
murmurest : as though, when I spare, I am thy
God : and, when I chasten, I am not thy God.
" I rebuke and chasten those whom I love." 6
" But thou hatest instruction : and hast thrown
My sayings behind thee." The words that are
said through thee, thou throwest behind thee.
" And thou hast thrown My sayings behind
thee : " to a place where they may not be seen
by thee, but may load thee. " And thou hast
thrown My sayings behind thee."
25. " If thou sawest a thief, thou didst con-
sent unto him, and with adulterers thou didst
make thy portion " (ver. 18). Lest perchance
1 Matt, xxiii 3. 2 Philip, i. 18.
3 Al. " They are of God."
5 1 Cor. ix. 27. b Rev. iii. 19.
< Ps. Ixxxv. 8.
thou shouldest say, I have not committed theft,
I have not committed adultery. What if he
pleased thee that hath committed? Hast thou
not with the very pleasing consented? Hast
thou not by approval made thy portion with
him that hath committed? For this is, brethren,
to consent with a thief, and to make with an
adulterer thy portion : for even if thou com-
mittest not, and approvest what is committed,
thou art an accessory in the deed : for " the sin-
ner is praised in the longings of his soul, and he
that doeth iniquity shall be blessed." ? Thou
doest not evil things, thou praisest evil-doers.
For is this a small evil? "Thou didst make
thy portion with adulterers."
26. "Thy mouth hath abounded in malice,
and thy tongue hath embraced deceit " (ver.
19). Of the malevolence and deceit, brethren,
of certain men he speaketh, who by adulation,
though they know what they hear to be evil, yet
lest they offend those from whom they hear, not
only by not reproving but by holding their peace
do consent.8 Too little is it, that they do not
say, Thou nast done evil : but they even say,
Thou hast done even well : and they know it to
be evil : but their mouth aboundeth in malice,
and their tongue embraceth deceit. Deceit is a
sort of guile in words, of uttering one thing,
thinking another. He saith not, thy tongue
hath committed deceit or perpetrated deceit,
but in order to point out to thee a kind of
pleasure taken in the very evil doing, He hath
said, " Hath embraced." It is too little that
thou doest it, thou art delighted too ; thou
praisest openly, thou laughest to thyself. Thou
dost push to destruction a man heedlessly put-
ting forth his faults, and knowing not whether
they be faults : thou that knowest it to be a
fault, sayest not, " Whither art thou rushing ? "
If thou wert to see him heedlessly walk in the
dark, where thou knewest a well to be, and wert
to hold thy peace, of what sort wouldest thou
be? wouldest thou not be set down for an
enemy of his life?9 And yet if he were to fall
into a well, not in soul'° but in body he would
die. He doth fall headlong into his vices, he
doth expose before thee his evil doings : thou
knowest them to be evil, and praisest and
laughest to thyself. Oh that at length he were
to be turned to God at whom thou laughest, and
whom thou wouldest not reprove, and that he
were to say, " Let them be confounded that say
to me, Well, well.""
27. "Sitting against thy brother thou didst
detract" (ver. 20). And this "sitting" doth
belong to that whereof he hath spoken above in,
7 Ps. X.J.
8 MSS. Bodl. and Ex Coll. " lest they offend those from whom
they hear, not only by reproof but by silence, think it not enough
that they do not say."
9 Animtt. I0 Animd. » Ps. xl. 15.
1 88
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L.
" hath embraced." For he that doeth anything
while standing or passing along, doth it not with
pleasure : but if he for this purpose sitteth, how
much leisure doth he seek out to do it ! That
very evil detraction thou wast making with dili-
gence, thou wast making sitting ; thou wouldest
thereon be wholly engaged ; thou wast embra-
cing thy evil, thou wast kissing thy craftiness.
" And against thy mother's son thou didst lay a
stumbling-block." Who is " mother's son " ?
Is it not brother? He would repeat then the
same that he had said above, "thy brother."
Hath he intimated that any distinction must be
perceived by us? Evidently, brethren, I think
a distinction must be made. Brother against
brother doth detract, for example's sake, as
though for instance one strong, and now a doc-
tor and scholar of some weight, doth detract
from his brother, one perchance that is teach-
ing well and walking well : but another is weak,
against him he layeth a stumbling-block by de-
tracting from the former. For when the good
are detracted from by those that seem to be of
some weight and to be learned, the weak fall
upon the stumbling-block, who as yet know not
how to judge. Therefore this weak one is called
" mother's son," not yet father's, still needing
milk, and hanging on the breast. He is borne
as yet in the bosom of his mother the Church,
he is not strong enough to draw near to the
solid food of his Father's table, but from the
mother's breast he draweth sustenance, unskilled
in judging, inasmuch as yet he is animal and
carnal. " For the spiritual man judgeth all
things," ' but " the animal man perceiveth not
those things which are of the Spirit of God ; for
they are foolishness to him." a To such men
saith the Apostle, " I could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as to babes
in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not meat ;
for ye were not able, but not even now are ye
able." 3 A mother I have been to you : as is
said in another place, " I became a babe among
you, even as a nurse cherishing her own chil-
dren." * Not a nurse nursing children of others,
but a nurse cherishing her own children. For
there are mothers who when they have borne
give to nurses : they that have borne cherish not
their children, because they have given them to
be nursed ; 5 but those that cherish, cherish not
their own, but those of others : but he himself
had borne, he was himself cherishing, to no nurse
did commit what he had borne. ; for he had said,
" Of whom I travail again until Christ be formed
in you." 6 He did cherish them, and gave milk.
1 i Cor. ii. 15. * 1 Cor. ii. 14. 3 x Cor. iii. 1, 2.
* t Thess. ii. 7.
* [See Jer. Taylor's remarkable sermon on " The Nursing of Chil-
dren by their Mothers, after the Example of the Blessed virgin,"
vol. t. 38, Bungay ed. of Hebcr's edition. — C.J
6 Gal. iv. 19.
But there were some as it were learned and
spiritual men who detracted from Paul. " His
letters indeed, say they, are weighty and power-
ful ; but the presence of his body weak, and
speech contemptible : " * he saith himself in his
Epistle, that certain his detractors had said these
words. They were sitting, and were detracting
against their brother, and against that their
mother's son, to be fed with milk, they were
laying a stumbling-block. "And against thy
mother's son thou didst lay a stumbling-block."
28. " These things hast thou done, and I held
my tongue " (ver. 21). Therefore the Lord our
God shall come, and shall not keep silence.
Now, " These things hast thou done, and I held
my tongue." What is, "I held my tongue"?
From vengeance I have desisted, my severity I
have deferred, patience to thee I have prolonged,
thy repentance I have long looked for. . . .
" Thou hast imagined iniquity, that I shall be
like unto thee ; " Thou hast 8 imagined that I
shall be like unto thee, while thou wilt not be
like unto Me. For, " Be ye," he saith, " perfect,
even as your Father, which is in the heavens,
who maketh His sun to rise on the good and
evil." ' Him thou wouldest not copy, who giveth
good things even to evil men, insomuch that
sitting thou dost detract even from good men.
" I will reprove thee," when "God manifest shall
come, our God, and shall not keep silence,"
" I will reprove thee." And what to thee shall I
do in reproving thee ? what to thee shall I do ?
Now thyself thou seest not, I will make thee see
thyself. Because if thou shouldest see thyself,
and shouldest displease thyself, thou wouldest
please Me : but because not seeing thyself thou
hast pleased thyself, thou wilt displease both Me
and thyself; Me when thou shalt be judged;
thyself when thou shalt burn. But what to thee
shall I do ? He saith. " I will set thee before
thy face." For why wouldest thou escape thy-
self? At thy back thou art to thyself, thou seest
not thyself: I make thee see thyself: what be-
hind thy back thou hast put, before thy face
will I put ; thou shalt see thy uncleanness, not
that thou mayest amend, but that thou mayest
blush. . . .
29. But, "understand these things, ye that
forget God" (ver. 22). See how He crieth,
and keepeth not silence, spareth "° not. Thou
hadst forgotten the Lord," didst not think of thy
evil life. Perceive how thou hast forgotten the
Lord. " Lest at length He seize like a lion, and
there be none to deliver." What is " like a
lion " ? Like a brave one, like a mighty one, like
him whom none can withstand. To this he made
reference when he said, " Lion." For it is used
7 2 Cor. x. 10.
9 Matt. v. 48, 45.
" Oxf. MSS. '
God."
8 Oxf, MS- rep. " Thou hast," etc.
10 Some MSS. " When He spareth."
Psalm LI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
189
for praise, it is used also for showing evil. The
devil hath been called lion : " Your adversary,"
He saith, " like a roaring lion, goeth about seek-
ing whom He may devour." ' May it not be
that whereas he hath been called lion because
of savage fierceness, Christ hath been called
Lion for wondrous mightiness? And where is
that, " 1'he Lion hath prevailed of the tribe of
Judah?"2 . . .
30. " Sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me "
(ver. 23). How shall " sacrifice of praise glorify
Me " ? Assuredly sacrifice of praise doth no wise
profit evil men, because they take Thy Cove-
nant in their mouth, and do damnable things
that displease Thine eyes. Straightway, he
saith, even to them this I say, " Sacrifice of praise
shall glorify Me." For if thou livest ill and
speakest good words, not yet dost thou praise :
but again, if, when thou beginnest to live well, to
thy merits thou dost ascribe thy living well, not
yet dost thou praise. . . . Therefore the Publican
went down justified, rather than that Pharisee.
Therefore hear ye that live well, hear ye that live
ill : " Sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me." No
one offereth Me this sacrifice, and is evil. I say
not, Let there not offer Me this any one that
is evil j but no one doth offer Me this, that is
evil. For he that praiseth, is good : because if
he praiseth, he doth also live well, because if he
praiseth, not only with tongue he praiseth, but
life also with tongue doth agree.
31. "And there is the way whereby I will
show him the salvation of God." In sacrifice
of praise " is the way." What is " the salvation of
God " ? Christ Jesus. And how in sacrifice
of praise to us is shown Christ ? Because Christ
with grace came to us. These words saith the
Apostle : " But I live, now not I, but Christ liveth
in me : but that in flesh I live, in faith I live of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Him-
self for me." > Acknowledge then sinners, that
there would not need physician, if they were
whole.4 For Christ died for the ungodly.' When
then they acknowledge their ungodlinesses, and
first copy that Publican, saying, " Lord, be merci-
ful to me a sinner : " 6 show wounds, beseech Phy-
sician : and because they praise not themselves,
but blame themselves, — " So that he that
glorieth, not in himself but in the Lord may
glory,"7 — they acknowledge the cause of the
coming of Christ, because for this end He came,
that He might save sinners : for " Jesus Christ
came," he saith, " into this world to save sinners ;
of whom I am chief." 8 Further, those Jews,
boasting of their work, thus the same Apostle
doth rebuke, in saying, that they to grace be-
longed not, who to their merits and their works
■ 1 Pet. v. 8.
* Matt. ix. la.
' 1 Cor. i. 31.
2 Rev. v. 5.
5 Rom. v. 6.
• i Tim. i. 15.
3 Gal. it. ao.
6 Luke xviii. 13.
thought that reward was owing.9 He therefore
that knoweth himself to belong to grace, doth
know what is Christ and what is Christ's, because
he needeth grace. If grace it is called, gratis it
is given ; if gratis it is given, not any merits of
thine have preceded that it should be given. . . .
PSALM LI.'"
1. Neither must this multitude's throng be
defrauded, nor their infirmity burthened. Silence
we ask, and quiet, in order that our voice, after
yesterday's labour, be able with some little vigour
to last out. It must be believed, that your love
hath met together in greater numbers to-day for
nothing else, but that ye may pray for those whom
an alien and perverse inclination doth keep away.
For we are speaking neither of heathens nor of
Jews, but of Christians : nor of those that are yet
Catechumens, but of many that are even baptized,
from the Laver of whom ye do no wise differ,
and yet to their heart ye are unlike. For to-day
how many brethren of ours we think of, and de-
plore their going unto vanities and lying, insani-
ties, to the neglect of that to which they have
been called. Who, if in the very circus from any
cause they chance to be startled, do immediately
cross themselves," and stand bearing It on the
forehead, in the very place, from whence they
had withdrawn, if they had borne It in heart.
God's mercy must be implored, that He may
give understanding for condemning these things,
inclination to flee them, and mercy to forgive.
Opportunely, then, of Penitence a Psalm to-day
has been chanted. Speak we even with the ab-
sent : there will be to them for our voice your
memory. Neglect not the wounded and feeble,
but that ye may more easily make whole, whole
ye ought to abide. Correct by reproving, com-
fort by addressing, set an example by living well,
He will be with them that hath been with you.
For now that ye have overpassed these dangers,
the fountain of God's mercy is not closed. Where
ye have come they will come ; where ye have
passed they will pass. A grievous thing it is
indeed, and exceeding perilous, nay ruinous, and
for certain a deadly thing, that witting they sin.
For in one way to these vanities doth he run
that despiseth the voice of Christ ; in another
way, he that knoweth from what he is fleeing.
But that not even of such men we ought to de-
spair, this Psalm doth show.
2. For there is written over it the title thereof,
" A Psalm of David himself, when there came to
him Nathan the prophet, when he went in unto
Bersabee." Bersabee was a woman, wife of
9 Gal. v. 4.
10 From a sermon to the people of Carthage. See below, § ti.
11 [On the sign of the Cross, see (Tertullian) A. N. F. vol.
p. 104; also vol. vii. (Lactam.) p. 130, note 3. — C.J
190
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LI.
another. With grief indeed we speak, and with
trembling ; but yet God would not have to be
hushed what He hath willed to be written. I
will say then not what I will, but what I am
obliged ; I will say not as one exhorting to imi-
tation, but as one instructing you to fear. Cap-
tivated with this woman's beauty, the wife of
another, the king and prophet David, from whose
seed according to the flesh the Lord was to come,1
committed adultery with her. This thing in this
Psalm is not read, but in the title thereof it ap-
peareth ; but in the book of Kings 2 it is more fully
read. Both Scriptures are canonical, to both
without any doubt by Christians credit must be
given. The sin was committed, and was written
down. Moreover her husband in war he caused
to be killed : and after this deed there was
sent to him Nathan the prophet ; 3 sent by the
Lord, to reprove him for so great an outrage.
3. What men should beware of, we have said ;
but what if they shall have fallen they should
imitate, let us hear. For many men will to fall
with David, and will not to rise with David. Not
then for falling is the example set forth, but if
thou shalt have fallen for rising again. Take
heed lest thou fall. Not the delight of the
younger be the lapse of the elder, but be the fall
of the elder the dread of the younger. For this
it was set forth, for this was written, for this in
the Church often read and chanted : let them
hear that have not fallen, lest they fall ; let them
hear that have fallen, that they may rise. So
great a man's sin is not hushed, is proclaimed in
the Church. There men hear that are ill hearers,
and seek for themselves countenance for sinning :
they look out for means whereby they may de-
fend what they have made ready to commit, not
how they may beware of what they have not com-
mitted, and they say to themselves, If David, why
not I too ? Thence that soul is more unrighteous,
which, forasmuch as it hath done it because
David did, therefore hath done worse than David.
I will say this very thing, if I shall be able, more
plainly. David had set forth to himself none for
a precedent as thou hast : he had fallen by lapse
of concupiscence, not by the countenance of holi-
ness : thou dost set before thine eyes as it were
a holy man, in order that thou mayest sin : thou
dost not copy his holiness, but dost copy his fall.
Thou * dost love that in David, which in him-
self David hated : thou makest thee ready to sin,
thou inclinest to sin : in order that thou mayest
sin thou consultest the book of God : the Scrip-
tures of God for this thou hearest, that thou may-
est do what displeaseth God. This did not David ;
he was reproved by a Prophet, he stumbled not
over a Prophet. But others hearing to their
health, by the fall of a strong man measure their
1 Rom. i. 3. ' a Sam. xi. a-17. ' a Sam. xii. 1.
* At. " Love this in David which in himself David hated not."
weakness : and desiring to avoid what God con-
demneth, from careless looking do restrain their
eyes. Them they fix not upon the beauty of
another's flesh, nor make themselves careless
with perverse simpleness ; they say not, " With
good intent I have observed, of kindness I have
observed, of charity I have long looked." For
they set before themselves the fall of David, and
they see that this great man for this purpose hath
fallen, in order that little men may not be willing
to look on that whereby they may fall. For they
restrain their eyes from wantonness, not readily
do they join themselves in company, they do not
mingle with strange women, they raise not com-
plying eyes to strange balconies, to strange ter-
races. For from afar David saw her with whom
he was captivated.5 Woman afar, lust near.
What he saw was elsewhere, in himself that
whereby he fell. This weakness of the flesh must
be therefore minded, the words of the Apostle
recollected, " Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body." 6 He hath not said, let there not
be ; but, " let there not reign." There is sin in
thee, when thou takest pleasure ; there reigneth,
if thou shalt have consented. Carnal pleasure,
especially if proceeding unto unlawful and strange
objects, is to be bridled, not let loose : by gov-
ernment to be tamed, not to be set up for govern-
ment. Look and be without care, if thou hast
nothing whereby thou mayest be moved. But
thou makest answer, " I contain with strong reso-
lution." Art thou any wise stronger than
David??
4. He admonisheth, moreover, by such an
example, that no one ought to lift himself up in
prosperous circumstances. For many fear ad-
verse circumstances, fear not prosperous circum-
stances. Prosperity is more perilous to soul than
adversity to body. First, prosperity doth corrupt,
in order that adversity may find somethings to
break. My brethren, stricter watch must be kept
against felicity. Wherefore, see ye after what
manner the saying of God amid our own felicity
doth take from us security : " Serve ye," He
saith, " the Lord in fear, and exult unto Him
with trembling." 8 In exultation, in order that we
may render thanks ; in trembling, lest we fall.
This sin did not David, when he was suffering
Saul for persecutor.9 When holy David was suf-
fering Saul his enemy, when he was being vexed
by his persecutions, when he was fleeing through
divers places, in order that he might not fall into
his hands, he lusted not for her that was another's,
he slew not husband after committing adultery
with wife. He was in the infirmity of his tribu-
lation so much the more intimate with God as
s 2 Sam. xi. a. 6 Rom. vi. is.
7 [Compare the author's Confessions, vol. i. of this series, pp.
126, 153, 154. and book viii. passim. — C
> Ps. it. 11. 9 1
Sam. xxiv. 5, xxvi. 9.
Psalm LI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
191
he seemed more miserable. Something useful is
tribulation ; useful the surgeon's lancet rather
than the devil's temptation. He became secure
when his enemies were overthrown, pressure was
removed, swelling grew out. This example there-
fore doth avail to this end, that we should fear
felicity. " Tribulation," he saith, " and grief I
found, and on the name of the Lord I called." '
5. But it was done ; I would say these words
to those that have not done the like, in order
that they should watch to keep their uncorrupt-
ness, and that while they take heed how a great
one has fallen, they that be small should fear.
But if any that hath already fallen heareth these
words, and that hath in his conscience any evil
thing ; to the words of this Psalm let him advert ;
let him heed the greatness of the wound, but not
despair of the majesty of the Physician. Sin
with despair is certain death. Let no one there-
fore say, If already any evil thing I have done,
already I am to be condemned : God pardoneth
not such evil things, why add I not sins to sins ?
I will enjoy this world in pleasure, in wantonness,
in wicked cupidity : now hope of amendment
having been lost, let me have even what I see,
if I cannot have what I believe. This Psalm
then, while it maketh heedful those that have not
believed, so doth not will them that have fallen
to be despaired of. Whoever thou art that hast
sinned, and hesitatest to exercise penitence 2 for
thy sin, despairing of thy salvation, hear David
groaning. To thee Nathan the prophet hath not
been sent, David himself hath been sent to thee.
Hear him crying, and with him cry : hear him
groaning, and with him groan ; hear him weep-
ing, and mingle tears ; hear him amended, and
with him rejoice. If from thee sin could not
be excluded, be not hope of pardon excluded.
There was sent to that man Nathan the prophet,
observe the king's humility.3 He rejected not
the words of him giving admonition, he said not,
Darest thou speak to me, a king? An exalted
king heard a prophet, let His humble people
hear Christ.
6. Hear therefore these words, and say thou
with him : " Have pity upon me, O God, after
Thy great mercy" (ver. 1). He that im'ploreth
great mercy, confesseth great misery. Let them
seek a little mercy of Thee, that have sinned in
ignorance : " Have pity," he saith, " upon me,
after Thy great mercy." Relieve a deep wound
after Thy great healing. Deep is what I have,
but in the Almighty I take refuge. Of my own
so deadly wound I should despair, unless I could
find so great a Physician. " Have pity upon me,
O God, after Thy great mercy : and after the
1 Ps. cxvi. 3, 4.
2 [ Here I have corrected the feeble translation, " do penance,"
which is unjust to the author's entire system of thought. See Con-
fessions, book viii. vol. i. this seties. — C.J
3 Al. *' The pride of royalty."
multitude of Thy pities, blot out my iniquity."
What he saith, " Blot out my iniquity," is this,
" Have pity upon me, O God." And what he
saith, " After the multitude of Thy pities," is this,
" After Thy great mercy." Because great is the
mercy, many are the mercies ; and of Thy great
mercy, many are Thy pityings. Thou dost regard
mockers to amend them, dost regard ignorant
men to teach them, dost regard men confessing
to pardon. Did he this in ignorance? A cer-
tain man had done some, aye many evil things
he had done ; " Mercy," he saith, " I obtained,
because ignorant I did it in unbelief."4 This
David could not say, " Ignorant I did it." For
he was not ignorant how very evil a thing was
the touching of another's wife, and how very evil
a thing was the killing of the husband, who knew
not of it, and was not even angered. They ob-
tain therefore the mercy of the Lord that have
in ignorance done it ; and they that have know-
ing done it, obtain not any mercy it may chance,
but " great mercy."
7. " More and more wash me from mine
unrighteousness" (ver. 2). What is, "More
and more wash " ? One much stained. More and
more wash the sins of one knowing. Thou that
hast washed off the sins of one ignorant. Not
even thus is it to be despaired of Thy mercy.
" And from my delinquency purge Thou me."
According to the manner in which He is phy-
sician, offer a recompense. He is God, offer
sacrifice. What wilt thou give that thou mayest
be purged ? For see upon whom thou callest ;
upon a Just One thou callest. He hateth sins,
if He is just ; He taketh vengeance upon sins, if
He is just ; thou wilt not be able to take away
from the Lord God His justice : entreat mercy,
but observe the justice : there is mercy to par-
don the sinner, there is justice to punish the sin.
What then ? Thou askest mercy ; shall sin un-
punished abide? Let David answer, let those
that have fallen answer, answer with David, and
say, No, Lord, no sin of mine shall be unpun-
ished ; I know the justice of Him whose mercy
I ask : it shall not be unpunished, but for this
reason I will not that Thou punish me, because
I punish my sin : for this reason I beg that Thou
pardon, because I acknowledge.
8. " For mine iniquity I acknowledge, and
my delinquency is before me ever" (ver. 3). I
have not put behind my back what I have done,
I look not at others, forgetful of myself, I pre-
tend not to pull out a straw from my brother's
eye, when there is a beam in my eye ; 5 my sin
is before me, not behind me. For it was behind
me when to me was sent the Prophet, and set
before me the parable of the poor man's sheep.6
For saith Nathan the Prophet to David, " There
« 1 Tim. i. 13.
i Matt. vii. 5.
6 2 Sam. xii. l, 2, etc
192
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LI.
was a certain rich man having very many sheep ;
but a poor man his neighbour had one little ewe
sheep, which in his bosom and of his own food
he was feeding : there came a stranger to the
rich man, nothing from his flock he took, for
the little ewe sheep of the poor man his neigh-
bour he lusted ; her he slew for the stranger :
what doth he deserve?" But the other being
angry doth pronounce sentence : then the king,
evidently knowing not wherein he had been
taken,1 declared the rich man deserving of death,
and that the sheep be restored fourfold. Most
sternly and most justly. But his sin was not
yet before him, behind his back was what he
had done : his own iniquity he did not yet
acknowledge, and therefore another's he did not
pardon. But the Prophet, being for this pur-
pose sent, took from his back the sin, and before
his eyes placed it, so that he might see that sen-
tence so stern to have been pronounced against
himself. For cutting and healing his heart's
wound, he made a lancet of his tongue. . . .
9. " Against Thee alone have I sinned, and
before Thee an evil thing have I done " (ver.
4). What is this? For before men was not
another's wife debauched and husband slain?
Did not all men know what David had done?2
What is, "Against Thee alone have I sinned, and
before Thee an evil thing have I done." Be-
cause Thou alone art without sin. He is a just
punisher that hath nothing in Him to be pun-
ished ; He is a just reprover that hath nothing
in Him to be reproved. "That thou mayest be
justified in Thy sayings, and conquer when Thou
art judged." To whom he speaketh, brethren,
to whom he speaketh, is difficult to understand.
To God surely he speaketh, and it is evident
that God the Father is not judged. What is,
" And conquer when Thou art judged " ? He
seeth the future Judge to be judged, one just by
sinners to be judged, and therein conquering,
because in Him was nothing to be judged. For
alone among men could truly say the God- Man,
"If ye have found in Me sin, say."3 But per-
chance there was what escaped men, and they
found not what was really there, but was not
manifest. In another place 4 He saith, " Behold
there cometh the Prince of the world," being an
acute observer of all sins ; " Behold," He saith,
" there cometh the Prince of this world," with
death afflicting sinners, presiding over death :
for, "By the malice of the devil death came
into the world." s " Behold," He saith, " there
cometh the Prince of the world : " — He said
these words close upon His Passion : — " and in
Me he shall find nothing," nothing of sin, nothing
worthy of death, nothing worthy of condemna-
1 Al. " he was captive," or, " was held captive."
2 a Sam. xi. 4, 15. 3 John viii. 46. * John xiv. 30.
s Wisd. .i. 24.
tion. And as if it were said to Him, Why then
dost Thou die ? He continueth and saith, " But
that all men may know that I do the will of My
Father ; arise, let us go hence." I suffer, He
saith, undeserving, for men deserving, in order
that them I may make deserving of My Life, for
whom I undeservedly suffer their death. To
Him then, having no sin, saith on the present
occasion the Prophet David, " Against Thee
only have I sinned, and before Thee an evil
thing have I done, that Thou mayest be justified
in Thy sayings, and conquer when Thou art
judged." For Thou overcomest all men, all
judges ; and he that deemeth himself just, be-
fore Thee is unjust : Thou alone justly judgest,
having been unjustly judged, That hast power to
lay down Thy life, and hast power again to take
it.6 Thou conquerest, then, when Thou art
judged. All men Thou overcomest, because
Thou art more than men, and by Thee were
men made.
10. " For, behold, in iniquities I was con-
ceived" (ver. 6). As though he were saying,
They are conquered that have done what thou,
David, hast done : for this is not a little evil
and little sin, to wit, adultery and man-slaying.
What of them that from the day that they were
born of their mother's womb, have done no such
thing? even to them dost thou ascribe some
sins, in order that He may conquer all men when
He beginneth to be judged. David hath taken
upon him the person of mankind, and hath
heeded the bonds of all men, hath considered
the offspring of death, hath adverted to the origin
of iniquity, and he saith, " For, behold, in iniq-
uities I was conceived." Was David born of
adultery ; being born of Jesse,7 a righteous man,
and his own wife? What is it that he saith
himself to have been in iniquity conceived, ex-
cept that iniquity is drawn from Adam ? Even
the very bond of death, with iniquity itself is
engrained? No man is born without bringing
punishment, bringing desert of punishment. A
Prophet saith also in another place,8 " No one is
clean in Thy sight, not even an infant, whose
life is of one day upon earth." For we know
both by the Baptism of Christ that sins are
loosed, and that the Baptism of Christ availeth
the remission of sins. If infants are every way
innocent, why do mothers run with them when
sick to the Church ?« What by that Baptism,
what by that remission is put away? An inno-
cent one I see that rather weeps than is angry.
What doth Baptism wash off? what doth that
Grace loose? There is loosed the offspring of
sin. For if that infant could speak to thee, it
would say, and if it had the understanding
which David had, it would answer thee, Why
* John x. 18.
* Job xiv. 5, LXX.
7 1 Sam. xvi. 18.
9 Against the Pelagians.
Psalm LI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
193
heedest thou me, an infant? Thou dost not in-
deed see my actions : but I in iniquity have
been conceived, " And in sins hath my mother
nourished me in the womb."
Apart from this bond of mortal ' concupis-
cence was Christ born without a male, of a virgin
conceiving by the Holy Ghost. He cannot be
said to have been conceived in iniquity, it cannot
be said, In sins His mother nourished Him in
the womb, to whom was said, " The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the Virtue of the
Highest shall overshadow thee."2 It is not
therefore because it is sin to have to do with
wives that men are conceived in iniquity, and in
sins nourished in the womb by their mother;
but because that which is made is surely made
of flesh deserving punishments For the pun-
ishment of the flesh is death, and surely there is
in it liability to death itself. Whence the Apos-
tle spoke not of the body as if to die, but as if
dead : " The body indeed is dead," he saith,
" because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness." 4 How then without bond of
sin is born that which is conceived and sown
of a body dead because of sin? This chaste
operation in a married person hath not sin, but
the origin of sin draweth with it condign punish-
ment. For there is no husband that, because
he is an husband, is not subject to death, or that
is subject to death for any other reason but
because of sin. For even the Lord was subject
to death, but not on account of sin : He took
upon Him our punishment, and so looseth our
guilt. With reason then, " In Adam all die,
but in Christ shall all be made alive." s For,
" Through one man," saith the Apostle, " sin
hath entered into this world, and through sin
death, and so hath passed unto all men, in that
all have sinned." 6 Definite is the sentence :
" In Adam," he saith, " all have sinned." Alone
then could such an infant be innocent, as hath
not been born of the work of Adam.
11. "For, behold, truth Thou hast loved:
uncertain and hidden things of Thy wisdom,
Thou hast manifested to me" (ver. 6). That
is, Thou hast not left unpunished even the sins
of those whom Thou dost pardon. "Truth
Thou hast loved : " so mercy Thou hast granted
first/ as that Thou shouldest also preserve truth.
Thou pardonest one confessing, pardonest, but
only if he punisheth himself: so there are pre-
served mercy and truth : mercy because man is
set free ; truth, because sin is punished. " Un-
certain and hidden things of Thy wisdom Thou
1 So most mss. Ben. M carnal," but see below.
2 Luke i. 35.
3 [The mother need not be conceived of as sinning in her passive
relations to an act which is undented in itself (Heb. xiii. 4) ; but she is
a sinner like all mortals, and in that estate of sinfulness her offspring
is begotten and nourished in the womb. So he argues. — C]
< Rom. viii. 10. 5 1 Cor. xv. 29. 6 Rom. v. 12.
7 Prarogasti.
hast manifested to me." What " hidden things " ?
What " uncertain things " ? Because God par-
doneth even such. Nothing is so hidden, noth-
ing so uncertain.8 For this uncertainty the
Ninevites repented, for they said, though after
the threatenings of the Prophet, though after that
cry, "Three days and Nineve shall be over-
thrown : " ^ they said to themselves, Mercy must
be implored ; they said in this sort reasoning
among themselves, " Who knoweth whether God
may turn for the better His sentence, and have
pity?"10 It was " uncertain," when it is said,
"Who knoweth?" on an uncertainty they did
repent," certain mercy they earned : they pros-
trated them in tears, in fastings, in sackcloth and
ashes they prostrated them, groaned, wept, God
spared. Nineve stood : was Nineve overthrown ?
One way indeed it seemeth to men, and another
way it seemed to God. But I think that it was
fulfilled that the Prophet had foretold. Regard
what Nineve was, and see how it was overthrown ;
overthrown in evil, builded in good ; just as Saul
the persecutor was overthrown, Paul the preacher
builded.'2 Who would not say that this city, in
which we now are, was happily overthrown, if all
those madmen, leaving their triflings,'3 were to
run together to the Church with contrite heart,
and were to call upon God's mercy for their
past doings ? Should we not say, Where is that
Carthage ? Because there is not what there was,
it is overthrown : but if there is what there
was not, it is builded. So is said to Jeremiah,
" Behold, I will give to thee to root up, to dig
under, to overthrow, to destroy," and again,
" to build, and to plant." '* Thence is that voice
of the Lord, " I will smite and I will heal." '*
He smiteth the rottenness of the deed, He
healeth the pain of the wound. Physicians do
thus when they cut ; they smite and heal ; they
arm themselves in order to strike, they carry
steel, and come to cure. But because great
were the sins of the Ninevites, they said, " Who
knoweth ? " This uncertainty had God disclosed
to His servant David. For when he had said,
before the Prophet standing and convicting him,
" I have sinned : " straightway he heard from
the Prophet, that is, from the Spirit of God
which was in the Prophet, " Thy sin is put away
from thee." l6 " Uncertain and hidden things "
of His wisdom He manifested to him.1'
12. "Thou shalt sprinkle me," he saith, "with
hyssop, and I shall be cleansed" (ver. 7).
Hyssop we know to be a herb humble but heal-
8 i.e., as His mercy is to us beforehand.
9 Jonah iii. 4. IO Jonah iii. 9.
11 [Here the translator has " did penance," which has no meaning
at all apart from ecclesiastical discipline, to which the men of Nineve
were certainly not subjected. — C]
12 Acts ix. 4. I3 [See p. 166, note 3, supra. — C] _
l* Jer. i. 10. '5 Deut. xxxii. 39. 16 2 Sam. xii. 13.
*7 [The English Version is not sustained by Jerome, whose ren-
dering is (happier than that so beautifully expounded by our author),
absconditum tt arcanum sapietaiia maniftstasti. — C.J
194
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LI.
ing : to the rock it is said to adhere with roots.
Thence in a mystery the similitude of cleansing
the heart has been taken. Do thou also take
hold, with ' the root of thy love, on thy Rock :
be humble in thy humble God, in order that
thou mayest be exalted in thy glorified God.
Thou shalt be sprinkled with hyssop, the humility
of Ghrist shall cleanse thee. Despise not the
herb, attend to the efficacy of the medicine.
Something further I will say, which we are wont
to hear from physicians, or to experience in sick
persons. Hyssop, they say, is proper for purging
the lungs. In the lung is wont to be noted
pride : for there is inflation, there breathing. It
was said of Saul the persecutor as of Saul the
proud, that he was going to bind Christians,
breathing slaughter : 2 he was breathing out
slaughter, breathing out blood, his lung not yet
cleansed. Hear also in this place one humbled,
because with hyssop purged : " Thou shalt wash
me," that is, shalt cleanse me : " and above snow
I shall be whitened." " Although," he saith,
" your sins shall have been like scarlet, like snow
I will whiten." 3 Out of such men Christ doth
present to Himself a vesture without spot and
wrinkle.4 Further, His vesture on the mount,
which shone forth like whitened snow,' signified
the Church cleansed from every spot of sin.
13. But where is humility from hyssop ? Hear
what followeth : " To my hearing Thou shalt
give exultation and gladness, and bones hum-
bled shall exult " (ver. 8). I will rejoice in hear-
ing Thee, not in speaking against Thee. Thou
hast sinned, why defendest thou thyself? Thou
wilt speak : suffer thou ; hear, yield to divine
words, lest thou be put to confusion, and be still
more wounded : sin hath been committed, be it
not defended : to confession let it come, not to
defence. Thou engagest thyself as defender of
thy sin, thou art conquered : no innocent patron
hast thou engaged, thy defence is not profitable
to thee. For who art thou that defendest thy-
self? Thou art meet to accuse thyself. Say
not, either, " I have done nothing ; " or, " What
great thing have I done?" or, "Other men as
well have done." If in doing sin thou sayest
thou hast done nothing, thou wilt be nothing, thou
wilt receive nothing : God is ready to give in-
dulgence, thou closest the door against thyself:
He is ready to give, do not oppose the bar of
defence, but open the bosom of confession.
" To my hearing Thou shalt give exultation and
gladness." . . .
14. "Turn Thou away Thy face from my sins,
and all mine iniquities blot out " (ver. 9). For
now bones humbled exult, now with hyssop
cleansed, humble I have become. " Turn Thou
away Thy face," not from me, but " from my
* Oxf. mss. radice.
* Eph. v. 27.
2 Acts ix. 1.
» Matt. xvii. a.
> Isa. i. 18
sins." For in another place praying he saith,
"Turn not away Thy face from me."6 He
that would not that God's face be turned away
from himself, would that God's face be turned
away from his sins. For to sin, when God
turneth not Himself away, he adverteth : if he
adverteth, he animadverteth. " And all mine
iniquities blot out." He is busied ' with that
capital sin : he reckoneth on more, he would
have all his iniquities to be blotted out : he re-
lieth on the Physician's hand, on that " great
mercy," upon which he hath called in the begin-
ning of the Psalm : " All mine iniquities blot
out." God turneth away His face, and so blot-
teth out ; by " turning away " His face, sins He
blotteth out. By " turning towards," He writeth
them. Thou hast heard of Him blotting out by
turning away, hear of Him by turning towards,
doing what? "But the countenance of the Lord
is upon men doing evil things, that He may de-
stroy from the earth the remembrance of them : " 8
He shall destroy the remembrance of them,? not
by " blotting out their sins." But here he doth
ask what ? " Turn away Thy face from my siris."
Well he asketh. For he himself doth not turn
away his face from his own sins, saying, " For my
sin I acknowledge." With reason thou askest
and well askest, that God turn away from thy sin,
if thou from thence dost not turn away thy face :
but if thou settest thy sin at thy back, God doth
there set His face. Do thou turn sin before
thy face, if thou wilt that God thence turn away
His face ; and then safely thou askest, and He
heareth.
15. "A clean heart create in me, O God"
(ver. 10). " Create " — he meant '° to say, " as it
were begin something new." But, because re-
pentant he was praying (that had committed
some sin, which before he had committed, he
was more innocent), after what manner he hath
said " create " he showeth. " And a right spirit
renew in my inner parts." By my doing, he
saith, the uprightness of my spirit hath been
made old and bowed. For he saith in another
Psalm, "They have bowed mysoul." " And when
a man doth make himself stoop unto earthly
lusts, he is " bowed " in a manner, but when he
is made erect for things above, upright is his
heart made, in order that God may be good
to him. For, " How good is the God of Israel to
the upright of heart ! " " Moreover, brethren,
listen. Sometimes God in this world chastis-
eth for his sin him that He pardoneth in the
world to come. For even to David himself, to
whom it had been already said by the Prophet,
6 Ps. xxvii. 9.
7 Satagit. Oxf. MSS. Sattgit, " he hath done enough for."
8 Ps. xxxiv. 16.
9 Oxf. MSS. add, perdet de terrA memoriam eorum.
10 So mss. Hen. " He meant not," but " as it were " seems to
meet the difficulty.
« Pi. lvii. 6. " Ps. lxxiii. I.
Psalm LI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
195
" Thy sin is put away," ' there happened certain
things which God had threatened for that very
sin.2 For his son Abessalom against him waged
bloody war, and many ways humbled his father.3
He was walking in grief, in the tribulation of his
humiliation, so resigned to God, that, ascribing
to Him all that was just, he confessed that he
was suffering nothing undeservedly, having now
an heart upright, to which God was not displeas-
ing. A slanderous person and one throwing in
his teeth harsh curses 4 he patiently heard, one
of the soldiers on the opposite side, that were
with his unnatural son. And when he was heap-
ing curses upon the king, one of the companions
of David, enraged, would have gone and smitten
him ; but he is kept back by David. And he is
kept back how? For that he said, God sent
him to curse me. Acknowledging his guilt he
embraced his penance, seeking glory not his
own, praising the Lord in that good which he had,
praising the Lord in that which he was suffer-
ing, " blessing the Lord alway, ever His praise
was in his mouth." s Such are all the upright
in heart : not those crooked persons who think
themselves upright and God crooked : who when
they do any evil thing, rejoice ; when they suffer
any evil thing, blaspheme ; nay, if set in tribu-
lation and scourging, they say from their dis-
torted heart, " O God, what have I done to
Thee?" Truly it is because they have done
nothing to God, for they have done all to them-
selves. " And an upright spirit, renew in my
inner parts."
16. "Cast me not forth from Thy face" (ver.
11). Turn away Thy face from my sins : and
" cast me not forth from Thy face." Whose
face he feareth, upon the face of the Same he
calleth. " And Thy Holy Spirit take not away
from me." For in one confessing there is the
Holy Spirit. Even now, to the gift of the Holy
Spirit it belongeth, that what thou hast done dis-
pleaseth thee. The unclean spirit sins do please ;
the Holy One they displease. Though then thou
still implore pardon, yet thou art joined to God
on the other part, because the evil thing that
thou hast committed displeaseth thee : for the
same thing displeaseth both thee and Him.
Now, to assail thy fever, ye are two, thou and
the Physician. For the reason that there cannot
be confession of sin and punishment of sin in
a man of himself : when one is angry with him-
self, and is displeasing to himself, then it is not
without the gift of the Holy Spirit, nor doth he
say, Thy Holy Spirit give to me, but, " Take not
away from me."
1 7. " Give back to me the exultation of Thy
salvation"6 (ver. 12). "Give back" what I
1 a Sam. xii. 13.
3 2 Sam. xv. 10.
6 Salutaris tui.
2 [Compare 2 Sam. xii. 10. — C]
* 2 Sam. xvi. 10. s Ps. xxxiv.
had ; what by sinning I had lost : to wit, of Thy
Christ. For who without Him can be made
whole ? Because even before that He was Son
of Mary, " In the beginning He was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God ; " ' and so, by the holy fathers a future dis-
pensation of flesh taken upon Him, was looked
for ; 8 as is believed by us to have been done.
Times are changed, not faith. "And with Prin-
cipal Spirit confirm me." Some have here
understood the Trinity in God, Itself God ; the
dispensation of Flesh being excepted therefrom :
since it is written, " God is a Spirit." 9 For that
which is not body, and yet is, seemeth to exist
in such sort as that it is spirit. Therefore some
understand here the Trinity spoken of : " In
upright Spirit," the Son ; in " Holy Spirit," Holy
Ghost ; in " Principal Spirit," Father.10 It is
not any heretical opinion, therefore, whether this
be so, or whether " upright Spirit " He would
have to be taken of man himself (when He saith,
"An upright spirit renew in my inner parts"),
which I have bowed and distorted by sinning, so
that in that case the Holy Spirit be Himself the
Principal Spirit : which also he would not have
to be taken away from him, and thereby would
have himself to be confirmed therein.
18. But see what he annexeth : "With Prin-
cipal Spirit," he saith, " confirm Thou me."
Wherein " confirm " ? Because Thou hast par-
doned me, because I am secure, that what Thou
hast forgiven is not to be ascribed, on this being
made secure and with this grace confirmed,
therefore I am not ungrateful. But I shall do
what ? "I would teach unrighteous men Thy
ways" (ver. 13). Being myself of the un-
righteous " (that is, one that was myself an
unrighteous man, now no longer unrighteous ;
the Holy Spirit not having been taken away from
me, and I being confirmed with Principal Spirit).
" I would teach unrighteous men Thy ways."
What ways wilt thou teach unrighteous men?
"And ungodly men to Thee shall be converted."
If David's sin is counted for ungodliness, let
not ungodly men despair of themselves, foras-
much as God hath spared an ungodly man ;
but let them take heed that to Him they be
converted, that His ways they learn. But if
David's deed is not counted for ungodliness, but
this is properly call ungodliness, namely, to apos-
tatize from God, not to worship one God, or
never to have worshipped, or to have forsaken,
Him whom one did worship, then what he saith
hath the force of superabundance, "And un-
godly men shall to Thee be converted." So
full art thou of the fatness of mercy, that for
those converted to Thee, not only sinners of any
7 John i. 1. 8 \Cridtbatur. — C]
10 Jerome on the Epist. to Gal. iv. 6.
11 Ex iniquo. Oxf. MSS. ex iniquus.
9 John iv. 24.
i g6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LI.
sort, but even ungodly, there is no cause for
despair. Wherefore? That believing on Him
that justifieth an ungodly man, their faith may
be counted for righteousness.'
19. " Deliver me from bloods, O God, God of
my health" (ver. 14). The Latin translator hath
expressed, though by a word not Latin, yet an
accuracy from the Greek.2 For we all know that
in Latin, sanguines (bloods) are not spoken of,
nor yet sanguiria (bloods in the neuter), never-
theless because the Greek translator hath thus
used the plural number, not without reason, but
because he found this in the original language
the Hebrew, a godly translator hath preferred to
use a word not Latin, rather than one not exact.
Wherefore then hath he said in the plural num-
ber, " From bloods " ? In many bloods, as in
the origin of the sinful flesh, many sins he would
have to be understood. The Apostle having re-
gard to the very sins which come of the corrup-
tion of flesh and blood, saith, " Flesh and blood
shall not possess the kingdom of God." J For
doubtless, after the true faith of the same Apostle,
that flesh shall rise again and shall itself gain in-
corruption, as He saith Himself, " This corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on
immortality." * Because then this corruption is
of sin, by the name thereof sins are called. In
like manner as both that morsel of flesh and
member which playeth in the mouth when we
articulate words is called a tongue, and that is
called a -tongue which by the tongue is made, so
we call one tongue the Greek, another the Latin ;
for the flesh is not diverse, but the sound. In the
same manner, then, as the speech which is made
by the tongue is called a tongue ; so also the
iniquity which is made by blood is called blood.
Heeding, then, his many iniquities, as 5 in the
expression above,6 " And all my iniquities blot
out," and ascribing them to the corruption of
flesh and blood, " Free me," he saith, " from
bloods : " that is, free me from iniquities, cleanse
me from all corruption. . . . Not yet is the
substance, but certain hope. " And my tongue
shall exult of Thy righteousness."
20. " O Lord, my lips Thou shalt open, and
my mouth shall tell of Thy praise" (ver. 15).
" Thy praise," because 7 I have been created :
" Thy praise," because sinning I have not been
forsaken : " Thy praise," because I have been ad-
monished to confess : " Thy praise," because in
order that I might be secured I have been
cleansed.
21. " Because if Thou hadst willed sacrifice, I
would have given it surely" (ver. 16). David
was living at that time when sacrifices of victim
animals were offered to God, and he saw these
' Rom. iv. 5. a [t£ nluaTuiv, Sept. — C]
* 1 Cor. xv. 53. * Some MS*, vt.
7 Most mss. whereby" throughout.
3 1 Cor. xv. 50.
* P.. li. 9.
times that were to be. Do we not perceive our-
selves in these words? Those sacrifices were
figurative, foretelling the One Saving Sacrifice.
Not even we have been left without a Sacrifice to
offer to God. For hear what he saith, having a
concern for his sin, and wishing the evil thing
which he hath done to be forgiven him : " If
Thou hadst willed)" he saith, " sacrifice, I would
have given it surely. With holocausts Thou
wilt not be delighted." Nothing shall we there-
fore offer? So shall we come to God? And
whence shall we propitiate Him? Offer; cer-
tainly in thyself thou hast what thou mayest offer.
Do not from without fetch frankincense,8 but say,
" In me are, O God, Thy vows, which I will render
of praise to Thee." » Do not from without seek
cattle to slay, thou hast in thyself what thou
mayest kill. " Sacrifice to God is a spirit trou-
bled, a heart contrite and humbled God despiseth
not" (ver. 17). Utterly he despiseth bull, he-
goat, ram : now is not the time that these should
be offered. They were offered when they indi-
cated something, when they promised something ;
when the things promised come, the promises
are taken away. " A heart contrite and humbled
God despiseth not." Ye know that God is high :
if thou shalt have made thyself high, He will be
from thee ; if thou shalt have humbled thyself,
He will draw near to thee.
22. See who this is : David as one man was
seeming to implore ; see ye here our image and
the type of the Church.
" Deal kindly, O Lord, in Thy good will with
Sion " (ver. 18). With this Sion deal kindly.
What is Sion? A city holy. What is a city
holy? That which cannot be hidden, being
upon a mountain established. Sion in prospect,
because it hath prospect of something which it
hopeth for. For Sion is interpreted " prospect,"
and Jerusalem, " vision of peace." Ye perceive
then yourselves to be in Sion and in Jerusalem,
if being sure ye look for hope that is to be, and
if ye have peace with God. " And be the walls
of Jerusalem builded." "Deal kindly, O Lord,
in Thy good will with Sion, and be the walls of
Jerusalem builded." For not to herself let Sion
ascribe her merits : do Thou with her deal kindly,
" Be the walls of Jerusalem builded : " be the
battlements of our immortality laid, in faith and
hope and charity.
23. "Then Thou shalt accept the sacrifice of
righteousness" (ver. 19). But now sacrifice for
iniquity, to wit, a spirit troubled, and a heart
humbled ; then the sacrifice of righteousness,
praises alone. For, " Blessed they that dwell in
Thy house, for ever and ever they shall praise
Thee : " '° for this is the sacrifice of righteousness.
• [So Lactantius, A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 193, note 1, and the whole
chapter. — C]
9 Ps. lvi. 13. ,0 Ps. Ixxxiv. 4.
Psalm LII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
197
" Oblations and holocausts." What are " holo-
causts " ? A whole victim by fire consumed.
When a whole beast was laid upon the altar with
fire to be consumed, it was called a holocaust.
May divine fire take us up whole, and that fervour
catch us whole. What fervour? " Neither is
there that hideth himself from the heat thereof." ■
What fervour ? That whereof speaketh the Apos-
tle : " In spirit fervent." 2 Be not merely our soul
taken up by that divine fire of wisdom, but also
our body ; that3 it may earn their immortality;
so be it lifted up for a holocaust, that death be
swallowed into victory. " Oblations and holo-
causts." " Then shall they lay upon thine altar
calves." Whence " calves " ? What shall He
therein choose? Will it be the innocence of
the new age, or necks freed from the yoke of the
law? . . .
PSALM Lit*
1. The title of the Psalm hath : "At the end,
understanding of David, when there came Doeg
the Edomite and told Saul, David hath come
into the house of Abimelech : " whereas we
read that he had come into the house of Achim-
elech. And it may chance that we do not un-
reasonably suppose, that because of the similar-
ity of a name and the difference of one syllable,
or rather of one letter, the titles have been
varied. In the manuscripts, however, of the
Psalms, when we looked into them, rather Abim-
elech we have found than Achimelech. And
since in another place thou hast a most evident
Psalm, intimating not a dissimilarity of name,
but an utterly different name ; when, for in-
stance, David changed his face before King
Achish, not before king Abimelech, and he sent
him away, and he departed : and yet the title of
the Psalm is thus written, " When he changed
his countenance in the presence of Abimelech " 5
— the very change of name maketh us the rather
intent upon a mystery, lest thou shouldest pur-
sue the quasi-facts of history, and despise the
sacred veilings. . . .
2. Observe ye two kinds of men ; the one of
men labouring, the other of those among whom
they labour : the one of men thinking of earth,
the other of heaven : the one of men weigh-
ing down their heart unto the deep, the other
of men with Angels their heart conjoining :
the one trusting in earthly things, wherein this
world aboundeth, the other confiding in heav-
enly things, which God, who lieth not, hath
promised. But mingled are these kinds of men.
We see now the citizen of Jerusalem, citizen of
the kingdom of heaven, have some office upon
earth : to wit, one weareth purple, is a Magis-
1 Ps. xix. 6. 2 Rom. xii. n.
3 Mss. omit ut, " also let our body earn," etc.
* Lat. LI. 5 Ps. xxxiii. tit
trate, is vEdile, is Proconsul, is Emperor, doth
direct the earthly republic : but he hath his
heart above, if he is a Christian, if he is a be-
liever, if he is godly, if he is despising those
things wherein he is, and trusteth in that where-
in he is not yet. Of which kind was that holy
woman Esther, who, though she was wife of a
king, incurred the danger of interceding for her
countrymen : and when she was praying before
God, where she could not lie, in her prayer said,
that her royal ornaments were to her but as the
cloth of a menstruous woman.6 Despair we not
then of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven,
when we see them engaged in any of Babylon's
matters, doing something earthly in republic
earthly : nor again let us forthwith congratulate
all men that we see doing matters heavenly ; be-
cause even the sons of pestilence sit sometimes
in the seat of Moses, of whom is said, " What
things they say, do ye : but what things they do,
do not : for they say, and do not." ' Those,
amid earthly things, lift up heart unto heaven,
these, amid heavenly words, trail heart upon
earth. But there will come time of winnowing,
when both are to be severed with greatest dili-
gence, in order that no grain may pass over
unto the heap of chaff that is to be burned, that
not one single straw may pass over to the mass
that is to be stored in the barn.8 So long as
then now it is mingled, hear we thence our voice,
that is, voice of the citizens of the kingdom of
heaven (for to this we ought to aspire, to bear
with evil men here, rather than be borne with
by good men) : and let us conjoin ourselves to
this voice, both with ear and with tongue, and
with heart and work. Which if we shall have
done, we are here speaking in those things
which we hear. Let us therefore speak first of
the evil body of kingdom earthly.
3. " Why doth he glory in malice that is
mighty?" (ver. 1). Observe, my brethren,
the glorying of malignity, the glorying of evil
men. Where is glorying? " Why doth he glory
in malice that is mighty ? " That is, he that in
malice is mighty, why doth he glory ? There is
need that a man be mighty, but in goodness,
not in malice. Is it any great thing to glory in
malice ? To build a house doth belong to few
men, any ignorant man you please can pull
down. To sow wheat, to dress the crop, to wait
until it ripen, and in that fruit on which one has
laboured to rejoice, doth belong to few men :
with one spark any man you please can burn all
the crop. To breed an infant, when born to
feed him, to educate, to bring him on to youth's
estate, is a great task : to kill him in one mo-
ment of time any one you please is able. There-
fore those things which are done for destruction,
* Eith. xiv. 16. t Matt, xxiii. 3. • Matt. iii. 12.
198
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LI I.
are most easily done. " He that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord : " ' he that glorieth, let him
glory in goodness. Thou gloriest, because thou
art mighty in evil. What art thou about to
do, O mighty man, what art ihou about to do,
boasting thyself much ? Thou art about to kill
a man : this thing also a scorpion, this also one
fever, this also a poisonous fungus can do. To
this is thy mightiness reduced, that it be made
equal to a poisonous fungus ? This therefore do
the good citizens of Jerusalem, who not in mal-
ice but in goodness glory : firstly, that not in
themselves, but in the Lord they glory. Second-
ly, that those things which make for edification
they earnestly do, and do such things as are
strong to abide : but things which make for de-
struction they may do, for the discipline of men
advancing, not for the oppression of the inno-
cent. To this mightiness then that earthly body
being compared, why may it not hear out of
these words, " Why doth he glory in malice that
is mighty ? "
4. " In iniquity the whole day upon injustice
hath thy tongue thought" (ver. 2) : that is, in
the whole of time, without weariness, without
intermission, without cessation. And when thou
doest not, thou thinkest ; so that when anything
of evil is away from thy hands, from thy heart it
is not away ; either thou doest an evil thing, or
while thou canst not do, thou sayest an evil
thing, that is, thou evil-speakest : or when not
even this thou canst do, thou wiliest and think-
est an evil thing. " The whole day," then, that
is, without intermission. We expect punishment
to this man. Is he to himself a small punish-
ment ? Thou threatenest him : thou, when thou
threatenest him, wilt send him whither? Unto
evil ? Send him away unto himself. In order
that thou mayest vent much rage, thou art going
to give him into the power of beasts : unto him-
self he is worse than beasts. For a beast can
mangle his body : of himself he cannot leave
his heart whole. Within, against himself he
doth rage of himself, and dost thou from with-
out seek for stripes? Nay, pray God for him,
that he may be set free from himself. Never-
theless in this Psalm, my brethren, there is not
a prayer for evil men, or against evil men, but a
prophecy of what is to result to evil men.
Think not therefore that the Psalm of ill-will
saith anything : for it is said in the spirit of
prophecy.
5. There followeth then what? All thy might
and all thy thought of iniquity all the day, and
meditation of malignity in thy tongue without
intermission, hath performed what, done what?
" As with a sharp razor thou hast done deceit "
(ver. 3). See what do evil men to Saints, they
1 1 Cor. i. 31.
scrape their hair. What is it that I have said ?
If there be such citizens of Jerusalem, that hear
the voice of their Lord, of their King, saying,
" Fear not them which kill the body, but are not
able to kill the soul : " that hear the voice which
but now from the Gospel hath been read, " What
doth it profit a man, if he shall gain, the whole
world, and of himself make wreck : " 2 they de-
spise all present good things, and above all life
itself. And what is Doeg's razor to do to a man
on this earth meditating on the kingdom of
heaven, and about to be in the kingdom of heav-
en, having with him God, and about to abide
with God? What is that razor to do? Hair it
is to scrape, it is to make a man bald. And this
belongeth to Christ, who in the Place of a Skull
was crucified.3 It maketh also the son of
Core, which is interpreted baldness.4 For this
hair signifieth a superfluity of things temporal.
Which hairs indeed are not made by God super-
fluously on the body of men, but for a sort of
ornament : yet because without feeling they are
cut off, they that cleave to the Lord with their
heart, so have these earthly things as they have
hair. But sometimes even something of good
with " hair " is wrought, when thou breakest
bread to the hungry, the poor without roof thou
bringest into thy house ; if thou shalt have seen
one naked, thou coverest him : 5 lastly, the
Martyrs themselves also imitating the Lord,
blood for the Church shedding, hearing that
voice, " As Christ laid down His life for us, so
also ought we also to lay down for the brethren," 6
in a certain way with their hair did good to us,
that is, with those things which that razor can
lop off or scrape. But that therefore even with
the very hair some good can be done, even
that woman a sinner intimated, who, when she
had wept over the feet of the Lord, with her hair
wiped what with tears she wetted.' Signifying
what? That when thou shalt have pitied any
one, thou oughtest to relieve him also if thou
canst. For when thou hast pity, thou sheddest
as it were tears : when thcu relievest, thou wipest
with hair. And if this to any one, how much
more to the feet of the Lord. The feet of the
Lord are what? The holy Evangelists, whereof
is said, " How beautiful are the feet of them
that tell of peace, that tell of good things ! " 8
Therefore like a razor let Doeg whet his tongue,
let him whet deceit as much as he may : he will
take away superfluous temporal things ; will he
necessary things everlasting?
6. "Thou hast loved malice above benignity"
(ver. 4). Before thee was benignity; herself
thou shouldest have loved. For thou wast not
going to expend anything, nor wast thou going
9 Matt. xvi. 26. s Matt, xxvii. 33. * t Chron. vi. 22.
3 Isa. Iviii. 7. 6 1 John iii. 16. 7 Luke vii. 38.
8 Isa. Iii. 7; Rom. x. 15.
Psalm LII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
199
to fetch something to love by a distant voyage.
Benignity is before thee, iniquity before thee :
compare and choose. But perchance thou hast
an eye wherewith thou seest malignity, and hast
no eye wherewith thou seest benignity. Woe
to the iniquitous heart. What is worse, it doth
turn away itself, that it may not see what it is
able to see. For what of such hath been said
in another place ? " He would not understand
that he might do good." ' For it is not said, he
could not : but " he would not," he saith, " un-
derstand that he might do good," he closed his
eyes from present light. And what followeth?
" Of iniquity he hath meditated in his bed ; "
that is, in the inner secrecy of his heart. Some
reproach of this kind is heaped upon this Doeg
the Edomite, a malignant body, a motion of
earth, not abiding, not heavenly. "Thou hast
loved malignity above benignity." For wilt thou
know how an evil man doth see both, and the
former he doth rather choose, from the other
doth turn himself away? Wherefore doth he
cry out when he suffereth anything unjustly?
Wherefore doth he then exaggerate as much as
he can the iniquity, and praise benignity, cen-
suring him that hath wrought in him malignity
above benignity? Be he then a rule to himself
for seeing : out of himself he shall be judged.
Moreover, if he do what is written, " Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself ;" 2 and, "What-
soever good things ye will that men should do
unto you, these also do ye do unto them : " ' at
home he hath means of knowing, because what
on himself he will not have to be done, he ought
not to do to another. " Thou hast loved malice
above benignity." Iniquitously, inordinately,
perversely thou wouldest raise water above oil : 4
the water will be sunk, the oil will remain above.
Thou wouldest under darkness place a light :
the darkness will be put to flight, the light will
remain. Above heaven thou wouldest place
earth, by its weight the earth will fall into its
place. Thou therefore wilt be sunk by loving
malice above benignity. For never will malice
overcome benignity. " Thou hast loved malice
above benignity : iniquity more than to speak of
equity." Before thee is equity, before thee is
iniquity : one tongue thou hast, whither thou
wilt thou turnest it : wherefore then rather to
iniquity and not to equity? Food of bitterness
dost thou not give to thy belly, and food of in-
iquity dost thou give to thy malignant tongue ?
As thou choosest whereon to live, so choose what
thou mayest speak. Thou preferrest iniquity to
equity, and preferrest malice to benignity ; thou
indeed preferrest, but above what can ever be
but benignity and equity? But thou, by placing
thyself in a manner upon those things which it is
1 Ps. xxxvi. 4. 2 Matt. xxii. 39.
* See S. Chrys. on 1 Thcss. Horn. xi.
3 Matt. vii. 12.
necessary should go beneath, wilt not make them
to be above good things, but thou with them wilt
be sunk unto evil things.
7. Because of this there followeth in the
Psalm, "Thou hast loved all words of sinking
under" (ver. 5). Rescue therefore thyself, if
thou canst, from sinking 'under. From ship-
wreck thou art fleeing, and dost embrace lead !
If thou wilt not sink, catch at a plank, be borne
on wood, let the Cross carry thee through. But
now because thou art a Doeg the Edomite, a
"motion," and "of earth," thou doest what?
" Thou hast loved all words of sinking-under, a
tongue deceitful." This hath preceded, words
of sinking-under have followed a tongue deceit-
ful. What is a tongue deceitful? A minister
of guile is a tongue deceitful, of men bearing
one thing in heart, another thing from mouth
bringing forth. But in these is overthrowing, in
these sinking under.
8. " Wherefore God shall destroy thee at the
end " (ver. 6) : though now thou seemest to
flourish like grass in the field before the heat of
the sun. For, " All flesh is grass, and the bright-
ness of man as the bloom of grass : the grass
hath withered, and the bloom hath fallen down :
but the word of the Lord abideth for everlast-
ing." 5 Behold that to which thou mayest bind
thyself, to what 6 " abideth for everlasting." For
if to grass, and to the bloom of grass, thou shalt
have bound thyself, since the grass shall wither,
and the bloom shall fall down, " God shall de-
stroy thee at the end : " and if not now, certainly
at the end He shall destroy, when that win-
nowing shall have come, and the heap of chaff
from the solid grain shall have been separated.7
Is not the solid grain for the barns, and the
chaff for the fire? Shall not the whole of that
Doeg stand at the left hand, when the Lord is
to say, " Go ye into fire everlasting, which hath
been prepared for the devil and his angels"?8
Therefore " God shall destroy at the end : shall
pluck thee out, and shall remove thee from thy
dwelling." Now then this Doeg the Edomite is
in a dwelling : " But a servant abideth not in
the house for ever." 9 Even he worketh some-
thing of good, even if not with his doings, at
least with the words of God, so that in the
Church, when he " seeketh his own," ro he would
say, at least, those things which are of Christ.
" But He shall remove thee from thy dwell-
ing." " Verily, verily, I say unto you, they have
received their reward." " "And thyroot from the
land of the living." Therefore in the land of
the living we ought to have root. Be our root
there. Out of sight is the root : fruits may be seen,
root cannot be seen. Our root is our love, our
5 Isa. xi. 6-8.
7 Matt. iii. 12, xiii. 40.
»o Phil. ii. 21.
* Al. " to the Word that."
B Mntt. xxv. 41. 9 John viii. 35.
11 Matt. vi. 2.
200
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LII.
fruits are our works : it is needful that thy works
proceed from love, then is thy root in the land of
the living. Then shall be rooted up that Doeg,
nor any wise shall he be able there to abide,
because neither more deeply there hath he fixed
a root : ' but it shall be with him in like manner
as it is with those seeds on the rock, which even
if a root they throw out, yet, because moisture
they have not, with the risen sun forthwith
do wither. But, on the other hand, they that
fix a root more deeply, hear from the Apostle
what? " I bow my knees for you to the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye may be in
love rooted and grounded." And because there
now is root, " That ye may be able," he saith,
" to comprehend what is the height, and breadth,
and length, and depth : to know also the super-
eminent knowledge of the love of Christ, that
ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God." *
Of such fruits so great a root is worthy, being
so single, so budding, for buddings so deeply
grounded. But truly this man's root shall be
rooted up from the land of the living.
9. " And the just shall see, and shall fear ;
and over him they shall laugh" (ver. 7).
Shall fear when? Shall laugh when? Let us
therefore understand, and make a distinction
between those two times of fearing and laugh-
ing, which have their several uses. For so long
as we are in this world, not yet must we laugh,
lest hereafter we mourn. We have read what is
reserved at the end for this Doeg, we have read,
and because we understand and believe, we see
but fear. This, therefore, hath been said, "The
just shall see, and shall fear." So long as we
see what will result at the end to evil men,
wherefore do we fear? Because the Apostle
hath said, " In fear and trembling work out your
own salvation : " 3 because it hath been said in a
Psalm,4 " Serve the Lord in fear, and exult unto
Him with trembling." Wherefore " with fear " ?
" Wherefore let him that thinketh himself to
stand, see that he fall not." 5 Wherefore " with
trembling " ? Because he saith in another place :
" Brethren, if a man shall have been overtaken
in any delinquency, ye that are spiritual instruct
such sort in the spirit of gentleness ; heeding
thyself, lest thou also be tempted." 6 Therefore,
the just that are now, that live of faith, so see
this Doeg, what to him is to result, that never-
theless they fear also for themselves : for what
they are to-day, they know; what to-morrow
they are to be, they know not. Now, therefore,
" The just shall see, and they shall fear." But
when shall they laugh? When iniquity shall
have passed over; when it shall have flown
over ; as now to a great degree hath flown over
the time uncertain ; when shall have been put
to flight the darkness of this world, wherein now
we walk not but by the lamp of the Scriptures,
and therefore fear as though in night. For we
walk by prophecy ; whereof saith the Apostle
Peter, " We have a more sure prophetic word,
to which giving heed ye do well, as to a lamp
shining in a dark place, until the day shine, and
the day-star arise in your hearts." ^ So long
then as by a lamp we walk, it is needful that
with fear we should live. But when shall have
come our day, that is, the manifestation of
Christ, whereof the same Apostle saith, " When
Christ shall have appeared, your life, then ye
also shall appear with Himself in glory," 8 then
the just shall laugh at that Doeg. . . .
10. But what shall they then say that shall
laugh ? " And over him they shall laugh ; and
shall say, Behold a man that hath not set God
for his helper" (ver. 8). See ye the body
earthly ! " As much as thou shalt have, so great
shalt thou be," is a proverb of covetous men,
of grasping men, of men oppressing the inno-.
cent, of men seizing upon other men's goods,
of men denying things entrusted to their care.
Of what sort is this proverb ? " As much as
thou shalt have, so great shalt thou be ; " that
is, as much as thou shalt have had of money, as
much as thou shalt have gotten, by so much the
more mighty shalt thou be. " Behold a man
that hath not set God for his helper, but hath
trusted in the multitude of his riches." Let
not a poor man, one perchance that is evil, say,
I am not of this body. For he hath heard the
Prophet saying, " He hath trusted in the multi-
tude of his riches : " forthwith if he is poor, he
heedeth his rags, he hath observed near him
perchance a rich man among the people of God
more richly apparelled, and he saith in his heart,
Of this man he speaketh ; doth he speak of
me? Do not thence except thyself, do not
separate thyself, unless thou shalt have seen and
feared, in order that thou mayest hereafter
laugh. For what doth it profit thee, if thou
dost want means, and thou burnest with cu-
pidity? When our Lord Jesus Christ to that
rich man that was grieved, and that was depart-
ing from Him, had said, " Go, sell all that thou
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come follow Me : "9 and
great hopelessness for rich men foretold, so that
He said, more easily could a camel pass through
the eye of a needle, than a rich man enter into
the kingdom of Heaven,10 were not forthwith the
disciples grieved, saying with themselves, " Who
shall be able to be saved?" Therefore when
they were saying, " Who shall be able to be
saved?" did they think of the few rich men,
did there escape them so great a multitude of
1 Matt xiii. 5.
* Ft. u. 11.
1 Eph. iii. 14, 17-19.
» 1 Cor. x. la.
J Phil. ii. n.
a Gal. vi. 1.
1 2 Pet. i. 19.
9 Matt. xix. 11.
8 Col. iii. 4.
10 Matt. xix. 24.
Psalm Lit]
ON THE PSALMS.
20 1
poor men ? Could they not say to themselves,
If it is hard, aye an impossible thing, that rich
men should enter into the kingdom of heaven,
as it is impossible that a camel should enter
through the eye of a needle, let all poor men
enter into the kingdom of heaven, be the rich
alone shut out? For how few are the rich men?
But of poor men are thousands innumerable.
For not the coats are we to look upon in the
kingdom of heaven ; but for every one's gar-
ment shall be reckoned the effulgence of right-
eousness : there shall be therefore poor men
equal to Angels of God, clothed with the stoles
of immortality, they shall shine as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father : what reason is there
for us about a few rich men to be concerned, or
distressed ? This thought not the Apostles ; but
when the Lord had spoken this, " It is easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
heaven:" they saying to themselves, "Who
shall be able to be saved," meant what? Not
means, but desires ; for they saw even poor men
themselves, even if not having money, yet to
have covetousness. And that ye may know, that
not money in a rich man, but covetousness is
condemned, attend to what I say ; Thou ob-
servest that rich man standing near thee, and
perchance in him is money, and is not covetous-
ness ; in thee is not money, and is covetousness.
A poor man full of sores, full of woe, licked by
dogs, having no help, having no morsel, not hav-
ing perchance a mere garment, was borne by
the Angels unto Abraham's bosom.1 Ho ! being
a poor man, art thou glad now ; for are even
sores by thee to be desired? Is not thy patri-
mony soundness? There is not in this Lazarus
the merit of poverty, but that of godliness.
For thou seest who was borne up, thou seest not
whither he was borne up. Who was borne up
by Angels? A poor man, full of woe, full of
sores. Whither was he borne up ? Unto Abra-
ham's bosom. Read the Scriptures, and thou
shalt find Abraham to have been a rich man.2
In order that thou mayest know, that not riches
are blamed ; Abraham had much gold, silver,
cattle, household, was a rich man, and unto his
bosom Lazarus, a poor man, was borne up.
Unto bosom of rich man, poor man : are not
rather both unto God rich men, both in cupidity
poor men ? . . .
n. Therefore that man having been con-
demned that " hath trusted in the multitude of
his riches, and hath prevailed in his vanity : " for
what more vain, than he that thinketh coin more
to avail than God? Therefore that man having
been condemned that said, blessed of the people
to whom these things are : thou that sayest,
1 Luke xvi. 22.
2 Gen. xiii. 2.
" Blessed the people of whom is the Lord their
own God," dost think of thyself what ? dost hope
for thyself what ? " But I ; " now at length hear
that body : " But I am like an olive, fruit-bearing
in the house of God " (ver. 9). Not one man
speaketh, but that olive fruit-bearing, whence
have been pruned the proud branches, and the
humble wild olive graffed in.3 " Like an olive,
fruit-bearing in the house of God, I have trusted
in the mercjr of God." He did what ? " In the
multitude of his riches : " therefore his root shall
be plucked out from the land of the living.
" But I," because " like an olive, fruit-bearing in
the house of God," the root whereof is nourished,
is not rooted out, " have trusted in the mercy of
God." But perchance now? For even herein
men err sometimes. God indeed they worship,
and are not now like to that Doeg : but though
on God they rely, it is for temporal things never-
theless ; so that they say to themselves, I worship
my God, who will make me rich upon earth, who
to me will give sons, who to me will give a wife.
Such things indeed giveth none but God, but God
would not have Himself for the sake of such things
to be loved. For to this end oftentimes those
things He giveth even to evil men, in order that
some other thing good men of Him may learn
to seek. In what manner then sayest thou, " I
have trusted in the mercy of God " ? Perchance
for obtaining temporal things? Nay but, "For
everlasting and world without end." The expres-
sion, " For everlasting," he willed to repeat by
adding, " world without end," in order that by
there repeating he might affirm how rooted he
was in the love of the kingdom of heaven, and
in the hope of everlasting felicity.
12. "I will confess to Thee for ever, because
Thou hast done" (ver. 10). "Hast done
what?" Doeg Thou hast condemned, David
Thou hast crowned. " I will confess to Thee for
ever, because Thou hast done." Great confes-
sion, " Because thou hast done " ! " Hast done "
what ? except these very things which above have
been spoken of, that like an olive fruit-bearing in
the house of God, I should trust in the mercy of
God for everlasting and world without end?
Thou hast done : an ungodly man cannot justify
himself. But who is He that justifieth ? " Be-
lieving," he saith, " on Him " that justifieth " the
ungodly." 4 " For what hast thou which thou hast
not received ? But if thou hast received, why
dost thou glory as if thou hast not received, as if
of thyself thou hast ? " ' Be it far from me that I
should so glory, saith he, that is opposed against
Doeg, that beareth with Doeg upon earth, until
he remove from his dwelling, and be rooted up
from the land of the living. I glory not as if I
have not received, but in God I glory. "And
3 Rom. xi. 17.
4 Rom. iv. 5.
3 1 Cor. iv. 7.
202
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIU.
I will confess to Thee because Thou hast done,"
that is, because Thou hast done not according to
my merits, but according to Thy mercy. But I
have done what ? If thou recollectest, " Before,
I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injuri-
ous." But thou, what hast thou done? "But
mercy I have obtained, because ignorant I did
it." ' " I will confess to Thee for ever, because
Thou hast done."
13. " And I will look for Thy name, for it is
pleasant." Bitter is the world, but Thy name
is pleasant. Even if certain sweet things are in
the world, yet with bitterness they are digested.
Thy name is preferred, not only for greatness
but also for pleasantness. " For unjust men have
told to me their delights, but it is not as Thy law,
O Lord." 2 For if there were nothing sweet to
the Martyrs, they would not have suffered with
equanimity so great bitterness of tribulations.
Their bitterness by any one was experienced,
their sweetness easily could no one taste. The
name of God therefore is pleasant to men loving
God above all pleasantnesses. " I will look for
Thy name, for it is pleasant." And to what dost
Thou prove that it is pleasant? Give me a palate
to which it is pleasant. Praise honey as much as
thou art able, exaggerate the sweetness thereof
with what words thou shalt have the power : a
man knowing not what honey is, unless he shall
have tasted, what thou sayest knoweth not.
Therefore the rather to the proof the Psalm
inviting thee saith what ? " Taste and see that
sweet is the Lord."3 Taste thou wilt not, and
thou sayest, Is it pleasant? What is pleasant?
If thou hast tasted, in thy fruit be it found, not
in words alone, as it were only in leaves, lest by
the curse of the Lord, to wither like that fig-tree 4
thou shouldest deserve. " Taste," he saith, " and
see, that sweet is the Lord." Taste and see :
then ye shall see, if ye shall have tasted. But to
a man not tasting, how provest thou ? By prais-
ing the pleasantness of the name of God, whatso-
ever things thou shalt have said are words :
something else is taste. The words of His praise
there hear even the ungodly, but none taste how
sweet it is, but the Saints. Further, a man dis-
cerning the sweetness of the name of God, and
wishing to unfold and wishing to show the same,
and not finding persons to whom he may unfold
it ; for to the Saints there is no need that he
show it, because they even of themselves taste
and know, but the ungodly cannot discern what
they will not taste : doth, I say, what, because of
the sweetness1 of the name of God ? He hath
borne him forthwith away from the crowds of
the ungodly. " And I will look," he saith, " for
Thy name, for it is pleasant, in the sight of Thy
Saints." Pleasant is Thy name, but not in the
1 1 Tim. i. 13.
* Matt. xxi. 19.
* Pi. cxix. 85.
3 Ps. xxxiv. 8.
sight of the ungodly. I know how sweet a thing
it is, but it is to them that have tasted.
PSALM LIII.s
1. Of this Psalm we undertake to treat with
you, as far as the Lord supplieth us. A brother
biddeth us6 that we may have the will, and
prayeth that we may have the power. If any-
thing in haste perchance I shall have passed
over, He that even to us deigneth to give what
we shall be enabled to say, will supply it in you.
The title of it is : " At the end, for Maeleth, un-
derstanding to David himself." " For Maeleth,"
as we find in interpretations of Hebrew names,
seemeth to say, For one travailing, or in pain.
But who there is in this world that travaileth and
is in pain, the faithful acknowledge, because
thereof they are. Christ here travaileth, Christ
here is in pain : the Head is above, the mem-
bers below. For one not travailing nor in pain
would not say, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? " 7 Him, with whom when persecuting He
was travailing, being converted, He made to
travail. For he also was himself afterwards en-
lightened, and grafted on those members which
he used to persecute ; being pregnant with the
same love, he said, " My little children, of whom
again I travail, until Christ be formed in you." 8
For the members therefore of Christ, for His
Body which is the Church,9 for that same One
Man, that is, for that very unity, whereof the
Head is above, this Psalm is sung. . . . Who
are they, then, amid whom we travail and groan,
if in the Body of Christ we are, if under Him, the
Head, we live, if amongst His members we are
counted ? Who they are, hear ye.
2. " The unwise man hath said in his heart,
There is no God " (ver. 1). Such sort is it of
men amid whom is pained and groaneth the
Body of Christ. If such is this sort of men, of
not many do we travail ; as far as seemeth to
occur to our thoughts, very few there are ; and a
difficult thing it is to meet with a man that saith
in his heart, " There is no God ; " IO nevertheless,
so few there are, that, fearing amid the many to
say this, in their heart they say it, for that with
mouth to say it they dare not. Not much then
is that which we are bid to endure, hardly is it
found : uncommon is that sort of men that say
in their heart, " There is no God." But, if it be
examined in another sense, is not that found to
be in more meii, which we supposed to be in men
few and uncommon, and almost in none ? Let
them come forth into the midst that live evil
lives, let us look into the doings of profligate,
5 Lat. LI I. From a sermon preached to the people at the request
of some one, perhaps of a bishop. — Ben.
* Al. " Bid us, brethren, . . . pray for us."
t Acts ix. 4. 8 Gal. iv. 19. 9 Col. i. 24.
10 P». xiv. 1.
Psalm LIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
203
daring, and wicked men, of whom there is a
great multitude ; who foster day by day their
sins, who, their acts having been changed into
habit, have even lost sense of shame : this is so
great a multitude of men, that the Body of Christ,
set amid them, scarce dareth to censure that
which it is not constrained to commit, and
deemeth it a great matter for itself that the in-
tegrity of innocence be preserved in not doing
that which now, by habit, either it doth not dare
to blame, or if it ' shall have dared, there break-
eth out the censure and recrimination of them
that live evil lives, more readily than the free
voice of them that live good lives. And those
men are such as say in their heart, " There is no
God." Such men I am confuting. Whence
confuting? That their doings please God, they
judge. He doth not therefore affirm, " some
say," but "The unwise man hath said in his
heart, There is no God." Which men do so
far believe there is a God, that the same God
they judge with what they do to be pleased.
But if thou being wise dost perceive, how " the
unwise man hath said in his heart, There is no
God," if thou give heed, if thou understand, if
thou examine ; he that thinketh that evil doings
please God, Him he doth not think to be God.
For if God is, He is just ; if He is just, injustice
displeaseth Him, iniquity displeaseth. But thou,
when thou thinkest that iniquity pleaseth Him,
dost deny God. For if God is one Whom in-
iquity displeaseth, but God seemeth not to thee
to be one whom iniquity displeaseth, and there
is no God but one whom iniquity displeaseth,
then when thou sayest in thy heart, God doth
countenance my iniquities, thou sayest nothing
else than, " There is no God."
3. Let us advert also to that sense, which con-
cerning Christ our Lord Himself, our Head
Himself, doth present itself. For when Himself
in form of a servant 2 appeared on earth, they
that crucified Him said, " He is not God." Be-
cause Son of God He was, truly God He was.
But they that are corrupted and have become
abominable said what? " He is not God : " let
us slay Him, " He is not God." Thou hast the
voice of these very men in the book of Wisdom.3
For after there had gone before the verse, " The
unwise man hath said in his heart, There is no
God ; " as if reasons were required why the unwise
man could say this, he hath subjoined, " Cor-
rupted they are, and abominable have become
in their iniquities" (ver. 2). Hear ye those
corrupted men. " For they have said with them-
selves, not rightly thinking : " 4 corruption begin-
neth with evil belief, thence it proceedeth to
depraved morals, thence to the most flagrant in-
iquities, these are the grades. But what with
1 So Oxf. mss. (ausum) ; Ben. ausus, " one." 2 Phil. ii. 7.
J Wisd. ii. 18-20. I See p. 172, su/ra.—C] * Wisd. ii. I.
themselves said they, thinking not rightly ? "A
small thing and with tediousness is our life." '
From this evil belief followeth that which also the
Apostle hath spoken of, " Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow we shall die." 6 But in the former pas-
sage more diffusely luxury itself is described :
" Let us crown us with roses, before they be with-
ered ; in every place let us leave the tokens of our
gladness." 7 After the more diffuse description of
that luxury, what followeth ? " Let us slay the
poor just man : " 8 this is therefore saying, " He
is not God." Soft words they seemed but now
to say : " Let us crown us with roses, before they
be withered." What more delicate, what more
soft? Wouldest thou expect, out of this soft-
ness, Crosses, swords? Wonder not, soft are
even the roots of brambles ; if any one handle
them, he is not pricked : but that wherewith thou
shalt be pricked from thence hath birth. " Cor-
rupted," therefore, are those men, " and abom-
inable have become in their iniquities." They
say, " If Son of God He is, let Him come down
from the Cross." 9 Behold them openly saying,
" He is not God." . . .
4. " The Lord from Heaven hath looked forth
upon the sons of men, that He might see if
there is one understanding and seeking after
God " (ver. 3). What is this? " Corrupted they
are," all these that say, "There is no God" ?
And what ? Did it escape God, that they were
become such? Or indeed to us would their
inward thought be opened, except by Him it
were told ? If then He understood, if then He
knew, what is this which hath been said, " that .
He might see " ? For the words are of one
inquiring, of one not knowing. " God from
Heaven hath looked forth," etc. And as though
He had found what He sought by looking upon,
and by looking down from Heaven, He giveth
sentence : " All men have gone aside, together
useless they have become : there is not one that
do^th good, not so much as one " (ver. 4) . Two
questions arise somewhat difficult : for if God
looketh out from Heaven, in order that He may
see if there is one understanding or seeking after
God ; there stealeth upon an unwise man the
thought, that God knoweth not all things. This
is one question : what is the other? If there is
not one that doeth good, is not so much as one ;
who is he that travaileth amid bad men ? The
former question then is solved as followeth :
ofttimes the Scripture speaketh in such manner,
that what by the gift of God a creature doth,
God is said to do. . . . For hence has been
said the following also, " For the Spirit search-
eth all things, even the depth of God ; " l0 not
because He that knoweth all things searcheth,
but because to thee hath been given the Spirit,
5 Wisd. ii. 1.
8 Wisd. ii. 10.
6 1 Cor. xv. 32.
9 Matt, xxvii. 40.
i Wisd. ii. 8, 9.
10 1 Cor. ii. 10.
204
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIII.
which maketh thee also to search : and that
which by His own gift thou doest, He is said to
do ; because without Him thou wouldest not do
it : therefore God is said to do, when thou doest.
. . . And because this by the gift of God thou
doest, God from heaven is " looking forth upon
the sons of men." The former question then,
according to our measure, thus hath been
solved.
5. What is that which looking forth we ac-
knowledge ? What is that which looking forth
God acknowledgeth ? What (because here He
giveth it) doth He acknowledge? Hear what
it is ; that " All have gone aside, together use-
less they have become : there is not one that
doeth good, there is not so much as one."
What then is that other question, but the same
whereof a little before I have made mention ?
If, " There is not one that doeth good, is not so
much as one," no one remaineth to groan amid
evil men. Stay, saith the Lord, do not hastily
give judgment. I have given to men to do well ;
but of Me, He saith, not of themselves : for of
themselves evil they are : sons of men they are,
when they do evil ; when well, My sons. For
this thing God doth, out of sons of men He
maketh sons of God : because out of Son of
God He hath made Son of Man. See what this
participation is : there hath been promised to
us a participation of Divinity : He lieth that
hath promised, if He is not first made partaker
of mortality. For the Son of God hath been
made partaker of mortality, in order that mor-
tal man may be made partaker of divinity. He
that hath promised that His good is to be
shared with thee, first with thee hath shared thy
evil : He that to thee hath promised divinity,
showeth in thee love. Therefore take away that
men are sons of God, there remaineth that they
are sons of men : " There is none that doeth
good, is not so much as one."
6. " Shall not all know that work iniquity,
that devour My people for the food of bread " ?
(ver. 5). . . . There is therefore here a peo-
ple of God that is being devoured. Nay,
" There is not one that doeth good, there is not
so much as one." We reply by the rule above.
But this people that is devoured, this people
that suffereth evil men, this that groaneth and
travaileth amid evil men, now out of sons of men
have been made sons of God : therefore are
they devoured. For, " The counsel of the needy
man thou hast confounded, because the Lord is
his hope." ■ For ofttimes, in order that the
people of God may be devoured, this very thing
in it is despised, that it is the people of God.
I will pillage, he saith, and despoil ; if he is a
Christian, what will he do to me ? . . . But what
' Pt. xiv. 6.
followeth ? "I will convince thee, and will set
thee before thy face." Thou wilt not now know
so as thou shouldest be displeasing to thyself,
thou shalt know so as thou mayest mourn. For
God cannot but show to the unrighteous their
iniquity. If He is not to show, who will they
be that are to say, " What hath profited us
pride, and what hath boasting of riches bestowed
upon us?"2 For then shall they know, that
now will not know. " Shall not all know? " etc.
Why hath He added, " for the food of bread " ?
As it were as bread, they eat My people. For
all other things which we eat, we can eat now
these, now those ; not always this vegetable, not
always this flesh, not always these apples : but
always bread. What is then, " Devour My peo-
ple for the food of bread " ? Without inter-
mission, without cessation they devour.
7. " On God they have not called." He is
comforting the man that groaneth, and chiefly
by an admonition, lest by imitating evil men,
who ofttimes prosper, they delight in evil doing.
There is kept for thee that which to thee hath
been promised : their hope is present, thine is
future, but theirs is transient, thine sure ; theirs
false, thine true. For they " upon God have
not called." Do not daily such men ask of
God ? They do " not " ask of God. Give heed,
if I am able to say this by the aid of God Him-
self. God gratuitously will have Himself to be
worshipped, gratuitously will have Himself to
be loved, that is chastely to be loved ; not Him-
self to be loved for the reason that He giveth
anything besides Himself, but because He giv-
eth Himself. He then that calleth upon God in
order that He may be made rich, on God doth
not call : for upon that He calleth which to him-
self he willeth to come. . . . But now thou
wouldest have coffer full, and conscience void :
God filleth not coffer, but breast. What do out-
ward riches profit thee, if inward need presseth
thee? Therefore those men that for the sake
of worldly comforts, that for the sake of earthly
good things, that for the sake of present life
and earthly felicity, call upon God, do not call
upon God.
8. For this reason what followeth concerning
them ? " There have they feared with fear,
where there was no fear " (ver. 6). For is there
fear, if a man lose riches? There is no fear
there, and yet in that case men are afraid. But
if a man lose wisdom, truly there is fear, and in
that case he is not afraid. . . . Thou hast feared
to give back money, and hast willed to lose
fidelity. The Martyrs took not away property
of other persons, but even their own they de-
spised that they might not lose fidelity: and it
was too little to lose money, when they were
* Wisd. v. 8.
Psalm LIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
205
proscribed ; they took also their life when they
suffered : they lost life, in order that unto ever-
lasting life they might find it.' Therefore there
they feared, where they ought to have been afraid.
But they that of Christ have said, " He is not
God," have there feared where was no fear. For
they said, " If we shall have let Him go, there
will come the Romans, and will take away from
us both place and kingdom." 2 O folly and im-
prudence saying in its heart, " He is not God " !
Thou hast feared to lose earth, thou hast lost
Heaven : thou hast feared lest there should
come the Romans, and take away from thee
place and kingdom ! Could they take away
from thee God? What then remaineth? what
but that thou confess, that thou hast willed to
keep, and by keeping ill hast lost? For thou
hast lost both place and nation by slaying Christ.
For ye did will rather to slay Christ, than to lose
place ; and ye have lost place, and nation, and
Christ. In fearing, they nave slain Christ : but
wherefore this ? " For God hath scattered the
bones of them that please men."3 Willing to
please men, they feared to lose their place. But
Christ Himself, of whom they said, " He is not
God," willed rather to displease such men, as
they were : sons of men, not sons of God, He
willed rather to displease. Thence were scattered
their bones, His bones no one hath broken.
" They were confounded, for God hath despised
them." In very deed, brethren, as far as re-
gardeth them, great confusion hath come to
them. In the place where they crucified the
Lord, whom for this cause they crucified, that
they might not lose both place and nation, the
Jews are not. " God," therefore, " hath despised
them : " and yet in despising He warned them
to be converted. Let them now confess Christ,
and say, He is God, of whom they said, " He is
not God." Let them return to the inheritance
of their fathers, to the inheritance of Abraham,
of Isaac, and of Jacob, let them possess with
these very persons life eternal : though they have
lost life temporal. Wherefore this? Because
out of sons of men have been made sons of
God. For so long as they remain, and will not,
there is not one that doeth good, there is not so
much as one. " They were confounded, for God
hath despised them." And as though to these
very persons He were turned, He saith, " Who
shall give out of Sion salvation to Israel ? " (ver.
7). O ye fools, ye revile, insult, buffet, besmear
wiih spittings, with thorns ye crown, upon the
Cross ye lift up ; whom ? " Who shall give out
of Sion salvation to Israel ? " Shall not That
Same of whom ye have said, " He is not God "?
" In God's turning away the captivity of His
people." For there turneth away the captivity
1 Matt. x. 39. 2 John xi. 48.
3 E. V. " thai encamp against thee. '
of His people, no one but He that hath willed
to be a captive in your own hands. But what
men shall understand this thing? "Jacob shall
exult, and Israel shall rejoice." " Israel ; " the
true Jacob, and the true Israel, that younger, to
whom the elder was servant,4 shall himself exult,
for he shall himself understand.
PSALM LIV.s
1. The title of this Psalm hath fruit in the
prolixity thereof, if it be understood : and be-
cause the Psalm is short, let us make up our not
having to tarry over the Psalm by tarrying over
the title. For upon this dependeth every verse
which is sung. If any one, therefore, observe
that which on the front of the house is fixed,
secure he will enter; and, when he shall have
entered, he will not err. For this on the post
itself is prominently marked, namely, in what
manner within he may not be in error. The
title thereof standeth thus : " At the end, in
hymns, understanding to David himself, when
there came the Ziphites, and said to Saul, Behold,
is not David hidden with us ? " That Saul was
persecutor of the holy man David, very well we
know : that Saul was bearing the figure of a
temporal kingdom, not to life but to death be-
longing, this also to your Love we remember to
have imparted. And also that David himself
was bearing the figure of Christ, or of the Body
of Christ, ye ought both to know and to call to
mind, ye that have already learned.6 What then
of the Ziphites? There was a certain village,
Ziph, whereof the inhabitants were Ziphites, in
whose country David had hidden himself, when
Saul would find and slay him. These Ziphites
then, when they had learned this, betrayed him
to the king his persecutor, saying, " Behold, is
not David hidden with us ? " Of no good to
them indeed was their betrayal, and to David
himself of no harm. For their evil disposition
was shown : but Saul not even after their be-
trayal could seize David ; but rather in a certain
cave in that very country, when into his hands
Saul had been given to slay, David spared him,
and that which he had in his power he did not.'
But the other was seeking to do that which he
had not in his power. Let them that have been
Ziphites take heed : let us see those whom to us
the Psalm presenteth to be understood by the
occasion of those same men.
2. If we inquire then by what word is trans-
lated Ziphites, we find, " Men flourishing."
Flourishing then were certain enemies to holy
David, flourishing before him hiding. We may
find them in mankind, if we are willing to under-
4 Gen. xxv. 23.
s Lat. I, III. From a sermon to the people.
6 See exposition upon Ps. lii. §§ 1,2. ft Sam. xxiv. 4.
206
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIV.
stand the Psalm. Let us find here at first David
hiding, and we shall find his adversaries flour-
ishing. Observe David hiding : " For ye are
dead," saith the Apostle to the members of
Christ, " and your life is hid with Christ in God." '
These men, therefore, that are hiding, when shall
they be flourishing? "When Christ," he saith,
" your life, shall have appeared, then ye also
with Him shall appear in glory." 2 When these
men shall be flourishing, then shall be those
Ziphites withering. For observe to what flower
their glory is compared : " All flesh is grass, and
the honour of flesh as the flower of grass."3
What is the end ? " The grass hath withered,
and the flower hath fallen off." Where then
shall be David? See what follovveth : " But the
Word of the Lord abideth for ever." . . .
3. These men sometimes are observed of the
weak sons of light, and their feet totter, when
they have seen evil men in felicity to flourish,
and they say to themselves, " Of what profit to
me is innocence ? What doth it advantage me
that I serve God, that I keep His command-
ments, that I oppress no one, from no one plun-
der anything, hurt no one, that what I can I
bestow? behold, all these things I do, and they
flourish, I toil." But why? Wouldest thou
also wish to be a Ziphite ? They flourish in the
world, wither in judgment, and after withering,
into fire everlasting shall be cast : wouldest thou
also choose this ? Art thou ignorant of what He
hath promised thee, who to thee hath come,
what in Himself here He displayed? If the
flower of the Ziphites were to be desired, would
not Himself thy Lord also in this world have
flourished ? Or indeed was there wanting to
Him the power to flourish? Nay but here He
chose rather amid the Ziphites to hide, and to
say to Pontius Pilate, as if to one being himself
also a flower of the Ziphites, and in suspicion
about His kingdom, " My kingdom is not of this
world." * Therefore here He was hidden : and
all good men are hidden here, because their good
is within, it is concealed, in the heart it is, where
is faith, where charity, where hope, where their
treasure is. Do these good things appear in the
world? Both these good things are hidden, and
the reward of these good things is hidden. . . .
4. " O God, in Thy name make me safe, and
in Thy virtue judge me" (ver. 1). Let the
Church say this, hiding amid the Ziphites. Let
the Christian body say this, keeping secret the
good of its morals, expecting in secret the re-
ward of its merits, let it say this : " In Thy vir-
tue 5 judge me." Thou hast come, O Christ,
humble Thou hast appeared, despised Thou hast
been, scourged hast been, crucified hast been,
slain hast been ; but, on the third day hast risen,
1 Col. iii. 3.
* John xviii. 36.
* Col. iii. 4. 3 Is*. xl. 6.
5 [/.*., power or strength. — C.]
on the fortieth day into Heaven hast ascended :
Thou sittest at the right hand of the Father, and
no one seeth : Thy Spirit thence Thou hast sent,
which men that were worthy have received ; ful-
filled with Thy love, the praise of that very
humility of Thine throughout the world and
nations they have preached : Thy name I see to
excel among mankind, but nevertheless as weak
to us hast Thou been preached. For not even
did that Teacher of the Gentiles say, that among
us he knew anything, " Save Christ Jesus, and
Him crucified;"6 in order that of Him we
might choose the reproach, rather than the glory
of the flourishing Ziphites. Nevertheless, of
Him he saith what? "Although He died of
weakness, yet He liveth of the power ' of God."
He came then that He might die of weakness,
He is to come that He may judge in the power
of God : but through the weakness of the Cross
His name hath been illustrious. Whosoever shall
not have believed upon the name made illustrious
through weakness, shall stand in awe at the Judge,
when He shall have come in power. But, lest
He that once was weak, when He shall have
come strong, with that fan send us to the left
hand ; may He " save us in His name, and judge
us in His virtue." For who so rash as to have
desired this, as to say to God, for instance " Judge
me " ? Is it not wont to be said to men for a
curse, " God judge thee " ? So evidently it is
a curse, if He judge thee in His virtue ; and
shall not have saved thee in His name : but
when in name precedent He shall have saved
thee, to thy health in virtue consequent He shall
judge. Be thou without care : that judgment
shall not to thee be punishment, but dividing.
For in a'certain Psalm 8 thus is said : " Judge me,
O God, and divide my cause from the nation
unholy." . . .
5. "O God, hearken to my prayer, in Thy
ears receive the words of my mouth " (ver. 2).
. . . To Thee may my prayer attain, driven
forth and darted out from the desire of Thy eter-
nal blessings : to Thy ears I send it forth, aid it
that it may reach, lest it fall short in the middle
of the way, and fainting as it were it fall down.
But even if there result not to me now the good
things which I ask, I am secured nevertheless
that hereafter they will come. For even in the
case of transgressions a certain man is said to
have asked of God, and not to have been heark-
ened to for his good. For privations of this
world had inspired him to prayer, and being
set in temporal tribulations he had wished that
temporal tribulations should pass away, and there
should return the flower of grass ; and he saith,
" My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken
me?"' The very voice of Christ it is, but for
6 1 Cor. ii. a.
9 Ps. xx ii. 1.
1 Virtute.
8 Ps. xliii. x.
Psalm LIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
207
His members' sake. "The words," he saith,
" of my transgressions I have cried to Thee
throughout the day, and Thou hast not heark-
ened : and by night, and not for the sake of folly
to me : " that is, " and by night I have cried,
and Thou hast not hearkened ; and nevertheless
in this very thing that Thou hast not hearkened,
it is not for the sake of folly to me that Thou
hast not hearkened, but rather for the sake of
wisdom that Thou hast not hearkened, that I
might perceive what of Thee I ought to ask.
For those things I was asking which to my cost
perchance I should have received." Thou askest
riches, O man ; how many have been overset
through their riches? Whence knowest thou
whether to thee riches may profit? Have not
many poor men more safely been in obscurity ;
having become rich men, so soon as they have
begun to blaze forth, they have been a prey to the
stronger? How much better they would have
lain concealed, how much better they would
have been unknown, that have begun to be in-
quired after not for the sake of what they were,
but for the sake of what they had ! In these
temporal things therefore, brethren, we admonish
and exhort you in the Lord, that ye ask not any-
thing as if it were a thing settled, but that which
God knoweth to be expedient for you. For
what is expedient for you, ye know not at all.
Sometimes that which ye think to be for you is
against you, and that which ye think to be against
you is for you. For sick ye are ; do not dictate
to the physician the medicines he may choose
to set beside you. If the teacher of the Gen-
tiles, Paul the Apostle, saith, " For what we
should pray for as we ought, we know not," 1
how much more we? Who nevertheless, when
he seemed to himself to pray wisely, namely,
that from him should be taken away the thorn
of the flesh, the angel of Satan, that did buffet
him, in order that he might not in the greatness
of the revelations be lifted up, heard from the
Lord what? Was that done which he wished?
Nay,2 in order to that being done which was ex-
pedient, he heard from the Lord, I say, what?
"Thrice," he saith, "I besought the Lord that
He would take it from me ; and He said to me,
My Grace sufficeth for thee : for virtue in weak-
ness is made perfect." 3 Salve to the wound
I have applied ; when I applied it I know, when
it should be taken away I know. Let not a sick
man draw back from the hands of the physician,
let him not give advice to the physician. So it
is with all these things temporal. There are
tribulations ; if well thou worshippest God, thou
wilt know that He knoweth what is expedient
for each man : there are prosperities ; take the
more heed, lest these same corrupt thy soul, so
1 Rom. viii. 26.
' Nay " not in MSS. 3 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9.
that it withdraw from Him that hath given these
things. . . .
6. " For aliens have risen up against me "
(ver. 3). What "aliens"? Was not David
himself a Jew of the tribe of Judah? But the
very place Ziph belonged to the tribe of Judah ;
it was of the Jews. How then "aliens "? Not
in city, not in tribe, not in kindred, but in
flower.4 . . . But see the Ziphites, see them for
a time flourishing. With reason " alien " sons.
Thou amid the Ziphites hiding saidst what?
" Blessed the people whereof the Lord is its
God." Out of this affection this prayer 5 is being
sent forth into the ears of the Lord, when it is
said, " for aliens have risen up against me."
7. " And mighty men have sought after my
soul." For in a new manner, my brethren, they
would destroy the race of holy men, and the
race of them that abstain from hoping in this
world, all they that have hope in this world.
Certainly commingled they are, certainly together
they live. Very much to one another are op-
posed these two sorts : the one of those that
place no hope but in things secular, and in tem-
poral felicity, and the other of those that do
firmly place their hope in the Lord God. And
though concordant are these Ziphites, do not
much trust to their concord : temptations are
wanting ; when there shall have come any tempta-
tion, so as that a person may be reproved for the
flower of the world, I say not to thee he will I
quarrel with the Bishop, but not even to the
Church Herself will he draw near, lest there fall
any part of the grass.6 Wherefore have I said
these words, brethren? Because now gladly ye
all hear in the name of Christ, and according as
ye understand, so ye shout out at the word ; ye
would not indeed shout at it unless ye under-
stood.7 This your understanding ought to be
fruitful. But whether it is fruitful, temptation
doth try ; lest suddenly when ye are said to be
ours, through temptation ye be found aliens, and
it be said, " Aliens have risen up against me, and
mighty men have sought my soul." Be not that
said which followeth, " They have not set forth
God before their face." For when will he set
God before his face, before whose eyes there is
nought but the world ? namely, how he may have
coin upon coin, how flocks may be increased,
how barns may be filled, how it may be said to
his soul, "Thou hast many good things, be
merry, feast, take thy fill." Doth he set before
his face Him, that unto one so boasting and so
blooming with the flower of the Ziphites saith,
"Fool" (that is, "man not understanding,"
He seems to bear this text in mind in these
* [Jas. i. 10, 1
comments. — C.l
s [i.e., this Psalm. — C]
6 In. xl. 6. Note 5, p. 199, supra. — C]
7 They seem to have applauded, or shouted Amen.
often when Chrysostom preached. — C.J
So, also,
208
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIV.
" man unwise "), " this night shall be taken from
thee thy soul ; all these things which thou hast
prepared, whose shall they be ? " '
8. "For behold, God helpeth me" (ver. 4).
Even themselves know not themselves, amid
whom I am hiding. But if they too were to set
God before their face, they would find in what
manner God helpeth me. For all holy men are
helped by God, but within, where no one seeth.
For in like manner as the conscience of ungodly
men is a great punishment, so a great joy is the
very conscience of godly men. " For our glory
this is," saith the Apostle, " the testimony of our
conscience." * In this within, not in the flower
of the Ziphites without, doth glory that man that
now saith, " For behold God helpeth me."
Surely though afar off are to be those things
which He promiseth, this day have I a sweet
and present help ; to-day in my heart's joy I find
that without cause certain say, " Who doth show
to us good things? For there is signed upon us
the light of Thy countenance, O Lord, Thou
hast put pleasantness into my heart." 3 Not
into my vineyard, not into my flock, not into
my cask, not into my table, but " into my heart."
" For behold God helpeth me." How doth He
help thee ? " And the Lord is the lifter up of
my soul."
9. " Turn away evil things unto mine enemies "
(ver. 5). So however green they are, so how-
ever they flourish, for the fire they are being4
reserved. " In Thy virtue destroy Thou them."
Because to wit they flourish now, because to wit
they spring up like grass : s do not thou be a man
unwise and foolish, so that by giving thought to
these things thou perish for ever and ever.
For, "Turn Thou away evil things unto mine
enemies." For if thou shalt have place in the
body of David Himself, in His virtue He will
destroy them. These men flourish in the felicity
of the world, perish in the virtue of God. Not
in the same manner as they flourish, do they
also perish : for they flourish for a time, perish
for everlasting : flourish in unreal good things,
perish in real torments. " In Thy strength de-
stroy," whom in Thy weakness Thou hast en-
dured.
10. "Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee"
(ver. 6). Who can even understand this good
thing of the heart, at another's speaking thereof,
unless in himself he hath tasted it? What is,
" Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee " ? . . .
For what sacrifice here shall I take, brethren?
or what worthily shall I offer to the Lord for His
mercy? Victims shall I seek from flock of
sheep, ram shall I select, for any bull in the
herds shall I look out, frankincense indeed from
the land of the Sabaeans shall I bring? What
1 Luke xii. 20. 3 a Cor. i. 13.
* Al. " let them be."
» P». iv. 6, 7.
5 Ps. xcii. 7.
shall I do ? What offer ; except that whereof
He speaketh, " Sacrifice of praise shall honour
Me"?6 Wherefore then "voluntarily"? Be-
cause truly I love that which I praise. I praise
God, and in the self-same praise I rejoice : in
the praise of Himself I rejoice, at whom being
praised, I blush not. For He is not praised in
the same manner as by those who love the
theatrical follies is praised either by a charioteer,
or a hunter, or actor of any kind, and by their
praisers, other praisers are invited, are exhorted,
to shout together : and when all have shouted,
ofttimes, if their favourite is overcome, they are
all put to the blush. Not so is our God-: be He
praised with the will, loved with charity : let it
be gratuitous (or voluntary) that He is loved
and that He is praised. What is "gratuitous"?
Himself for the sake of Himself, not for the
sake of something else. For if thou praisest
God in order that He may give thee something
else, no longer freely dost thou love God. Thou
wouldest blush, if thy wife for the sake of riches
were to love thee, and perchance if poverty
should befall thee, should begin to think of
adultery. Seeing that therefore thou wouldest
be loved by thy partner freely, wilt thou for any-
thing else love God ? What reward art thou to
receive of God, O covetous man? Not earth
for thee, but Himself He keepeth, who made
heaven and earth. " Voluntarily I will sacrifice
to Thee : " do it not of necessity. For if for
the sake of anything else thou praisest God, out
of necessity thou praisest. . . . These things
also which He hath given, because of the Giver
are good things. For He giveth entirely, He
giveth these temporal things : and to certain
men to their good, to certain men to their
harm, after the height and depth of His judg-
ments. . . . "Voluntarily I will sacrifice to
Thee." Wherefore " voluntarily " ? Because
gratis. What is gratis ? " And I will confess
to Thy name, O Lord, for it is a good thing : "
for nothing else, but because a "good thing" it
is. Doth he say, " I will confess to Thy name,
O Lord," because Thou givest me fruitful
manors, because Thou givest me gold and silver,
because Thou givest me extended riches, abun-
dant money, most exalted dignity ? Nay. But
what ? " For it is a good thing." Nothing I
find better than Thy name.
11. "For out of all tribulation Thou hast
delivered me" (ver. 7). For this cause I have
perceived how good a thing is Thy name : for
if this I were able before tribulations to ac-
knowledge, perchance for me there had been no
need of them. But tribulation hath been applied
for admonition, admonition hath redounded to
Thy praise. For I should not have understood
' Ps. L .3.
Psalm LV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
209
where I was, except of my weakness I had been
admonished. " Out of all tribulations," there-
fore, " Thou hast delivered me. And upon mine
enemies mine eye hath looked back : " upon
those Ziphites " mine eye hath looked back."
Yea, their flower I have passed over in loftiness
of heart, unto Thee I have come, and thence I
have looked back upon them, and have seen
that " All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man
as the flower of grass : " ■ as in a certain place
is also said, " I have seen the ungodly man to be
exalted and raised up like 2 the cedars of Leb-
anon : I passed by, and, lo ! he was not." 3
Wherefore " he was not " ? Because thou hast
passed by. What is, " because thou hast passed
by"? Because not to no purpose hast thou
heard " Lift up thy heart ; " because not on
earth, where thou wouldest have rotted, thou
hast remained ; because thou hast lifted thy soul
to God, and thou hast mounted beyond the
cedars of Lebanon, and from that elevation hast
observed : and " Lo ! he was not ; " and thou
hast sought him, and there hath not been found
place for him. No longer is labour before thee ;
because thou hast entered into the sanctuary of
God, and hast understood for the last things.4
So also here thus he concludeth. " And upon
mine enemies mine eye hath looked back."
This do ye therefore, brethren, with your souls ;
lift up your hearts, sharpen the edge of your
mind, learn truly to love God, learn to despise
the present world, learn voluntarily to sacrifice
the offerings of praise ; to the end that, mount-
ing beyond the flower of the grass, ye may look
back upon your enemies.
PSALM LV.s
1. Of this Psalm the title is: "At the end,
in hymns, understanding to David himself."
What the " end " is, we will briefly call to your
recollection, because ye have known it. " For
the end of the Law is Christ, for righteousness
unto every man believing." ° Be the attention
therefore directed unto the End, directed unto
Christ. Wherefore is He called the end ? Be-
cause whatever we do, to Him we refer it, and
when to Him we shall have come home, more to
ask we shall not have. For there is an end
spoken of which doth consume, there is an
end spoken of which doth make perfect. In one
sense, for instance, we understand it, when we
hear, there is ended the food which was in eat-
ing ; and in another sense we understand it,
when we hear, there is ended the vesture which
was in weaving : in each case we hear, there is
* Oxf. mss. " above."
* Ps. lxxiii. 16, 17.
* Lat. LI V. From a sermon to the people, wherein he is dis-
coursing of enduring evil men, and disputing against the Donatists.
b Rom. x. 4.
■ Isa. xl. 6.
3 Ps. xxxvii. 35, 36.
From a sermon to the people
ended ; but the food so that it no longer is, the
vesture so that it is perfected. Our end there-
fore ought to be our perfection, our perfection
Christ. For in Him we are made perfect, be-
cause of Himself the Head, the Members are we.
And he hath been spoken of as " the End of the
Law," because without Him no one doth make
perfect the Law. When therefore ye hear in the
Psalms, "At the end," — for many Psalms are
thus superscribed, — be not your thought upon
consuming, but upon consummation.
2. " In hymns : " in praises. For whether
we are troubled and are straitened, or whether we
rejoice and exult, He is to be praised, who both
in tribulations doth instruct, and in gladness doth
comfort. For the praise of God from the heart
and mouth of a Christian man ought not to de-
part ; not that he may be praising in prosperity,
and speaking evil in adversity ; but after the man-
ner that this Psalm doth prescribe, " I will speak
good of the Lord in every time, alway the praise
of Him is in my mouth." Thou dost rejoice ;
acknowledge a Father indulging : thou art
troubled ; acknowledge a Father chastening.
Whether He indulge, or whether He chasten,
He is instructing one for whom He is preparing
an inheritance.
3. What then is, " Understanding to David
himself" ? David indeed was, as we know, a
holy prophet, king of Israel, son of Jesse : » but
because out of his seed there came for our sal-
vation after the flesh the Lord Jesus Christ,8 often
under that name He is figured, and David instead
of Christ is in a figure set down, because of the
origin of the Flesh of the Same. For after some
sort He is Son of David, after some sort He is
the Lord of David ; Son of David after the flesh,
Lord of David after the divinity. For if by Him
have been made alHhings,9 by Him also David
himself hath been made, out of whose seed He
came to men. Moreover, when the Lord had
questioned the Jews, whose Son they affirmed
Christ to be, they made answer, " David's : '*
where the Lord chides the Jews, when they said
that He was the Son of David.10 He saw that they
had stayed at the flesh, and had lost sight of the
divinity ; and He reproveth them by propound-
ing a question : " How then doth David him-
self in spirit call Him Lord, 'The Lord hath said
unto my Lord.' ... If then He in spirit calleth
Him Lord, how is He is Son?" " A question
He propounded ; His being Son He denied not.
Ye have heard " Lord ; " say ye how He is his
" Son : " ye have heard " Son ; " say how He
is " Lord." This question the Catholic Faith
solveth. How " Lord "? Because " In the be-
ginning was the Word, and the Word was with
I 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. 8 Rom. i. 3.
9 John i. 3. IO Oxf. MSS. add 16 words ending here.
II Matt. xxii. 43-45.
2IO
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LV.
God, and the Word was God." ' How " Son " ?
Because " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us." * Because then David in a figure is
Christ, but Christ, as we have often reminded
your Love, is both Head and Body; neither
ought we to speak of ourselves as alien from
Christ, of whom we are members, nor to count
ourselves as if we were any other thing : because
" The two shall be in one flesh." 3 " This is a
great Sacrament," saith the Apostle, " but I
speak in regard of Christ and the Church." 4 Be-
cause then whole Christ is " Head and Body ; "
when we hear, " Understanding to David him-
self," understand we ourselves also in David.
Let the members of Christ understand, and
Christ in His members understand, and the
members of Christ in Christ understand : because
Head and Members are one Christ. The Head
was in heaven, and was saying, " Why dost thou
persecute Me?"5 We with Him are in heaven
through hope, Himself is with us on earth through
love. Therefore " understanding to David him-
self." Be we admonished when we hear, and
let the Church understand : for there belongeth
to us great diligence to understand in what evil
we now are, and from what evil we desire to be
delivered, remembering the Prayer of the Lord,
where at the end we say, " Deliver us from evil." 6
Therefore amid many tribulations of this world,
this Psalm complaineth somewhat of understand-
ing. He lamenteth not with it, who hath not
understanding. But furthermore, dearly be-
loved, we ought to remember, that after the im-
age of God we have been made, and that not in
any other part than in the understanding itself.
For in many things by beasts we are surpassed :
but when a man knoweth himself to have been
made after the image of God,7 therein something
in himself he acknowledgeth to be more than
hath been given to dumb animals. But on con-
sideration of all those things which a man hath,
he findeth himself in this thing peculiarly dis-
tinguished from a dumb animal, in that he hath
himself an understanding. Whence certain
men despising in themselves that peculiar and
especial thing which from their Maker they had
received, the Maker Himself reproveth, saying,
" Do not become like horse and mule, in which
there is no understanding." 8 . . .
4. " Hear Thou, O God, my entreaty, and de-
spise not my prayer : give heed unto me, and
hearken unto me " (ver. 1 ) . Of one earnest,
anxious, of one set in tribulation, are these words.
He is praying, suffering many things, from evil
yearning to be delivered : it remaineth that we
hear in what evil he is, and when he beginneth
to speak, let us acknowledge there ourselves to
1 John i. 1.
* Eph. t. 32.
1 Gen. i. 36.
» John i. 14.
5 Acts ix. _<(.
■ P». Jcxxii. 9.
3 Gen. ii.24.
6 Matt. vi. 13.
be ; in order that the tribulation being shared,
we may conjoin prayer. " I have been made
sad in my exercise, and have been troubled "
(ver. 2). Where made sad, where troubled?
" In my exercise," he saith. Of evil men, whom
he suffereth, he hath made mention, and the same
suffering of evil men he hath called his " exer-
cise." Think ye not that without profit there are
evil men in this world, and that no good God
maketh of them. Every evil man either on this
account liveth that he may be corrected, or on
this account liveth that through him a good man
may be exercised. O that therefore they that do
now exercise us would be converted, and together
with us be exercised ! Nevertheless, so long
as they are such as to exercise, let us not hate
them : because in that wherein any one of them
is evil, whether unto the end he is to persevere,
we know not ; and ofttimes when to thyself thou
seemest to have been hating an enemy, thou hast
been hating a brother, and knowest not. The
devil and his angels in the holy Scriptures have
been manifested to us, that for fire everlasting
they have been destined. Of them only must
amendment be despaired of. . . . Therefore since
this rule of Love for thee is fixed, that imitating
the Father thou shouldest love an enemy : for,
He saith, " love your enemies : " 9 in this precept
how wouldest thou be exercised, if thou hadst no
enemy to suffer? Thou seest then that he prof-
iteth thee somewhat : and let God sparing evil
men profit thee, so that thou show mercy : be-
cause perchance thou too, if thou art a good man,
out of an evil man hast been made a good man :
and if God spared not evil men, not even thou
wouldest be found to return thanks. May He
therefore spare others, that hath spared thee
also. For it were not right, when thou hadst
passed through, to close up the way of godliness.
5. Whence then doth this man pray, set among
evil men, with whose enmities he was being ex-
ercised ? Why saith he, " I have been made
sad in my exercise, and have been troubled ' ' ?
While he is extending his love so as to love
enemies, he hath been affected with disgust,
being bayed at all around by the enmities of
many men, by the frenzy of many, and under
a sort of human infirmity he hath sunk. He
hath seen himself now begin to be pierced
through with an evil suggestion of the devil, to
bring on hatred against his enemies : wrestling
against hatred in order to perfect love herself, in
the very fight, and in the wrestling, he hath been
troubled. For there is his voice in another
Psalm, " Mine eye hath been troubled, because
of anger." And what followeth there? "I have
waxen old among all mine enemies." IO As if in
storm and waves he were beginning to sink, like
9 Luke vi. 37.
>° Pj. ti 7.
Psalm LV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
211
Peter.1 For he doth trample the waves of this
world, that loveth enemies. Christ on the sea
was walking fearless, from whose heart there
could not by any means be taken away the love
of an enemy, who hanging on the Cross did say,
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do." 2 Peter too would walk. He as Head,
Peter as Body : because, "Upon this rock," He
saith, "I will build My Church." 3 He was
bidden to walk, and he was walking by the Grace
of Him bidding, not by his own strength. But
when he saw the wind mighty, he feared ; and
then he began to sink, being troubled in his ex-
ercise. By what mighty wind ? " By the voice
of the enemy, and by the tribulation of the sin-
ner " (ver. 3). Therefore, in the same manner
as he cried out on the waves, " Lord, I perish,
save me," ' a similar voice from this man hath
preceded, "Hearken unto me." Wherefore?
For what sufferest thou? Of what dost thou
groan? " I have been made sad in my exercise."
To be exercised indeed among evil men Thou
hast set me, but too much they have risen up,
beyond my powers : calm Thou one troubled,
stretch forth a hand to one sinking. " For they
have brought down upon me iniquity, and in
anger they were shadowing me." Ye have heard
of waves and winds : one as it were humbled
they were insulting, and he was praying : on
every side against him with the roar of insult they
were raging, but he within was calling upon Him
whom they did not see. . . .
6. But this man being troubled and made sad
was praying, his eye being disturbed as it were
on account of anger.4 But the anger of a brother
if it shall have been inveterate is then hatred.
Anger doth trouble the eye, hatred doth quench
it : anger is a straw, hatred is. a beam. Some-
times thou hatest and chidest an angry man : in
thee is hatred, in him whom thou chidest anger :
with reason to thee is said, " Cast out first the
beam from thine own eye, and so thou shalt see
to cast out the straw from thy brother's eye." 5
For that ye may know how much difference there
is between anger and hatred : day by day men
are angry with their sons, show me them that
hate their6 sons ! This man being troubled was
praying even when made sad, wrestling against
all revilings of all revilers ; not in order that he
might conquer any one of them by giving back
reviling, but that he might not hate any one of
them. Hence he prayeth, hence asketh : " From
the voice of the enemy and from the tribulation
of the sinner." " My heart hath been troubled in
me" (ver. 4). This is the same as elsewhere
hath been said, " Mine eye because of anger hath
been troubled." * And if eye hath been troubled,
1 Matt. xiv. 30. 2 Luke xxiii. 34.
* Ps. vi. 7. 5 Matt. vii. 5.
6 Oxf. mss. " him that hateth."
3 Matt. xvi. 18.
what followeth ? " And fear of death hath fallen
upon me." Our life is love : if life is love, death
is hatred. When a man hath begun to fear lest
he should hate him that he was loving, it is death
he is fearing ; and a sharper death, and a more
inward death, whereby soul is killed, not body.
Thou didst mind a man raging against thee ;
what was he to do, against whom thine own Lord
had given thee security, saying, " Fear not them
that kill the body " ?7 He by raging killeth body,
thou by keeping hatred hast killed soul ; and he
the body of another, thou thine own soul.
" Fear," therefore, " of death hath fallen upon
me."
7. " Fearfulness and trembling have come
upon me, and darkness hath covered me "
(ver. 5). "And I have said," " He that hateth
his brother, is in darkness until now." 8 If love
is light, hatred is darkness. And what saith to
himself one set in that weakness and troubled in
that exercise ? " Who shall give me wings as to
a dove, and I shall fly and shall rest? " (ver. 6).
Either for death he was wishing, or for solitude
he was longing. So long, he saith, as this is the
work with me, as this command is given me, that
I should love enemies, the revilings of these
men, increasing and shadowing me, do derange
mine eye, perturb my sight, penetrate my heart,
slay my soul. I could wish to depart, but ' weak
I am, iest by abiding I should add sins to sins :
or at least may I be separated for a little space
from mankind, lest my wound suffer from fre-
quent blows, in order that when it hath been
made whole it may be brought back to the exer-
cise. This is what takes place, brethren, and
there ariseth ofttimes in the mind of the servant
of God a longing for solitude, for no other reason
than because of the multitude of tribulations
and scandals, and he saith, " Who shall give me
wings?" Doth he find himself without wings,
or rather with bound wings ? If they are want-
ing, be they given ; if bound, be they loosed ;
because even he that looseth a bird's wings,
either giveth, or giveth back to it its wings. For
it had not as though its own them, wherewith it
could not fly. Bound wings make a burden.
" Who," he saith, " shall give me wings as to a
dove, and I shall fly and shall rest? " Shall rest,
where ? I have said there are two senses here :
either, as saith the Apostle, " To be dissolved
and to be with Christ, for it is by far the best
thing." I0 . . . Even he that amended cannot be,
is thine, either by the fellowship of the human
race, or ofttimes by Church Communion ; he is
within, what wilt thou do? whither wilt go?
whither separate thyself, in order that these
things thou mayest not suffer? But go to him,
1 Matt. x. j8.
9 Oxf. mss. " for as much as."
»o Philip, i. 33.
8 i John ii. 9, ix.
212
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LV.
speak, exhort, coax, threaten, reprove. I have
done all things, whatever powers I had I have ex-
pended and have drained, nothing I see have
I prevailed ; all my labour hath been spent
out, sorrow hath remained. How then shall my
heart rest from such men, except I say, " Who
shall give me wings?" "As to a dove," how-
ever, not as to a raven. A dove seeketh a flying
away from troubles, but she loseth not love.
For a dove as a type of love is set forth, and in
her the plaint is loved. Nothing is so fond of
plaints as a dove : day and night she com-
plaineth, as though she were set here where she
ought to complain. What then saith this lover?
Revilings of men to bear I am unable, they roar,
with frenzy are carried away, are inflamed with
indignation, in anger they shadow ' me ; to do
good to them I am unable ; O that I might rest
somewhere, being separated from them in body,
not in love ; lest in me there should be troubled
love itself: with my words and my speech no
good can I do them, by praying for them per-
chance I shall do good. These words men say,
but ofttimes they are so bound, that to fly they
are not able. For perchance they are not bound
with any birdlime, but are bound by duty. But
if they are bound with care and duty, and to
leave it are unable, let them say, " I was wishing
to be dissolved and to be with Christ, for it is by
far the best thing : to abide in the flesh is ne-
cessary because of you." 2 A dove bound back
by affection, not by cupidity, was not able to fly
away because of duty to be fulfilled, not because
of little merit. Nevertheless a longing in heart
must needs be ; nor doth any man suffer this
longing, but he that hath begun to walk in that
narrow way : 3 in order that he may know that
there are not wanting to the Church persecutions,
even in this time, when a calm is seen in the
Church, at least with respect to those persecu-
tions which our Martyrs have suffered. But
there are not wanting persecutions, because a
true saying is this, " All that will godly to live in
Christ, shall suffer persecution." 4 . . .
8. " Behold I have gone afar fleeing, and have
abode in the desert " (ver. 7). In what desert?
Wherever thou shalt be, there will gather them
together other men, the desert with thee they
will seek, will attach themselves to thy life, thou
canst not thrust back the society of brethren :
there are mingled with thee also evil men ; still
exercise is thy due portion, " Behold I have gone
afar, and have abode in the desert." In what
desert? It is perchance in the conscience,
whither no man entereth, where no one is with
thee, where thou art and God. For if in the
desert, in any place, what wilt thou do with men
gathering themselves together? For thou wilt
1 Adumbrant.
4 a Tim. iii. 12.
1 Philip, i. 23, 24. 3 Matt, vii. 14.
not be able to be separated from mankind, so
long as among men thou livest.5 . . .
9. " I was looking for him that should save me
from weakness of mind and tempest " (ver. 8).
Sea there is, tempest there is : nothing for thee
remaineth but to cry out, " Lord, I perish." 6
Let Him stretch forth hand, who doth the waves
tread fearlessly, let Him relieve thy dread, let
Him confirm in Himself thy security, let Him
speak to thee within, and say to thee, "Give
heed to Me, what I have borne : " an evil
brother perchance thou art suffering, or an
enemy without art suffering ; which of these
have I not suffered? There roared without
Jews, within a disciple was betraying. There
rageth therefore tempest, but He doth save men
from weakness of mind, and tempest. Per-
chance thy ship is being troubled, because He
in thee is sleeping. The sea was raging, the
bark wherein the disciples were sailing was being
tossed ; but Christ was sleeping : at length it
was seen by them that among them was sleep-
ing the Ruler ' and Creator of winds ; they drew
near and awoke Christ;8 He commanded9 the
winds, and there was a great calm. With rea-
son then perchance thy heart is troubled, be-
cause thou hast forgotten Him on whom thou
hast believed : beyond endurance thou art suf-
fering, because it hath not come into thy mind
what for thee Christ hath borne. If unto thy
mind cometh not Christ, He sleepeth : awake
Christ, recall faith. For then in thee Christ is
sleeping, if thou hast forgotten the sufferings of
Christ : then in thee Christ is watching, if thou
hast remembered the sufferings of Christ. But
when with full heart thou shalt have considered
what He hath suffered, wilt not thou too with
equanimity endure? and perchance rejoicing,
because thou hast been found in some likeness
of the sufferings of thy King. When therefore
on these things thinking thou hast begun to be
comforted and to rejoice, He hath arisen, He
hath commanded the winds ; therefore there is a
great calm. " I was looking for Him that should
save me from weakness of mind and tempest."
10. " Sink, O Lord, and divide the tongues
of them" (ver. 9). He is referring to men
troubling him and shadowing him, and he hath
wished this thing not of anger, brethren. They
that have wickedly lifted up themselves, for them
it is expedient that they be sunk. They that
have wickedly conspired, it is expedient for them
that their tongues should be divided : to good
let them consent, and let their tongues agree
together. But if to one purpose IO there were a
whispering against me," he saith, all mine ene-
s [Professor Cooke's Scientific Culture, pp. 291, 202. New
York, 1885.— C]
* Malt. xiv. 30. ' Imperator. 8 Matt. viii. 24, 25.
» Impcravit. "° In idipsum. » Ps. xli. 7.
Psalm LV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
213
mies, let them lose their " one purpose " in evil,
divided be the tongues of them, let them not
with themselves agree together. " Sink, O Lord,
and divide the tongues of them." Wherefore
" sink " ? Because themselves they have lifted
up. Wherefore " divide " ? Because for an evil
thing they have united. Recollect that tower
of proud men made after the deluge : what said
the proud men ? Lest we perish in a deluge, let
us make a lofty tower.' In pride they were think-
ing themselves to be fortified, they builded up a
lofty tower, and the Lord divided the tongues of
them. Then they began not to understand one
another ; hence arose the beginning of many
tongues. For before, one tongue there was :
but one tongue for men agreeing was good, one
tongue for humble men was good : but when
that gathering together did into a union of pride
fall headlong, God spared them ; even though
He divided the tongues, lest by understanding
one another they should make a destructive
unity. Through proud men, divided were the
tongues ; through humble Apostles, united were
the tongues. Spirit of pride dispersed tongues,
Spirit Holy united tongues. For when the Holy
Spirit came upon the disciples, with the tongues
of all men they spake,2 by all men they were un-
derstood : tongues dispersed, into one were
united. Therefore if still they rage and are
Gentiles, it is expedient for them divided to
have their tongues. They would have one
tongue ; let them come to the Church ; because
even among the diversity of tongues of flesh,
one is the tongue in faith of heart.
11. " For I have seen iniquity and contradic-
tion in the city." With reason this man was
seeking the desert, for he saw iniquity and con-
tradiction in the city. There is a certain city
turbulent : the same it was that was building a
tower, the same was confounded and called
Babylon, the same through innumerable nations
dispersed : 3 thence is gathered the Church into
the desert of a good conscience. For he saw
contradiction in the city. "Christ cometh." —
" What Christ ? " thou contradictest. — " Son of
God." — " And hath God a Son? " thou contra-
dictest. — " He was born of a virgin, suffered,
rose again." — "And whence is it possible for
this to be done?" thou contradictest. — Give
heed at least to the glory of the Cross itself.
Now on the brow of kings that Cross hath been
fixed, over which enemies insulted. The effect
hath proved the virtue.4 It hath subdued the
world, not with steel, but with wood. The wood
of the Cross deserving of insults hath seemed to
enemies, and before the wood itself standing they
were wagging the head, and saying, " If Son of
• Gen.
xi. 4.
2 Acts ii. 4.
3 Gen. xi. 0.
* Nearly all mss. " By effect prove the virtue
."-Bin.
God He is, let Him come down from the
Cross." 5 He was stretching forth His hands to
a people unbelieving and contradicting. For if
just he is that of faith liveth,5 unjust he is that
hath not faith. By that which here he saith
" iniquity," I understand unbelief. The Lord
therefore was seeing in the city iniquity and con-
tradiction, and was stretching forth His hands to
a people unbelieving and contradicting : and
nevertheless waiting for these same, He was say-
ing, " Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." 7 Even now indeed there rage
the remnant of that city, even now they contra-
dict. From the brows of all men now He is
stretching forth hands to the remnant unbelieving
and contradicting.
12. " Day and night there will compass it upon
the walls thereof iniquity, and labour." 8 " Upon
the walls thereof; " upon the fortifications there-
of, holding as it were the heads thereof, the
noble men thereof. If that noble man were a
Christian, not one would remain a pagan ! Oft-
times men say, " no one would remain a pagan,
if he were a Christian." Ofttimes men say, "If
he too were made a Christian, who would remain
a pagan ? " Because therefore not yet they are
made Christians, as if walls they are of that city
unbelieving and contradicting. How long shall
these walls stand ? Not always shall they stand.
The Ark is going around the walls of Jericho :
there shall come a time at the seventh going
round of the Ark, when all the walls of the city
unbelieving and contradicting shall fall.' Until
it come to pass, this man is being troubled in his
exercise ; and enduring the remains of men con-
tradicting, he would choose wings for flying away,
would choose the rest of the desert. Yea let him
continue amid men contradicting, let him endure
menaces, drink revilings, and look for Him that
will save him from weakness of mind and tem-
pest : let him look upon the Head, the pattern
for his life,10 let him be made calm in hope, even
if he is troubled in fact. " Day and night there
will compass it upon the walls thereof iniquity ;
and labour in the midst thereof and injustice."
And for this reason labour is there, because in-
iquity is there : because injustice is there, there-
fore also labour is there. But let them hear him
stretching forth hands. " Come unto Me, all ye
that labour." " Ye cry, ye contradict, ye revile :
He on the contrary, " Come unto Me, all ye that
labour," in your pride, and ye shall rest in My
humility. " Learn of Me," He saith, " for meek
I am and humble in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls." " For whence do they labour,
but because they are not meek and humble in
* Matt, xxvii. 40.
7 Luke xxiii. 34.
9 Josh. vi. 5.
11 Matt. xi. 28.
6 Rom. i. 17.
8 Oxf. mss. omit '
10 Or, " way."
12 Matt. xi. 39.
and labour.'
214
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LV.
heart? God humble was made, let man blush
to be proud.
13. " There hath not failed from the streets
thereof usury and deceit" (ver. 11). Usury
and deceit are not hidden at least, because they
are evil things, but in public they rage. For he
that in his house doth any evil thing, however
for his evil thing doth blush : " In the streets
thereof usury and deceit." Money-lending'
even hath a profession, Money-lending also is
called a science ; a corporation is spoken of, a
corporation as if necessary to the state, and of
its profession it payeth revenue ; so entirely
indeed in the streets is that which should have
been hidden. There is also another usury
worse, when thou forgivest not that which to
thee is owed ; and the eye is disturbed in that
verse of the prayer, " Forgive us our debts — as
we too forgive our debtors."2 For what there
wilt thou do, when thou art going to pray, and
coming to that same verse ? An insulting word
thou hast heard : thou wouldest exact the pun-
ishment of condemnation. Do but consent to
exact just so much as thou hast given, thou
usurer of injuries ! With the fist thou hast been
smitten, slaying thou seekest. Evil usury ! How
wilt thou go to prayer? If thou shalt have left
praying, which way wilt thou come round unto
the Lord ? Behold thou wilt say : " Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in
heaven so on earth." Thou wilt say, " Our
daily bread give us to-day." Thou wilt come
to, " Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our
debtors." 3 Even in that evil city let there
abound these usuries ; let them not enter the
walls where the breast is smitten ! What wilt
thou do ? because there thou and that verse are 4
in the midst ? Petitions for thee hath a heavenly
Lawyer composed.5 He that knew what used
there to be done, said to thee, " Otherwise thou
shalt not obtain." " Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that if ye shall have forgiven men sins, they shall
be forgiven you ; but if ye shall not have forgiven
sins unto men, neither will your Father forgive
you." 6 Who saith this? He that knoweth what
there is being done, in the place whereat thou
art standing to make request. See how Him-
self hath willed to be thy Advocate ; Himself thy
Counsellor,' Himself the Assessor of the Father,
Himself thy Judge hath said, " Otherwise thou
shalt not receive." What wilt thou do ? Thou
wilt not receive, unless thou shalt speak; wilt
not receive if falsely thou shalt speak. There-
fore either thou must do and speak, or else
what thou askest thou wilt not earn; because
1 Fotnus. [See note i, p. 90, supra. — C.]
2 Matt. vi. la. So Oxl. mss. s Matt. vi. 9-13.
* Oxf. mss. " Where thou and that verse are there."
I See Tract. 7, On the Gospel of St. John, { it.
6 Matt. vi. 14. 7 Juritperitut: /.«., lawyer.
they that this do not do, are in the midst of
those evil usuries. Be they engaged therein,
that yet do idols either adore or desire : do not
thou, O people of God, do not thou, O people
of Christ, do not thou the Body of Him the
Head ! Give heed to the bond 8 of thy peace,
give heed to the promise of thy life. For what
doth it profit thee, that thou exactest for injuries
which thou hast endured? doth vengeance
refresh thee ? Therefore, over the evil of another
shalt thou rejoice ? Thou hast suffered evil ; par-
don thou ; be not ye two.9 . . .
14. " For if an enemy had upbraided me "
(ver. 12). And indeed above he was " troubled
in his exercise " by the voice of the enemy and
by the tribulation of the sinner, perhaps being
placed in that city, that proud city that was
building a tower, which was "sunk,"10 that
divided might be the tongues : give heed to his
inward groaning because of perils from false
brethren. " For if an enemy had upbraided
me, I would have undergone it assuredly, and if
he that did hate me had over me spoken great
words," that is, through pride had on me tram-
pled, did magnify himself above me, did
threaten me all in his power : " I would hide
myself assuredly from him." From him that is
abroad, thou wouldest hide thyself where?
Amid those that are within. But now see
whether anything else remaineth, but that thou
seek solitude. " But thou," he saith, " man of
one mind, my guide and my friend " (ver. 13).
Perchance sometimes good counsel thou hast
given, perchance sometimes thou hast gone
before me, and some wholesome advice thou
hast given me : in the Church of God together
we have been. " But thou, . . . that together
with me didst take sweet morsels" (ver. 14).
What are the sweet morsels ? Not all they that
are present know : but let them not be soured
that do know, in order that they may be able to
say to them that as yet know not : " Taste ye
and see, how sweet is the Lord." " "In the
House of God we have walked with consent."
Whence then dissension? Thou that wast within,
hast become one without. He hath walked with
me in the House of God with consent : another
house hath he set up against the House of God.
Wherefore hath that been forsaken, wherein we
have walked with consent? ,2 wherefore hath that
been deserted, wherein together we did take
sweet morsels ?
15. "Let there come death upon them, and
let them go down unto Hell living" (ver. 15).
How hath he cited and hath made us call to
mind that first beginning of schism, when in
that first people of the Jews certain proud men
• Vinculum. 9 i./., evil men.
■° mss. suhmersa (not tulrtria) , alluding to ver. q. — Ben.
11 Ps. xxxiv. 8. •* Against the Donatists.
Psalm LV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
215
separated themselves, and would without have
sacrificed? A new death upon them came : the
earth opened herself, and swallowed them up
alive. ' " Let there come," he saith, " death upon
them, and let them go down into Hell living."
What is " living " ? knowing that they are perish-
ing, and yet perishing. Hear of living men per-
ishing and being swallowed up in a gulf of the
earth, that is, being swallowed up in the vo-
raciousness of earthly desires.2 Thou sayest to a
man, What aileth thee, brother? Brethren we
are, one God we invoke, in one Christ we be-
lieve, one Gospel we hear, one Psalm we sing,
one Amen we respond, one Hallelujah we sound,
one Easter we celebrate : why art thou without
and I am within? Ofttimes one straitened, and
perceiving how true are the charges which are
made, saith, May God requite our ancestors !
Therefore alive he perisheth. In the next place
thou continuest and thus givest warning. At
least let the evil of separation stand alone, why
dost thou adjoin thereto that of rebaptism?
Acknowledge in me what thou hast ; and if thou
hatest me, spare thou Christ in me. And this
evil thing doth frequently and very greatly dis-
please them. . . . Because they themselves have
the Scriptures in their hands, and know well by
daily reading how the Church Catholic through
the whole world is so spread, that in a word all
contradiction is void ; and that there cannot be
found any support for their schism they know
well : therefore unto the lower places living they
go down, because the evil which they do, they
know evil to be. But the former a fire of divine
indignation consumed. For being inflamed with
desire of strife, from their evil leaders they would
not depart. There came upon fire a fire, upon
the heat of dissension the heat of consuming.
" For naughtiness is in their lodgings, in the
midst of them." " In their lodgings," * wherein
they tarry and pass away. For here they are
not alway to be : and nevertheless in defence
of a temporal animosity they are fighting so
fiercely. " In their lodgings is iniquity ; in the
midst of them is iniquity : " no part of them is so
near the middle of them as their heart.
16. "Therefore to the Lord I have cried
out" (ver. 16). The Body of Christ and the
oneness of Christ in anguish, in weariness, in un-
easiness, in the tribulation of its exercise, that
One Man, Oneness in One Body set, when He
was wearying His soul in crying out from the
ends of the earth ; saith, " From the ends of the
earth to Thee I have cried out, when My heart
was being vexed." 4 Himself one, but a oneness 5
that One ! and Himself one, not in one place
one, but from the ends of the earth is crying as
one. How from the ends of the earth should
1 Num. xvi. 31.
3 Hospitii*.
3 Against the Donatists.
« Ps. lxi. a. J Unitat.
there cry one, except in many there were one?
"I to the Lord have cried out." Rightly do
thou cry out to the Lord, cry not to Donatus :
lest for thee he be instead of the Lord a lord,
that under the Lord would not be a fellow-ser-
vant.
1 7. " In evening, in morning, at noon-day I
will recount and will tell forth, and He shall
hearken to my voice"6 (ver. 18). Do thou pro-
claim glad tidings, keep not secret that which
thou hast received, " in evening " of things gone
by, " in morning " of things to be, at " noon-
day " of things ever to be. Therefore to that
which he saith " in evening " belongeth that
which he recounteth : to that which he saith,
" in morning," belongeth that which he telleth
forth : to that which he saith " at noon-day,"
belongeth that wherein his voice is hearkened
to. For the end is at noon-day; that is to say,
whence there is no going down unto setting.
For at noon-day there is light full high, the
splendour of wisdom, the fervour of love. " In
evening and in morning and at noon-day." " In
evening," the Ixjrd on the Cross ; " in morn-
ing," in Resurrection; " at noon-day," in Ascen-
sion. I will recount in evening the patience of
Him dying, I will tell forth in morning the life
of Him rising, I will pray that He hearken at
noon-day sitting at the right hand of the Father.
He shall hearken to my voice, That intercedeth
for us.7 How great is the security of this man.
How great the consolation, how great the refuge
" from weakness of mind and tempest," against
evil men, against ungodly men both without and
within, and in the case of those that are without
though they had been within.
18. Therefore, my Brethren, those that in the
very congregation of these walls ye see to be re-
bellious men, proud, seeking their own, lifted up ;
not having a zeal for God that is chaste, sound,
quiet, but ascribing to themselves much ; ready
for dissension, but not finding opportunity ; are
the very chaff of the Lord's floor.8 From hence
these few men the wind of pride hath dislodged :
the whole floor will not fly, save when He at the
last shall winnow. But what shall we do, save
with this man sing, with this man pray, with this
man mourn and say securely, " He shall redeem
in peace my soul" (ver. 18). Against them that
love not peace : " in peace He shall redeem my
soul." " Because with those that hated peace I
was peace-making." 9 " He shall redeem in peace
my soul, from those that draw near to me."
For from those that are afar from me, it is an
easy case : not so soon doth he deceive me that
saith, Come, pray to an idol : he is very far from
* [Acts ii. 15, iii. i, x. 3, x. 9. The Apostles observed the " hours
of prayer: " and they survive, theoretically, in the liturgies of
Christendom. A. N. r. vol. iii. p. 689. — C]
7 Rom. viii. 34. 8 Matt. iii. El. 9 Ps. cxx. 6, 7.
2l6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LV.
me. Art thou a Christian? A Christian, he
saith. Out of a neighbouring place he is my
adversary, he is at hand. " He shall redeem in
peace my soul, from those that draw near to me :
for in many things they were with me." Where-
fore have I said, " draw near to me " ? Because
" in many things they were with me." In this
verse two propositions occur. " In many things
they were with me." Baptism we had both of
us, in that they were with me : the Gospel we
both read, they were in that with me : the festi-
vals of martyrs we celebrated, they were there
with me : Easter's solemnity we attended, they
were there with me. But not entirely with me :
in schism not with me, in heresy not with me.
In many things with me, in few things not with
me. But in these few things wherein not with
me, there is no profit to them of the many things
wherein they were with me. For see, brethren,
how many things hath recounted the Apostle
Paul : one thing, he hath said, if it shall have
been wanting, in vain are those things. " If
with the tongues of men and of angels I shall
speak," he saith, " if I have all prophecy, and all
faith, and all knowledge ; if mountains I shall
remove, if I shall bestow all my goods upon the
poor, if I shall deliver my body even so that it
be burned." ' How many things he hath enu-
merated ! To all these many things let there be
wanting one thing, charity ; the former in num-
ber are more, the latter in weight is greater.
Therefore in all Sacraments they are with me,
in one charity not with me : " In many things
they were with me." Again, by a different ex-
pression : " For in many things they were with
me." They that themselves have separated from
me, with me they were, not in few things, but in
many things. For throughout the whole world
few are the grains, many are the chaffs. There-
fore he saith what ? In chaff with me they were,
in wheat with me they were not. And the chaff
is nearly related to the wheat, from one seed it
goeth forth, in one field is rooted, with one rain
is nourished, the same reaper it suffereth, the
same threshing sustaineth, the same winnowing
awaiteth, but not into one barn entereth.
19. "God will hear me, and He shall humble
them That is before ages " (ver. 19). For they
rely on some leader or other of theirs that hath
begun but yesterday. " He shall humble them
That is before ages." For even if with reference
to time Christ is of Mary the Virgin, nevertheless
before ages : " In the beginning He is the Word,
and the Word with God, and the Word God." '
" He shall humble them That is before ages.
For to them is no changing : " of them I " speak
to whom is no changing." He knew of some to
persevere, and in the perseverance of their own
1 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3.
' John i. 1.
wickedness to die. For we see them, and to
them is no changing : they that die in that same
perverseness, in that same schism, to them is no
changing. God shall humble them, shall humble
them in damnation, because they are exalted in
dissension. To them is no changing, because
they are not changed for the better, but for the
worse : neither while they are here, nor in the
resurrection. For all we shall rise again, but 3
not all shall be changed. Wherefore ? Because
" To them is no changing : and they have not
feared God." . . .
20. " He stretcheth forth His hand in requit-
ing " (ver. 20). " They have polluted His Tes-
tament." Read the testament which they have
polluted : " In thy seed shall be blessed all na-
tions."4 Thou against these words of the Testator
sayest what ? The Africa of holy Donatus hath
alone deserved this grace, in him hath remained
the Church of Christ. Say at least the Church
of Donatus. Wherefore addest thou, of Christ?
Of whom it is said, " In thy seed shall be blessed
all nations." After Donatus wilt thou go? Set
aside Christ, and then secede. See therefore
what followeth : " They have polluted His Tes-
tament." What Testament? To Abraham
have been spoken the promises, and to his seed.
The Apostle saith, " Nevertheless, a man's testa-
ment confirmed no one maketh void, or super-
added to : to Abraham have been spoken the
promises, and to his seed. He saith not, And to
seeds, as if in many ; but as if in one, And to thy
Seed, which is Christ." 5 In this Christ, therefore,
what Testament hath been promised? " In thy
seed shall be blessed all nations." Thou that
hast given up the unity of all nations, and in a
part hast remained, hast polluted His Testa-
ment. . . .
21. "And His heart hath drawn near" (ver.
22). Of whom do we understand it, except of
Him, by the anger of whom they have been
divided ? How " hath his heart drawn near " ?
In such sort, that we may understand His will.
For by heretics hath been vindicated the Cath-
olic Church, and by those that think evil have
been proved those that think well. For many
things lay hid in the Scriptures : and when here-
tics had been cut off, with questions they troubled
the Church of God : then those things were
opened which lay hid, and the will of God was
understood.6 Thence is said in another Psalm,
" In order that they might be excluded that have
been proved with silver." 7 For let them be ex-
cluded, He hath said, let them come forth, let
them appear. Whence even in silver-working
men are called " excluders," that is, pressers out
* E. V. omits " not." 1 Cor. xv. 51.
4 Gen. xii. 3, xxvt. 4. * Gal. til. 15, 16.
6 [Scripture is the rule of faith. See Tertull.vol. iii. p. 265, A.
N F. .and hereafter in this series, Vincent of Lerins, passim. — C.J
7 ri. lxviii. 30.
Psalm LV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
217
of form from the sort of confusion of the lump.
Therefore many men that could understand and
expound the Scriptures very excellently, were
hidden among the people of God : but they did
not declare the solution of difficult questions,
when no reviler again urged them. For was the
Trinity perfectly treated of before the Arians
snarled thereat? Was repentance perfectly
treated of before the Novatians opposed? So
not perfectly of Baptism was it treated, before
rebaptizers removed outside ' contradicted ; nor
of the very oneness of Christ were the doctrines
clearly stated which have been stated, save after
that this separation began to press upon the
weak : in order that they that knew how to treat
of and solve these questions (lest the weak
should perish vexed with the questions of the
ungodly), by their discourses and disputations
should bring out unto open day the dark things
of the Law.2 . . . This obscure sense see in what
manner the Apostle bringeth out into light ; " It
is needful," he saith, "that also heresies there
be, in order that men proved may be made
manifest among you." 3 What is " men proved " ?
Proved with silver, proved with the word. What
is " may be made manifest " ? May be brought
out.4 Wherefore this ? Because of heretics. So
therefore these also " have been divided be-
cause of the anger of His countenance, and His
heart hath drawn near."
22. " His discourses have been softened above
oil, and themselves are darts" (ver. 21). For
certain things in the Scriptures were seeming
hard, while they were obscure ; when explained,
they have been softened. For even the first
heresy in the disciples of Christ, as it were from
the hardness of His discourse arose. For when
He said, " Except a man shall have eaten My
flesh and shall have drunk My blood, he shall
not have life in himself : " they, not under-
standing, said to one another, " Hard is this dis-
course, who can hear it?" Saying that, " Hard
is this discourse," they separated from Him : He
remained with the others, the twelve. When
they had intimated to Him, that by His discourse
they had been scandalized, " Will ye also," He
saith, "choose to go?" Then Peter: "Thou
hast the Word of life eternal : to whom shall we
go ? " s Attend, we beseech you, and ye little ones
learn godliness. Did Peter by any means at
that time understand the secret of that discourse
of the Lord ? Not yet he understood : but that
good were the words which he understood not,
godly he believed. Therefore if hard is a dis-
course, and not yet is understood, be it hard to
1 Forts posit i.
2 [That is, not by new ideas incorporated with old truth, but by
collecting into /ocus the testimony of all recognised doctors of the
Church as to the true meaning and intent of Holy Scripture. This
is development as distinguished from corruption. — C]
3 1 Cor. xi. 19. * Excludantur. t John vi. 53, etc
an ungodly man, but to thee be it by godliness
softened : for whenever it is solved, it both will
become for thee oil, and even unto the bones it
will penetrate.
23. Furthermore, just as Peter, after their hav-
ing been scandalized by the hardness, as they
thought, of the discourse of the Lord, even then
said, " to whom shall we go ? " so he hath added,
"Cast upon the Lord thy care, and He shall
Himself nourish thee up" (ver. 22). A little
one thou art, not yet thou understandest the
secret things of words : perchance from thee the
bread is hidden, and as yet with milk thou must
be fed : 6 be not angry with the breasts : they will
make thee fit for the table, for which now little
fitted thou art. Behold by the division of here-
tics many hard things have been softened : His
discourses that were hard have been softened
above oil, and they are themselves darts. They
have armed men preaching the Gospel : and the
very discourses are aimed at the breast of every
one that heareth, by men instant in season and
out of season : by those discourses, by those
words, as though by arrows, hearts of men unto
the love of peace are smitten. Hard they were,
and soft they have been made. Being softened
they have not lost their virtue, but into darts
have been converted. . . . Upon the Lord cast
thyself. Behold thou wilt cast thyself upon the
Lord, let no one put himself in the place of
the Lord. " Cast upon the Lord thy care." . . .
24. But to the others what? "But Thou, O
God, shalt bring them down unto the pit of cor-
ruption " (ver. 23). The pit of corruption is
the darkness of sinking under. When blind lead-
eth blind, they both fall into a ditch.' God
bringeth them down into the pit of corruption,
not because He is the author of their own guilt,
but because He is Himself the judge of their
iniquities. " For God hath delivered them unto
the desires of their heart." 8 For they have loved
darkness, and not light ; they have loved blind-
ness, and not seeing. For behold the Lord
Jesus hath shone out to the whole world, let them
sing in unity with the whole world : " For there
is not one that can hide himself from the heat of
Him." 9 But they passing over from the whole
to a part, from the body to a wound, from life to
a limb cut off, shall meet with what, but going
into the pit of corruption ?
25. "Men of bloods and of deceitfulness."
Men of bloods, because of slayings he calleth
them : and O that they were corporal and not
spiritual slayings. For blood from the flesh
going forth, is seen and shuddered at : who seeth
the blood of the heart in a man rebaptized?
Those deaths require other eyes. Although even
about these visible deaths Circumcelliones armed
6 1 Cor. iii. 1.
9 Ps. xix. 6.
7 Matt. xv. 14.
8 Rom. t. 34.
218
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVI.
everywhere remain not quiet. And if we think
of these visible deaths, there are men of bloods.
Give heed to the armed man, whether he is a
man of peace and not of blood. If at least a
club only he were to carry, well ; but he carrieth
a sling, carrieth an axe, carrieth stones, carrieth
lances ; and carrying these weapons, wherever
they may they scour, for the blood of innocent
men they thirst.1 Therefore even with regard to
these visible deaths there are men of bloods.
But even of them let us say, O that such deaths
alone they perpetrated, and souls they slew not.
These that are men of bloods and of deceit, let
them not suppose that we thus wrongly under-
stand men of bloods, of them that kill souls : they
themselves of their Maximianists2 have so un-
derstood it. For when they condemned them,
in the very sentence of their Council they have
set down these words : " Swift are the feet of
them to shed the blood " (of the proclaimers3),
" tribulation and calamity are in the ways of them,
and the way of peace they have not known."'4
This of the Maximianists they have said. But I
ask of them, when have the Maximianists shed
the body's blood ; not because they too would
not shed, if there were so great a multitude as
could shed, but because of the fear in their mi-
nority rather they have suffered somewhat from
others, than have themselves at any time done
any such thing. Therefore I question the Dona-
tist and say : In thy Council thou hast set down
of the Maximianists, " Swift are the feet of them
to shed blood." Show me one of whom the
Maximianists have hurt so much as a finger !
What other thing to me is he to answer, than
that which I say? They that have separated
themselves from unity,5 and who slay souls by
leading astray, spiritually, not carnally, do shed
blood. Very well thou hast expounded, but in
thy exposition acknowledge their own deeds.
" Men of bloods and of deceitfulness." In guile
is deceitfulness, in dissimulation, in seduction.
What therefore of those very men that have been
divided because of the anger of His countenance ?
They are themselves men of bloods and of
deceit.
26. But of them he saith what? "They shall
not halve their days." What is, " They shall not
halve their days " ? They shall not make prog-
ress as much as they think : within the time
which they expect, they shall perish. For he is
that partridge, whereof hath been said, " In the
» (What but Circumctllionis were the perpetrators of the Bar-
tholomew massacres, of the Dragonnades, of the awful butcheries
under Alva? — C]
3 See on Ps. xxxvi.
3 The word annuntiatorum is omitted in some copies. It is
not in the sentence of the Synod of Bagai, as given in the fourth
book against Crescontius, c. 4 — Beit.
* Ps. xiv. 7, Vule. and Angl. : also Rom. iii. 15-17.
5 [How fearfully this comes home to those who separated them-
selves from the Nicene unity under lead of Nicholas and his Decre-
tals, in the ninth age ! (John xiii. v>.) The " Dark Ages " instantly
settled upon the Church. Sec A. N. F. vol. viii. p. 64a. — C.J
half of his days they shall leave him, and in his
last days he shall be an unwise one." 6 They
make progress, but for a time. For what saith
the Apostle ? " But evil men and seducers shall
make progress for the worse, themselves erring,
and other men into error driving." ' But " a
blind man leading a blind man, together into a
ditch they fall."8 Deservedly they fall "into the
pit of corruption." What therefore saith he?
They shall make progress for the worse : not
however for long. For a little before he hath
said, " But further they shall not make prog-
ress:"0 that is, "shall not halve their days."
Let the Apostle proceed and tell wherefore :
" For the madness of them shall be manifest to
all men, as also was that of the others." " But
I in Thee will hope, O Lord." But deservedly
they shall not halve their days, because in man
they have hoped. But I from days temporal
have reached unto day eternal. Wherefore?
Because in Thee I have hoped, O Lord.
PSALM LVI.-°
1. Just as when we are going to enter into any
house, we look on the title to see whose it is and
to whom it belongeth, lest perchance inoppor-
tunely we burst into a place whereunto we ought
not ; and again, in order that we may not
through timidity withdraw from that which we
ought to enter : as if in a word we were to read,
These estates belong to such an one or to such
an one : so on the lintel of this Psalm we have in-
scribed, " At the end, for the people that from
holy men were put afar off, to David himself, at
the inscription of the Title, when the Allophyli
held him in Gath." " Let us therefore take
knowledge of the people that from holy men
were put afar off at the inscription of the Title.
For this doth belong to that David whom now
ye know how to understand spiritually. For
there is here commended to our notice no other
than He of whom hath been said, " The end of
the Law is Christ for righteousness to every man
believing." " Therefore when thou hearest " at
the end," unto Christ give heed, lest tarrying in
the way thou arrive not at the end. . . .
2. Who are then the people that from holy
men were put afar off at the inscription of the
Title? Let the Title itself declare to us that
people. For there was written a certain title at
the Passion of the Lord, when the Lord was
crucified : there was in that place a Title in-
scribed in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin,
" The King of the Jews ; " '3 in three tongues as
rTim.
8 Matt. xv. 14.
6 Jer. xvii. 11.
9 2 Tim. iii. 9.
10 Lat. LV. A discourse to the people of Carthage. A Paris
MS. has the title, " Incipit Carthagine Srrmo habitus in Basilica*
Restitutd, FtriA V. de Psalmo LV.— Sen.
11 1 Sam. xxi. to. 13 Rom. x. 4. I3 John xix. 19.
Psalm LVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
219
though by three witnesses the Title was con-
firmed : because " in the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall stand every word." ' . . .
3. What therefore meaneth that which to
the title itself still belongeth, namely, that " the
Allophyli held him in Geth "? Geth was a cer-
tain city of the Allophyli? that is, of strangers,
to wit, of people afar from holy men. All they
that refuse Christ for King become strangers.
Wherefore strangers are they made? Because
even that vine, though by Him planted, when it
had become sour what heard it ? " Wherefore
hast thou been turned into sourness, O alien
vine?"' It hath not been said, My vine : be-
cause if Mine, sweet ; if sour, not Mine ; if not
Mine, surely alien. " There held him," then,
"Allophyli in Geth." We find indeed, breth-
ren, David himself, son of Jesse, king of Israel,
to have been in a strange land among the Al-
lophyli, when he was sought by Saul, and was
in that city and with the king of that city,4 but
that there he was detained we read not.
Therefore our David, the Lord Jesus Christ out
of the seed of that David, not alone they held,
but there hold Him still Allophyli in Geth. Of
Geth we have said that it is a city. But the
interpretation of this name, if asked for, signi-
fieth " press." . . . How therefore here is He
held in Geth ? Held in a winepress is His Body,
that is, His Church. What is, in a winepress?
In pressings. But in a winepress fruitful is the
pressing. A grape or. the vine sustaineth no
pressing, whole it seemeth, but nothing thence
floweth : it is thrown into a winepress, is trod-
den, is pressed ; harm seemeth to be done to
the grape, but this harm is not barren ; nay, if
no harm had been applied, barren it would have
remained.
4. Let whatsoever holy men therefore that
are suffering pressing from those that have been
put afar off from the saints, give heed to this
Psalm, let them perceive here themselves, let
them speak what here is spoken, that suffer
what here is spoken of. . . . Private enmities
therefore let no one think of, when about to
hear the words of this Psalm : " Know ye that
for us the wrestling is not against flesh and
blood, but against princes and powers, and
spiritual things of wickedness," s that is, against
the devil and his angels ; because even when
we suffer men that annoy us, he is instigating,
he is inflaming, as it were his vessels he is
moving. Let us give heed therefore to two ene-
mies, him whom we see, and him whom we see
not ; man we see, the devil we see not ; man
let us love, of the devil beware ; for man pray,
against the devil pray, and let us say to God,
1 Matt, xviii. 16; Dent. xix. 15.
2 The usual name of the Philistines in LXX. and Vuljjate.
3 Jer. ii. 21. 4 1 Sam. xxi. xo. 5 Eph. vi. 12.
" Have pity on me, O Lord, for man hath trod-
den me down" (ver. i). Fear not because
man hath trodden thee down : have thou wine,
a grape thou hast become in order that thou
shouldest be trodden. "All day long war-
ring he hath troubled me," every one that hath
been put afar off from the saints. But why
should not here be understood even the devil
himself ? Is it because mention is made of
" man " ?6 doth therefore the Gospel err, because
it hath said, "A man that is an enemy hath
done this " ? 7 But by a kind of figure may he
also be called a man,8 and yet not be a man.
Whether therefore it was him whom he that
said these words was beholding, or whether it
was the people and each one that was put afar
off from holy men, through which kind the
devil troubleth the people of God, who cleave
to holy men, who cleave to the Holy One,
who cleave to the King, at the title of which
King being indignant they were as though beat-
en back, and put afar off: let him say, " Have
pity on me, O Lord, for man hath trodden me
down : " and let him faint not in this treading
down, knowing Him on whom he is calling,
and by whose example he hath been made
strong. The first cluster in the winefat pressed
is Christ. When that cluster by passion was
pressed out,9 there flowed that whence " the cup
inebriating is how passing beautiful ! " IO Let His
Body likewise say, looking upon its Head,
" Have pity on me, O Lord, for man hath trod-
den me down : all day long warring he hath
troubled me." "All day long," at all times.
Let no one say to himself, There have been
troubles in our fathers' time, in our time there
are not. If thou supposest thyself not to have
troubles, not yet hast thou begun to be a Chris-
tian. And where is the voice of the Apostle,
" But even all that will live godly in Christ,
persecutions shall suffer." " If therefore thou
sufferest not any persecution for Christ, take
heed lest not yet thou hast begun godly to
live in Christ. But when thou hast begun
godly to live in Christ, thou hast entered into
the winepress ; make ready thyself for press-
ings : but be not thou dry, lest from the pressing
nothing go forth.
5. " Mine enemies have trodden me down all
day long" (ver. 2). They that have been put
afar off from holy men, these are mine enemies.
All day long : already it hath been said, " From
the height '2 of the day." What meaneth, " from
the height of the day "? Perchance it is a high
thing to understand. And no wonder, because
6 So MfiS. edd. " because he is not called man."
7 Matt. xiii. 28.
8 [Angels are so called. Dan. ix. H, Acts x. 26. Compare Mark
xvi. 5; Rev. xix. 10; also this vol. p. 117, note 7, mpra. — C]
9 Isa. lxiii. 3. I0 Ps. xxiii. 5. I! a Tim. iii. 12.
a Or, " depth."
220
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVI.
the height of the day it is. For perchance they
for this reason have been put afar off from holy
men, because they were not able to penetrate
the height of the day, whereof the Apostles
are twelve shining hours. Therefore they that
crucified Him, as if man, in the day have erred.
But why have they suffered darkness, so that
they should be put afar off from holy men ? Be-
cause on high the day was shining, Him in the
height hidden they knew not. " For if they
had known, never the Lord of Glory would
they have crucified." "...
6. " For many men that war against me, shall
fear" (ver. 3). Shall fear when? When the
day shall have passed away, wherein they are
high. For for a time high they are, when the
time of their height is finished they will fear.
" But I in Thee will hope, O Lord." He saith
not, " But I will not fear : " but, " Many men,
that war against me, shall fear." When there
shall have come that day of Judgment, then
" shall mourn for themselves all the tribes of the
earth." 2 When there shall have appeared the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven, then secure shall be
all holy men. For that thing shall come which
they hoped for, which they longed for, the com-
ing whereof they prayed for : but to those men
no place for repentance shall remain, because in
that time wherein fruitful might have been repent-
ance, their heart they hardened against a warning
Lord. Shall they too raise up a wall against a
judging God ? The godliness of this man do thou
indeed acknowledge, and if in that Body thou art,
imitate him. When he had said, " Many men,
that war against me, shall fear : " he did not con-
tinue, " But I will not fear ; " lest to his own
powers ascribing his not fearing, he too should
be amid high temporal things, and through pride
temporal he should not deserve to come to rest
everlasting : rather he hath made thee to perceive
whence he shall not fear. " But I," he saith, " in
thee will hope, O Lord : " he hath not spoken of
his confidence : but of the cause of his confi-
dence. For if I shall not fear, I may also by
hardness of heart not fear, for many men by too
much pride fear nothing. . . .
7. " In God I will praise my discourses, in
God I have 3 hoped : I will not fear what flesh
doeth to me" (ver. 4). Wherefore? Because
in God I will praise my discourses. If in thy-
self thou praisest thy discourses : I say not that
thou art not to fear ; it is impossible that thou
have not to fear. For thy discourses either false
thou wilt have, and therefore thine own, because
false : or if thy discourses shall be true, and thou
shalt deem thyself not to have them from God,
but of thyself to speak ; true they will be, but
thou wilt be false : but if thou shalt have known
' 1 Cor. ii. 8. 2 Matt. xxiv. 30. J Or, " will hope," mss.
that thou canst say nothing true in the wisdom
of God, in the faith of the Truth, save that which
from Him thou hast received, of whom is said,
" For what hast thou which thou hast not re-
ceived?"4 Then in God thou art praising thy
discourses, in order that in God thou mayest be
praised by the discourses of God. . . . " In God
I have hoped, I will not fear what flesh doeth
to me." Wast thou not the same that a little
before wast saying, " Have pity on me, O Lord,
for man hath trodden ine down ; all day long
warring he hath troubled me " ? 5 How therefore
here, " I will not fear what flesh doeth to me " ?
What shall he do to thee ? Thou thyself a little
before hast said, " Hath trodden me down, hath
troubled me." Nothing shall he do, when these
things he shall do? He hath had regard to the
wine which floweth from treading, and hath made
answer, Evidently he hath trodden down, evi-
dently hath troubled ; but what to me shall he
do ? A grape I was, wine I shall be : " In God
I have hoped, I will not fear what flesh doeth
to me."
8. " All day long my words they abhorred "
(ver. 5). Thus they are, ye know. Speak
truth, preach truth, proclaim Christ to the
heathen, proclaim the Church to heretics, pro-
claim to all men salvation : they contradict, they
abhor my words. But when my words they
abhor, whom think ye they abhor, save Him in
whom I shall praise my discourses ? " All day
long my words they abhorred." Let this at least
suffice, let them abhor words, no farther let them
proceed, censure, reject ! Be it far from them !
Why should I say this ? When words they re-
ject, when words they hate, those words which
from the fount of truth flow forth, what would
they do to him through whom the very words
are spoken? what but that which followeth,
" Against me all the counsels of them are for
evil? If the bread itself they hate, how spare they
the basket wherein it is ministered ? " Against
me all the counsels of them are for evil." If so
even against the Lord Himself, let not the Body
disdain that which hath gone before in the
Head, to the end that the Body may cleave to
the Head. Despised hath been thy Lord, and
wilt thou have thyself be honoured by those men
that have been put afar off from holy men?
Dp not for thyself wish to claim that which in
Him hath not gone before. "The disciple is
not greater than his Master ; the servant is not
greater than his Lord. If the Master of the
family they have called Beelzebub, how much
more them of His household?" 6 Against me
all the counsels of them are for evil."
9. "They shall sojourn, and shall hide " (ver.
6). To sojourn is to be in a strange land.
* 1 Cor. iv. 7.
5 Ps. lvi. x.
6 Matt. x. 24, 25.
TSALM LVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
221
Sojourners is a term used of those then that live
in a country not their own. Every man in this
life is a foreigner : in which life ye see that with
flesh we are covered round, through which flesh
the heart cannot be seen. Therefore the Apos-
tle saith, " Do not before the .time judge any-
thing, until the Lord come, and He shall enlighten
the hidden things of darkness, and shall mani-
fest the thoughts of the heart ; and then praise
shall be to each one from God." " Before that
this be done, in this sojourning of fleshly life every
one carrieth his own heart, and every heart to
every other heart is shut. Furthermore, those
men of whom the counsels are against this man
for evil, " shall sojourn, and shall hide : " because
in this foreign abode they are, and carry flesh,
they hide guile in heart ; whatsoever of evil they
think, they hide. Wherefore? Because as yet
this life is a foreign one. Let them hide ; that
shall appear which they hide, and they too will
not be hidden. There is also in this hidden
thing another interpretation, which perchance
will be more approved of. For out of those men
that have been put afar off from holy men, there
creep in certain false brethren, and they cause
worse tribulations to the Body of Christ ; be-
cause they are not altogether avoided as if
entirely aliens. . . . Not even those men never-
theless let us fear, brethren : " I will not fear
what flesh doeth to me." Even if they sojourn,
even if they go in, even if they feign, even
if they hide, flesh they are : do thou in the
Lord hope, nothing to thee shall flesh do. But
he bringeth in tribulation, bringeth in treading
down. There is added wine, because the grape
is pressed : thy tribulation will not be unfruitful :
another seeth thee, imitateth thee : because thou
also in order that thou mightest learn to bear
such a man, to thy Head hast looked up, that
first cluster, unto whom there hath come in a
man that he might see, hath sojourned, and hath
hidden, to wit, the traitor Judas. All men,
therefore, that with false heart go in, sojourning
and hiding, do not thou fear : the father of these
same men, Judas, with thy Lord hath been : and
He indeed knew him ; although Judas the traitor
was sojourning and hiding, nevertheless, the
heart of him was open to the Lord of all : 2 know-
ingly He chose one man, whereby He might give
comfort to thee that wouldest not know whom
thou shouldest avoid. For He might have not
chosen Judas, because He knew Judas : for He
saith to His disciples, " Have not I chosen you
twelve, and one out of you is a devil? " 3 There-
fore even a devil was chosen. Or if chosen he was
not, how is it that He hath chosen twelve, and
not rather eleven ? Chosen even he is, but for
another purpose. Chosen were eleven for the
1 i Cor. iv. 5.
3 John vi. 70.
* Oxf. mss. H guilty before the Lord."
work of probation, chosen one for the work of
temptation.'1 Whence could He give an example
to thee, that wouldest not know what men thou
shouldest avoid as evil, of what men thou
shouldest beware as false and artificial, sojourning
and hiding, except He say to thee, Behold, with
Myself I have had one of those very men ! There
hath gone before an example, I have borne, to
suffer I have willed that which I knew, in order
that to thee knowing not I might give consola-
tion. That which to Me he hath done, the same
he will do to thee also : in order that he may
be able to do much, in order that he may make
much havoc, he will accuse, false charges he will
allege. . . .
10. " These same men shall mark my heel."
For they shall sojourn and hide in such sort, that
they may mark where a man slippeth. Intent
they are upon the heel, to see when a slip may
chance to be made ; in order that they may de-
tain the foot for a fall, or trip up the foot for a
stumble ; certes that they may find that which
they may accuse. And what man so walketh,
that nowhere he slippeth? For example, how
speedily is a slip made even in tongue? For it is
written, " Whosoever in tongue stumbleth not,
the same is a perfect man." 5 What man I pray
would dare himself to call or deem perfect?
Therefore it must needs be that every one slip in
tongue. But let them that shall sojourn and
shall hide, carp at all words, seeking somewhere
to make snares and knotty false accusations,
wherein they are themselves entangled before
those whom they strive to entangle : in order
that they may themselves be taken and perish
before that they catch other men in order to de-
stroy them. . . . Whatever good thing I have said,
whatever true thing I have said, of God I have
said it, and from God have said it : whatever
other thing perchance I have said, which to have
said I ought not, as a man I have said, but under
God I have said. He that strengtheneth one
walking, doth menace one straying, forgive one
acknowledging, recalleth the tongue, recalleth
him that slipped. . . . Attend thou unto the dis-
courses of him whom thou blamest, whether per-
chance he may teach thee something to thy
health. And what, he saith, shall he be able to
teach to my health, that hath so slipped in
word? This very thing perchance he is teach-
ing thee to thy health, that thou be not a carper
at words, but a gatherer of precepts. " As my
soul hath undergone." I speak of that which
I have undergone. He was speaking as one
experienced : " As my soul hath undergone.
They shall sojourn and hide." Let my soul
undergo all men, men without barking, men
within hiding, let it undergo. From without
< [See A N. F. vol. i
5 Jas. iii. 2.
pp. 40, 117, J53, 157, vi. 207.
-C]
222
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVI.
coming, like a river cometh temptation : on the
Rock let it find thee, let it strike against, not
throw thee down ; the house hath been founded
upon a Rock.' Within he is, he shall sojourn
and hide : suppose chaff is near thee, let there
come in the treading of oxen, let there come
in the roller of temptations ; thou art cleansed,
the other is crushed.
ii. "For nothing Thou shalt save them"
(ver. 7). He hath taught us even for these
very men te pray. However " they shall sojourn
and hide," however deceitful they be, however
dissemblers and liers in wait they be ; do thou
pray for them, and do not say, Shall God amend
even such a man, so evil, so perverse ? Do not
despair : give heed to Him whom thou askest,
not him for whom thou askest. The greatness
of the disease seest thou, the might of the Phy-
sician seest thou not? " They shall sojourn and
hide : as my soul hath undergone." Undergo,
pray : and there is done what ? " For nothing
Thou shalt save them." Thou shalt make
them safe so as that nothing to Thee it may be,
that is, so that no labour to Thee it may be.
With men they are despaired of, but Thou with
a word dost heal ; Thou wilt not toil in healing,
though we are astounded in looking on. There
is another sense in this verse, " For nothing
Thou shalt save them : " with not any merits of
their going before Thou shalt save them. . . .They
shall not bring to Thee he-goats, rams, bulls, not
gifts and spices shall they bring Thee in Thy
temple, not anything of the drink-offering of a
good conscience do they pour thereon ; all in
them is rough, all foul, all to be detested : and
though they to Thee bring nothing whereby
they may be saved ; " For nothing Thou shalt
save them," that is, with the free gift of Thy
Grace. . . .
12. " In anger the peoples Thou shalt bring
down." Thou art angry and dost bring down,
dost rage and save, dost terrify and call. Thou
fillest with tribulations all things, in order that
being set in tribulations men may fly to Thee,
lest by pleasures and a wrong security they be
seduced. From Thee anger is seen, but that of
a father. A father is angry with a son, the de-
spiser of his injunctions : being angry with him
he boxeth him, striketh, pulleth the ear, drag-
geth with hand, leadeth to school. How many
men have entered, how many men have filled
the House of the Lord, in the anger of Him
brought down, that is, by tribulations terrified
and with faith filled? For to this end tribula-
tion stirreth up ; in order to empty the vessel
which is full of wickedness, so as that it may be
filled with grace.
13. "O God, my life I have told out to
■ Matt. vii. 35.
Thee" (ver. 8). For that I live hath been
Thy doing, and for this reason I tell out my life
to Thee. But did not God know that which
He had given? What is that which thou tellest
out to Him? Wilt thou teach God ? Far be it.
Therefore why saith he, " I have told out to
Thee " ? Is it perchance because it profiteth
Thee that I have told out my life ? And what
doth it profit God ? To the advantage of God
it doth profit. I have told out to God my life,
because that life hath been God's doing. In
like manner as his life Paul the Apostle did tell
out, saying, " I that before was a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious," he shall tell out his
life " But mercy I have obtained." 2 He hath
told out his life, not for himself, but for Him :
because he hath told it out in such sort, that in
Him men believe, not for his own advantages,
but for the advantages of Him. . . . " O God,
my life I have told out to Thee. Thou hast
put my tears in Thy sight." Thou hast heark-
ened to me imploring Thee. " As also in Thy
promise." Because as Thou hadst promised
this thing, so Thou hast done. Thou hast said
Thou wouldest hearken to one weeping. • I
have believed, I have wept, I have been heark-
ened unto ; I have found Thee merciful in prom-
mising, true in repaying.
14. "Turned be mine enemies backward"
(ver. 9). This thing to these very men is prof-
itable, no ill to these men he is wishing. For
to go before they are willing, therefore to be
amended they are not willing. Thou warnest
thine enemy to live well, that he amend himself:
he scorneth, he rejecteth thy word : " Behold
him that adviseth me ; behold him from whom
I am to hear the commandments whereby I
shall live ! " To go before thee he willeth, and
in going before is not amended. He mindeth
not that thy words are not thine, he mindeth not
that thy life to God thou tellest out, not to thyself.
In going before therefore he is not amended :
it is a good thing for him that he be turned
backward, and follow him whom to go before he
willed. The Lord to His disciples was speaking
of His Passion that was to be. Peter shud-
dered, and saith, " Far be it, O Lord ;"* he that
a little before had said, " Thou art the Christ,
Son of the living God," having confessed God,
feared for Him to die, as if but a man. But the
Lord who so came that He might suffer (for
we could not otherwise be saved unless with His
blood we were redeemed), a little before had
praised the confession of Peter. . . . But im-
mediately when the Lord beginneth to speak of
His Passion, he feared lest He should perish by
death, whereas we ourselves should perish unless
He died ; and he saith, " Far be it, O Lord,
8 j Tim. i. 13.
3 Matt. xvi. as.
Psalm LVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
223
this thing shall not be done." And the Ix>rd,
to him to whom a little before He had said,
" Blessed thou art, and upon this Rock I will
build my Church," saith, " Go back behind,
Satan, an offence thou art to Me." Why there-
fore " Satan " is he, that a little before was
" blessed," and a " Rock " ? " For thou savour-
est not the things which are of God," He saith,
" but those things which are of man." ' A little
before he savoured the things which are of
God : because " not flesh and blood hath
revealed to thee, but My Father which is in the
Heavens." When in God he was praising his
discourse, not Satan but Peter, from petra :
but when of himself and out of human infirmity,
carnal love of man, which would be for an im-
pediment to his own salvation, and that of the
rest, Satan he is called. Why? Because to go
before the Lord he willed, and earthly counsel
to give to the heavenly Leader. " Far be it, O
Lord, this thing shall not be done." Thou say-
est, " Far be it," and thou sayest, " O Lord : "
surely if Lord He is, in power He doeth : if
Master He is, He knoweth what He doeth, He
knoweth what He teacheth. But thou wiliest
to lead thy Leader, teach thy Master, command
thy Lord, choose for God : much thou goest
before, go back behind. Did not this too profit
these enemies? "Turned be Mine enemies
backward ; " but let them not remain backward.
For this reason let them be turned backward,
lest they go before ; but so that they follow, not
so that they remain.
15. "In whatsoever day I shall have called
upon Thee, behold I have known that my God
art Thou " (ver. 9). A great knowledge. He
saith not, " I have known that God Thou art : "
but, "that my God art Thou." For thine He
is, when thee He succoureth : thine He is,
when thou to Him art not an alien. Whence
is said, " Blessed the people of whom is the
Lord the God of the same." 2 Wherefore " of
whom is"? For of whom is He not? Of all
things indeed God He is : but of those men the
God peculiarly He is said to be, that love Him,
that hold Him, that possess Him, that worship
Him, as though belonging to His own House :
the great family of Him are they, redeemed
by the great blood of the Only Son. How great
a thing hath God given to us, that His own we
should be, and He should be ours ! But in
truth foreigners afar have been put from holy
men, sons alien they are. See what of them is
said in another Psalm : " O Lord, deliver me,"
he saith, " from the hand of alien sons, of whom
the mouth hath spoken vanity, and the right
hand of them is a right hand of iniquity." 3 . . .
16. Let us therefore love God, brethren, purely
1 Matt. xvi. 23.
2 Ps. cxliv. is.
3 Ps. cxliv. 11.
and chastely. There is not a chaste heart, if
God for reward it worshippeth. How so ? Re-
ward of the worship of God shall not we have ?
We shall have evidently, but it is God Himself
whom we worship. Himself for us a reward
shall be, because " we shall see Him as He is." 4
Observe that a reward 5 thou shalt obtain. . . .
I will tell you, brethren : in these human alli-
ances consider a chaste heart, of what sort it is
towards God : certainly human alliances are of
such sort, that a man doth not love his wife, that
loveth her because of her portion : a woman her
husband doth not chastely love, that for these
reasons loveth him, because something he hath
given, or because much he hath given. Both a
rich man is a husband, and one that hath be-
come a poor man is a husband. How many
men proscribed, by chaste wives have been the
more beloved ! Proved have been many chaste
marriages by the misfortunes of husbands : that
the wives might not be supposed to love any
other object more than their husband, not only
have they not forsaken, but the more have they
obeyed. If therefore a husband of flesh freely
is loved, if chastely he is loved ; and a wife of
flesh freely is loved, if chastely she is loved ; in
what manner must God be loved, the true and
truth-speaking Husband of the soul, making
fruitful unto the offspring of everlasting life, and
not suffering us to be barren ? Him, therefore, so
let us love, as that any other thing besides Him-
self be not loved : and there takes place in us
that which we have spoken of, that which we
have sung, because even here the voice is ours :
" In whatsoever day I shall have called upon
Thee, behold, I have known that my God art
Thou." This is to call upon God, freely to call
upon Him. Furthermore, of certain men hath
been said what? "Upon the Lord they have not
called." 6 The Lord they seemed as it were to
call unto themselves ; and they besought Him
about inheritances, about increasing money,
about lengthening this life, about the rest of
temporal things : and concerning them the
Scripture saith what? "Upon the Lord they
have not called." Therefore there followeth
what? "There they have feared with fear,
where there was no fear." What is, " where
there was no fear"? Lest money should be
stolen from them, lest anything in their house
should be made less ; lastly, lest they should
have less of years in this life, than they hoped
for themselves : but there have they trembled
with fear, where there was no fear. ..." In God
I will praise the word, in the Lord I will praise
the discourse" (ver. 10): "in God I have
hoped, I will not fear what man doeth unto me "
< 1 John iii. 2.
5 At. ''what reward."
6 Ps. xiv. 4.
224
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVI.
(ver. n). Now this is the very sense which
above ' hath been repeated.
17. -'In me, O God, are Thy vows, which I
will render of praise to Thee " (ver. 12). "Vow
ye, and render to the Lord your God." * What
vow, what render? Perchance those animals
which were offered at the altars aforetime ? No
such thing offer thou : in thyself is what thou
mayest vow and render. From the heart's coffer
bring forth the incense of praise ; from the store
of a good conscience bring forth the sacrifice of
faith. Whatsoever thing thou bringest forth,
kindle with love. In thyself be the vows, which
thou mayest render of praise to God. Of what
praise ? For what hath He granted thee ? " For
Thou hast rescued my soul from death " (ver.
13). This is that very life which he telleth out
to Him : " O God, my life I have told out to
Thee."3 For I was what? Dead. Through
myself I was dead : through Thee I am what ?
Alive. Therefore " in me, O God, are Thy vows,
which I will render of praise to Thee." Behold
I love my God : no one doth tear Him from me :
that which to Him I may give, no one doth" tear
from me, because in the heart it is shut up.
With reason is said with that former confidence,
" What should man do unto me?"1 Let man
rage, let him be permitted to rage, be permitted
to accomplish that which he attempteth : what is
he to take away ? Gold, silver, cattle, men ser-
vants, maid servants, estates, houses, let him
take away all things : doth he by any means take
away the vows, which are in me, which I may
render of praise to God ? The tempter was per-
mitted to tempt a holy man, Job ; 5 in one moment
he took away all things : whatever of possessions
he had had, he carried off: took away inherit-
ance, slew heirs ; and this not little by little, but
in a crowd, at one blow, at one swoop, so that
all things were on a sudden announced : when all
was taken away, alone there remained Job, but
in him were vows of praise, which he might ren-
der to God, in him evidently there were : the
coffer of his holy breast the thieving devil had
not rifled, full he was of that wherefrom he might
sacrifice. Hear what he had, hear what he
brought forth : " The Lord hath given, the Lord
hath taken away ; as hath pleased the Lord, so
hath been done : be the name of the Lord bless-
ed." 6 O riches interior, whither thief doth not
draw near ! God Himself had given that where-
of He was receiving ; He had Himself enriched
him with that whereof to Him he was offering
that which He loved. Praise from thee God
requireth, thy confession God requireth. But
from thy field wilt thou give anything? He hath
Himself rained in order that thou mayest have.
1 P». lvi. 4, p. 290, supra.
3 P*. lvi. 8, p. a»3, supra.
5 Job i. 12.
2 Ps. Ixxvi. xi.
< P«. lvi. 11.
6 Job 1. 21.
From thy coffer wilt thou give anything ? He
hath Himself put in that which thou art to give.
What wilt thou give, which from Him thou hast
not received? " For what hast thou which thou
hast not received?"7 From the heart wilt thou
give ? He too hath given faith, hope, and charity :
this thou must bring forth : this thou must sacri-
fice. But evidently all the other things the enemy
is able to take away against thy will ; this to take
away he is not able, unless thou be willing. These
things a man will lose even against his will : and
wishing to have gold, will lose gold ; and wishing
to have house, will lose house : faith no one will
lose, except him that shall have despised her.
18. " Because Thou hast rescued my soul from
death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from slip-
ping : that I may be pleasing before God in the
light of the living " (ver. 13). With reason
he is not pleasing to alien sons, that are put afar
off from holy men, because they have not the
light of the living, whence they may see that
which to God is pleasing. " Light of the living,"
is light of the immortal, light of holy men. He
that is not in darkness, is pleasing in the light of
the living. A man is observed, and the things
which belong to him ; no one knoweth of what
sort he is : God seeth of what sort he is. Some-
times even the devil himself he escapeth ; except
he tempt, he findeth not : just as concerning that
man of whom just now I have made mention :
..." Doth Job by any means worship God for
nought ? " 8 For this was true light, this the light
of the living, that gratis he should worship God.
God saw in the heart of His servant His gratui-
tous worship. For that heart was pleasing in the
sight of the Lord in the light of the living : the
devil's sight he escaped, because in darkness he
was. God admitted the tempter, not in order
that He might Himself know that which He
did know, but in order that to us to be known
and imitated He might set it forth. Admitted
was the tempter ; he took away everything, there
remained the man bereft of possessions, bereft of
family, bereft of children, full of God. A wife
certainly was left.9 Merciful do ye deem the
devil, that he left him a wife ? He knew through
whom he had deceived Adam. . . . With wound
smitten from head even unto feet, whole never-
theless within, he made answer to the woman
tempting, out of the light of the living, out of the
light of his heart : " thou hast spoken as though
one of the unwise women," IO that is, as though one
that hath not the light of the living. For the
light of the living is wisdom, and the darkness of
unwise men is folly. Thou hast spoken as though
one of the unwise women : my flesh thou seest, the
light of my heart thou seest not. For she then
might more have loved her husband, if the inte-
7 I Cor. iv. 7.
10 Job ii. 10.
8 Job i. 9.
9 Job ii. 9.
Psalm LVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
225
rior beauty she had known, and had beheld the [
place where he was beautiful before the eyes of
God : because in Him were vows which he might
render of praise to God. How entirely the j
enemy had forborne to invade that patrimony ! j
How whole was that which he was possessing,
and that because of which yet more to be pos-
sessed he hoped for, being to go on " from virtues
unto virtue." ■ Therefore, brethren, to this end
let all these things serve us, that God gratis we
love, in Him hope always, neither man nor devil
fear. Neither the one nor the other doeth any-
thing, except when it is permitted : permitted for
no other reason can it be, except because it doth
profit us. Let us endure evil men, let us be good
men : because even we have been evil. Even as
nothing2 God shall save men, of whom we dare
to despair. Therefore of no one let us despair,
for all men whom we suffer let us pray, from God
let us never depart. Our patrimony let Him be,
our hope let Him be, our safety let Him be. He
is Himself here a comforter, there a remunerator,
everywhere Maker-alive, and of life the Giver,
not of another life, but of that whereof hath been
said, " I am the Way, and the Truth, and the
Life : " J in order that both here in the light of
faith, and there in the light of sight, as it were in
the light of the living, in the sight of the Lord
we may be pleasing.
PSALM LVII.t
1. We have heard in the Gospel just now,
brethren, how loveth us our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, God with the Father, Man with us,
out of our own selves, now at 5 the right hand of
the Father ; ye have heard how much He loveth
us. . . .
2. Because then this Psalm is singing of the
Passion of the Lord, see what is the title that it
hath: "at the end." The end is Christ.6 Why
hath He been called end? Not as one that
consumeth, but one that consummateth. . . .
3. " At the end, corrupt not, for David himself,
for the inscription of the title ; when he fled
from the face of Saul into a cavern." We
referring to holy Scripture, do find indeed how
holy David, that king of Israel, from whom too
the Psalter of David hath received the name
thereof, had suffered for persecutor Saul the
king of his own people, as many of you know
that have either read or have heard the Scriptures.
King David had then for persecutor Saul : and
whereas the one was most gentle, the other
most ferocious : the one mild, the other envi-
ous ; the one patient, the other cruel ; the one
beneficent, the other ungrateful : he endured
1 Ps. lxxxiv. 7. 2 Pro nihilo.
3 John xiv. 6. * Lat. I.VI. Sermon to the Commonalty.
3 Circa. b Rom. x. 4.
him with so much mildness, that when he had
gotten him into his hands, him he touched not,
hurt not.7. . . What reference hath this to Christ?
If all things which then were being done, were
figures of things future, we find there Christ,
and by far in the greatest degree. For this,
" corrupt not for the inscription of the title," I
see not how it belongeth to that David. For
not any " title " was inscribed over David him-
self which Saul would " corrupt." But we see
in the Passion of the Lord that there had been
written a title, " King of the Jews : " 8 in order
that this title might put to the blush these very
men, seeing that from their King they withheld
not their hands. For in them Saul was, in
Christ David was. For Christ, as saith the
Apostolic Gospel, is, as we know, as we con-
fess, of the seed of David after the flesh j » for
after the Godhead He is above David, above
all men, above heaven and earth, above angels,
above all things visible and invisible. . . . And
because already it had been sung through the
Holy Spirit, " Unto the end, corrupt not, for
the inscription of the title : " Pilate answered
them, " What I have written, I have written : " IO
why do ye suggest to me falsehood ? I corrupt
not truth.
4. What therefore is, " When he fled from the
face of Saul into a cavern"? Which thing in-
deed the former David also did : but because
in him we find not the inscription of the title, in
the latter let us find the flight into the cavern. "
For that cavern wherein David hid himself did
figure somewhat. But wherefore hid he him-
self? It was in order that he might be concealed
and not be found. What is to be hidden in a
cavern? To be hidden in earth. For he that
fleeth into a cavern, with earth is covered so that
he may not be seen. But Jesus did carry earth,
flesh which He had received from earth : and in
it He concealed Himself, in order that by Jews
He might not be discovered as God. " For if
they had known, never the Lord of glory would
they have crucified." '2 Why therefore the Lord
of glory found they not ? Because in a cavern
He had hidden Himself, that is, the flesh's
weakness to their eyes He presented, but the
Majesty of the Godhead in the body's clothing,
as though in a hiding-place of the earth, He hid.
. . . But wherefore even unto death willed He
to be patient? It was in order that He might
flee from the face of Saul into a cavern. For a
cavern may be understood as a lower part of the
earth. And certainly, as is manifest and certain
to all, His Body in a Tomb was laid, which was
cut in a Rock. This Tomb therefore was the
Cavern : thither He fled from the face of Saul.
1 Sam. xxiv. 4, 7.
Rom. i. 3: Matt. i. 1.
i Sam. xxiv. 3.
8 Matt, xxvii. 37; John xix. 19.
10 John xix 22.
12 1 Cor. ii. 8.
226
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVII.
For so long the Jews did persecute Him, even
until He was laid in a cavern. Whence prove
we that so long they persecuted Him, until
therein He was laid ? Even when dead, and, on
the Cross hanging, with lance they wounded
Him.' But when shrouded, the funeral celebrat-
ed, He was laid in a cavern, no longer had
they anything which to the Flesh they might
do. Rose therefore the Ix)rd again out of that
cavern unhurt, uncorrupt, from that place
whither He had fled from the face of Saul : con-
cealing Himself from ungodly men, whom Saul
prefigured, but showing Himself to His mem-
bers. For the members of Him rising again
by His members were handled : for the mem-
bers of Him, the Apostles, touched Him rising
again and believed ; 2 and behold nothing profited
the persecution of Saul. Hear we therefore
now the Psalm ; because concerning the title
thereof enough we have spoken, as far as the
Lord hath deigned to give.
5. " Have pity on me, O God, have pity on
me, for in Thee hath trusted my Soul " (ver. 1).
Christ in the Passion saith, " Have pity on Me,
O God." To God, God saith, " Have pity on
Me ! " He that with the Father hath pity on thee,
in thee crieth, " Have pity on Me." For that
part of Him which is crying, " Have pity on
Me," is thine : from thee this He received, for the
sake of thee, that thou shouldest be delivered,
with Flesh He was clothed. The flesh itself
crieth : " Have pity on Me, O God, have pity
on me : " Man himself, soul and flesh. For
whole Man did the Word take upon Him, and
whole Man the Word became. Let it not there-
fore be thought that there Soul was not, because
the Evangelist thus saith : " The Word was
made flesh, and dwelled in us." ' For man is
called flesh, as in another place saith the Scrip-
ture, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of
God." 4 Shall anywise flesh alone see, and shall
Soul not be there ? . . . Thou hearest the Mas-
ter praying, learn thou to pray. For to this end
He prayed, in order that He might teach how
to pray : because to this end He suffered, in or-
der that He might teach how to suffer ; to this
end He rose again, in order that He might
teach how to hope for rising again. " And in
the shadow of Thy wings I will hope, until
iniquicy pass over." This now evidently whole
Christ doth say : here is also our voice. For
not yet hath passed over, still rife is iniquity.
And in the end our Lord Himself said there
should be an abounding of iniquity : " And since
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold ; but he that shall have persevered unto
the end, the same shall be saved." ' But who
shall persevere even unto the end, even until in-
John xix. 34.
xl. 5, lu. 10; Luke iii. 6.
4 ha.
Luke :
3 John i. 14.
5 Malt. xxiv. 13.
iquity pass over? He that shall have been in
the Body of Christ, he that shall have been in the
members of Christ, and from the Head shall
have learned the patience of persevering. Thou
passest away, and behold passed are thy temp-
tations ; and thou goest into another life whither
have gone holy men, if holy thou hast been.
Into another life have gone Martyrs ; if Martyr
thou shalt have been, thou also goest into
another life. Because " thou " hast passed away
hence, hath by any means iniquity therefore
passed away ? There are born other unrighteous
men, as there die some unrighteous men. In
like manner therefore as some unrighteous men
die and others are born : so some just men go,
and others are born. Even unto the end of the
world neither iniquity will be wanting to oppress,
nor righteousness to suffer. . . .
6. "I will cry to God most high" (ver. 2).
If most high He is, how heareth He thee crying?
Confidence hath been engendered by experi-
ence: "to God," he saith, "who had done
good to me." If before that I was seeking
Him, He did good to me, when I cry shall He
not hearken to me? For good to us the Lord
God hath done in sending to us our Saviour
Jesus Christ, that He might die for our offences,
and rise again for our justification.6 For what
sort of men hath He willed His Son to die? For
ungodly men. But ungodly men were not seek-
ing God, and have been sought of God. For
He is Most High in such sort, as that not far
from Him is our misery and our groaning : be-
cause " near is the Lord to them that have bruised
the heart." 7 " God that hath done good to me."
7. " He hath sent from heaven and hath saved
me" (ver. 3). Now the Man Himself, now
the Flesh Itself, now the Son of God after His
partaking of ourselves, of Him it is manifest,
how He was saved, and hath sent from heaven
the Father and hath saved Him, hath sent from
heaven, and hath raised Him again : but in or-
der that ye may know, that also the Lord Him-
self hath raised again Himself; both truths are
written in Scripture, both that the Father hath
raised Him again, and that Himself Himself
hath raised again. Hear ye how the Father
hath raised Him again : the Apostle saith, " He
hath been made," he saith, " obedient unto
death, even the death of the Cross : wherefore
God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him
a name which is above every name."8 Ye have
heard of the Father raising again and exalting
the Son ; hear ye how that He too Himself His
flesh hath raised again. Under the figure of a
temple He saith to the Jews, " Destroy this
Temple, and in three days I will raise it up."'
But the Evangelist hath explained to us what it
6 Rom. iv. 35.
9 John U. 19.
7 Ps. xxxiv. 18.
» Phil. ii. 8, 9.
Psalm LVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
227
was that He said: "But this," he saith, "He
spake of the Temple of His Body." Now there-
fore out of the person of one praying, out of the
person of a man, out of the person of the flesh,
He saith, " He hath saved me. He hath given
unto reproach those that trampled on me."
Them that have trampled on Him, that over
Him dead have insulted, that Him as though
man have crucified, because God they perceived
not, them He hath given unto reproach. See
ye whether it has not been so done. The thing
we do not believe as yet to come, but fulfilled
we acknowledge it. The Jews raged against
Christ, they were overbearing against Christ.
Where ? In the city of Jerusalem. For where
they reigned, there they were puffed up, there
their necks they lifted up. After the Passion of
the Lord thence they were rooted out ; and they
lost the kingdom, wherein Christ for King
they would not acknowledge. In what manner
they have been given unto reproach, see ye :
dispersed they have been throughout all nations,
nowhere having a settlement, nowhere a sure
abode. But for this reason still Jews they are,
in order that our books they may carry to their
confusion. For whenever we wish to show
Christ prophesied of, we produce to the heathen
these writings. And lest perchance men hard of
belief should say that we Christians have com-
posed these books, so that together with the
Gospel which we have preached we have forged
the Prophet, through whom there might seem to
be foretold that which we preach : by this we
convince them ; namely, that all the very writings
wherein Christ hath been prophesied are with
the Jews, all these very writings the Jews have.
We produce documents from enemies, to con-
found other enemies. In what sort of reproach
therefore are the Jews? A document the Jew
carrieth, wherefrom a Christian may believe.
Our librarians they have become, just as slaves
are wont behind their masters to carry docu-
ments, in such sort that these faint in carrying,
those profit by reading.1 Unto such a reproach
have been given the Jews : and there hath been
fulfilled that which so long before hath been
foretold, " He hath given unto reproach those
that trampled on me." But how great a re-
proach it is, brethren, that this verse they should
read, and themselves being blind should look
upon their mirror ! For in the same manner
the Jews appear in the holy Scripture which
they carry, as appeareth the face of a blind man
in a mirror : by other men it is seen, by him-
self not seen.
8. Thou wast inquiring perhaps when he
said, " He hath sent from heaven and hath
saved me." What hath He sent from heaven?
1 [Sec p. 132, note 3, supra. — C]
Whom hath He sent from heaven? An Angel
hath He sent, to save Christ, and through a
servant is the Lord saved? For all Angels
are creatures 2 serving Christ. For obedience
there might have been sent Angels, for service
they might have been sent, not for succour : as is
written, "Angels ministered unto Him,"3 not like
men merciful to one indigent, but like subjects
to One Omnipotent. What therefore " hath He
sent from heaven, and hath saved me " ? Now
we hear in another verse what from heaven He
hath sent. " He hath sent from heaven His
mercy and His truth."4 For what purpose?
"And hath drawn out my soul from the midst
of the lions' whelps." 5 " Hath sent," he saith,
" from heaven His mercy and His truth : " and
Christ Himself saith, " I am Truth." There was
sent therefore Truth, that it should draw out my
soul hence from the midst of the lions' whelps :
there was sent mercy. Christ Himself we find
to be both mercy and truth ; mercy in suffering
with us, and truth in requiting us. . . . Who are
the lions' whelps? That lesser6 people, unto
evil deceived, unto evil led away by the chiefs
of the Jews : so that these are lions, those lions'
whelps. All roared, all slew. For we are to
hear even here the slaying of these very men,
presently in the following verses of this Psalm.
9. " And hath drawn out," he saith, " my
soul from the midst of the lions' whelps" (ver.
4). Why sayest thou, "And hath drawn out
my soul "? For what hadst thou suffered, that
thy soul should be drawn out? "I have slept
troubled." Christ hath intimated His death. . . .
10. Whence "troubled " ? Whotroubling? Let
us see in what manner he brandeth an evil con-
science upon the Jews, wishing to excuse them-
selves of the slaying of the Lord. For to this
end, as the Gospel speaketh, to the judge they
delivered Him, that they might not themselves
seem to have killed Him. . . . Let us question
Him, and say, since Thou hast slept troubled,
who have persecuted Thee? who have slain
Thee ? was it perchance Pilate, who to soldiers
gave Thee, on the Tree to be hanged, with nails
to be pierced ? Hear who they were, " Sons of
men" (ver. 5). Of them He speaketh, whom
for persecutors He suffered. But how did they
slay, that steel bare not ? They that sword drew
not, that made no assault upon Him to slay ;
whence slew they ? " Their teeth are arms and
arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." Do
not consider the unarmed hands, but the mouth
armed : from thence the sword proceeded, where-
with Christ was to be slain : in like manner also
as from the mouth of Christ, that wherewith the
Jews were to be slain. For He hath a sword
twice whetted : 7 and rising again He hath smit-
2 Lat. " a creature."
5 Ps. lvii. 4.
3 Matt. iv. 1
6 Minutus.
* Ps. lvii. 3.
7 Rev. i. 16.
228
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVII.
ten them, and hath severed from them those whom
He would make His faithful people. They an
evil sword, He a good sword : they evil arrows, He
good arrows. For He hath Himself also arrows
good, words good, whence He pierceth the faith-
ful heart, in order that He may be loved.
Therefore of one kind are their arrows, and of
another kind their sword. " Sons of men, their
teeth are arms and arrows, and their tongue a
sharp sabre." Tongue of sons of men is a sharp
sabre, and their teeth arms and arrows. When
therefore did they smite, save when they clam-
oured, " Crucify, crucify " ? '
ii. And what have they done to Thee,
O Lord ? Let the Prophet here exult ! For
above, all those verses the Lord was speaking :
a Prophet indeed, but in the person of the Lord,
because in the Prophet is the Lord. ..." Be
exalted," he saith, " above the Heavens, O God "
Man on the Cross, and above the Heavens, God.
Let them continue on the earth raging, Thou in
Heaven be judging. Where are they that were
raging? where are their teeth, the arms and
arrows? Have not "the stripes of them been
made the arrows of infants " ? For in another
place a Psalm 2 this saith, desiring to prove them
vainly to have raged, and vainly unto frenzies
to have been driven headlong : for nothing they
were able to do to Christ when for the time
crucified, and afterwards when He was rising
again, and in Heaven was sitting. How do
infants make to themselves arrows? Of reeds?3
But what arrows? or what powers? or what
bows? or what wound? "Be Thou exalted
above the Heavens, O God, and above all the
earth Thy glory " (ver. 6). Wherefore exalted
above the Heavens, O God? Brethren, God
exalted above the Heavens we see not, but we
believe : but above all the earth His glory to be
not only we believe, but also see. But what kind
of madness heretics are afflicted with, I pray you
observe. They being cut off from the bond
of the Church of Christ, and to a part holding,
the whole losing, will not communicate with the
whole earth, where is spread abroad the glory of
Christ.4 But we Catholics are in all the earth,
because with all the world we communicate,
wherever the Glory of Christ is spread abroad. s
For we see that which then was sung, now ful-
filled. There hath been exalted above the Heav-
ens our God, and above all the earth the Glory
of the Same. O heretical insanity ! That which
thou seest not thou believest with me, that which
thou seest thou deniest : thou believest with me
in Christ exalted above the Heavens, a thing
1 Matt, xxvii. 23; John xix. 6.
* [Vulgate and Septuagint, P». lxiy. 7. — C]
3 Cnnntr. * Against the Donatists.
S f This comes bonre with terrible import to that portion of the
Church which has made itself the whole Church with a novel creed,
and broken communion with the Easterns. — C]
which we see not ; and deniest His Glory over
all the earth, a thing which we see.
12. . . . Let your Love see the Lord speak-
ing to us, and exhorting us by His example : " A
trap 5 they have prepared for My feet, and have
bowed down My Soul" (ver. 7). They wished
to bring It down as if from Heaven, and to the
lower places to weigh It down : " They have
bowed My Soul : they have digged before My
face a pit and themselves have fallen into it."
Me have they hurt, or themselves? Behold He
hath been exalted above the Heavens, God, and
behold above all the earth the Glory of the
Same : the kingdom of Christ we see, where is
the kingdom of the Jews? Since therefore they
did that which to have done they ought not,
there hath been done in their case that which to
have suffered they ought : themselves have dug
a ditch, and themselves have fallen into it. For
their persecuting Christ, to Christ did no hurt,
but to themselves did hurt. And do not sup-
pose, brethren, that themselves alone hath this
befallen. Every one that prepareth a pit for his
brother, it must needs be that himself fall into
it. . . .
13. But the patience of good men with prep-
aration of heart accepteth the will of God : and
glorieth in tribulations, saying that which fol-
loweth : " Prepared is my heart, O God, I will
sing and play " (ver. 8). What hath he done to
me ? He hath prepared a pit, my heart is pre-
pared. He hath prepared pit to deceive, shall
I not prepare heart to suffer ? He hath prepared
pit to oppress, shall I not prepare heart to en-
dure ? Therefore he shall fall into it, but I will
sing and play. Hear the heart prepared in an
Apostle, because he hath imitated his Lord :
" We glory," he saith, " in tribulations : because
tribulation worketh patience : patience proba-
tion, probation hope, but hope maketh not
ashamed : because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit,
which hath been given to us." 7 He was in
oppressions, in chains, in prisons, in stripes, in
hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness,8 in every
wasting of toils and pains, and he was saying,
"We glory in tribulations." Whence, but that
prepared was his heart ? Therefore he was sing-
ing and playing.
14. " Rise up, my glory" (ver. 9). He that
had fled from the face of Saul into a cavern,
saith, " Rise up, my glory : " glorified be Jesus
after His Passion. " Rise up, psaltery and
harp." He calleth upon what to rise? Two
organs I see : but Body of Christ one I see, one
flesh hath risen again, and two organs have
risen. The one organ then is the psaltery, the
other the harp. Organs 9 is the word used for
6 Muscipulanu.
9 Organa.
1 Rom. v. 3.
8 3 Cor. xi. 37.
Psalm LVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
229
all instruments of musicians. Not only is that
called an organ, which is great, and blown into
with bellows ; ' but whatsoever is adapted to
playing and is corporeal, whereof for an instru-
ment the player maketh use, is said to be an
organ. But distinguished from one another are
these organs.2 . . . What therefore do these
two organs figure to us ? For Christ the Lord
our God is waking up His psaltery and His
harp ; and He saith, " I will rise up at the dawn."
I suppose that here ye now perceive the Lord
rising. We have read thereof in the Gospel : 3
see the hour of the Resurrection. How long
through shadows was Christ being sought? He
hath shone, be He acknowledged ; " at the
dawn" He rose again. But what is psaltery?
what is harp? Through His flesh two kinds of
deeds the Lord hath wrought, miracles and suf-
ferings : miracles from above have been, suffer-
ings from below have been. But those miracles
which He did were divine ; but through Body
He did them, through flesh He did them. The
flesh therefore working things divine, is the
psaltery : the flesh suffering things human is the
harp. Let the psaltery sound, let the blind be
enlightened, let the deaf hear, let the paralytics
be braced to strength, the lame walk, the sick
rise up, the dead rise again ; this is the sound of
the Psaltery. Let there sound also the harp,
let Him hunger, thirst, sleep, be held, scourged,
derided, crucified, buried. When therefore thou
seest in that Flesh certain things to have sounded
from above, certain things from the lower part,
one flesh hath risen again, and in one flesh we
acknowledge both psaltery and harp. And these
two kinds of things done have fulfilled the Gos-
pel, and it is preached in the nations : for both
the miracles and the sufferings of the Lord are
preached.
15. Therefore there hath risen psaltery and
harp in the dawn, and he confesseth to the
Lord ; and saith what ? "I will confess to Thee
among the peoples, O Lord, and will play to
Thee among the nations : for magnified even
unto the Heavens hath been Thy mercy, and
even unto the clouds Thy truth" (ver. 10).
Heavens above clouds, and clouds below heavens :
and nevertheless to this nearest heaven belong
clouds. But sometimes clouds rest upon the
mountains, even so far in the nearest air are they
rolled. But a Heaven above there is, the habi-
tations of Angels, Thrones, Dominions, Princi-
palities, Powers. This therefore may perchance
seem to be what should have been said : " Unto
the Heavens Thy truth, and even unto the clouds
1 [Of which see a primitive example in Parker's Glossary of
Architecture (vol. i. p 264), Oxford, 1845. The use of organs in
churches is very modern. The Greeks exclude them still. St.
Thomas Aquinas testifies their non-use in the Latin churches in the
thirteenth century. — C]
2 [See p. 139, supra. — C.J * Mark xvi. 2.
Thy mercy." For in Heaven Angels praise
God, seeing the very form of truth, without any
darkness of vision, without any admixture of un-
reality : they see, love, praise, are not wearied.
There is truth : but here in our own misery surely
there is mercy. For to a miserable one rrtust
be rendered mercy. For there is no need of
mercy above, where is no miserable one. I have
said this because that it seemeth as though it
might have been more fittingly said, " Magnified
even unto the Heavens hath been Thy truth, and
even unto the clouds Thy mercy." For " clouds "
we understand to be preachers of truth, men
bearing that flesh in a manner dark, whence
God both gleameth in miracles, and thundereth
in precepts.4 . . . Glory to our Lord, and to
the Mercy of the Same, and to the Truth of the
Same, because neither hath He forsaken by
mercy to make us blessed through His Grace,
nor defrauded us of truth : because first Truth
veiled in flesh came to us and healed through
His flesh the interior eye of our heart, in
order that hereafter face to face we may be
able to see It.5 Giving therefore to Him thanks,
let us say with the same Psalm the last verses,
which sometime since too I have said, " Be Thou
exalted above the Heavens, O God, and above
all the earth Thy glory " (ver. 1 1 ) . For this to
Him the Prophet said so many years before ; this
now we see ; this therefore let us also say.
PSALM LVIII.6
1. The words which we have sung must be
rather hearkened to by us, than proclaimed.
For to all men as it were in an assemblage of
mankind, the Truth crieth, " If truly indeed
justice ye speak, judge right things, ye sons of
men" (ver. i). For to what unjust man is it
not an easy thing to speak justice ? or what man
if questioned about justice, when he haih not a
cause, would not easily answer what is just ? In-
asmuch as the hand of our Maker in our very
hearts hath written this truth, "That which to
thyself thou wouldest not have done, do not thou
to another." 7 Of this truth, even before that the
Law was given, no one was suffered to be igno-
rant, in order that there might be some rule
whereby might be judged even those to whom
Law had not been given.8 But lest men should
complain that something had been wanting for
them, there hath been written also in tables that
* [Ps. xxxvi. p. 88, § 7, supra— C] ' 1 Cor. xiii. la.
6 Lat. LVII. Sermon to the Commonalty, wherein everywhere
he confuteth the Donatists.
7 Tob. iv. 15.
8 [Matt. vii. 12. The quotation from the father of Tobias shows
this maxim, negative in its form, and reflecting the Mosaic law, which
" made nothing perfect." It was probably Noahic, and was therefore
known to Gentilism, as e.g. to Confucius. The glory ol " the Golden
Rule" is not merely that it gives a positive form to this law: Christ
made it the energetic and characteristic principle of His Church
towards humanity, and of all Christians towards all men. — C]
230
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVIII.
which in their hearts they read not. For it was
not that they had it not written, but read it they
would not. There hath been set before their
eyes that which in their conscience to see they
would be compelled ; and as if from without
the voice of God were brought to them, to his
own inward parts hath man been thus driven,
the Scripture saying, " For in the thoughts of the
ungodly man there will be questioning." ' Where
questioning is, there is law. But because men,
desiring those things which are without, even
from themselves have become exiles, there hath
been given also a written law : not because in
hearts it had not been written, but because thou
wast a deserter from thy heart, thou art seized
by Him that is everywhere, and to thyself within
art called back. Therefore the written law, what
crieth it, to those that have deserted the law
written in their hearts ?2 " Return ye transgressors
to the heart." 3 For who hath taught thee, that
thou wouldest have no other man draw near thy
wife? Who hath taught thee, that thou wouldest
not have a theft committed upon thee? Who
hath taught thee, that thou wouldest not suffer
wrong, and whatever other thing either universally
or particularly might be spoken of? For many
things there are, of which severally if questioned
men with loud voice would answer, that they
would not suffer. Come, if thou art not willing
to suffer these things, art thou by any means the
only man? dost thou not live in the fellowship
of mankind ? He that together with thee hath
been made, is thy fellow ; and all men have been
made after the image of God,4 unless with earthly
covetings they efface that which He hath formed.
That which therefore to thyself thou wilt not
have to be done, do not thou to another. For
thou judgest that there is evil in that, which to
suffer thou art not willing : and this thing thou
art constrained to know by an inward law ; that
in thy very heart is written. Thou wast doing
somewhat, and there was a cry raised in thy
hands : how art thou constrained to return to
thy heart when this thing thou sufferest in the
hands of others? Is theft a good thing? No!
I ask, is adultery a good thing? All cry, No I Is
man-slaying a good thing? All cry, that they
abhor it. Is coveting the property of a neigh-
bour a good thing? No ! is the voice of all men.
Or if yet thou confessest not, there draweth near
one that coveteth thy property : be pleased to
answer what thou wilt have. All men therefore,
when of these things questioned, cry that these
things are not good. Again, of doing kindnesses,
not only of not hurting, but also of conferring
and distributing, any hungry soul is questioned
thus : " thou sufferest hunger, another man hath
bread, and there is abundance with him beyond
• Wild. i. 9.
* Gen. i. a6.
* Rom. ii. 15.
> Iu. xlvi. 8.
sufficiency, he knoweth thee to want, he giveth
not : it displeaseth thee when hungering, let it
displease thee when full also, when of another's
hungering thou shalt have known. A stranger
wanting shelter cometh into thy country, he is
not taken in : he then crieth that inhuman is
that city, at once among barbarians he might
have found a home. He feeleth the injustice be-
cause he suffereth ; thou perchance feelest not,
but it is meet that thou imagine thyself also a
stranger ; and that thou see in what manner he
will have displeased thee, who shall not have
given that, which thou in thy country wilt not
give to a stranger." I ask all men. True are
these things? True. Just are these things?
Just. But hear ye the Psalm. " If truly there-
fore justice ye speak, judge right things, ye sons
of men." Be it not a justice of lips, but also of
deeds. For if thou actest otherwise than thou
speakest, good things thou speakest, and ill
thou judgest. . . .
2. But now to the present case let us come,
if ye please. For the voice is that sweet voice,
so well known to the ears of the Church, the
voice of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the voice
of His Body, the voice of the Church toiling,
sojourning upon earth, living amid the perils of
men speaking evil and of men flattering. Thou
wilt not fear a threatener, if thou lovest not a
flatterer. He therefore, of whom this is the
voice, hath observed and hath seen, that all men
speak justice. For what man doth dare not to
speak it, lest he be called unjust? When, there-
fore, as though he were hearing the voices of
all men, and were observing the lips of all men,
he cried out to them, " If truly indeed justice
ye speak," — if not falsely justice ye speak, if
not one thing on lips doth sound, whilst another
thing is concealed in hearts, — "judge right
things, ye sons of men." Hear out of the Gos-
pel His own voice, the very same as is in this
Psalm : " Hypocrites," saith the Lord to the
Pharisees, " how are ye able good things to
speak, when ye are evil men?" " Either make
the tree good, and the fruit thereof good : or
make the tree evil, and the fruit thereof evil." s
Why wilt thou whiten thee, wall of mud? I
know thy inward parts, I am not deceived by
thy covering : I know what thou holdest forth,
I know what thou coverest. " For there was no
need for Him, that any one to Him should bear
testimony of man : for He knew Himself what
was in man." 6 For He knew what was in man,
who had made man, and who had been made
Man, in order that He might seek man. . . .
3. But now ye do what? Why these things
to you do I speak ? " Because in heart iniqui-
ties ye work on earth " (ver. 2). Iniquities per-
' Matt. xii. 33, 34.
6 John ii. 25.
Psalm LVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
231
chance in heart alone ? Hear what followeth :
both their heart hands do follow, and their heart
hands do serve, the thing is thought of, and it
is done ; or else it is not done, not because we
would not, but because we could not, Whatever
THOU WILLEST AND CANST NOT, FOR DONE GOD
doth count it. " For in heart Iniquities ye
work on earth." What next? " Iniquities your
hands knit together." What is, " knit to-
gether " ? From sin, sin, and to sin, sin, because
of sin. What is this ? A theft a man hath com-
mitted, a sin it is : he hath been seen, he seeketh
to slay him by whom he hath been seen : there
hath been knit together sin with sin : God hath
permitted him in His hidden judgment to slay
that man whom he hath willed to slay : he per-
ceiveth that the thing is known, he seeketh to
slay a second also ; he hath knit together a third
sin : while these things he is planning, perchance
that he may not be found out, or that he may
not be convicted of having done it, he con-
sulted! an astrologer; there is added a fourth
sin : the astrologer answereth perchance with
some hard and evil responses, he runneth to
a soothsayer, that expiation may be made ; the
soothsayer maketh answer that he is not able to
expiate : a magician is sought. And who could
enumerate those sins which are knit together
with sins? " Iniquities your hands do knit to-
gether." So long as thou knittest together, thou
bindest sin upon sin. Loose thyself from sins.
But I am not able, thou sayest. Cry to Him.
" Unhappy man I, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? " ' For there shall come the
Grace of God, so that righteousness shall be thy
delight, as much as thou didst delight in iniq-
uity ; and thou, a man that out of bonds hast
been loosed, shalt cry out to God, " Thou hast
broken asunder my bonds." 2 " Thou hast broken
asunder my bonds," is what else but, " Thou
hast remitted my sins " ? Hear why chains they
are : the Scripture maketh answer, " with the
chains of his sins each one is bound fast."3 Not
only bonds, but chains 4 also they are. Chains
are those which are made by twisting in : that
is, because with sins sins thou wast knitting to-
gether. . . .
4. " Alienated are sinners from the womb, they
have gone astray from the belly, they have
spoken false things" (ver. 3). And when in-
iquity they speak, false things they speak ; be-
cause deceitful is iniquity : and when justice
they speak, false things they speak ; because
one thing with mouth they profess, another
thing in heart they conceal. " Alienated are
sinners from the womb." What is this? Let us
search more diligently : for perhaps he is saying
this, because God hath foreknown men that are
to be sinners even in the wombs of their moth-
ers.5 For whence when Rebecca was yet preg-
nant, and in womb was bearing twins, was it
said, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have
hated"?6 For it was said, "The elder shall
serve the younger." Hidden at that time was
the judgment of God : but yet from the womb,
that is, from the very origin, alienated are sin-
ners. Whence alienated ? From truth. Whence
alienated? From the blessed country, from the
blessed life. Perchance alienated they are from
the very womb. And what sinners have been
alienated from the womb ? For what men would
have been born, if therein they had not been
held? Or what men to-day would be alive to
hear these words to no purpose, unless they
were born? Perchance therefore sinners have
been alienated from a certain womb, wherein
that charity was suffering pains, which speaketh
through the Apostle, " Of whom again I am in
labour, until Christ be formed in you." » Ex-
pect thou therefore ; be formed : do not to thy-
self ascribe a judgment which perchance thou
knowest not. Carnal thou art as yet, conceived
thou hast been : from that very time when thou
hast received the name of Christ, by a sort of
sacrament thou hast been born in the bowels
of a mother. For not only out of bowels a man
is born, but also in bowels. First he is born in
bowels, in order that he may be able to be born
of bowels. Wherefore it hath been said even
to Mary, " For that which is born in thee, is of
the Holy Spirit." 8 Not yet of Her It had been
born, but already in Her It had been born.
Therefore there are born within the bowels of
the Church certain little ones, and a good thing
it is that being formed they should go forth, so
that they drop not by miscarriage. Let the
mother bear thee, not miscarry. If patient
thou shalt have been, even until thou be formed,
even until in thee there be the sure doctrine of
truth, the maternal bowels ought to keep thee.
But if by thy impatience thou shalt have shaken
the sides of thy mother, with pain indeed she
expelleth thee out, but more to thy loss than to
hers.
5. For this reason therefore have they gone
astray from the belly, because " they have spoken
false things" ? Or rather have they not for this
reason spoken false things, because they have
gone astray from the belly ? For in the belly of
the Church truth abideth. Whosoever from this
belly of the Church separated shall have been,
must needs speak false things : must needs, I
say, speak false things ; whoso either conceived
would not be, or whom when conceived the
1 Rom. vii. 24.
* CrinicuU.
2 Ps. cxvi. 16.
3 Prov. V. 22.
* Gen. xxv. 23. [Here foreknowledge precedes predestination.
See Clement, vol. li. p. 497, A. N. F. — C.l
* Mai. i. 2; Rom. ix. 13. * Gal. iv. 19.
8 Matt. i. 20; Luke i. 35.
232
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVIII.
mother hath expelled. Thence heretics exclaim
against the Gospel (to speak in preference of
those whom expelled we lament). We repeat to
them : behold Christ hath said, " It behoved
Christ to suffer, and from the dead to rise again
the third day." ' I acknowledge there our Head,
I acknowledge there our bridegroom : acknowl-
edge thou also with me the Bride. . . .
6. " Indignation to them after the similitude of
a serpent " (ver. 4) . A great thing ye are to hear.
" Indignation to them after the similitude of a
serpent." As if we had said, What is that which
thou hast said ? there followeth, " As if of a deaf
asp." Whence deaf? "And closing its ears."
Therefore deaf, because it closeth its ears. " And
closing its ears." " Which will not hearken to the
voice of men charming, and of the medicine medi-
cated by the wise man" (ver. 5). As we have
heard, because even men speak who have learned
it with such research as they were able, but never-
theless it is a thing which the Spirit of God know-
eth much better than any men. For it is not to
no purpose that of this he hath spoken, but be-
cause it may chance that true is even that which
we have heard of the asp. When the asp begin-
neth to be affected by the Marsian charmer, who
calleth it forth with certain peculiar incantations,
hear what it doeth. . . . Give heed what is spok-
en to thee for a simile's sake, what is noted thee
for avoidance.2 So therefore here also there hath
been given a certain simile derived from the
Marsian, who maketh incantation to bring forth
the asp from the dark cavern ; surely into light
he would bring it : but it loving its darkness,
wherein coiled up it hideth itself, when it will not
choose to come forth, nevertheless refusing to
hear those words whereby it feeleth itself to be
constrained, is said to press one ear against the
ground, and with its tail to stop up the other, and
therefore as much as possible escaping those
words, it cometh not forth to the charmer. To
this as being like, the Spirit of God hath spoken
of certain persons hearing not the Word of God,
and not only not doing, but altogether, that they
may not do it, refusing to hear.
7. This thing hath been done even in the first
times of the faith. Stephen the Martyr was
preaching the Truth, and to minds as though
dark, in order to bring them forth into light, was
making incantation : when he came to make men-
tion of Christ, whom they would not hear at all,
of them the Scripture saith what ? of them relateth
what ? " They shut," he saith, " their ears." « But
what they did afterwards, the narrative of the
passion of Stephen doth publish. They were not
deaf, but they made themselves deaf. . . . For
this thing they did at the point where Christ was
named. The indignation of these men was as
1 Luke xxir. 46.
* So p. 133.
9 Acts vii. 57.
the indignation of a serpent. Why your ears do
ye shut ? Wait, hear, and if ye shall be able, rage.
Because they chose not to do aught but rage,
they would not hear. But if they had heard,
perchance they would have ceased to rage. The
indignation of them was as the indignation of a
serpent. . . .
8. "God hath broken utterly the teeth of
them in their own mouth" (ver. 6). Of whom?
Of them to whom indignation is as the similitude
of a serpent, and of an asp closing up its ears, so
that it heareth not the voice of men charming,
and of medicine medicated by the wise man.
The Lord hath done to them what ? " Hath
broken utterly the teeth of them in their own
mouth." It hath been done, this at first hath
been done, and now is being done. But it
would have sufficed, my brethren, that it should
have been said, " God hath broken utterly the
teeth of them." The Pharisees would not hear
the Law, would not hear the precepts of truth
from Christ, being like to that serpent and asp.
For in their past sins they took delight, and
present life they would not lose, that is, joys
earthly for joys heavenly. . . . What is, " in their
own mouth " ? In such sort, that with their own
mouth against themselves they should make
declaration : He hath compelled them with their
mouth against themselves to give sentence.
They would have slandered Him, because of the
tribute : 4 He said not, " It is lawful to pay tribute,"
or, " It is not lawful to pay tribute." And He
willed to break utterly their teeth, wherewith they
were gaping in order to bite ; but in their own
mouth He would do it. If He said, Let there be
paid to Caesar tribute, they would have slandered
Him, because He had spoken evil to the nation
of the Jews, by making it a tributary. For be-
cause of sin they were paying tribute, having
been humbled, as to them in the Law had been
foretold. We have Him, say they, a maligner of
our nation, if He shall have bidden us to pay
tribute : but if He say, Do not pay, we have Him
for saying that we should not be under allegiance
to Caesar. Such a double noose as it were to
catch the Lord they laid. But to whom had they
come ? To Him that knew how to break utterly
the teeth of them in their own mouth. " Show to
Me the coin," s He saith. Why tempt ye Me, ye
hypocrites?" Of paying tribute do ye think?
To do justice are ye willing ? the counsel of justice
do ye seek? "If truly justice ye speak, judge
right things, ye sons of men." But now because in
one way ye speak, in anotherway judge, hypocrites
ye are : " Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites ? "
Now I will break utterly your teeth in your mouth :
" show to Me the coin." And they showed it to
Him. And He saith not, it is Caesar's : but asketh
* Matt. xxii. 17, 18.
5 Matt. xxii. 19.
Psalm LVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
233
Whose it is ? in order that their teeth in their own
mouth might be utterly broken. For on His in-
quiring, of whom it had the image and inscription,
they said, of Caesar. Even now the Lord shall
break utterly the teeth of them in their own mouth.
Now ye have made answer, now have been broken
utterly your teeth in your mouth. " Render unto
Caesar the things which are of Caesar, and unto
God the things which are of God." ' Caesar
seeketh his image ; render it : God seeketh His
image ; render it. Let not Caesar lose from you
his coin : let not God lose in you His coin. And
they found not what they might answer. For they
had been sent to slander Him : and they went
back, saying, that no one to Him could make
answer. Wherefore ? Because broken utterly had
been the teeth of them in their own mouth. Of
that sort is also the following : " In what power
doest Thou these things? I also will ask of
you one question, answer me." 2 And He asked
them of John, whence was the Baptism of John,
from heaven, or of men ? so that whatever they
might answer might tell against themselves. . . .
9. The Lord displeased that Pharisee, who
to dinner had bidden Him, because a woman
that was a sinner drew near to His feet, and he
murmured against Him, saying, " If this man
were a prophet, He would know what woman
drew near to His feet." 3 O thou that art no
prophet, whence knowest thou that He knew
not what woman drew near to His feet? Because
indeed He kept not the purifying of the Jews,
which outwardly was as it were kept in the flesh,
and was afar from the heart, this thing he suspect-
ed of the Lord. And in order that I may not
speak at length on this point, even in his mouth
He willed to break utterly the teeth of him.
For He set forth to him : " A certain usurer had
two debtors, one was owing five hundred pence,
the other fifty : both had not wherewithal to
pay, he forgave both. Which loved him the
more?"4 To this end the one asketh, that the
other may answer : to this end he answereth,
that the teeth of him in his mouth may be
broken utterly. . . .
10. "The jaw-bones of lions the Lord hath
broken utterly." I Not only of asps. What of
asps ? Asps treacherously desire to throw in their
venom, and scatter it, and hiss. Most openly
raged the nations, and roared like lions.
" Wherefore have raged the nations, and the
peoples meditated empty things ? " 6 When they
were lying in wait for the Lord. Is it lawful to
give tribute to Caesar, or is it not lawful ? ' Asps
they were, serpents they were, broken utterly
were the teeth of them in their own mouth.
1 Matt. xxii. 21.
8 Luke vii. 39.
* Ps. ii. 1.
1 Matt. xxii. 17.
2 Matt. xxi. 23, 24; Mark xi. 28, 29.
* Luke vii. 41, 42. 5 Ps. lviii. 6.
Afterwards they cried out, "Crucify, Crucify."8
Now is there no tongue of asp, but roar of lion.
But also " the jaw-bones of lions the Lord hath
broken utterly." Perchance here there is no
need of that which he hath not added, namely,
" in the mouth of them." For men lying in
wait with captious questions, were forced to
be conquered with their own answer : but those
men that openly were raging, were they by any
means to be confuted with questions ? Never-
theless, even their jaw-bones were broken utterly :
having been crucified, He rose again, ascended
into heaven, was glorified as the Christ, is
adored by all nations, adored by all kings. Let
the Jews now rage, if they are able. We have
also in the case of heretics this as a warning and
precedent, because themselves'also we find to be
serpents with indignation made deaf, not choos-
ing to hear the " medicine medicated by the
wise man : " and in their own mouth the Lord
hath broken utterly the teeth of them. . . .
n." They shall be despised like water running
down" (ver. 7). Be not terrified, brethren, by
certain streams, which are called torrents : with
winter waters they are filled up ; do not fear :
after a little it passeth by, that water runneth
down ; for a time it roareth, soon it will subside :
they cannot hold long. Many heresies now are
utterly dead : they have run in their channels as
much as they were able, have run down, dried
are the channels, scarce of them the memory is
found, or that they have been. " They shall be
despised like water running down." But not
they alone ; the whole of this age for a time is
roaring, and is seeking whom it may drag along.
Let all ungodly men, all proud men resound-
ing against the rocks of their pride as it were
with waters rushing along and flowing together,
not terrify you, winter waters they are, they can-
not alway flow : it must needs be that they run
down unto their place, unto their end. And
nevertheless of this torrent of the world the
Lord hath drunk. For He hath suffered here,
the very torrent He hath drunk, but in the way
He hath drunk, but in the passage over :
because in way of sinners He hath not stood.9
But of Him saith the Scripture what ? " Of the
torrent in the way He shall drink, therefore He
shall lift up His Head ; " '° that is, for this reason
glorified He hath been, because He hath died ;
for this reason hath risen again, because He
hath suffered. . . .
12. "Like wax melted they shall be taken
away" (ver. 8). For thou wast about to say,
all men are not so made weak, like myself, in
order that they may believe : many men do per-
severe in their evil, and in their malice. And of
the same fear thou nothing : " Like wax melted
8 Matt, xx vii. 23; John xix. 6.
»° Ps. ex. 7.
9 Ps. i. 1.
234
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVIII.
they shall be taken away." Against thee they
shall not stand, they shall not continue : with a
sort of fire of their own lusts they shall perish.
For there is here a kind of hidden punishment,'
of it the Psalm is about to speak now, to the end
of it. There are but a few verses ; be attentive.
There is a certain punishment future, fire of hell,
fire everlasting. For future punishment hath
two kinds : either of the lower places it is, where
was burning that rich man, who was wishing for
himself a drop of water to be dropped on his
tongue off the finger of the poor man, whom
before his gate he had spurned, when he saith,
" For I am tormented in this flame." 2 And the
second is that at the end, whereof they are to
hear, that on the left hand are to be set : " Go
ye into fire everlasting, that hath been prepared
for the devil and his angels." 3 Those punish-
ments shall be manifest at that time, when we
shall have departed out of this life, or when
at the end of the world men shall have come to
the resurrection of the dead. Now therefore is
there no punishment, and doth God suffer sins
utterly unpunished even unto that day? There
is even here a sort of hidden punishment, of the
same he is treating now We see neverthe-
less sometimes with these punishments just men
to be afflicted, and to these punishments unjust
men to be strangers : for which reason did totter
the feet of him that afterwards rejoicing saith,
" How good is the God of Israel to men right
in heart ! But my own feet have been almost
shaken, because I have been jealous in the case
of sinners, beholding the peace of sinners." 4
For he had seen the felicity of evil men, and
well-pleased he had been to be an evil man, see-
ing evil men to reign, seeing that it was well
with them, that they abounded in plenty of all
things temporal, such as he too, being as yet
but a babe, was desiring from the Lord : and his
feet did totter, even until he saw what at the end
is either to be hoped for or to be feared. For
he saith in the same Psalm, " This thing is a la-
bour before me, until I enter into the sanctuary
of God, and understand unto the last things." 5
It is not therefore the punishments of the lower
places, not the punishments of that fire ever-
lasting after the resurrection, not those punish-
ments which as yet in this world are common to
just men and unjust men, and ofttimes more
heavy are those of just men than those of unjust
men ; but some punishment or other of the
present life the Spirit of God would recommend
to our notice. Give heed, hear ye me about to
speak of that which ye know : but a more sweet
thing it is when it is declared in a Psalm, which,
before it was declared, was deemed obscure.
For behold I bring forth that which already ye
1 Hidden punishment of sinners.
* Matt. xxv. 41. * Ps. lxxiii. 1-3.
2 Luke xvi. 24.
* P». lxxiii. 16, 17.
knew : but because these things are brought
forth from a place where ye have never yet seen
them, it cometh to pass that even known things,
as if they were new things, do delight you. Hear
ye the punishment of ungodly men : " Like wax,"
he saith, " melted they shall be taken away." I
have said that through their lusts this thing to
them is done. Evil lust is like a burning and
a fire. Doth fire consume a garment, and doth
not the lust of adultery consume the soul ? Of
meditated adultery when the Scripture was speak-
ing it saith, " Shall one bind fire in his bosom,
and his garments shall he not burn up ? " 6 Thou
bearest in thy bosom live coals ; burned through
is thy vest ; thou bearest in thought adultery,
and whole then is thy soul? But these punish-
ments few men do see : therefore them the
Spirit of God doth exceedingly recommend to
our notice. Hear the Apostle saying, " God
hath given them up unto the lusts of their heart." 7
Behold, the fire from the face of which like wax
they are melting. For they loose themselves
from a certain continence of chastity ; therefore
even these same men, going unto their lusts, as
loose and melting are spoken of. Whence melt-
ing? whence loose? From the fire of lusts.
" God hath given them up unto the lusts of their
heart, so that they do those things which beseem
not, being filled full of all iniquity." . . .
13. "There hath fallen upon them fire, and
they have not seen the sun." Ye see in what
manner he speaketh of a certain punishment of
darkening. " Fire hath fallen upon them," fire
of pride, a smoky fire, fire of lust, fire of wrath.
How great a fire is it? He upon whom it shall
have fallen, shall not see the sun. Therefore
hath it been said, " Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath." 8 Therefore, brethren, fire of
evil lust fear ye, if ye will not melt like wax, and
to perish from the face of God. For there falleth
upon you that fire, and the sun ye shall not see.
What sun? Not that which together with thee
see both beasts and insects, and good men and
evil men : because " He maketh His sun to rise
upon good men and evil men." 9 But there is
another sun, whereof those men are to speak,
" And the sun hath not risen to us, passed away
are all those things as it were a shadow. There-
fore we have strayed from the way of truth, and
the light of righteousness hath not shone to us,
and the sun hath not risen to us." IO . . .
14. "Before that the bramble " bringeth forth
your thorns : as though living, as though in an-
ger, it shall drink them up" (ver. 9). What
is the bramble ? Of prickly plants it is a kind,
upon which there are said to be certain of the
closest thorns. At first it is a herb ; and while
it is a herb, soft and fair it is : but thereon there
6 Prov. vi. 27.
9 Matt. v. 45.
7 Rom. i. 24.
10 Wisd. v. 6.
8 Eph. iv. 26.
11 Rhamnus.
Psalm LVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
235
are nevertheless thorns to come forth. Now
therefore sins are pleasant, and as it were they
do not prick. A herb is the bramble ; even now
nevertheless there is a thorn. " Before that the
bramble bringeth forth thorns : " is before that
of miserable delights and pleasures the evident
tortures come forth. Let them question them-
selves that love any object, and to it cannot at-
tain ; let them see if they are not racked with
longing : and when they have attained to that
which unlawfully they long for, let them mark if
they are not racked with fear. Let them see
therefore here their punishments ; before that
there cometh that resurrection, when in flesh
rising again they shall not be changed. " For
all we shall rise again, but not ' all we shall be
changed." 2 For they shall have the corruption
of the flesh wherein to be pained, not that
wherein to die : otherwise even those pains
would be ended. Then the thorns of that bram-
ble, that is, all pains and piercings of tortures shall
be brought forth. Such thorns as they shall suffer
that are to say, "These are they whom some-
times we had in derision : " 3 thorns of the pier-
cing of repentance, but of one too late and with-
out fruit like the barrenness of thorns. The
repentance of this time is pain healing : repent-
ance of that time is pain penal. Wouldest thou
not suffer those thorns? here be thou pierced
with the thorns of repentance ; in such sort that
thou do that which hath been spoken of,
"Turned I have been in sorrow, when the thorn
was piercing : 4 my sin I have known, and mine
iniquity I have not covered : I have said, I will
declare against me my shortcoming to the Lord,
and Thou hast remitted the ungodliness of my
heart." 5 Now do so, now be pierced through,
be there not in thee done that which hath been
said of certain execrable men, " They have been
cloven asunder, and have not been pierced
through." 6 Observe them that have been cloven
asunder and have not been pierced through.' Ye
see men cloven asunder, and ye see them not
pierced through. Behold beside the Church
they are, and it doth not repent them, so as they
should return whence they have been cloven asun-
der. The bramble hereafter shall bring forth
their thorns. They will not now have a healing
piercing through, they shall have hereafter one
penal. But even now before that the bramble
produceth thorns, there hath fallen upon them
fire, that suffereth them not to see the sun, that
is, the wrath of God is drinking up them while
still living : fire of evil lusts, of empty honours,
1 So several early writers and MSS. But the balance of authority
as well as the sense is in favour of the received reading.
3 1 Cor. xv. 51. 3 wisd. v. 3.
* Or, " being made to pierce." 5 Ps. xxxii. 5.
6 Ps. xxxv. 15. These words are in the Vulgate, for " they did
tear me, and ceased not; " but St. Augustin does not notice them in
his comment on the P>alm.
7 Against the Donatists.
of pride, of their covetousness : and whatsoever
is weighing them down, that they should not
know the truth, so that they seem not to be
conquered, so that they be not brought into
subjection even by truth herself. For what is a
more glorious thing, brethren, than to be brought
in subjection and to be overcome by truth ? Let
truth overcome thee willing : for even unwilling
she shall of herself overcome thee. . . .
15. As yet the punishments of the lower
places have not come, as yet fire everlasting
hath not come : let him that is growing in God
compare himself now with an ungodly man, a
blind heart with an enlightened heart : compare
ye two men, one seeing and one not seeing in the
flesh. And what so great thing is vision of
the flesh ? Did Tobias by any means have fleshly
eyes ? 8 His own son had, and he had not ; and
the way of life a blind man to one seeing did
show. Therefore when ye see that punishment,
rejoice, because in it ye are not.
Therefore saith the Scripture, " The just man
shall rejoice when he shall have seen vengeance "
(ver. 10). Not that future punishment; for see
what followeth : " his hands he shall wash in the
blood of the sinner." What is this? Let your
love attend. When man-slayers are smitten,
ought anywise innocent men to go thither and
wash their hands? But what is, " in the blood of
the sinner he shall wash his hands"? When a
just man seeth the punishment of a sinner, he
groweth himself; and the death of one is the life'
of another. For if spiritually blood runneth from
those that within are dead, do thou, seeing such
vengeance, wash therein thy hands ; for the future
more cleanly live. And how shall he wash his
hands, if a just man he is? For what hath he on
his hands to be washed, if just he is? " But the
just man of faith shall live." ' Just men therefore
he hath called believers : and from the time that
thou hast believed, at once thou beginnest to be
called just. For there hath been made a re-
mission of sins. Even if out of that remaining
part of thy life some sins are thine, which cannot
but flow in, like water from the sea into the
hold ; nevertheless, because thou hast believed,
when thou shalt have seen him that altogether is
turned away from God to be slain in that blind-
ness, there falling upon him that fire so that he
see not the sun — then do thou that now through
faith seest Christ, in order that thou mayest see
in substance (because the just man liveth of
faith), observe the ungodly man dying, and
purge thyself from sins. So thou shalt wash in
a manner thy hands in the blood of the sinner.
16. " And a man shall say, If therefore there
is fruit to a just man " (ver. 10). Behold, before
that there cometh that which is promised, before
8 Tob. iv. 3-19.
9 Rom. i. 17.
236
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIX.
that there is given life everlasting, before that
ungodly men are cast forth into fire everlasting,
here in this life there is fruit to the just man.
What fruit ? " In hope rejoicing, in tribulation
enduring.'" What fruit to the just man? "We
glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, but patience probation, but
probation hope : but hope confoundeth not :
because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts through the Holy Spirit, that hath been
given to us." 2 Doth he rejoice that is a drunk-
ard ; and doth he not rejoice that is just? In
love there is fruit to a just man. Miserable the
one, even when he maketh himself drunken :
blessed the other, even when he hungereth and
thirsteth. The one wine-bibbing doth gorge, the
other hope doth feed. Let him see therefore the
punishment of the other, his own rejoicing, and
let him think of God. He that hath given even
now such joy of faith, of hope, of charity, of the
truth of His Scriptures, what manner of joy is He
making ready against the end? In the way thus
He feedeth, in his home how shall He fill him ?
" And a man shall say, If therefore there is fruit
to the just man." Let them that see believe, and
see, and perceive. Rejoice shall the just man
when he shall have seen vengeance. But if he
hath not eyes whence he may see vengeance, he
will be made sad, and will not be amended by it.
But if he seeth it, he seeth what difference there
is between the darkened eye of the heart, and the
eye enlightened of the heart : between the cool-
ness of chastity and the flame of lust, between the
security of hope and the fear there is in crime.
When he shall have seen this, let him separate
himself, and wash his hands in the blood of the
same. Let him profit by the comparison, and
say, " Therefore there is fruit to the just man :
therefore there is a God judging them in the
earth." Not yet in that life, not yet in fire eter-
nal, not yet in the lower places, but here in
earth. . . .
1 7. If somewhat too prolix we have been, par-
don us. We exhort you in the name of Christ,
to meditate profitably on those things which ye
have heard. Because even to preach the truth
is nought, if heart from tongue dissenteth ; and
to hear the truth nothing profiteth, if a man upon
the rock build not. He that buildeth upon a
Rock, is the same that heareth and doeth : > but
he that heareth and doeth not, buildeth upon
sand : he that neither heareth nor doeth, build-
eth nothing. . . .
PSALM LIX.*
Tke First Part.
i. As the Scripture is wont to set mysteries of
the Psalms on the titles, and to deck the brow
' Rom. xii. tf, ' Rom. v. 3-5. J Matt. vii. 34.
* Lot LVI1I. Delivered after the discovery of the error of
Pelagius.
of a Psalm with the high announcement of a
Mystery,5 in order that we that are about to go in
may know (when as it were upon the door-post
we have read what within is doing) either of whom
the house is, or who is the owner of that estate :
so also in this Psalm there hath been written a
title, of a title. For it hath, " At the end, corrupt
not for David himself unto the inscription of the
title." This is that which I have spoken of, title
of Title. For what the inscription of this title is,
which to be corrupted he forbiddeth, the Gospel
to us doth indicate. For when the Lord was
being crucified, a title by Pilate was inscribed
and set, " King of the Jews," 5 in three tongues,
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin : » which tongues in the
whole world mostly do prevail. . . . Therefore
" corrupt not " is most proper and prophetic ;
since indeed even those Jews made suggestion
at that time to Pilate, and said, " Do not write
King of the Jews, but write, that Himself said
that He was King of the Jews : " 8 for this title,
say they, hath established Him King over us.
And Pilate, "What I have written, I have
written." And there was fulfilled, " corrupt not."
2. Nor is this the only Psalm which hath an
inscription of such sort, that the Title be not cor-
rupted. Several Psalms thus are marked on the
face, but however in all the Passion of the Lord
is foretold. Therefore here also let us perceive
the Lord's Passion, and let there speak to us
Christ, Head and Body. So always, or nearly
always, let us hear the words of Christ from the
Psalm, as that we look not only upon that Head,
the one mediator between God and man, the
Man Christ Jesus.9 . . . But let us think of Christ,
Head and whole Body, a sort of entire Man. For
to us is said, " But ye are the Body of Christ and
members," '° by the Apostle Paul. If therefore
He is Head, we Body ; whole Christ is Head and
Body. For sometimes thou findest words which
do not suit the Head, and unless thou shalt have
attached them to the Body, thy understanding
will waver : again thou findest words which are
proper for the Body, and Christ nevertheless is
speaking. In that place we must have no fear
lest a man be mistaken : for quickly he pro-
ceeded to adapt to the Head, that which he
seeth is not proper for the Body. . . .
3. Let us hear, therefore, what followeth :
"When Saul sent and guarded his house in or-
der that he might kill him." This though not
to the Cross of the Lord, yet to the Passion of
the Lord doth belong. For Crucified was Christ,
and dead, and buried. That sepulchre was
therefore as it were the house : to guard which
the government of the Jews sent, when guards
were set to the sepulchre of Christ." There is
* Sacramenti.
8 John xix. 21.
11 Matt, xxvii. 66.
6 Matt, xxvii. 37.
9 1 Tim. ii. 5.
7 John xix. 20.
10 1 Cor. xii. 27.
Psalm LIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
237
indeed a story in the Scripture of the Reigns, of
the occasion when Saul sent to guard the house
in order that he might kill David.' . . . But in
like manner as Saul effected not his purpose of
slaying David : so this could not the government
of the Jews effect, that the testimony of guards
sleeping should avail more than that of Apostles
watching. For what were the guards instructed
to say? We give to you, they say, as much
money as ye please ; and say ye, that while ye
were sleeping there came His disciples, and
took Him away. Behold what sort of witnesses
of falsehood against truth and the Resurrection of
Christ, His enemies, through Saul figured, did
produce. Enquire, O unbelief, of sleeping wit-
nesses, let them reply to thee of what was done
in the tomb. Who, if they were sleeping,
whence knew it? If watching, wherefore de-
tained they not the thieves ? Let him say there-
fore what followeth.
4. " Deliver me from mine enemies, my God,
and from men rising up upon me, redeem Thou
me" (ver. 1). There hath been done this
thing in the flesh of Christ, it is being done in
us also. For our enemies, to wit the devil and
his angels, cease not to rise up upon us every
day, and to wish to make sport of our weakness
and our frailness, by deceptions, by suggestions,
by temptations, and by snares of whatsoever sort
to entangle us, while on earth we are still living.
But let our voice watch unto God, and cry out
in the members of Christ, under the Head that
is in heaven, " Deliver me from mine enemies,
my God, and from men rising up upon me, re-
deem Thou me."
5. " Deliver me from men working iniquity,
and from men of bloods, save Thou me " (ver.
2). They indeed were men of bloods, who slew
the Just One, in whom no guilt they found :
they were men of bloods, because when the
foreigner washed his hands, and would have let
go Christ, they cried, " Crucify, Crucify :" 2 they
were men of bloods, on whom when there was
being charged the crime of the blood of Christ,
they made answer, giving it to their posterity to
drink, " His blood be upon us and upon our
sons." 5 But neither against His Body did men
of bloods cease to rise up ; for even after the
Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, the
Church suffered persecutions, and she indeed
first that grew out of the Jewish people, of
which also our Apostles were. There at first
Stephen was stoned,4 and received that of which
he had his name. For Stephanus doth signify
a crown. Lowly stoned but highly crowned.
Secondly, among the Gentiles rose up kingdoms
of Gentiles, before that in them was fulfilled
that which had been foretold, " There shall
1 I Sam. xix. 11.
« Acts vii. 58.
2 Matt, xxvii. 23. 3 Matt, xxvii. 25.
adore Him all the kings of the earth, all nations
shall serve Him : " s and there roared the fierce-
ness of that kingdom against the witnesses of
Christ : there was shed largely and frequently
the blood of Martyrs : wherewith when it had
been shed, being as it were sown, the field of
the Church more productively put forth, and
filled the whole world as we now behold. From
these therefore, men of bloods, is delivered
Christ, not only Head, but also Body. From
men of bloods is delivered Christ, both from
them that have been, and from them that are,
and from them that are to be ; there is deliv-
ered Christ, both He that hath gone before, and
He that is, and He that is to come. For Christ
is the whole Body of Christ ; and whatsoever
good Christians that now are, and that have
been before us, and that after us are to be, are
an whole Christ, who is delivered from men of
bloods ; nor is this voice void, " And from men
of bloods save Thou me."
6. " For behold they have hunted my soul.
. . . There have rushed upon me strong men "
(ver. 3). We must not however pass on from
these strong men : diligently we must trace who
are the strong men rising up. Strong men, upon
whom but upon weak men, upon powerless men,
upon men not strong? And praised neverthe-
less are the weak men, and condemned are the
strong men. If it would be perceived who are
strong men, at first the devil himself the Lord
hath called a strong man : " No one," He saith,
" is able to go into the house of a strong man,
and to carry off his vessels, unless first he shall
have bound the strong man." 6 He hath bound
therefore the strong man with the chains of His
dominion : and his vessels He hath carried off,
and His own vessels hath made them. For all
unrighteous men were vessels of the devil. . . .
But there are among mankind certain strong
men of a blameable and damnable strength,
that are confident indeed, but on temporal fe-
licity. That man doth not 7 seem to you to have
been strong, of whom now from the Gospel 8
hath been read : how his estate brought forth
abundance of fruits, and he being troubled, hit
upon the design of rebuilding, so that, having
pulled down his old barns, he should construct
new ones more capacious, and, these having
been finished, should say to his soul, " Thou
hast many good things, soul, feast, be merry,
be filled." . . . There are also other men
men strong, not because of riches, not because
of the powers of the body, not because of any
temporally pre-eminent power of station, but re-
lying on their righteousness. This sort of strong
men must be guarded against, feared, repulsed,
not imitated : of men relying, I say, not on
5 Ps. lxxi. 11.
7 Perhaps " doth not that man."
6 Matt. xii. 20
8 Luke xii. 16.
238
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIX.
body, not on means, not on descent, not on
honour ; for all such things who would not see
to be temporal, fleeting, falling, flying ? but rely-
ing on their own righteousness. ..." Where-
fore," say they, doth your Master eat with pub-
licans and sinners ? ' O ye strong men, to whom
a Physician is not needful ! This strength to
soundness belongeth not, but to insanity. For
even than men frenzied nothing can be
stronger, more mighty they are than whole
men : but by how much greater their powers
are, by so much nearer is their death. May
God therefore turn away from our imitation
these strong men. . . . The same are therefore
the strong men, that assailed Christ, commend-
ing their own justice. Hear ye these strong
men : when certain men of Jerusalem were
speaking, having been sent by them to take
Christ, and not daring to take Him (because
when he would, then was He taken, that truly
was strong) : Why therefore, say they, " could
ye not take Him?" And they made answer,
" No one of men did ever so speak as He."
And these strong men, " Hath by any means
any one of the Pharisees believed on Him, or any
one of the Scribes, but this people knowing not
the Law?"a They preferred themselves to the
sick multitude, that was running to the Phy-
sician : whence but because they were them-
selves strong? and what is worse, by their
strength, all the multitude also they brought
over unto themselves, and slew the Physician
of all. . . .
7. What next ? " Neither iniquity is mine,
nor sin mine, O Lord" (ver. 4). There have
rushed on indeed strong men on their own right-
eousness relying, they have rushed on, but sin in
me they have not found. For truly those strong
men, that is, as it were righteous men, on what
account would they be able to persecute Christ,
unless it were as if a sinner? But, however, let
them look to it how strong they be, in the raging
of fever not in the vigour of soundness : let
them look to it how strong they be, and how as
though just against an unrighteous man they
have raged.1 But, however, " neither iniquity is
mine, nor sin mine, O Lord. Without iniquity
I did run, and I was guided." Those strong
men therefore could not follow me running :
therefore a sinner they have deemed me, be-
cause my steps they have not seen.
8. "Without iniquity I did run, and was
guided ; rise up to meet me, and see." To
God is said this. But why? If He meet not, is
He unable to see? It is just as if thou -wast
walking in a road, and from afar by some one
1 Matt. ix. xi. 2 John vii. 45-49.
1 Oxf. mss. " and how far they were righteous and raging against
one unrighteous "(et quam justi contra iniquum segvtirint). The
common reading is scarcely grammatical.
thou couldest not be recognised, thou wouldest
call to him and wouldest say, Meet me, and see
how I am walking ; for when from afar thou
espiest me, my steps thou art not able to see.
So also unless God were to meet, would He not
see how without iniquity he was guided, and how
without sin he was running? This interpretation
indeed we can also accept, namely, " Rise up to
meet me," as if " help me." But that which he
hath added, " and see," must be understood as,
make it to be seen that I run, make it to be seen
that I am guided : according to that figure
wherein this also hath been said to Abraham,
" Now I know that thou fearest God." 4 God
saith, " Now I know : " whence, but because I
have made thee to know? For unknown to
himself every one is before the questioning of
temptation : just as of himself Peter s in his con-
fidence was ignorant, and by denying learned
what kind of powers he had, in his very stumbling
he perceived that it was falsely he had been
confident : he wept, and in weeping he earned
profitably to know what he was, and to be what
he was not. Therefore Abraham when tried,
became known to himself: and it was said by
God, " Now I know," that is, now I have made
thee to know. In like manner as glad is the
day because it maketh men glad ; and sad is
bitterness because it maketh sad one tasting
thereof: so God's seeing is making to see.
" Rise up, therefore," he saith, " to meet me,
and see " (ver. 5 ) . What is, " and see " ? And
help me, that is, in those men, in order that they
may see my course, may follow me ; let not that
seem to them to be crooked which is straight,
let not that seem to them to be curved which
keepeth the rule of truth.
9. Something else I am admonished to say
in this place of the loftiness of our Head Him-
self: for He was made weak even unto death,
and He took on Him the weakness of flesh, in
order that the chickens of Jerusalem He might
gather under His wings, like a hen showing her-
self weak with her little ones.6 For have we not
observed this thing in some bird at some time
or other, even in those which build nests before
our eyes, as the house-sparrows, as swallows, so
to speak, our annual guests, as storks, as various
sorts of birds, which before our eyes build nests,
and hatch eggs, feed chickens, as the very doves
which daily we see ; and some bird to become
weak with her chickens, have we not known,
have we not looked upon, have we not seen?
In what way doth a hen experience this weakness ?
Surely a known fact I am speaking of, which in
our sight is daily taking place. How her voice
groweth hoarse, how her whole body is made
languid? The wings droop, the feathers are
* Gen. xxii. 12. * Matt. xxvi. 35-60. 6 Matt, xxiii. 37.
Psalm LIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
239
loosened, and thou seest around the chickens
some sick thing, and this is maternal love which
is found as weakness. Why was it therefore, but
for this reason, that the Lord willed to be as a
Hen, saying in the Holy Scripture, " Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often have I willed to gather
thy sons, even as a hen her chickens under her
wings, and thou hast not been willing." But He
hath gathered all nations, like as a hen her
chickens. . . .
10. " And Thou, Lord God of virtues, God
of Israel." Thou God of Israel, that art thought
to be but God of one nation, which worshippeth
Thee, when all nations worship idols, Thou God
of Israel, " Give heed unto the visiting all na-
tions." Fulfilled be that prophecy wherein
Isaiah in Thy person speaketh to Thy Church,
Thy holy City, that barren one of whom many
more are the sons of Her forsaken than of her
that hath a husband. To Her indeed hath been
said, " Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not," '
etc., more than of the Jewish nation which hath a
Husband, which hath received the Law, more
than of that nation which had a visible king.
For thy king is hidden, and more sons to thee
there are by a hidden Bridegroom. . . . The
Prophet addeth, "Enlarge the place of Thy
tabernacle, and Thy2 courts fix thou : there is no
cause for thee to spare, extend further thy cords,
and strong stakes set thou again and again on the
right and on the left." 3 Upon the right keep
good men, on the left keep evil men,4 until there
come the fan : 5 occupy nevertheless all nations ;
bidden to the marriage be good men and evil
men, filled be the marriage with guests ; 6 it is the
office of servants to bid, of the Lord to sever.
" Cities which had been forsaken Thou shalt
inhabit : " * forsaken of God, forsaken of Prophets,
forsaken of Apostles, forsaken of the Gospel, full
of demons. For Thou shalt prevail ; and blush
not because abominable Thou hast been. There-
fore though there have risen up upon thee strong
men, blush not : when against the name of
Christ laws were enacted, when ignominy and
infamy it was to be a Christian. " Blush not
because abominable Thou hast been : for con-
fusion for everlasting Thou shalt forget, of the
ignominy of Thy widowhood Thou shalt not be
mindful." . . .
1 1. " Have not pity upon all men that work
iniquity." Here evidently He is terrifying.
Whom would He not terrify ? What man falling
back upon his own conscience would not trem-
ble? Which even if to itself it is conscious
of godliness, strange if it be not in some sort
conscious of iniquity. For whosoever doeth
sin, also doeth iniquity.8 " For if Thou shalt
1 Isa. liv. 1.
* Matt. xxv. 33.
7 Isa. liv. 3.
2 "Hangings" some mss.
5 Matt. lii. 12.
8 1 John iii. 4.
3 Isa. liv. 2.
6 Matt. xxii. 9.
have marked iniquities, O Lord, what man shall
abide it? "9 And nevertheless a true saying it
is, and not said to no purpose, and neither is
nor will it be possible to be void, " Have not
pity upon all men that work iniquity." But He
had pity even upon Paul, who at first as Saul
wrought iniquity. For what good thing did he,
whence he might deserve of God ? Did he not
hate His Saints unto death ? I0 did he not bear
letters from the chief of the priests, to the end
that wheresoever he might find Christians, to
punishment he should hurry them? When bent
upon this, when thither proceeding, breathing
and panting slaughter, as the Scripture testified
of him, was he not from Heaven with a mighty
voice summoned, thrown down, raised up ;
blinded, lightened ; slain, made alive ; destroyed,
restored? In return for what merit? Let us
say nothing ; himself rather let us hear : '• I that
before have been," he saith, " a blasphemer, and
persecutor ; and injurious, but mercy I have ob-
tained." " Surely "Thou wouldest not have
pity upon all men that work iniquity : " this in
two ways may be understood : either that in fact
not any sins doth God leave unpunished ; or
that there is a sort of iniquity, on the workers
whereof God hath indeed no pity.
12. All iniquity, be it little or great, punished
must needs be, either by man himself repenting,
or by God avenging. For even he that repenteth
punisheth himself. Therefore, brethren, let us
punish our own sins, if we seek the mercy of
God. God cannot have mercy on all men work-
ing iniquity as if pandering to sins, or not root-
ing out sins. In a word, either thou punishest,
or He punisheth. . . .
13. But let us see now another way in which
this sentence may be understood. There is a
certain iniquity, on the worker whereof it can-
not Lie that God have mercy. Ye enquire, per-
chance, what that is? It is the defending of
sins. When a man defendeth his sins, great
iniquity he worketh : that thing he is defending
which God hateth. And see how perversely,
how iniquitously. Whatever of good he hath
done, to himself he would have it to be ascribed ;
whatever of evil, to God. For in this manner
men defend sins in the person of God, which is
a worse sin. . . . Therefore thou defendest thy
sin in such sort, that thou layest blame on God.
So the guilty is excused, so that the Judge may
be charged. However on men working iniquity
God hath no pity at all.
14. " Let them be converted at the evening"
(ver. 6) . Of certain men he is speaking that were
once workers of iniquity, and once darkness, being
converted in the evening. What is, " in the
evening " ? Afterward. What is " at the even-
9 Ps. cxxx. 3.
10 Acts ix. 1.
11 1 Tim, i. 13.
240
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIX.
ing"? Later. For before, before that they
crucified Christ, they ought to have acknowl-
edged their Physician. Wherefore, when He
had been crucified — rising again, into Heaven
ascending — after that He sent His Holy Spirit,
wherewith were fulfilled they that were in one
house, and they began to speak with the tongues
of all nations, there feared the crucifiers of
Christ ; they were pricked through with their
consciences, they besought counsel of safety from
the Apostles, they heard, " Repent, and be bap-
tized each one of you in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be remitted
unto you." * After the slaying of Christ, after
the shedding of the blood of Christ, remitted
are your sins. ..." Let these be converted,"
therefore, they also "at evening." Let them
yearn for the grace of God, perceive themselves
to be sinners ; let those strong men be made
weak, those rich men be made poor, those just
men acknowledge themselves sinners, those lions
be made dogs. " Let them be converted at
evening, and suffer hunger as dogs. And they
shall go around the city." What city? That
world, which in certain places the Scripture
calleth " the city of standing round : "2 that is,
because in all nations everywhere the world
had encompassed the one nation of Jews, where
such words were being spoken, and it was called
" the city of standing round." Around this city
shall go those men, now having become hungry
dogs. In what manner shall they go around?
By preaching. Saul out of a wolf was made a
dog at evening, that is, being late converted by
the crumbs of his Lord, in His grace he ran, and
went around the city.3
15. " Behold, themselves shall speak in their
mouth, and a sword is on the lips of them "
(ver. 7). Here is that sword twice whetted,
whereof the Apostle saith, " And the sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God." 4 Where-
fore twice whetted? Wherefore, but because
smiting out of both Testaments? With this
sword were slain those whereof it was said to
Peter, " Slay, and eat." 5 " And a sword is
on the lips of them. For who hath heard?"
They all speak in their mouth, "Who hath
heard?" That is, they shall be wroth with men
that are slow to believe. They that a little
before were even themselves unwilling to believe,
do feel disgust from men not believing. And
truly, brethren, so it is. Thou seest a man slow
before he is made a Christian ; thou criest to
him daily, hardly he is converted : suppose him
to be converted, and then he would have all
men to be Christians, and wondereth that not
yet they are. It hath chanced out to him at
• Acts ii. 38.
8 E. V. '* strong city." Ps. xxxi. 21, lx. 9, cviii. 10.
3 Acts ix. 1, 30. 4 Eph. vi. 17. 5 Acts x. 13.
evening to have been converted : but because he
hath been made hungering like a dog, he hath
also on his lips a sword ; he saith, " Who hath
heard ? " What is, " Who hath heard ? " " Who
hath believed our hearing, and to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? " 6 " For
who hath heard? " The Jews believe not : they
have turned them to the nations, and have
preached. The Jews did not believe ; and
nevertheless through believing Jews the Gospel
went around the city, and they said, " For who
hath heard ? " " And Thou, Lord, shalt deride
them " (ver. 8). All nations are to be Christian,
and ye say, " Who hath heard ? " What is,
" shalt deride them " ? " As nothing Thou shalt
esteem all nations." Nothing for Thee it shall
be ; because a most easy thing it will be for all
nations to believe in Thee.
16. "Mystrength to Thee I willkeep" (ver.9).
For those strong men have fallen for this reason ;
because their strength to Thee they have not
kept : that is, they that upon me have risen up
and rushed, on themselves have relied. But I
" my strength to Thee will keep : " because if
I withdraw, I fall ; if I draw near, stronger I
am made. For see, brethren, what there is in a
human soul. It hath not of itself light, hath
not of itself powers : but all that is fair in a
soul, is virtue and wisdom : but it neither is wise
for itself, nor strong for itself, nor itself is light
to itself, nor itself is virtue to itself. There is
a certain origin and fountain of virtue, there
is a certain root of wisdom, there is a certain,
so to speak, if this also must be said, region
of unchangeable truth : from this the soul with-
drawing is made dark, drawing near is made
light.7 " Draw near to Him, and be made light : "
because by withdrawing ye are made dark.
Therefore, "my strength, I will keep to Thee : "
not from Thee will I withdraw, not on myself
will I rely. " My strength, to Thee I will keep :
because, O God, my lifter up 8 Thou art." For
where was I, and where am I? Whence hast
Thou taken me up? What iniquities of mine
hast Thou remitted? Where was I lying? To
what have I been raised up ? I ought to have
remembered these things : because in another
Psalm is said, " For my father and my mother
have forsaken me, but the Lord hath taken me
unto Him." '
1 7. " My God, the mercy of Him shall '"come
before me" (ver. 10). Behold what is, "My
strength, to Thee I will keep : " on myself I will
in no ways at all rely. For what good thing
have I brought, that thou shouldest have mercy
on me, and shouldest justify me ? What in me
hast Thou found, save sins alone? Of Thine
there is nothing else but the nature which Thou
6 Isa. tiii. 1.
9 Ps. xxvii. 10.
7 Ps. xxxiv. 5.
IO Or, *' prevent."
" Or, " taker up."
Psalm LIX]
ON THE PSALMS.
241
hast created : the other things are mine own evil
things which Thou hast blotted out. I have not
first risen up to Thee, but to awake me Thou
hast come : for " His mercy shall come before
me." Before that anything of good I shall do,
'• His mercy shall come before me." What an-
swer here shall the unhappy Pelagius make?
" My God hath shown to me among mine en-
emies " (ver. 11). How great mercy He hath
put forth concerning me, among mine enemies
He hath showed. Let one gathered compare
himself with men forsaken, and one elect with
men rejected : let the vessel of mercy compare
itself with the vessels of wrath ; and let it see
how out of one lump God hath made one vessel
unto honour, another unto dishonour.
" For so God, willing to show wrath, and to
manifest His power, hath brought in, in much
patience, the vessels of wrath, which have been
perfected unto perdition." ' And wherefore this?
" In order that He might make known His
riches upon the vessels of mercy." If there-
fore vessels of wrath He hath brought in, wherein
He might make known His riches upon the ves-
sels of mercy, most rightly hath been said, " His
mercy shall come before me : My God hath
showed to me among mine enemies : " that is,
however great mercy He hath had concerning
me, to me He hath showed it among these men
concerning whom He hath not had mercy. For
unless the debtor be in suspense, he is less grate-
ful to him by whom the debt hath been forgiven.
" My God hath showed to me among mine ene-
mies."
18. But of the enemies themselves what?
" Slay them not, lest sometime they forget Thy
law." He is making request for his enemies,
he is fulfilling the commandment. . . . Slay not
them of whom the sins Thou slayest. But
what is it to be slain ? To forget the law of the
Lord. It is real death, to go into the pit of
sin ; this indeed may be also understood of the
Jews. Why of the Jews, " Slay not them, lest
sometime they forget Thy law " ? Those very
enemies of mine, that have slain me, do not
Thou slay. Let the nation of the Jews remain :
certes conquered it hath been by the Romans,
certes effaced is the city of them, Jews are not
admitted into their city, and yet Jews there are.
For all those provinces by the Romans have been
subjugated. Who now can distinguish the nations
in the Roman empire the one from the other, in-
asmuch as all have become Romans and all are
called Romans ? The Jews nevertheless remain
with a mark ; nor in such sort conquered have
they been, as that by the conquerors they have
been swallowed up. Not without reason is there
that Cain, on whom, when he had slain his
1 Rom. ix. 22.
brother, God set a mark in order that no one
should slay him.1 This is the mark which the
Jews have : they hold fast by the remnant of
their law, they are circumcised, they keep Sab-
baths, they sacrifice the Passover ; they eat un-
leavened bread. These are therefore Jews, they
have not been slain, they are necessary to be-
lieving nations. Why so? In order that He
may show to us among our enemies His mercy.
" My God hath shown to me in mine enemies."
He showeth His mercy to the wild-olive grafted
on branches that have been cut off because of
pride. Behold where they lie, that were proud,
behold where thou hast been grafted, that didst
lie : and be not thou proud, lest thou shouldest
deserve to be cut off.
19. "Scatter them abroad in Thy virtue"
(ver. n). Now this thing hath been done:
throughout all nations there have been scattered
abroad the Jews, witnesses of their own iniquity
and our truth. They have themselves writings,
out of which hath been prophesied Christ, and
we hold Christ. And if sometime perchance any
heathen man shall have doubted, when we have
told him the prophecies of Christ, at the clear-
ness whereof he is amazed, and wondering hath
supposed that they were written by ourselves,
then out of the copies of the Jews we prove, how
this thing so long time before had been foretold.
See after what sort by means of our enemies we
confound other enemies. " Scatter them abroad
in Thy virtue : " take away from them "virtue,"
take away from them their strength. "And
bring them down, my protector, O Lord." " The
transgressions of their mouth, the discourse of
their lips : and let them be taken in their pride :
and out of cursing and lying shall be declared
consummations, in the anger of consummation,
and they shall not be" (ver. 12). Obscure
words these are, and I fear lest they be not well
instilled. . . .
The Second Part.
i. For, behold, the Jews are enemies, whom this
Psalm seemeth to imply ; the law of God they
hold, and therefore of them hath been said,
" Slay not them, lest sometime they forget Thy
law : " in order that the nation of Jews might
remain, and by it remaining the number of
Christians might increase. Throughout all na-
tions they remain certainly, and Jews they are,
nor have they ceased to be what they were : that
is, this nation hath not so yielded to Roman in-
stitutions, as to have lost the form of Jews ; but
hath been subjected to the Romans so as that
it still retaineth its own laws ; which are the
laws of God. But what in their case hath been
done ? " Ye tithe mint and cummin, and have
3 Gen. iv. 15.
242
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LIX.
forsaken the weightier matters of the law, mercy,
and judgment, straining a gnat, but swallowing
a camel.'" This to them the Lord saith. And
in truth so they are ; they hold the law, hold
the Prophets ; read all things, sing all things : the
light of the Prophets therein they see not, which
is Christ Jesus. Not only Him now they see
not, when he is sitting in Heaven : but not even
at that time saw they Him, when among them
humble He was walking, and they were made
guilty by shedding the blood of the Same ; but
not all. This even to-day we commend to the
notice of your Love. Not all : because many
of them were turned to Him whom they slew,
and by believing on Him, they obtained pardon
even for the shedding of His blood : and they
have given an example for men ; how they
ought not to despair that sin of whatsoever kind
would be remitted to them, since even the killing
of Christ was remitted to them confessing. . . .
2. What in them wilt Thou slay? The Cru-
cify, Crucify,2 which they cried out, not them
that cried out. For they willed to blot out, cut
off, destroy Christ : but Thou, by raising to life
Christ, whom they willed to destroy, dost slay
the " transgressions of their mouth, the discourse
of their lips." For in that He whom they cried
out should be destroyed, liveth, they are taken
with dread : and that He whom on earth they
despised, in heaven is adored by all nations,
they wonder : thus are there slain the transgres-
sions of them, and the discourse of their lips.
What is, "let them be taken in their pride"?
Because to no purpose have strong men rushed
on, and it hath fallen out to them as it were to
think themselves to have done somewhat, and
they have prevailed against the Lord. They
were" able to crucify a man, weakness might pre-
vail and virtue 3 be slain ; and they thought
themselves somewhat, as it were strong men, as
it were mighty men, as it were prevailing, as it
were a lion prepared for prey, as it were fat
bulls, as of them in another place he maketh
mention : " Fat bulls have beset me." 4 But
what have they done in the case of Christ? Not
life, but death they have slain. . . . And what
now hath come to pass in those men that have
been converted ? For it was told to them that He
whom they slew rose again. They believed
Him to have risen again, because they saw that
He, being in Heaven, thence sent the Holy
Spirit, and filled those that on Him believed ;
and they found themselves to have condemned
nought, and to have done nought. Their doing
issued in emptiness, the sin remained. Because
therefore the doing was made void, but the sin
remained upon the doers ; they were taken in
their pride, they saw themselves under their
1 Matt, xxiii. 33, 34.
s Or, " strength."
a Matt, xxvii. 23; John xix. 5.
* Pi. xxii. is.
iniquity.5 It remained therefore for them to
confess the sin, and for Him to pardon, that
had given Himself up to sinners, and to forgive
His death, having been slain by men dead, and
making alive men dead. They were taken
therefore in their pride.
3. "And out of cursing and lying shall be
declared consummations, in anger of consum-
mation, and they shall not be." This too with
difficulty is understood, to what is joined the
" and they shall not be." What shall they not
be? Let us therefore examine the context
above : when they shall have been taken in their
pride, " there shall be declared out of cursing
and lying consummations." What are consum-
mations? Perfections: for to be consummated,
is to be perfected. One thing it is to be con-
summated, another thing to be consumed. For
a thing is consummated which is so finished
as that it is perfected : a thing is consumed
which is so finished that it is not. Pride would
not suffer a man to be perfected, nothing so
much hindereth perfection. For let your Love
attend a little to what I am saying ; and see
an evil very pernicious, very much to be guarded
against. What sort of evil do ye think it is?
How long could I enlarge upon how much evil
there is in pride? The devil on that account
alone is to be punished. Certes he is the
chief of all sinners : certes he is the tempter to
sin : to him is not ascribed adultery, not wine-
bibbing, not fornication, not the robbing of
others' goods : by pride alone he fell. And
since pride's companion is envy, it must needs
be that a proud man should envy. ... In a
word, all vices in evil-doings are to be feared,
pride in well-doings is more to be feared.
It is no wonder, then, that so humble is the
Apostle, as to say, " When I am made weak, then
I am strong." 6 For lest he should himself be
tempted by this sin, what sort of medicine doth
he say was applied to him against swelling by the
Physician, who knew what He was healing?
" Lest by the greatness," he saith, " of the reve-
lations I should be exalted, there was given to me
a thorn of my flesh, the angel of Satan, to buffet
me : wherefore thrice the Lord I besought, that
it should depart from me : and He said to me,
My grace is sufficient for thee, for virtue in
weakness is made perfect." ' See what the con-
summations are. An Apostle, the teacher of
Gentiles, father of the faithful through the Gos-
pel, received a thorn of the flesh whereby he
might be buffeted. Which of us would dare
to say this, unless he had not been ashamed to
confess this? For if we shall have said that Paul
had not suffered this ; while to him as it were
honour we give, a liar we make him. But be-
3 Acts i. 9, ii. 4, 37. 6 a Cor. xii. to. 7 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.
Psalm LIX]
ON THE PSALMS.
243
cause truthful he is, and truth he hath spoken ;
it behoveth us to believe that there was given
to him an angel of Satan, lest by the greatness
of the revelations he should be exalted. Be-
hold how much to be feared is the serpent of
pride. . . .
4. What is, " in the anger of consummation
shall be declared consummations " ? There is
an anger of consummation, and there is an an-
ger of consuming. For every vengeance of God
is called anger : sometimes God avengeth, to
the end that He may make perfect ; sometimes
He avengeth, to the end that He may condemn.
How doth He avenge, to the end that He may
make perfect? " He scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth." ■ How doth He avenge, to the end
that He may condemn? When He shall have
set ungodly men on the left hand, and shall
have said to them, " Go ye into fire everlasting,
that hath been prepared for the devil and his
angels." 2 This is the anger of consuming, not
that of consummation. But " there shall be de-
clared consummations in the anger of consum-
mation ; " it shall be preached by the Apostles,
that " where sin hath abounded, grace shall
much more abound," 3 and the weakness of man
hath belonged to the healing of humility. Those
men thinking of this, and finding out and con-
fessing their iniquities, " shall not be." " Shall
not be" what? In their pride.
5. " And they shall know how God shall have
dominion of Jacob, and of the ends of the
earth" (ver. 13). For before they thought
themselves just men, because the Jewish nation
had received the Law, because it had kept the
commandments of God : it is proved to them
that it hath not kept them, since in the very
commandments of God Christ it perceived not,
because " blindness in part has happened to
Israel."4 Even the Jews themselves see that
they ought not to despise the Gentiles, of whom
they deemed as of dogs and sinners. For just
as alike they have been found in iniquity, so
alike they will attain unto salvation. " Not only
to Jews," saith the Apostle, "but also even to
Gentiles." 5 For to this end the Stone which the
builders set at nought, hath even been made for
the Head of the corner,6 in order that two in
itself It might join : for a corner doth unite two
walls. The Jews thought themselves exalted
and great : of the Gentiles they thought as
weak, as sinners, as the servants of demons,
as the worshippers of idols, and yet in both was
there iniquity. Even the Jews have been proved
sinners ; because " there is none that doeth good,
there is not even so much as one :" ' they have
laid down their pride, and have not envied the
1 Heb. xii 6.
* Rom. xi. 25.
7 Ps. xiv. 3.
2 Matt. xxv. 41.
s Kom. ti. 10.
3 Rom. v. 20.
6 Ps. cxviii. 22.
salvation of the Gentiles, because they have
known their own and their weakness to be alike :
and in the Corner Stone being united, they have
together worshipped the Lord. . . .
6. "They shall be converted at evening"
(ver. 14) : that is, even if late, that is, after the
slaying of our Lord Jesus Christ : " They shall be
converted at evening : and hereafter they shall
suffer hunger as dogs." But '• as dogs," not as
sheep or calves : " as dogs," as Gentiles, as sin-
ners : because they too have known their sin
that thought themselves righteous. ... It is a
good thing therefore for a sinner to be humbled ;
and no one is more incurable than he that think-
eth himself whole. " And they shall go around
the city." Already we have explained " city ; " 8
it is the " city of standing round ; " all nations.
7. " They shall be scattered abroad in order
that they may eat" (ver. 15) ; that is, in order
that they may gain others, in order that into
their Body they may change believers. " But
if they shall not be filled, they shall murmur."
Because above also he had spoken of the mur-
mur of them, saying, "For who hath heard?"
"And Thou, O Lord," he saith, " shalt deride
them, saying, Who hath heard ? " ' Wherefore ?
Because, as nothing Thou shalt count all nations.
Let the Psalm be concluded. See ye the Cor-
ner IO exulting, now with both walls rejoicing.
The Jews were proud, humbled they have been ;
Gentiles were despairing, raised up they have
been : let them come to the Corner, there let
them meet, there run together, there find the
kiss of peace ; from different parts let them
come, but with differing not come, those of Cir-
cumcision, these of uncircumcision. Far apart
were the walls, but before that to the Corner
they came : but in the Corner let them hold
themselves, and now let the whole Church from
both walls, say what ? " But I will sing of
Thy power, and I will exult in the morning of Thy
mercy" (ver. 16). In the morning when temp-
tations have been overcome, in the morning
when the night of this world shall have passed
away ; in the morning when no longer the lyings
in wait of robbers and of the devil and of his
angels we dread, in the morning when no longer
by the lamp of prophecy we walk, but Himself
the Word of God as it were a Sun we contem-
plate. " And I will exult in the morning of Thy
mercy." With reason in another Psalm is said,
" In the morning I will stand by Thee, and I will
meditate." " With reason also of the Lord Him-
self the Resurrection was at dawn, that there
should be fulfilled that which hath been said in
another Psalm, " In the evening shall tarry weep-
ing, and in the morning exultation." " For at
even the disciples mourned our Lord Jesus
8 See p. 240, note 2.
10 Eph. ii. 20. " Ps. v. 3.
9 Ps. lix. 7.
13 Ps. xxx. 5.
244
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LX.
Christ as dead, at dawn at Him rising again
they exulted. " For Thou hast become my
taker up, and my refuge in the day of my tribu-
lation."
8. " My Helper, to Thee I will play, because
Thou, O God, art my taker up" (ver. 17).
What was I, unless Thou didst succour ? How
much despaired of was I, unless Thou didst heal?
Where was I lying, unless Thou didst come to
me? Certes with a huge wound I was endan-
gered, but that wound of mine did call for an
Almighty Physician. To an Almighty Physician
nothing is incurable. . . . Lastly, thinking of
all good things whatsoever we may have, either
in nature or in purpose, or in conversion itself, in
faith, in hope, in charity, in good morals, in jus-
tice, in fear of God ; all these to be only by His
gifts, he hath thus concluded : " My God is my
mercy." He being filled with the good things
of God hath not found what he might call his
God, save " his mercy." O name, under which
no one must despair ! If thou say, my salvation,
I perceive that He giveth salvation ; if thou say,
my refuge, I perceive that thou takest refuge in
Him ; if thou say, my strength, I perceive that
He giveth to thee strength : " my mercy," is
what? All that I am is of Thy mercy. . . .
PSALM LX.'
1. David the king was one man, but not one
man he figured ; sometimes to wit he figured the
Church of many men consisting, extended even
unto the ends of the earth : but sometimes One
Man he figured, Him he figured that is Mediator
of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.2 In this
Psalm therefore, or rather in this Psalm's title,
certain victorious actions of David are spoken of:
..." To the end, in behalf of those men that
shall be changed unto the title's inscription, unto
teaching for David himself, when he burned up
Mesopotamia in Syria, and Syria Sobal, and
turned Joab, and smote Edom, in the valley of
salt-pits twelve thousand." We read of these
things in the books of the Reigns,3 that all those
persons whom he hath named, were defeated by
David, that is, Mesopotamia in Syria, and Syria
Sobal, Joab,4 Edom. These things were done,
and just as they were done, so there they have
been written, so they are read : let him read that
will. Nevertheless, as the Prophetic Spirit in the
Psalms' titles is wont to depart somewhat from
the expression of things done, and to say some-
thing which in history is not found, and hence
rather to admonish us that titles of this kind have
been written not that we may know things done,
1 Lat. LIX. Sermon preached to the people a little while after
the exposition of the former Psalm.
* t Tim. it. 3. 3 Vide 2 Sam. viii.
4 He seems to take " Joab " as in the accusative, as though it
were not the name of David's officer, but of some conquered nation.
but that things future may be prefigured. . . .
But here this thing is inserted for this especial
reason, that there it is not written 5 that he burned
up Mesopotamia in Syria, and Syria Sobal. But
now let us begin to examine these things after the
significations of things future, and to bring out
the dimness of shadows into the light of the word.
2. What is " to the end " ye know. For " the
end of the law is Christ." 6 Those that are
changed ye know. For who but they that do
pass from old life into new? ..." For ye were
sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord." i
But they are changed " into the title's inscription,"
. . . who into the kingdom of Christ do pass over
from the kingdom of the devil. It is well that
they are changed unto this title's inscription. But
they are changed, as followeth, " unto teaching."
He added, " for David himself unto teaching : "
that is, are changed not for themselves, but for
David himself, and are changed unto teaching.
. . . When therefore would Christ have changed
us, unless He had done that which He spake of,
" Fire I have come to send into the world " ? 8 If
therefore Christ came to send into the world fire,
to wit to its health and profit, we must inquire
not how He is to send the world into fire, but
how into the world fire. Inasmuch as therefore
He came to send fire into the world, let us in-
quire what is Mesopotamia which was burned up,
what is Syria Sobal ? The interpretations there-
fore of the names let us examine according to the
Hebrew language, wherein first this Scripture was
written. Mesopotamia ' they say is interpreted,
" exalted calling." Now the whole world by
calling hath been exalted, Syria IO is interpreted
" lofty." But she which was lofty, burned up
hath been and humbled. Sobal is interpreted
" empty antiquity." Thanks to Christ that hath
burned her. Whenever old bushes are burned
up, green places succeed ; and more speedily
and more plentifully, and more fully green, fresh
ones spring out, when fire hath gone before them
to the burning up of the old. Let not therefore the
fire of Christ be feared, hay it consumeth. " For
all flesh is hay, and all the glory of man as flower
of hay." " He burneth up therefore those things
with that fire. "And turned Joab." Joab is
interpreted enemy. There was turned an enemy,
as thou wilt understand it. If turned unto flight,
the devil it is : if converted to the faith, a Chris-
tian it is. How unto flight? From the heart of
a Christian : " The Prince of this world," He
saith, " now hath been cast out." " But how can
a Christian turned to the Lord be an enemy
turned ? Because he hath become a believer that
had been an enemy. " Smote Edom." Edom is
interpreted " earthly." That earthly one ought
5 i.e., elsewhere. 6 Ei? to WAos, LXX. Rom. x. 4.
' Eph. v. 8. * Luke xii. 49. 9 Aram Nahar.iim.
«° Aram. " Isa. xl. 6. ,a John xii. 31.
Psalm LX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
245
to be smitten. For why should one live earthly,
that ought to live heavenly ? There hath been
slain therefore life earthly, let there live life heav-
enly. " For as we have borne the image of the
earthly, let us bear also the image of Him that is
from Heaven." ' See it slain : " Mortify your
members which are upon earth." 2 But when he
had smitten Edom, he smote " twelve thousand
in the valley of salt-pits." Twelve thousand is a
perfect number, to which perfect number also the
number of the twelve Apostles is ascribed : for
not to no purpose is it, but because through the
whole world was to be sent the Word. But
the Word 3 of God, which is Christ, is in clouds,
that is, in the preachers of truth. But the world
of four parts doth consist. The four parts there-
of are exceeding well known to all, and often in
the Scriptures they are mentioned : they are the
same as the name of the four winds, East, West,
North, and South. To all these four parts was
sent the Word, so that in the Trinity all might be
called. The number twelve four times three do
make. With reason therefore twelve thousand 4
earthly things were smitten, the whole world was
smitten : for from the whole world was chosen
out the Church, mortified from earthly life. Why
" in the valley of salt-pits "? A valley is humil-
ity : salt-pits signify savour. For many men are
humbled, but emptily and foolishly, in empty
oldness they are humbled. One suffereth tribula-
tion for money, suffereth tribulation for temporal
honour, suffereth tribulation for the comforts of
this life ; he is to suffer tribulation and to be
humbled : why not for the sake of God ? why not
for the sake of Christ? why not for the savour of
salt ? Knowest thou not that to thee hath been
said, " Ye are the salt of earth," and, " If the salt
shall have been spoiled, for no other thing will it
be of use, but to be cast out ".?* A good thing it
is therefore wisely to be humbled. Behold now
are not heretics being humbled? Have not laws
been made even by men to condemn them,
against whom divine laws do reign, which even
before had condemned them? Behold they are
humbled, behold they are put to flight, behold
persecution they suffer, but without savour ; for
folly, for emptiness. For now the salt hath been
spoiled : therefore it hath been cast out, to be
trodden down of men. We have heard the title
of the Psalm, let us hear also the words of the
Psalm.
3. " God, Thou hast driven us back, and hast
destroyed us" (ver. 1). Is that David speaking
that smote, that burned up, that defeated, and
not they to whom He did these things, that is to
say, their being smitten and driven back, that
were evil men, and again their being made alive
1 t Cor. xv. 49,
3 Ezek. xxxvii. 9.
5 Matt. v. 13.
3 Col. Hi. 5.
* [See p. 181, note 12, supra, — C.J
and returning in order that they might be good
men ? That destruction indeed that David made,
strong of hand, our Christ, whose figure that man
was bearing ; He did those things, He made this
destruction with His sword and with His fire :
for both He brought into this world. Both " Fire
I am come to send into the world," 6 thou hast in
the Gospel : and "A sword I have come to send
into the earth," 7 thou hast in the Gospel. He
brought in fire, whereby might be burned up
Mesopotamia in Syria, and Syria Sobal : He
brought in a sword whereby might be smitten
Edom. Now again this destruction was made
for the sake of " those that are changed unto the
title's inscription." Hear we therefore the voice
of them : to their health smitten they were, being
raised up let them speak. Let them say, there-
fore, that are changed into something better,
changed unto the title's inscription, changed unto
teaching for David himself; let them say, " Thou
hast had mercy upon us." Thou hast destroyed
us, in order that Thou mightest build us ; Thou
hast destroyed us that were ill builded, hast de-
stroyed empty oldness ; in order that there may
be a building unto a new man, building to abide
for everlasting. . . .
4. "Thou hast moved the earth, and hast
troubled it " (ver. 2). How hath the earth been
troubled? In the conscience of sinners. Whither
go we ? Whither flee we, when this sword hath
been brandished, " Repent, for near hath drawn
the kingdom of Heaven"?8 "Heal the crush-
ings9 thereof, for moved it hath been." Un-
worthy it is to be healed, if moved it hath not
been : but thou speakest, preachest, threatenest
us with God, of coming judgment holdest not
thy peace, of the commandment of God thou
warnest, from these things thou abstainest not ;
and he that heareth, if he feareth not, if he is not
moved, is not worthy to be healed. Another
heareth, is moved, is stung, smiteth the breast,
sheddeth tears. . . .
5 . The first labour is, that thou shouldest be dis-
pleasing to thyself, that sins thou shouldest battle
out, that thou shouldest be changed into some-
thing better : the second labour, in return for
thy having been changed, is to bear the tribula-
tions and temptations of this world, and amid
them to hold on even unto the end. Of these
things therefore when he was speaking, while
pointing out such things, he addeth what?
"Thou hast shown to Thy people hard things"
(ver. 3) : to Thy people now, made tributary
after the victory of David. " Thou hast shown
to Thy people hard things." Wherein? In
persecutions which the Church of Christ hath
endured, when so much blood of martyrs was
spilled. "Thou hast given us to drink of the
6 Luke xii. 49.
8 Matt. iii. 2.
7 Matt. x. 34.
9 Cotitritiones.
246
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LX.
wine of goading." " Of goading " is what ? Not
of killing. For it was not a killing that destroyeth,
but a medicine that smarted!.1 " Thou hast
given us to drink of the wine of goading."
6. Wherefore this? " Thou hast given to men
fearing Thee, a sign that they should flee from
the face of the bow" (ver. 4). Through tribu-
lations temporal, he saith, Thou hast signified to
Thine own to flee from the wrath of fire ever-
lasting. For, saith the Apostle Peter, " Time it
is that Judgment begin with the House of
God." 2 And exhorting the Martyrs to endur-
ance, when the world should rage, when
slaughters should be made at the hands of per-
secutors, when far and wide blood of believers
should be spilled, when in chains, in prisons, in
tortures, many hard things Christians should
suffer, in these hard things, I say, lest they should
faint, Peter saith to them, " Time it is that Judg-
ment begin with the House of God," etc.3
What therefore is to be in the Judgment? The
bow is bended, still in menacing posture it is, not
yet in aiming. And see what there is in the
bow : is there not an arrow to be shot forward ?
The string however is stretched back in a con-
trary direction to that in which it is going to be
shot ; and the more the stretching thereof hath
gone backward, with the greater swiftness it
starteth forward. What is it that I have said ?
The more the Judgment is deferred, with so
much the greater swiftness it is to come. There-
fore even for temporal tribulations to God let us
render thanks, because He hath given to His
people a sign, " that they should flee from the
face of the bow : " in order that His faithful ones
having been exercised in tribulations temporal,
may be worthy to avoid the condemnation of
fire everlasting, which is to find out all them
that do not believe these things.
7. "That Thy beloved may be delivered : save
me with Thy right hand, and hearken unto me "
(ver. 5). With Thy right hand save me, Lord :
so save me as that at the right hand I may stand.
Not any safety temporal I require, in this matter
Thy Will be done. For a time what is good for
us we are utterly ignorant : for " what we should
pray for as we ought we know not : " « but "save
me with Thy right hand," so that even if in this
time I suffer sundry tribulations, when the night
of all tribulations hath been spent, on the right
hand I may be found among the sheep, not on
the left hand among the goats.' " And hearken
unto me." Because now I am deserving that
which Thou art willing to give ; not " with the
words of my transgressions" I am crying
through the day, so that Thou hearken not, and
" in the night so that Thou hearken not," 6 and
1 Lit. " burnetii." » i Pet. iv. 17.
* 1 Pet. iv. 18. He quotes the whole passage.
* Rom. viii. a6. > Matt. xxv. 33. • Pi. xxii. a.
that not for folly to me," but truly for my warn-
ing, by adding savour from the valley of salt-pits,
so that in tribulation I may know what to ask :
but I ask life everlasting ; therefore hearken unto
me, because Thy right hand I ask. . . .
8. " God hath spoken in His Holy One "
(ver. 6). . . . In what Holy One of His ? "God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." t
In that Holy One, of whom elsewhere ye have
heard, " O God, in the Holy One is Thy way." 8
" I will rejoice and will divide Sichima, . . .
and the valley of tabernacles I will measure out."
Sichima is interpreted shoulders. But according
to history, Jacob returning from Laban his father-
in-law with all his kindred, hid the idols in
Sichima 9 which he had from Syria, where for a
long time he had dwelled, and at length was
coming from thence. But tabernacles he made
there because of his sheep and herds, and called
the place Tabernacles.'0 And these I will divide,
saith the Church. What is this, " I .will divide
Sichima"? If to the story where the idols were
hidden is the reference, the Gentiles it signifieth ;
I divide the Gentiles. I divide, is what? " For
not in all men is there faith." " I divide, is what?
Some will believe, others will not believe. . . .
The shoulders are divided, in order that their
sins may burthen some men, while others may
take up the burden of Christ. For godly
shoulders He was requiring when He said, " For
My yoke is gentle, and My burden is light." "
Another burden oppresseth and loadeth thee, but
Christ's burden relieveth thee : another burden
hath weight, Christ's burden hath wings. For
even if thou pull off the wings from a bird, thou
dost remove a kind of weight ; and the more
woight thou hast taken away, the more on earth
it will abide. She that thou hast chosen to dis-
burden lieth there : she flieth not, because thou
hast taken off a weight : let there be given back
the weight, and she flieth. Such is Christ's
burden ; let men carry it, and not be idle : let
them not be heeded that will not bear it ; let
them bear it that will, and they shall find how
light it is, how sweet, how pleasant, how ravishing
unto Heaven, and from earth how transporting.
. . . Perchance because of the sheep of Jacob,
" the valley of Tabernacles " is to be understood
of the nation of the Jews, and the same is di-
vided : for they have passed from thence that
have believed, the rest have remained without.
9. "Mine is Galaad " (ver. 7). These names
are read in the Scriptures of God. Galaad hath
the voice of an interpretation of its own and of
a great Mystery : for it is interpreted " the heap
of testimony." How great a heap of testimony
in the Martyrs? "Mine is Galaad," mine is a
heap of testimony, mine are the true Martyrs.
7 a Cor. v. 10.
10 Succoth.
8 Ps. lxxvii. 13.
11 a Thess. iii. a.
9 Gen. xxxv. 4.
12 Matt. xi. 30.
Psalm LX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
247
. . . Then meanly esteemed was the Church
among men, then reproach on Her a Widow was
being thrown, because Christ's She was, because
the sign of the Cross on her brow She was wear-
ing : not yet was there honour, censure there
was then : when therefore not honour, but cen-
sure there was, then was made a heap of witness ;
and through the heap of witness was the Love
of Christ enlarged ; and through the enlarge-
ment of the Love of Christ, were the Gentiles
possessed. There followeth, " And mine is Ma-
nasses ; " which is interpreted forgotten. For to
Her had been said, " Confusion for everlasting
Thou shalt forget, and of the reproach of Thy
widowhood Thou shalt not be mindful." ■ There
was therefore a confusion of the Church once,
which now hath been forgotten : for of Her con-
fusion and of the " reproach " of Her widow-
hood now She is not mindful. For when there
was a sort of confusion among men, a heap of
witness was made. Now no longer doth any
even remember that confusion, when it was a
reproach to be a Christian, now no one remem-
bereth, now all have forgotten, now " Mine is
Manasses, and Ephraim the strength of My
head." Ephraim is interpreted fruitfulness.
Mine, he saith, is fruitfulness, and this fruitful-
ness is the strength of My Head. For My Head
is Christ. And whence is fruitfulness the strength
of Him? Because unless a grain were to fall
into the earth, it would not be multiplied, alone
it would remain.2 Fall then to earth did Christ
in His Passion, and there followed fruit-bearing
in the Resurrection. He was hanging and was
being despised : the grain was within, it had
powers to draw after it all things. How in a
grain do numbers of seeds lie hid, something
abject it appeareth to the eyes, but a power 3
turning into itself matter and bringing forth fruit
is hidden ; so in Christ's Cross virtue 4 was hid-
den, there appeared weakness. O mighty grain !
Doubtless weak is He that hangeth, Doubtless
before Him that people did wag the head,
Doubtless they said, " If Son of God He is, let
Him come down from the Cross." 5 Hear the
strength of Him : that which is a weak thing of
God, is stronger than men.6 With reason so
great fruitfulness hath followed : it is mine, saith
the Church.
10. "Juda is my king: Moab the pot of my
hope" (ver. 7). What Juda? He that is of
the tribe of Juda. What Juda, but He to whom
Jacob himself said, "Juda, thy brethren shall
praise thee " ? ' What therefore should I fear,
when Juda my king saith, " Fear not them that
kill the body"?8 Moab the pot of my hope."
Wherefore " pot " ? Because tribulation. Where-
1 Isa. liv. 4.
« Virtus.
' Gen. xlix. 8.
2 John xii. 34.
* Matt, xxvii. 40.
» Matt. x. 28.
3 Vis.
6 1 Cor. i. 25.
fore " of my hope " ? Because there hath gone
before Juda my king. . . . Moab is perceived
in the Gentiles. For that nation was born of
sin,9 that nation was born of the daughters of Lot,
who lay with their father drunken, abusing a
father. Better were it to have remained barren,
than thus to have become mothers. But this
was a kind of figure of them that abuse the law.
For do not heed that law in the Latin language
is of the feminine gender : in Greek of the mas-
culine gender it is : but whether it be of the
feminine gender in speaking, or of the masculine,
the expression maketh no difference to the
truth. For law hath rather a masculine force,
because it ruleth, is not ruled. But moreover,
the Apostle Paul saith what? "Good is the law,
if any one use it lawfully." IO But those daughters
of Lot unlawfully used their father. But in the
same manner as good works begin to grow when
a man useth well the law : so arise evil works,
when a man ill useth the law. Furthermore,
they ill using their father, that is, ill using the
law, engendered the Moabites, by whom are sig-
nified evil works. Thence the tribulation of the
Church, thence the pot boiling up. Of this
pot in a certain place of prophecy is said, " A pot
heated by the North wind." " Whence but by
the quarters of the devil, who hath said, " I will
set my seat at the North " ? " The chiefest trib-
ulations therefore arise against the Church from
none except from those that ill use the law. . . .
11. " Into Idumaea I will stretch out my shoe "
(ver. 8). The Church speaketh, "I will come
through even unto Idumaea." Let tribulations
rage, let the world boil with offences, even unto
those very persons that lead an earthly life (for
Idumaea is interpreted earthly), even unto those
same, " even unto Idumaea, I will stretch out my
shoe." Of what thing the shoe except of the
Gospel? " How beautiful the feet of them that
tell of peace, that tell of good things," '3 and " the
feet shod unto the preparation of the Gospel of
peace." '* ... In these times we see, brethren,
how many earthly men do perpetrate frauds for
the sake of gain, for frauds perjuries ; on account
of their fears they consult fortune-tellers, astrol-
ogers : all these men are Edomites, earthly ; and
nevertheless all these men adore Christ, under
His own shoe they are ; now even unto Idumaea
is stretched out His shoe. " To Me Allophyli
have been made subject." Who are " Allophyli " ?
Men of other race, not belonging to My race.1'
They " have been made subject," because many
men adore Christ, and are not to reign with
Christ.
12. " Who will lead Me down into the city of
standing round?" (ver. 9). What is the city
« Gen. xix. 37. "> 1 Tim. i. 8.
13 Isa. xiv. 13. 13 Rom. x. 15.
1* [See Ps. lvi. p. 219, supra. — C.]
" Jer. i. 13.
l* Eph. vi. 15
248
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXI.
of standing round? If ye remember already, I
have made mention thereof in another Psalm,'
wherein hath been said, " And they shall go
around the city." For the city of standing
round is the compassing around of the Gentiles,
which compassing around of the Gentiles in the
middle thereof had the one nation of the Jews,
worshipping one God : the rest of the compassing
around of the Gentiles to idols made supplica-
tion, demons they did serve. And mystically it
was called the city of standing round ; because
on all sides the Gentiles had poured themselves
around, and had stood around that nation which
did worship one God. ..." Who will lead me
down even unto Idumaea?"
13. "Wilt not Thou, O God, that hast
driven us back? And wilt not Thou, O God,
march forth in our powers?" (ver. 10). Wilt
not Thou lead us down, that hast driven us
back? But wherefore " hast driven us back"?
Because Thou hast destroyed us.2 Wherefore
hast destroyed us? Because angry Thou hast
been, and hast had pity on us. Thou therefore
wilt lead down, that hast driven back; Thou,
O God, that wilt not march forth in our powers,
wilt lead down. What is, " wilt not march forth
in our powers " ? The world is to rage, the world
is to tread us down, there is to be a heap of
witnesses, builded of the spilled blood of martyrs,
and the raging heathen are to say, " Where is
the God of them?" 3 Then "Thou wilt not
march forth in our powers : " against them Thou
wilt not show Thyself, Thou wilt not show Thy
power, such as Thou hast shown in David, in
Moses, in Joshua the son of Nun, when to their
might the Gentiles yielded, and when the
slaughter had been ended, and the great laying
waste repaired, into the land which Thou prom-
isedst Thou leddest in Thy people. This thing
then Thou wilt not do, " Thou wilt not march
forth in our powers," but within Thou wilt work.
What is, " wilt not march forth " ? Wilt not
show Thyself. For indeed when in chains the
Martyrs were being led along, when they were
being shut up in prison, when they were being
led forth to be mocked, when to the beasts they
were exposed,4 when they were being smitten
with the sword, when with fire they were being
burned, were they not despised as though for-
saken, as though without helper? In what man-
ner was God working within? in what manner
within was He comforting? in what manner to
these men was He making sweet the hope of
life everlasting? in what manner was He not for-
saking the hearts of them, where the man was
dwellings in silence, well if good, ill if evil?
Was He then by any means forsaking, because
1 Vide P«. lix. 6, p. 340, supra. * Ps. Ix. 1.
> Pn. Ixxix. 10. 4 Subrigtbantur.
» Oxf. mss. " dwelleth."
He was not marching forth in the powers 6 of
them? By not marching forth in the powers of
them, did He not the more lead down the Church
even unto Idumsa, lead down the Church even
unto the city of standing around ? For if the
Church chose to war and to use the sword, She
would seem to be fighting for life present : but
because she was despising life present, therefore
there was made a heap of witness for the life that
shall be.
14. Thou therefore, O God, that wilt not
march forth in our powers, " Give to us aid from
tribulation, and vain is the safety of man " (ver.
n). Go now they that salt have not, and de-
sire safety temporal for their friends, which is
empty oldness. " Give to us aid : " from thence
whence Thou wast supposed to forsake, thence
succour. " In God we will do valour,' and
Himself to nothing shall bring down our ene-
mies " (ver. 12). We will not do valour with
the sword, not with horses, not with breastplates,
not with shields, not in the mightiness of an
army, not abroad. But where? Within, where
we are not seen. Where within ? " In God we
will do virtue : " and as if abjects, and as if trod-
den down, men as if of no consideration we shall
be, but " Himself to nothing shall bring down
our enemies." In a word, this thing hath been
done to our enemies. Trodden down have
been the Martyrs : by suffering, by enduring, by
persevering even unto the end, in God they have
done valour. Himself also hath done that which
followeth : to nothing He hath brought down
the enemies of them. Where are now the ene-
mies of the Martyrs, except perchance that now
drunken men with their cups do persecute those
whom at that time frenzied men did use with
stones to persecute?
PSALM LXI.8
1. The title of it doth not detain us. For
it is "Unto the end, in hymns, to David himself.
" In hymns," to wit in praises. " Unto the
end," to wit unto Christ. . . . But the voice in
this Psalm (if we are among the members of
Him, and in the Body, even as upon His exhor-
tation we have the boldness to trust) we ought
to acknowledge to be our own, not that of any
foreigner. But I have not so called it our own,
as if it were of those only that are now in pres-
ence ; but our own, as being of us that are
throughout the whole world, that are from the
East even unto the West. And in order that ye
may know it thus to be our voice, He speaketh
here as if one Man : but He is not One Man ;
but even as One, the Unity is speaking. But in
Christ we all are one man : because of this One
6 Or. " hosts" (virtutibus) . 7 Virtutem.
8 Lai. LX. Sermon to the Commonalty.
Psalm LXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
249
Man the Head is in Heaven, and the members
are yet toiling on earth : and because they are
toiling see what He saith.1
2. " Hearken, O God, to my supplication, give
heed to my prayer" (ver. 1). Who saith? He,
as if One. See whether one : " From the ends
of the earth to Thee I have cried, while my heart
was being vexed" (ver. 2). Now therefore not
one : but for this reason one, because Christ is
One, of whom all we are the members. For
what one man crieth from the ends of the earth ?
There crieth not from the ends of the earth any
but that inheritance, of which hath been said to
the Son Himself, " Demand of Me, and I will
give to Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and for Thy possession the boundaries of the
earth." 2 This therefore Christ's possession,
this Christ's inheritance, this Christ's Body, this
Christ's one Church, this the Unity which we
are, is crying from the ends of the earth. . . .
But wherefore have I cried this thing? "While
my heart was being vexed." He showeth himself
to be throughout all nations in the whole round
world, in great glory, but in great tribulation.
For our life in this sojourning cannot be with-
out temptation : because our advance is made
through our temptation, nor does a man become
known to himself unless tempted, nor can he be
crowned except he shall have conquered, nor
can he conquer except he shall have striven,
nor can he strive except he shall have experi-
enced an enemy, and temptations. This Man
therefore is being vexed, that from the ends of
the earth is crying, but nevertheless He is not
forsaken. For ourselves who are His Body He
hath willed to prefigure also in that His Body
wherein already He hath both died and hath
risen again, and into Heaven hath ascended, in
order that whither the Head hath gone before,
thither the members may be assured that they
shall follow. Therefore us He did transfer by a
figure into Himself, when He willed to be
tempted of Satan.
3. But now there was read in the Gospel, how
the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness was being
tempted of the devil.' Christ entirely was tempt-
ed of the devil. For in Christ thou wast being
tempted, because Christ of thee had for Him-
self flesh, of Himself for thee salvation ; of thee
for Himself death, of Himself for thee life ; of
thee for Himself revilings, of Himself for thee
honours ; therefore of thee for Himself tempta-
tion, of Himself for thee victory. If in Him
tempted we have been, in Him we overcome the
devil. ..." On the Rock Thou hast exalted
me." Now therefore here we perceive who is
crying from the ends of the earth. Let us call
to mind the Gospel : " Upon this Rock I will
Or, " they say," mss.
2 Ps. ii. 8.
3 Matt. iv. 1.
build My Church."'4 Therefore She crieth from
the ends of the earth, whom He hath willed to
be builded upon a Rock. But in order that the
Church might be builded upon the Rock, who
was made the Rock ? Hear Paul saying : " But
the Rock was Christ."' On Him therefore
builded we have been. For this reason that
Rock whereon we have been builded,6 first hath
been smitten with winds, flood, rain, when Christ
of the devil was being tempted. Behold on what
firmness He hath willed to stablish thee. With
reason our voice is not in vain, but is hearkened
unto : for on great hope we have been set : " On
the Rock Thou hast exalted me." . . .
4. " Thou hast led me down, because Thou
hast been made my hope : a tower of strength
from the face of the enemy" (ver. 3). My
heart is vexed, saith that Unity from the ends
of the earth, and I toil amid temptations
and offences : the heathen envy, because they
have been conquered ; the heretics lie in wait,
hidden in the cloak of the Christian name :
within in the Church itself the wheat suffereth
violence from the chaff: amid all these things
when my heart is vexed, I will cry from the ends
of the earth. But there forsaketh me not the
Same that hath exalted me upon the Rock, in
order to lead me down even unto Himself, be-
cause even if I labour, while the devil through
so many places and times and occasions lieth in
wait against me, He is to me a tower of strength,
to whom when I shall have fled for refuge, not
only I shall escape the weapons of the enemy,
but even against him securely I shall myself hurl
whatever darts I shall please. For Christ Him-
self is the tower, Himself for us hath been made
a tower from the face of the enemy, who is also
the Rock whereon hath been builded the Church.
Art thou taking heed that thou be not smitten
of the devil ? Flee to the Tower j never to that
tower will the devil's darts follow thee : there
thou wilt stand protected and fixed. But in what
manner shalt thou flee to the Tower? Let not a
man, set perchance in temptation, in body seek
that Tower, and when he shall not have found it,
be wearied, or faint in temptation. Before thee
is the Tower : call to mind Christ, and go into
the Tower.7 . . .
5. "A sojourner I will be in Thy tabernacle
even unto ages" (ver. 4). Ye see how he, of
whom we have spoken, is he that crieth. Which
of us is a sojourner even unto ages ? For a few
days here we live, and we pass away : for
sojourners here we are, inhabitants in Heaven
we shall be. Thou art a sojourner in that place
where thou art to hear the voice of the Lord
* Matt. xvi. j8.
3 I Cor. x. 4. [Rhetorically he may say this of Cephas: but as
of Peter's confesi-ion elsewhere, so here, dogmatically he understands
only Christ. Compare p. 223, supra. — C.l
6 Matt. vii. 24. 7 [Zech. ix. 12. — C.J
250
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LX1.
thy God, " Remove." For from that Home
everlasting in the Heavens no one will bid thee
to remove. Here therefore a sojourner thou
art. Whence also is said in another Psalm, " A
sojourner I am with Thee and a stranger, as all
my fathers were." • Here therefore sojourners
we are ; there the Lord shall give to us mansions
everlasting : " Many are," He saith, " the man-
sions in My Father's house." ' Those mansions
not as though to sojourners He will give, but as
though to citizens to abide for everlasting. Here
however, brethren, because for no small time
the Church was to be on this earth, but because
here shall be the Church even unto the end of
the world : 3 therefore here He hath said, " A
dweller I will be in Thy tabernacle even unto
ages." * . . . Well, of a few days thou wouldest
choose that the temptations should be : but how
would She gather together all Her sons, unless
for. a long time She were to be here, unless even
unto the end She were to be prolonged? Do
not envy the rest of mankind that hereafter shall
be : do not, because thou hast already passed
over, wish to cut down the bridge of mercy : 5
be it here even for ever. And what of tempta-
tions, which needs must abound, by how much
the more offences come? For Himself saith,
" Because iniquity hath abounded, the love of
many shall wax cold." 6 But that Church, which
crieth from the ends of the earth, is in these cir-
cumstances whereof he speaketh in continuation.
" But he that shall have persevered even unto
the end, the same shall be saved." But whence
shalt thou persevere ? ..." I shall be covered
up in the veiling of Thy wings." Behold the
reason why we are in safety amid so great temp-
tations, until there come the end of the world,
and ages everlasting receive us ; namely, because
we are covered up in the veiling of His Wings.
There is heat in the world, but there is a great
shade under the wings of God.
6. " For Thou, O God, hast hearkened to my
prayer" (ver. 5). What prayer? That where-
with he beginneth : " Hearken, O God, to my
supplication." . . . "Thou hast given inherit-
ance to men fearing Thy name." Let us con-
tinue therefore in the fear of God's name : the
eternal Father deceiveth us not. Sons labour,
that they may receive the inheritance of their
parents, to whom when dead they are to suc-
ceed : are we not labouring to receive an in-
heritance from that Father, to whom not dying
we succeed ; but together with Him in the very
inheritance for everlasting are to live ?
7. " Days upon days of the King Thou shalt
add to the years of Him" (ver. 6). This is
therefore the King of whom we are the mem-
1 Pit. xxxix. 12.
* Strcitli.
* Many omit "of mercy."
2 John xiv. a.
* Sttcula.
6 Matt. xxiv. 13.
bers. A King Christ is, our Head, our King.
Thou hast given to Him days upon days ; not
only those days in that time that hath end, but
days upon those days without end. " I will
dwell," he saith, " in the house of the Lord, for
length of days " 7 Wherefore for length of days,
but because now is the shortness of days? For
everything which hath an end, is short : but of
this King are days upon days, so that not only
while these days pass away, Christ reigneth in
His Church, but the Saints shall reign together
with Him in those days which have no end. . . .
For years of God have been also spoken of:
" But Thou art the very Same, and Thy years
shall not fail." 8 In the same manner as years,
so days, so one day. Whatsoever thou wilt thou
sayest of eternity. Whatever thou wilt thou say-
est for this reason, because whatever thou shalt
have said, it is too little that thou hast said.
For thou must needs say somewhat, to the
end that there may be something whereby thou
mayest meditate on that which cannot be told.
" Even unto the day of generation and of genera-
tion." Of this generation and of the generation
that shall be : of this generation which is com-
pared to the moon, because as the moon is new,
waxeth, is full, waneth, and vanisheth, so are
these mortal generations ; and of the generation
wherein we are born anew by rising again, and
shall abide for everlasting with God, when now
no longer we are like the moon, but like that
of which saith the Lord, " Then the righteous
shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father." » For the moon by a figure in the
Scriptures is put for the mutability of this mortal
state. . . .
8. " He shall abide for everlasting in the sight
of God " (ver. 7) ; according to what, or be-
cause of what? "His mercy and truth who
shall seek for Him? " He saith also in another
place, " All the ways of the Lord are mercy and
truth, to men seeking His testament and His
testimonies." IO Large is the discourse of truth
and mercy, but shortness we have promised.
Briefly hear ye what is truth and mercy : because
no small thing is that which hath been said, "All
the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth."
Mercy is spoken of, because our merits God
regarded not, but His own goodness, in order
that He might forgive us all our sins, and might
promise life everlasting : but truth is spoken of,
because He faileth not to render those things
which He hath promised. Let us acknowledge
it here, and let us do it ; so that, just as to us
God hath shown forth His mercy and His truth,
mercy in forgiving our sins, truth in showing
forth His promises ; so also, I say, let us execute
mercy and truth, mercy concerning the weak,
7 Ps. xxvii. 4.
10 Ps. xxv. 10.
8 Ps. cii. 27.
9 Matt. xiii. 43.
Psalm LXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
2=;i
concerning the needy, concerning even our ene-
mies ; truth in not sinning, and in not adding
sin upon sin. . . . Who is therefore he that
doeth this, save one out of those few, of whom
is said, " He that shall have continued unto the
end, the same shall be caved " ? With reason here
also " His mercy and truth who shall seek for
Him?" Why is there " for Him " ? "Who shall
seek," would be sufficient. Why hath he added,
" for Him," but because many men seek to learn
His mercy and truth in His books? And when
they have learned, for themselves they live, not
for Him ; ' their own things they seek, not the
things which are of Jesus Christ : 2 they preach
mercy and truth, and do not mercy and truth.
But by preaching it, they know it : for they
would not preach it, unless they knew it. But
he that loveth God and Christ, in preaching the
mercy and truth of the Same, doth himself seek
her for Him, not for himself: that is, not in
order that himself may have by this preaching
temporal advantages, but in order that he may
do good to His members, that is, His faithful
ones, by ministering with truth of that which he
knoweth : in order that he that liveth, no longer
for himself may live, but for Him that for all
men hath died."
9. " So I will play music to Thy name, that
I may render my vows from day unto day " (ver.
8). If thou playest music to the name of God,
play not for a time. Wilt thou for ever play?
wilt thou for everlasting play? Render to Him
thy vows from day unto day. What is, render
to Him thy vows from day unto day? From
this day unto that day. Continue to render
vows in this day, until thou come to that day :
that is, " He that shall have continued even unto
the end, the same shall be saved." J
PSALM LXII."
1. The title of it is, "Unto the end, in behalf
of Idilhun, a Psalm to David himself." I
recollect that already 5 to you hath been ex-
plained what Idithun is. . . . Let us see how
far he hath leaped over, and whom he hath
" leaped over," and in what place, though he
hath leaped over certain men, he is situate,
whence as from a kind of spiritual and secure
position he may behold what is below. . . . He
being set, I say, in a certain fortified place,
doth say, " Shall not my soul be subject to
God?" (ver. 1). For he had heard, " He that
doth exalt himself shall be humbled ; and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted : " 6 and
fearful lest by leaping over he should be proud,
1 2 Cor. v. 15.
3 Matt. xxiv. 13.
* Lat. LXI. Sermon to the people.
5 On Ps. xxxix. p. 113, supra.
2 Philip, ii. 21.
6 Matt, xxiii. 12.
not elated by those things which were below,
but humble because of Him that was above ; to
envious men, as it were threatening to him a
fall, who were grieved that he had leaped over,
he hath made answer, " Shall not my soul be
subject to God?" . . . "For from Himself is
my salvation." " For Himself is my God and my
salvation, my taker up, I shall not be moved
more "(ver. 2). I know who is above me, I know
who stretcheth forth His mercy to men that
know Him, I know under the coverings of whose
wings I should hope : " I shall not be moved
more." . . .
2. Therefore, down from the higher place
fortified and protected, he, to whom the Lord
hath been made a refuge, he, to whom is God
Himself for a fortified place,7 hath regard to
those whom he hath leaped over, and looking
down upon them speaketh as though from a
lofty tower : for this also hath been said of Him,
" A Tower of strength from the face of the
enemy : " 8 he giveth heed therefore to them, and
saith, " How long do ye lay upon a man? " (ver.
3). By insulting, by hurling reproaches, by lay-
ing wait, by persecuting, ye lay upon a man
burthens, ye lay upon a man as much as a
man can "■ bear : but in order that a man may
bear, under him is He that hath made man. If
to a man ye look, " slay ye, all of you." Be-
hold, lay upon, rage, " slay ye, all of you." " As
though a wall bowed down, and as a fence
smitten against ; " lean against, smite against, as
if going to throw down. And where is, " I shall
not be moved more " ? But wherefore ? "I
shall not be moved more."- Because Himself is
God my Saving One, my taker up, therefore ye
men are able to lay burdens upon a man ; can
ye anywise lay upon God, who protecteth man ?
" Slay ye, all of you." What is that size of body in
one man so great as that he may be slain by all ?
But we ought to perceive our person, the person
of the Church, the person of the Body of Christ.
For one Man with His Head and Body is Jesus
Christ, the Saviour of the Body and the Mem-
bers of the Body : two in one Flesh,10 and in one
voice, and in one passion, and, when iniquity
shall have passed over, in one rest. The suffer-
ings therefore of Christ are not in Christ alone ;
nay, there are not any save in Christ. For if
Christ thou understandest to be Head and Body,
the sufferings of Christ are not, save in Christ :
but if Christ thou understand of Head alone, the
sufferings of Christ are not in Christ alone. For
if the sufferings of Christ are in Christ alone, to
wit in the Head alone ; whence saith a certain
member of Him, Paul the Apostle, " In order
that I may supply what are wanting of the op-
pressions of Christ in my flesh " ? " If therefore
1 Ps. XC. I.
10 Gen. ii. 24
8 Ps. Ixi. 3.
Eph. v. 31,
9 Some mss.
" Col. i. 24.
252
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXII.
in the members of Christ thou art, whatsoever
man thou art that art hearing these words, who-
soever thou art that dost hear these words (but
however, thou dost hear, if in the members of
Christ thou art) ': whatsoever thing thou suffer-
est from those that are not in the members of
Christ, was wanting to the sufferings of Christ.
Therefore it is added because it was wanting;
thou fillest up the measure, thou causest it not
to run over : thou sufferest so much as was to
be contributed out of thy sufferings to the whole
suffering of Christ, that hath suffered in our Head,
and doth suffer in His members, that is, in our
own selves. Unto this our common republic, as
it were each of us according to our measure pay-
eth that which we owe, and according to the
powers which we have, as it were a quota ' of ,
sufferings we contribute. The storehouse 2 of all
men's sufferings will not be completely made
up, save when the world shall have been ended.
. . . That whole City therefore is speaking, from
the blood of righteous Abel even to the blood of
Zacharias.3 Thence also hereafter from the
blood of John, through the blood of the Apostles,
through the blood of Martyrs, through the blood
of the faithful ones of Christ, one City speaketh,
one man saith, " How long do ye lay upon a
man? Slay ye, all of you." Let us see if ye
efface, let us see if ye extinguish, let us see if
ye remove from the earth the name thereof, let
us see if ye peoples do not meditate of empty
things,4 saying, " When shall She die, and when
shall perish the name of Her? " 5 "As though
She were a wall bowed down, and a fence smitten
against," 6 lean ye against Her, smite against Her.
Hear from above : 7 " My taker up, I shall not
be moved more : " for as though a heap of sand
I have been smitten against that I might fall,
and the Lord hath taken me up.
3. " Nevertheless, mine honour they have
thought to drive back" (ver. 4). Conquered
while they slay men yielding, by the blood of the
slain multiplying the faithful, yielding to these
and no longer being able to kill; " Nevertheless,
mine honour they have thought to drive back."
Now because a Christian cannot be killed, pains
are taken that a Christian should be dishonoured.
For now by the honour of Christians the hearts
of ungodly men are tortured : now that spiritual
Joseph, after his selling by his brethren, after his
removal from his home into Egypt as though into
the Gentiles, after the humiliation of a prison,8
after the made-up tale of a false witness, after
that there had come to pass that which of him
was said, " Iron passed through the soul of him : "»
now he is honoured, now he is not made subject
1 CannnetH. 2 Pariatoria.
< Ps. ii. «. 5 Ps. xli. 5.
7 5 1, p. 251, supra.
• Gen. xxxvii. 36, xxxix. 20.
^ Matt, xxiii. 35.
6 Ps. cxviii. 13.
» P». cv. 18.
to brethren selling him, but corn he supplieth to
them hungering.10 Conquered by his humility
and chastity, uncorruptness, temptations, suffer-
ings, now honoured they see him, and his honour
they think to check. ... Is it all against one
man, or one man against all ; or all against all,
or one against one ? Meanwhile, when he saith,
" ye lay upon a man," it is as it were upon one
man : and when he saith, " Slay all ye," it is as
if all men were against one man : but neverthe-
less it is also all against all, because also all are
Christians, but in One. But why must those
divers errors hostile to Christ be spoken of as all
together? Are they also one? Truly them also
as one I dare to speak of: because there is one
City and one city, one People and one people,
King and king. One City and one city is
what? Babylon one, Jerusalem one. By what-
soever other mystical names besides She is
called, yet One City there is and one city ;
over this the devil is king, over that Christ is
King. . . .
4. Give heed, brethren, give heed, I entreat
you. For it delighteth me yet to speak a few
words to you of this beloved City. For " most
glorious things of Thee have been spoken, City
of God." " And, " if I forget Thee, O Jerusalem,
let mine own right hand forget me." '2 For dear
is the one Country, and truly but one Country,
the only Country : besides Her whatsoever we
have, is a sojourning in a strange land. I will
say therefore that which ye may acknowledge,
that of which ye may approve : I will call to
your minds that which ye know, I will not teach
that which ye know not. " Not first," saith the
Apostle, " that which is spiritual, but that which
is natural,'3 afterwards that which is spiritual." 14
Therefore the former city is greater by age, be-
cause first was born Cain, and afterwards Abel : '5
but in these the elder shall serve the younger. '6
The former greater by age, the latter greater in
dignity. Wherefore is the former greater by
age ? Because " not first that which is spiritual,
but that which is natural." '* Wherefore is the
latter greater in dignity? Because "the elder
shall serve the younger." '5 . . . Cain first builded
a city, and in that place he builded where no
city was. But when Jerusalem was being builded,
it was not builded in a place where there was not
a city, but there was a city at first which was
called Jehus, whence the Jebusites. This hav-
ing been captured, overcome, made subject,
there was builded a new city, as though the
old were thrown down ; and it was called Jeru-
salem, *t vision of peace, City of God. Each one
therefore that is born of Adam, not yet doth
belong to Jerusalem : for he beareth with him
■° Gen xlii. 5.
13 Or, " animal."
16 Gen. xxv. 23.
11 Ps. Ixxxvii. 3.
l* 1 Cor. xv. 46.
17 Josh, xviii. 28.
11 Ps. exxxvii. 5.
J5 Gen. iv. 1. 2.
Psalm LXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
253
the offshoot ' of iniquity, and the punishment of
sin, having been consigned to death, and he be-
longeth in a manner to a sort of old city. But if
he is to be in the people of God ; his old self
will be thrown down, and he will be builded up
new. For this reason therefore Cain builded a
city where there was not a city. For from mor-
tality and from naughtiness every one setteth
out, in order that he may be made good here-
after. " For as by the disobedience of one man
many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of One Man many shall be made just."'2 And all
we in Adam do die : 3 and each one of us of Adam
was born. Let him pass over to Jerusalem, he
shall be thrown down old, and shall be builded
new. As though to conquered Jebusites, in
order that there may be builded up Jerusalem,
is said, " Put ye off the old man, and put on the
new." 4 And now to them builded in Jerusalem,
and shining by the light of Grace, is said, "Ye
have been sometime darkness, but now light in
the Lord." 5 The evil city therefore from the
beginning even unto the end doth run on, and
the good City by the changing of evil men is
builded up. And these two cities are mean-
while mingled, at the end to be severed ; against
each other mutually in conflict, the one for iniq-
uity, the other for the truth. And sometimes
this very temporal mingling bringeth it to pass
that certain men belonging to the city Babylon,
do order matters belonging- to Jerusalem, and
again certain men belonging to Jerusalem, do
order matters belonging to Babylon. Something
difficult I seem to have propounded. Be ye
patient, until it be proved by examples. " For
all things " in the old people, as writeth the
Apostle, " in a figure used to befall them : but
they have been written for our amendment, upon
whom the end of the world hath come." 6 Re-
gard therefore that people as also set to intimate
an after people ; and see then what I say.
There were great 7 kings in Jerusalem : it is a
known fact, they are enumerated, are named.
They all were, 1 say, wicked citizens of Babylon,
and they were ordering matters of Jerusalem :
all men from thence to be dissevered at the end,
to no one but to the devil do belong. Again we
find citizens of Jerusalem to have ordered cer-
tain matters belonging to Babylon. For those
three children, Nabuchodonosor, overcome by a
miracle, made the ministers of his kingdom, and
set them over his Satraps ; and so there were
ordering the matters of Babylon citizens of Je-
rusalem.8 Observe now how this is being fulfilled
and done in the Church, and in these times.
. . . Every earthly commonwealth, sometime
1 Traducem. a Rom. v.
< Col. iii. 9, 10; Eph. iv. 22, 24.
b 1 Cor. x. II. 7 Magni.
8 Dan. ii. 48, iii. 30.
[9. 3 1 Cor. xv. 22.
' Eph. v. 8.
Ben. con]. Mali, " evil."
assuredly to perish, whereof the kingdom is to
pass away, when there shall come that kingdom,
whereof we pray, " Thy kingdom come ; " ° and
whereof hath been foretold, " And of His king-
dom shall be no end : " '° an earthly common-
wealth, I say, hath our citizens conducting the
affairs of it. For how many faithful, how many
good men, are both magistrates in their cities, and
are judges, and are generals, and are counts,
and are kings? All that are just and good men,
having not anything in heart but the most glorious
things, which of Thee have been said, City of
God." And as if they were doing bond-service12
in the city which is to pass away, even there by
the doctors of the Holy City they are bidden to
keep faith with those set over them, " whether
with the king as supreme, or with governors as
though sent by God for the punishment of evil
men, but for the praise of good men : *' " or as
servants, that to their masters they should be
subject, '4 even Christians to Heathens, and the
better should keep faith with the worse, for a
time to serve, for everlasting to have dominion.
For these things do happen until iniquity do
pass away.'S Servants are commanded to bear
with masters unjust and capricious : the citizens
of Babylon are commanded to be endured by
the citizens of Jerusalem, showing even more at-
tentions, than if they were citizens of the same
Babylon, as though fulfilling the precept, " He
that shall have exacted of thee a mile, go with
him other twain." l6 . . .
5. "I have run in thirst." "* For they were
rendering evil things for good things : l8 for them
was I thirsting : mine honour they thought to
drive back : I was thirsting to bring them over
into my body. For in drinking what do we, but
send into our members liquor that is without,
and suck it into our body? Thus did Moses in
that head of the calf.'9 The head of the calf is a
great sacrament.20 For the head of the calf was
the body of ungodly men, in the similitude of a
calf eating hay,21 seeking earthly things : because
all flesh is hay.22 . . . And what now is more
evident, than that into that City Jerusalem, of
which the people Israel was a type, by Baptism
men were to be made to pass over? Therefore
in water it was scattered, in order that for drink
it might be given. For this even unto the end
this man thirsteth ; he runneth and thirsteth.
For many men He drinketh, but never will He
be without thirst. For thence is, " I thirst,
woman, give Me to drink." 2J That Samaritan
9 Matt. vi. 10. 10 I.nke i. 33. n Ps. lxxxvii. 3.
12 Angariam. '3 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. x* Eph. vi. 5.
*J Ps. Ivii. 1. I6 Matt. v. 41.
17 Thus Septuagint; E. V. " Their delight is in lies."
18 Ps. xxxv. 12. !9 Exod. xxxii. 10.
20 [The non-technical use of this word, here and elsewhere, by our
author must be noted. Just so the Anglican Church speaks of matri-
mony as a sacrament, while jealously guarding the two which are
sacraments, kolt' i^o\iji'. — C.J
21 Ps. cvi. 20. 82 Isa. xl. 6. " John iv. 7.
254
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXII.
woman at the well found the Lord thirsting, and
by Him thirsting she was filled : she first found
Him thirsting, in order that He might drink her
believing. And when He was on the Cross, " I
thirst," ' He said, although they gave not to Him
that for which He was thirsting. For for them-
selves He was thirsting : but they gave vinegar,
not new wine, wherewith are filled up the new
bottles, but old wine, but old to its loss. 2 For
old vinegar also is said of the old men, of whom
hath been said, " For to them is no changing ; " '
namely, that the Jebusites should be overthrown,
and Jerusalem be builded.4
6. So also the Head of this body even unto
the end from the beginning runneth in thirst.
And as if to Him were being said, Why in thirst ?
what is wanting to Thee, O Body of Christ, O
Church of Christ? in so great honour, in so
great exaltation, in so great height also even in
this world established, what is wanting to Thee ?
There is fulfilled that which hath been foretold
of thee, " There shall adore Him all kings of the
earth, all nations sball serve Him." 5 . . . They
that at Jerusalem's festivals fill up the Churches,
at Babylon's festivals fill up the theatres : and
for all they serve, honour, obey Her — not only
those very persons that bear the Sacraments of
Christ, and hate the commandments of Christ,
but also they, that bear not even the mere Sac-
raments, Heathen though they be, Jews though
they be, — they honour, praise, proclaim, "but
with their mouths they were blessing." I heed
not the mouth, He knoweth that hath instructed
me, " with their heart they were cursing." In
that place they were cursing, where •' mine
honour they thought to drive back."
7. What dost Thou, O Idithun, Body of
Christ, leaping over them? What dost Thou
amid all these things? What wilt Thou? wilt
faint? wilt Thou not persevere even unto the
end ? wilt Thou not hearken, " He that shall
have persevered even unto the end, the same
shall be saved," 6 though for that iniquity abound-
eth, the love of many shall wax cold ? » And
where is it that Thou hast leaped over them ?
where is it that Thy conversation is in Heaven ? 8
But they cleave unto earthly things, as though
earthborn they mind the earth, and are earth,
the serpent's food.' What dost thou amid these
things ? . . . " Nevertheless, to God my soul
shall be made subject" (ver. 5). And who
would endure so great things, either open wars,
or secret lyings-in-wait ? Who would endure so
great things amid open enemies, amid false
brethren? Who would endure so great things?
Would a man ? and if a man would, would a
man of himself? I have not so leaped over that
1 John xix. 28.
* 3 Sam. v. 9.
1 Matt. xxiv. 11,
* Matt. ix. 17.
I IV Ixxii. 11.
* Philip, m. 20.
* P«. lv. 19.
6 Matt. x. 32.
9 Ceo. in. 14,
I should be lifted up, and fall : " To God my
soul shall be made subject : for fr6m Himself is
my patience." What patience is there amid so
great scandals, except that " if for that which we
do not see we hope, through patience we look
for it"?'° There cometh my pain, there will
come my rest also ; there cometh my tribulation,
there will come my cleansing also. For doth
gold glitter in the furnace of the refiner? In a
necklace it will glitter, in an ornament it will
glitter : let it suffer however'the furnace, in order
that being cleansed from dross it may come into
light. This is the furnace, there is there chaff,
there gold, there fire, into this bloweth the re-
finer : in the furnace burneth the chaff, and the
gold is cleansed ; the one into ashes is turned,
of dross the other is cleansed. The furnace is
the world, the chaff unrighteous men, the gold
just men ; the fire tribulation, the refiner God :
that which therefore the refiner willeth I do ;
wherever the Maker setteth me I endure it. I
am commanded to endure, He knoweth how to
cleanse. Though there burn the chaff to set me
on fire, and as if to consume me ; that into ashes
is burned, I of dross am cleansed. Wherefore?
Because " to God my soul shall be made subject :
for from Himself is my patience."
8. "For Himself is my God and My Sav-
ing One, my Taker up, I will not remove
hence" (ver. 6). Because "Himself is my
God," therefore He calleth me : " and my Sav-
ing One," therefore He justified! me: "and my
Taker up," therefore He glorifieth me. For here
I am called and am justified, but there I am
glorified ; and from thence where I am glorified,
" I will not remove." For a sojourner I am with
Thee on earth as all my fathers were. There-
fore from my lodging I shall remove, from my
Heavenly home I shall not remove. " In God
is my salvation and my glory" (ver. 7). Saved
I shall be in God, glorious I shall be in God :
for not only saved, but also glorious, saved, be-
cause a just man I have been made out of an
ungodly man, by Him justified ; " but glorious,
because not only justified, but also honoured.
For " those whom He hath predestined, those
also He hath called." " Calling them, what hath
He done here ? " Whom He hath called, the
same also He hath justified ; but whom He hath
justified, the same also He hath glorified." Jus-
tification therefore to salvation belongeth, glori-
fying to honour. How glorifying to honour
belongeth, it is not needful to discuss. How
justification belongeth to salvation, let us seek
some proof. Behold there cometh to mind out
of the Gospel : there were some who to them-
selves were seeming to be just men, and they
were finding fault with the Lord because He
«° Rom. viii. aj.
11 Rom. iv. a.
12 Rom. viii. 30.
Psalm LXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
255
admitted to the feast sinners, and with publicans
and sinners was eating ; to such men therefore
priding themselves, strong men of earth very
much lifted up, much glorying of- their own
soundness, such as they counted it, not such as
they had, the Lord answered what? " They that
are whole need not a Physician, but they that
are sick." ■ Whom calleth He whole, whom
calleth He sick ? He continueth and saith, " I
have not come to call just men, but sinners unto
repentance."2 He hath called therefore "the
whole " just men, not because the Pharisees were
so, but because themselves they thought so to
be ; and for this reason were proud, and grudged
sick men a physician, and being more sick than
those, they slew the Physician. He hath called
whole, however, righteous men, sick, the sinners.
My being justified therefore, saith that man that
leapeth over, from Himself I have : my being
glorified, from Himself I have : " For God is my
salvation and my glory." " My salvation," so
that saved I am : " my glory," so that honoured
lam. This thing hereafter : now what? "God
of my help, and my hope is in God ; " until I
attain unto perfect justification and salvation.
" For by hope we are saved : but hope which is
seen, is not hope." 3 . . .
9. " Hope ye in Him, all the council of the
people" (ver. 8). Imitate ye Idithun, leap
over your enemies ; men fighting against you,
stopping up your way, men hating you, leap ye
over : " Hope in Him all the council of the
people : pour out before Him your hearts : " . . .
By imploring, by confessing, by hoping. Do not
keep back your hearts within your hearts : "Pour
out before Him your hearts." That perisheth
not which ye pour out. For He is my Taker up.
If He taketh up, why fearest thou to pour out?
" Cast upon the Lord thy care, and hope in
Him."4 What fear ye amid whisperers, slander-
ers hateful to God,* where they are able openly
assailing, where they are unable secretly lying in
wait, falsely praising, truly at enmity, amid them
what fear ye? "God is our Helper." Do they
anywise equal God ? Are they anywise stronger
than He? " God is our Helper," be ye without
care. " If God is for us, who is against us ? " 6
" Pour out before Him your hearts," by leaping
over unto Him, by lifting up your souls : " God
is our helper." ..." Nevertheless, vain are the
sons of men, and liars are the sons of men in
the balances, in order that they may deceive, being
at one because of vanity" (ver. 9). Certainly
many men there are : behold there is that one
man, that one man that was cast forth from the
multitude of guests.7 They conspire, they all
seek things temporal, and they that are carnal
1 Matt. ix. 13.
< Ps lv. 22.
7 Malt. xxii. 11.
2 Matt. ix. 12
5 Rom. i. 29, 30.
3 Rom. viii. 24.
6 Rom. viii. 31.
things carnal, and for the future they hope them,
whosoever do hope : even if because of variety
of opinions they are in division, nevertheless
because of vanity they are at one. Divers indeed
are errors and of many forms, and the kingdom
against itself divided shall not stand : 8 but alike
in all is the will vain and lying, belonging to one
king, with whom into fire everlasting it is to be
thrown headlong' — "these men because of vanity
are at one." And for them see how He thirst-
eth, see how He runneth in thirst.
10. He turneth therefore Himself to them,
thirsting for them : " Do not hope in iniquity "
(ver. 10). For my hope is in God. Ye that
will not draw near and pass over, " do not hope
in iniquity." For I that have leapt over, my
hope is in God ; and is there anywise iniquity
with God ? IO This thing let us do, that thing let
us do, of that thing let us think, thus let us adjust
our lyings in wait ; " Because of vanity being at
one." Thou thirstest : they that think of those
things against thee are given up by those whom
thou drinkest, " Do not hope in vanity." Vair
is iniquity, nought is iniquity, mighty is nothing
save righteousness. Truth may be hidden for a
time, conquered it cannot be. Iniquity may
flourish for a time, abide it cannot. " Do not
hope upon iniquity : and for robbery be not
covetous." Thou art not rich, and wilt thou
rob? What findest thou? What losest thou?
O losing gains ! Thou findest money, thou lpsest
righteousness. " For robbery be not covetous."
. . . Therefore, vain sons of men, lying sons of
men, neither rob, nor, if there flow riches, set
heart upon them : no longer love vanity, and seek
lying. For " blessed is the man who hath the
Lord God for his hope, and who hath not had
regard unto vanities, and lying follies."" Ye
would deceive, ye would commit a fraud, what
bring ye in order that ye may cheat. Deceitful
balances. For "lying," he saith, "are the sons
of men in the balances," in order that they may
cheat by bringing forth deceitful balances. By
a false balance ye beguile men looking on : know
ye not that one is he that weigheth, Another He
that judgeth of the weight? He seeth not, for
whom thou weighest, but He seeth that weigheth
thee and him. Therefore neither fraud nor rob-
bery covet ye any longer, nor on those things
which ye have set your hope : ,2 I have admon-
ished, have foretold, saith this Idithun.
11. What followeth ? "Once hath God spoken,
these two things I have heard, that power is of
God (ver. 1 1 ) , and to Thee, O Lord, is mercy, for
Thou shalt render to each one after his works "
(ver. 12). . . . "Once hath God spoken."
What sayest thou, Idithun? If thou that hadst
leapt over them art saying, " Once He hath
8 Matt. xii. 35.
» Ps. xL 4.
9 Matt. xxv. 41. ,0 Rom. ix. 14.
12 Luke xii. 15. St. Auguslin, habel.
256
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXII.
spoken ; " I turn to another Scripture and it
saith to me, " In many quarters and in many
ways formerly God hath spoken to the fathers in
the prophets." ' What is, " Once hath God
spoken " ? Is He not the God that in the begin-
ning of mankind spake to Adam?2 Did not
the Selfsame speak to Cain, to Noe, to Abraham,
to Isaac, to Jacob, to all the Prophets, and to
Moses ? > One man Moses was, and how often
to him spake God? Behold even to one man,
not once but ofttimes God hath spoken. Sec-
ondly, He hath spoken to the Son when standing
here, " Thou art My beloved Son." 4 God hath
spoken to the Apostles, He hath spoken to all
the Saints, even though not with voice sounding
through the cloud, nevertheless in the heart
where He is Himself Teacher.5 What is there-
fore, "Once hath God spoken"? Much hath
that man leapt over in order to arrive at that
place, where once God hath spoken. Behold
briefly I have spoken to your Love. Here
among men, to men ofttimes, in many ways, in
many quarters, through creatures of many forms
God hath spoken : by Himself once God hath
spoken, because One Word God hath begotten.
. . . For it could not be but that God did Him-
self know that which by the Word He made : 6 but
if that which He made He knew, in Him there
was that which was made before it was made.
For if in Him was not that which was made be-
fore it was made, how knew He that which He
made ? For thou canst not say that God made
things He knew not. God therefore hath known
that which He hath made. And how knew He
before He made, if there cannot be known any
but things made? But by things made there
cannot be known any but things previously made,
by thee, to wit, who art a man made in a lower
place, and set in a lower place : but before that
all these things were made, they were known by
Him by whom they were made, and that which
He knew He made. Therefore in that Word by
which He made all things, before that they were
made, were all things ; and after they have been
made there are all things ; but in one way here,
in another there, in one way in their own nature
wherein they have been made, in another in the
art by which they have been made. Who could
explain this ? We may endeavour : go ye with
Idithun, and see.
12. . . . For even the Lord saith, " Many things
I have to say to you, but ye cannot bear them
now." J What is therefore, " These two things I
have heard " ? These two things which to you
I am about to say not of myself to you I say,
but what things I have heard I say. " Once hath
God spoken : " One Word hath He, the Only-
1 Heb. i. i. » Gen. iii. 17.
' Matt. iii. 17. J Magisttr.
7 John xvi. 13.
3 Gen. iv. 6, etc.
* John i. 3.
begotten God. In that Word are all things, be-
cause by the Word were made all things. One
Word hath He, " in whom all the treasures of
wisdom and. knowledge are hidden." 8 One Word
He hath, "once hath God spoken." "These
two things," which to you I am about to say,
these I have heard : not of myself I speak, not
of myself I say : to this belongeth the " I have
heard." » But the friend of the Bridegroom
standeth and heareth Him, that he may speak
the truth. For he heareth Him, lest by speak-
ing a lie, of his own he should speak : *° lest thou
shouldest say. Who art thou that sayest this
thing to me? whence dost thou say this to me?
I have heard these two things, and I that speak
to thee that I have heard these two things, -am
one who also doth know that once God hath
spoken. Do not despise a hearer saying to thee
certain two things for thee so necessary ; him, I
say, that by leaping over the whole creation hath
attained unto the Only-begotten Word of God,
where he hath learned that "once God hath
spoken."
13. Let him therefore now say certain two
things. For greatly to us belong these two
things. " For power is of God, and to Thee, O
Lord, is mercy." Are these the two things,
power and merey ? These two evidently : per-
ceive ye the power of God, perceive ye the mer-
cy of God. In these two things are contained
nearly all the Scriptures. Because of these two
things are the Prophets, because of these two,
the Patriarchs, because of these the Law, because
of these Himself our Lord Jesus Christ, because
of these the Apostles, because of these all the
preaching and spreading of the word of God
in the Church, because of these two, because of
the power of God, and His mercy. His power
fear ye, His mercy love ye. Neither so on His
mercy rely, as that His power ye despise : nor
so the power fear ye, as that of mercy ye de-
spair. With Him is power, with Him mercy.
This man He humbleth, and that man He exalt-
eth : " this man He humbleth with power, that
man He exalteth in mercy. " For if God, will-
ing to show wrath and to prove His power, hath
in much patience borne with the vessels of wrath,
which have been perfected unto perdition " " —
thou hast heard of power : inquire for mercy —
"and that He might make known," He saith,
" His riches unto the vessels of mercy." It be-
longeth therefore to His power to condemn un-
just men. And to Him who would say, What
hast thou done? "For thou, O man, who art
thou that should make answer to God ? " '3 Fear
therefore and tremble at His power: but hope
for His mercy. The devil is a sort of power;
ofttimes however he wisheth to hurt, and is not
8 Col. ii 3.
11 Ps. lxxv. 7.
9 John viii. 26.
lz Rom. ix. aa.
10 John viii. 44.
1J Horn. ix. 20.
Psalm LXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
257
able, because that power is under power. For
if the devil could hurt as much as he would ; no
one of just men would remain, nor could any
one of the faithful be on earth. The same
through his vessels smiteth against, as it were, a
wall bowed down : but he only smiteth against,
so far as he receiveth power. But in order that
the wall may not fall, the Lord will support : for
He that giveth power to the tempter, doth Him-
self to the tempted extend mercy. For accord-
ing to measure the devil is permitted to tempt.
And, " Thou wilt give us to drink in tears in a
measure." ' Do not therefore fear the tempter
permitted to do somewhat : for thou hast a most
merciful Saviour. So much he is permitted to
tempt as is profitable for thee, that thou mayest
be exercised, mayest be proved ; in order that
by thyself thou mayest be found out, that know-
est not thyself. For where, or from whence,
ought we to be secure, except by this power and
mercy of God? After that Apostolic saying,
" Faithful is God, that doth not suffer you to be
tempted above that which ye are able." * . . .
Fear not the enemy : so much he doeth as he
hath received power to do, Him fear thou that
hath the chief power : Him fear, that doeth as
much as He willeth, and that doeth nothing un-
justly, and whatever He shall have done, is just.
We might suppose something or other to be un-
just : inasmuch as God hath done it, believe it
to be just.
14. Therefore, thou sayest, if any one slay an
innocent man, doeth he justly or unjustly? Un-
justly certainly. Wherefore doth God permit
this? . . . The counsel of God to tell to thee,
O man, I am not able : this thing however I
say, both that the man hath done unjustly that
hath slain an innocent person, and that it would
not have been done unless God permitted it :
and though the man hath done unjustly, yet God
hath not unjustly permitted this. Let the reason
lie concealed in that person whoever it be, for
whose sake thou art moved, whose innocence
doth much move thee. For to thee speedily I
might make answer. He would not have been
slain unless he were guilty : but thou thinkest
him innocent. I might speedily say this to thee.
For thou couldest not examine his heart, sift his
deeds, weigh his thoughts, so that thou couldest
say to me, unjustly he was slain. I might easily
therefore make answer : but there is forced
upon my view a certain Just One, without dispute
just, without doubt just, who had no sin, slain
by sinners, betrayed by a sinner ; Himself Christ
the Lord, of whom we cannot say that He hath
any iniquity, for " those things which He robbed
not He paid," 3 is made an objection to my
answer. And why should I speak of Christ?
" With thee I am dealing," thou sayest. And I
with thee. About Him thou proposest a ques-
tion, about Him I am solving the question. For
therein the counsel of God we know, which
except by His own revealing we should not
know : so that when thou shalt have found out
that counsel of God, whereby He hath permitted
His innocent Son to be slain by unjust men, and
such a counsel as pleaseth thee, and such a
counsel as cannot displease thee, if thou art
just, thou mayest believe that in other things
also by His counsel God doeth the same, but it
escaped thee. Ah ! brethren, need there was
of the blood of a just one to blot out the hand-
writing of sins ; need there was of an example of
patience, of an example of humility ; need there
was of the Sign of the Cross to beat down the
devil and his angels ; need for us there was of
the Passion of our Lord ; for by the Passion of the
Lord redeemed hath been the world. How
many good things hath the Passion of the Lord
done ! And yet the Passion of this Just One
would not have been, unless unrighteous men
had slain the Lord. What then? is this good
thing which to us hath been granted by the
Lord's Passion to be ascribed to the unjust slay-
ers of Christ ? Far be it. They willed, God per-
mitted. They guilty would have been, even if
only they had willed it : but God would not
have permitted it, unless just it had been. . . .
Accordingly, my brethren, both Judas the foul
traitor to Christ, and the persecutors of Christ,
malignant all, ungodly all, unjust all, are to be
condemned all : and nevertheless the Father His
own proper Son hath not spared, but for the sake
of us all He hath delivered Him up.4 Order if
thou art able ; distinguish if thou art able (these
things) : render to God thy vows, which thy
lips have uttered : see what the unjust hath here
done, what the Just One. The one hath willed,
the Other hath permitted : the one unjustly
hath willed, the Other justly hath permitted.
Let unjust will be condemned, just permission
be glorified. For what evil thing hath befallen
Christ, in that Christ hath died? Both evil were
they that evil willed to do, and yet nothing of
evil did He suffer on whom they did it. Slain
was mortal flesh, slaying death by death, giving
a lesson of patience, sending before an example
of Resurrection. How great good things of the
Just One were wrought by the evil things of
the unjust ! This is the great mystery 5 of God :
that even a good thing which thou doest He
hath Himself given it to thee, and by thy evil He
doeth good Himself. Do not therefore wonder,
God permitteth, and in judgment permitteth :
He permitteth, and in measure, number, weight,
He permitteth. With Him is not iniquity:6 do
1 Ps. lxxx. 5.
1 Cor. x. 13.
3 Ps. lxix. 4.
* Rom. viii. 32.
> Magnum, Al. rcgHMtn, " the royal power.'
6 Rom. ix. 14.
258
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIII.
thou only belong to Him ; on Himself thy hope
set thou, let Himself be thy Helper, thy Salva-
tion : in Him be there the fortified place, the
tower of strength,' thy refuge let Himself be, and
He will not suffer thee to be tempted above that
which thou art able to bear, but will make with
the temptation also an escape, that thou mayest
be able to support it : 2 so that His suffering thee
to bear temptation, be His power ; His suffering
not any more on thee to be done than thou art
able to bear, be His mercy : " for power is of
God, and to Thee, O Lord, is mercy, because
Thou wilt render to each one after his works."
15. That thirst of the Church, would fain drink
up that man also whom ye see.3 At the same time
also, in order that ye may know how many in the
mixed multitude of Christians with their mouth do
bless, and in their heart curse, this man having
been a Christian and a believer returneth as a
penitent, and being terrified by the power of the
Lord, turneth him to the mercy of the Lord.
For having been led astray by the enemy when
he was a believer, long time he hath been an
astrologer, led astray, leading astray, deceived,
deceiving, he hath allured, hath beguiled, many
lies he hath spoken against God, That hath given
to men power of doing that which is good, and
of not doing that which is evil. He used to say,
that one's own will did not adultery, but Venus ;
one's own will did not manslaying, but Mars ;
and God did not what is just, but Jupiter ; and
many other blasphemous things, and not light
ones. From how many Christians do ye think he
hath pocketed money? How many from him have
bought a lie, to whom we used to say, " Sons of
men, how long are ye dull of heart, wherefore love
ye vanity, and seek a lie" ? * Now, as of him must
be believed, he hath shuddered at his lie, and
being the allurer of many men, he hath perceived
at length that by the devil he hath himself been
allured, and he turneth to God a penitent. We
think, brethren, that because of great fear of
heart it hath come to pass. For what must we
say ? If out of a heathen an astrologer were con-
verted, great indeed would be the joy : but
nevertheless it might appear, that, if he had been
converted, he was desiring the clerical office in
the Church. A penitent he is, he seeketh not
anything save mercy alone. He must be recom-
mended therefore both to your eyes and hearts.
Him whom ye see in hearts love ye, with eyes
guard ye. See ye him, mark ye him, and whither-
soever he shall have gone his way, to the rest of
the brethren that now are not here, point him out :
and such diligence is mercy ; lest that leader
astray drag back 5 his heart and take it by storm.
' Pt. Ixi. 3. » 1 Cor. x. 13.
3 When an astrologer was pointed out among the people about
him, he added this.
* F». iv. 2. S At. " return to."
Guard ye him, let there not escape you his
conversation, his way : in order that by your
testimony it may be proved to us that truly to the
Lord he hath been turned. For report will not
be silent about his life, when to you he is thus
presented both to be seen and to be pitied. Ye
know in the Acts of the Apostles how it is written,
that many lost men, that is, men of such arts, and
followers of naughty doctrines, brought unto the
Apostles all their books ; and there were burned
so many volumes, that it was the writer's task to
make a valuation of them, and write down the
sum of the price.6 This truly was for the glory
of God, in order that even such lost men might
not be despaired of by Him that knew how
to seek that which had been lost. Therefore
this man had been lost, is now sought, found,7 led
hither, he bringeth with him books to be burned,
by which he had been to be burned, so that
when these have been thrown into the fire, he
may himself pass over into a place of refresh-
ment. Know ye that he, brethren, once knocked
at the Church door before Easter : 8 for before
Easter he began to ask of the Church Christ's
medicine. But because the art wherein he had
been practised is of such sort as that it was sus-
pected of lying and deceit, he was put off that
he might not tempt ; at length however he was
admitted, that he might not more dangerously
be tempted. Pray for him through Christ.
Straightway to-day's prayer pour out for him to
the Lord our God. For we know and are sure,
that your prayer effaceth all his impieties. The
Lord be with you.
PSALM LXIII.9
1. This psalm hath the title, " For David
himself, when he was in the desert of Idumaea."
By the name of Idumaea is understood this
world. For Idumaea was a certain nation of men
going astray, where idols were worshipped. In
no good sense is put this Idumaea. If not in a
good sense it is put, it must be understood that
this life, wherein we suffer so great toils, and
wherein to so great necessities we are made sub-
ject, by the name of Idumaea is signified.10 Even
here is a desert where there is much thirst, and
ye are to hear the voice of One now thirsting
in the desert. But if we acknowledge ourselves
as thirsting, we shall acknowledge ourselves as
drinking also. For he that thirsteth in this
world, in the world to come shall be satisfied,
according to the Lord's saying, " Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,
6 Acts xix. to. ' Luke xv. 3a.
• [A glimpse of the ancient discipline The public confession of
the man is made through the bishop. Bingham, Antiquities, etc.,
b. xxi. cap. 1 , § 12 rt seq. — C]
9 Lat. I.X 1 1. Sermon to the Commonalty.
>o x Sam. xxi. 7. See on "the Edomilc," p. 199.
Psalm LXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
259
for the same shall be satisfied." ■ Therefore in
this world we ought not to love fulness. Here
we must thirst, in another place we shall be filled.
But now in order that we may not faint in this
desert, He sprinkleth upon us the dew of His
word, and leaveth us not utterly to dry up, so
that there should not be in our case any seeking
of us again, but that we may so thirst as that we
may drink. But in order that we may drink,
with somewhat of His Grace we are sprinkled :
nevertheless we thirst. And what saith our soul
to God?
2. " God, my God, unto Thee from the light
I watch" (ver. 1). What is to watch? It is, not
to sleep. What is to sleep? There is a sleep of
the soul ; there is a sleep of the body. Sleep
of body we all ought to have : because if sleep of
body is not taken, a man fainteth, the body
itself fainteth. For our frail body cannot long
sustain a soul watching and on the stretch on
active works ; if for a long time the soul shall
have been intent on active pursuits, the body
being frail and earthly holdeth her not, sustaineth
her not for ever in activity, and fainteth and fall-
eth. Therefore God hath granted sleep to the
body, whereby are recruited the members of
the body, in order that they may be able to sustain
the soul watching. But of this let us take heed,
namely, that our soul herself sleep not : for evil
is the sleep of the soul. Good is the sleep of
the body, whereby is recruited the health of the
body. But the sleep of the soul is to forget her
God. Whatsoever soul shall have forgotten
her God, sleepeth. Therefore the Apostle saith to
certain persons that forgot their God, and being
as it were in sleep, did act the follies of the wor-
ship of idols — the Apostle, I say, saith to
certain persons, " Rise, thou that sleepest, and
rise up from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten
thee." ' Was the Apostle waking up one sleep-
ing in body? Nay, but he was waking a soul
sleeping, inasmuch as he was waking her, in
order that she might be lightened by Christ.
Therefore as to these same watchings saith this
man, " God, my God, unto Thee from the light
I watch." For thou wouldest not watch of thy-
self, unless there should arise thy Light, to wake
thee from sleep. For Christ lighteneth souls,
and maketh them to watch : but if His light He
taketh away, they slumber. For for this cause
to Him there is said in another Psalm, " Light-
en mine eyes, that I may never slumber in
death." J . . .
3. " My soul hath thirsted for Thee " (ver.
2). Behold that desert of Idumaea. See how
here he thirsteth : but see what good thing is
here, " Hath thirsted for Thee." For there are
they that thirst, but not for God. For every one
1 Matt. v. 6.
2 Eph. v. 14.
3 Ps.
that willeth anything to be granted to him, is in
the heat of longing; the longing itself is the
thirst of the soul. And see ye what4 longings
there are in the hearts of men : one longeth for
gold, another longeth for silver, another longeth
for possessions, another inheritance, another
abundance of money, another many herds, an-
other a wife, another honours, another sons. Ye
see those longings, how they are in the hearts of
men. All men are inflamed with longing, and
scarce is found one to say, " My soul hath thirsted
for Thee." For men thirst for the world : and
perceive not themselves to be in the desert of
Idumsea, where their souls ought to thirst for
God. . . .
4. Wisdom therefore must be thirsted after,
righteousness must be thirsted after. VVith it
we shall not be satisfied, with it we shall not be
filled, save when this life shall have been ended,
and we shall have come to that which God hath
promised. For God hath promised equality with
Angels : 5 and now the Angels thirst not as we
do, they hunger not as we do ; but they have the
fulness of truth, of light, of immortal wisdom.
Therefore blessed they are, and out of so great
blessedness, because they are in that City, the
Heavenly Jerusalem, afar from whence we now
are sojourning in a strange land, they observe us
sojourners, and they pity us, and by the com-
mand of the Lord they help us, in order that to
this common country sometime we may return,
and there with them sometime with the Lord's
fountain of truth and eternity we may be filled.
Now therefore let our soul thirst : whence doth
our flesh also thirst, and this in many ways?
" In many ways for Thee," he saith, " my flesh
also." Because to our flesh also is promised
Resurrection. As to our soul is promised bless-
edness, so also to our flesh is promised resurrec-
tion. . . . For if God hath made us that were
not, is it a great thing for Him to make again us
that were ? Therefore let not this seem to you
to be incredible, because ye see dead men as it
were decaying, and passing into ashes and into
dust. Or if any dead man be burned, or if dogs
tear him in pieces, do ye think that from this he
will not rise again? All things which are dis-
membered, and into a sort of dust do decay, are
entire with God. For into those elements of the
world they pass, whence at first they have come,
when we were made : we do not see them ; but
yet God will bring them forth, He knoweth
whence, because even before we were, He
created us from whence He knew. Such a res-
urrection of the flesh therefore to us is promised,
as that, although it be the same flesh that now
we carry 6 which is to rise again, yet it hath not
* Quanta. 5 Luke xx. 36.
6 [The same as to identity (/.*., of continuity), not the sann
as to material. But see Tertullian, vol. iii . 56a. — C]
26o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIII.
the corruption which now it hath. For now be-
cause of the corruption of frailty, if we eat not,
we faint and are hungry ; if we drink not, we
faint and are thirsty ; if long time we watch,
we faint and sleep ; if long time we sleep, we faint,
therefore we watch. . . . Secondly, see how with-
out any standing is our flesh : for infancy pass-
eth away into boyhood, and thou seekest infancy,
and infancy is not, for now instead of infancy is
boyhood : again this same also passeth into
youth, thou seekest boyhood and findest not :
the young man becometh a middle-aged man,
thou seekest the young man and he is not : the
middle-aged man becometh an old man, thou
seekest a middle-aged man and findest not : and
an old man dieth, thou seekest an old man
and findest not : our age therefore standeth not
still : everywhere is weariness, everywhere faint-
ness, everywhere corruption. Observing what a
hope of resurrection God promiseth to us, in all
those our manifold faintings we thirst for that
incorruption : and so our flesh manifoldly doth
thirst for God.
5. Nevertheless, my brethren, the flesh of a
good Christian and a believer even in this world
for God doth thirst : for if the flesh hath need
of bread, if it hath need of water, if it hath
need of wine, if it hath need of money, if this
flesh hath need of a beast, from God it ought to
seek it, not from demons and idols and I know
not what powers of this world. For there are
certain who when they suffer hunger in this world,
leave God and ask Mercury or ask Jove to give
unto them, or her whom they call " Heavenly," '
or any the like demons : not for God their flesh
thirsteth. But they that thirst for God,2 every-
where ought to thirst for Him, both soul and
flesh : for to the soul also God giveth His bread,
that is the Word of Truth : and to the flesh God
giveth the things which are necessary, for God
hath made both soul and flesh. For the sake
of thy flesh thou askest of demons : hath God
made the soul, and the demons made the flesh?
He that hath made the soul, the Same hath made
the flesh also : He that hath made both of them,
the Same feedeth both of them. Let either part
of us thirst for God, and after labour manifold
let either simply be filled.
6. But where thirsteth our soul, and our flesh
manifoldly, not for any one but for Thee, O Lord,
that is our God ? it thirsteth where ? " In a land
desert, and without way, and without water."
Of this world we have spoken, the same is
1 Ed. Ben. refers to Tertullian, Apol. xxiii., where Virgo Calestis
is represented as " promising rain," and St. Augustin, De Civ. Dei,
u. 4, where the same goddess is mentioned as worshipped together
with Berecynthia, the mother of the gods. [An intimation of the
lingerings of heathenism, now Paganism, the religion of Rustics.
But how easily this Virgo Calestis became a new idolatry among
Christians is here illustrated. Compare Coleridge's paraphrase of
Schiller, " The fair humanities of old religion," etc. — C. 1
» Oxf. MSS. Deo.
Idumaea, this is the desert of Idumsa, whence
the Psalm hath received its title. " In a land
desert." Too little it is to say " desert," where
no man dwelleth ; it is besides, both " without
way, and without water." O that the same desert
had even a way : O that into this a man run-
ning, even knew where he might thence get
forth ! . . . Evil is the desert, horrible, and to
be feared : and nevertheless God hath pitied us,
and hath made for us a way in the desert, Him-
self our Lord Jesus Christ : 3 and hath made for
us a consolation in the desert, in sending to us
preachers of His Word : and hath given to
us water in the desert, by fulfilling with the
Holy Spirit His preachers, in order that there
might be created in them a well of water spring-
ing up unto life everlasting.4 And, lo ! we have
here all things, but they are not of the desert. . . .
7. " Thus in a holy thing I have appeared to
Thee, that I might see Thy power and Thy
glory" (ver. 3). . . . Unless a man first thirst
in that desert, that is in the evil wherein he is, he
never arriveth at the good, which is God. But
" I have appeared to Thee," he saith, " in a holy
thing." Now in a holy thing is there great con-
solation. " I have appeared to Thee," is what?
In order that Thou mightest see me : and for
this reason Thou hast seen me, in order that I
might see Thee. " I have appeared to Thee,
that I might see." He hath not said, '• I have
appeared to Thee, that Thou mightest see : "
but, " I have appeared to Thee, that I might see
Thy power and Thy glory." Whence also the
Apostle, " But now," he saith, " knowing God,
nay, having been known of God." 5 For first ye
have appeared to God, in order that to you God
might be able to appear. "That I might see
Thy power and Thy glory." In truth in that for-
saken place, that is, in that desert, if as though
from the desert a man striveth to obtain enough
for his sustenance, he will never see the power
of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord, but he
will remain to die of thirst, and will find neither
way, nor consolation, nor water, whereby he may
endure in the desert. But when he shall have
lifted up himself to God, so as to say to Him
out of all his inward parts, " My soul hath thirsted
for Thee ; how manifoldly for Thee also my
flesh ! " lest perchance even the things neces-
sary for the flesh of others he ask, and not of
God, or else long not for that resurrection of
the flesh, which God hath promised to us : when,
I say, he shall have lifted up himself, he will
have no small consolations.
8. . . . But ye have heard but now when the
Gospel was being read in what terms He hath
notified His Majesty : " I and My Father are
One." 6 Behold how great a Majesty and how
3 John xiv. 6.
6 John x. 30.
* John iv. 14.
5 Gal. iv.
Psalm LXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
261
great an Equality with the Father hath come
down to the flesh because of our infirmity.
Behold how greatly beloved we have been, be-
fore that we loved God. If before that we loved
God, so much by Him we were beloved, as that
His Son, Equal with Himself, He made a Man
for our sake, what doth He reserve for us now
loving Him? Therefore many men think it to
be a very small thing that the Son of God hath
appeared on earth ; because they are not in the
Holy One, to them hath not appeared the power
of the Same and the glory of the Same : that is,
not yet have they a heart made holy, whence they
may perceive the eminence of that virtue, and
may render thanks to God, nor that to which for
their own sakes so great an One came, unto what
a nativity, unto what a Passion, they are not able
to see, His glory and His power.1
9. "For better is Thy mercy than2 lives."
Many are the lives of men, but one life God
promiseth : and He giveth not this to us as if for
our merits but for His mercy. . . . For what is
so just a thing as that a sinner should be pun-
ished? Though a just thing it be that a sinner
should be punished, it hath belonged to the
mercy of Him not to punish a sinner but to jus-
tify him, and of a sinner to make a just man,
and of an ungodly man to make a godly man.
Therefore " His mercy is better than lives."
What lives? Those which for themselves men
have chosen. One hath chosen for himself a
life of business, another a country life, another
a life of usury, another a military life ; one this,
another that. Divers are the lives, but " better
is Thy " life " than " our " lives." ..." My lips
shall praise Thee." My lips would not praise
Thee, unless before me were to go Thy mercy.
By Thy gift Thee I praise, through Thy mercy
Thee I praise. For I should not be able to praise
God, unless He gave me to be able to praise Him.
10. " So I will speak good of Thee in my
life, and in Thy name I will lift up my hands "
(ver. 5). Now in my life which to me Thou
hast given, not in that which I have chosen after
the world with the rest among many lives, but
that which Thou hast given to me through Thy
mercy, that I should praise Thee. " So I will
speak good of Thee in my life." What is " so " ?
That to Thy mercy I may ascribe my life wherein
Thee I praise, not to my merits. "And in Thy
name I will lift up my hands." Lift up therefore
hands in prayer. Our Lord hath lifted up for
us His hands on the Cross, and stretched out
were His hands for us, and therefore were His
hands stretched out on the Cross, in order that
our hands might be stretched out unto good
works : because His Cross hath brought us
mercy. Behold, He hath lifted up hands, and
1 The construction here seems imperfect. fl Lat. " above."
hath offered for us Himself a Sacrifice to God,
and through that Sacrifice have been effaced all
our sins. Let us also lift up our hands to God
in prayer : and our hands being lifted up to
God shall not be confounded, if they be exer-
cised in good works. For what doth he that
lifteth up hands? Whence hath it been com-
manded that with hands lifted up we should pray
to God? For the Apostle saith, " Lifting up
pure hands without anger and dissension." 3 It
is in order that when thou liftest up hands to
God, there may come into thy mind thy works.
For whereas those hands are lifted up that thou
mayest obtain that which thou wilt, those same
hands thou thinkest in good works to exercise,
that they may not blush to be lifted up to God.
" In thy name I will lift up my hands." Those
are our prayers in this Idumaea, in this desert,
in the land without water and without way,
where for us Christ is the Way,4 but not the way
of this earth.
11. . . . Already our fathers are dead, but God
liveth : here we could not always have fathers,
but there we shall alway have one living Father,
when we have our father-land. . . . What sort
of country is that? But thou lovest here riches.
God Himself shall be to thee thy riches. But
thou lovest a good fountain. What is more
passing clear than that wisdom ? What more
bright? Whatsoever is an object of love here,
in place of all thou shalt have Him that hath
made all things, " as though with marrow and
fatness my soul should be filled : and lips of
exultation shall praise Thy name." In this
desert, in Thy name I will lift up my hands : let
my soul be filled as though with marrow and
fatness, " and my lips with exultation shall praise
Thy name." For now is prayer, so long as there
is thirst : when thirst shall have passed away,
there passeth away praying and there succeed-
eth praising. "And lips of exultation shall
praise Thy name."
12. "If I have remembered Thee upon my
bed, in the dawnings I did meditate on thee
(ver. 7) : because Thou hast become my
helper" (ver. 8). His "bed" he calleth his
rest. When any one is at rest, let him be mind-
ful of God ; when any one is at rest, let him not
by rest be dissolved, and forget God : if mindful
he is of God when he is at rest, in his actions
on God he doth meditate. For the dawn he
hath called actions, because every man at dawn
beginneth to do something. What therefore
hath he said? If therefore I was not mind-
ful on my bed, in the dawn also I did not medi-
tate on Thee. Can he that thinketh not of God
when he is at leisure, in his actions think of
God ? But he that is mindful of Him when he
3 1 Tim. ii. 8.
* John xiv. 6.
262
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[fSALM LXIII.
is at rest, on the Same doth meditate when he
is doing, lest in action he should come short.
Therefore he hath added what ? " Because
Thou has become my helper." For unless God
aid our good works, they cannot be accom-
plished by us. And worthy things we ought to
work : that is, as though in the light, since by
Christ showing the way we work. Whosoever
worketh evil things, in the night he worketh, not
in the dawn ; according to the Apostle, saying,
"They that are drunken, in the night are
drunken ; and they that sleep, in the night do
sleep ; let us that are of the day, be sober." '
He exhorteth us that after the day we should
walk honestly : " As in the day, honestly let us
walk." 2 And again, " Ye," he saith, " are sons
of light, and sons of day ; we are not of night
nor of darkness." 3 Who are sons of night, and
sons of darkness ? They that work all evil things.
To such a degree they are sons of night, that
they fear lest the things which they work should
be seen. . . . No one therefore in the dawn
worketh, except him that in Christ worketh.
But he that while at leisure is mindful of Christ,
on the Same doth meditate in all his actions,
and He is a helper to him in a good work, lest
through his weakness he fail. " And in the cov-
ering of Thy wings I will exult." I am cheerful
in good works, because over me is the covering
of Thy wings. If thou protect me not, foras-
much as I am a chicken, the kite will seize me.
For our Lord Himself saith in a certain place
to that Jerusalem, a certain city, where He was
crucified : " Jerusalem," He saith, " Jerusalem,
how often I have willed to gather thy sons, as
though a hen her chickens, and thou wouldest
not."* Little ones we are : therefore may God
protect us under the shadow of His wings.
What when we shall have grown greater? A
good thing it is for us that even then He should
protect us, so that under Him the greater, alway
we be chickens. For alway He is greater, how-
ever much we may have grown. Let no one
say, let Him protect me while I am a little one :
as if sometime he would attain to such magni-
tude, as should be self-sufficient. Without the
protection of God, nought thou art. Alway by
Him let us desire to be protected : then alway
in Him we shall have power to be great, if
alway under Him little we be. "And in the
covering of Thy wings I will exult."
13. " My soul hath been glued on behind
Thee " (ver. 9). See ye one longing, see ye one
thirsting, see ye how he cleaveth to God. Let
there spring up in you this affection. If already
it is sprouting, let it be rained upon and grow :
let it come to such strength, that ye also may say
from the whole heart, " My soul hath been glued
' 1 Thess. v. 7, 8.
4 Matt, xxiii. 37.
3 Rom. xiii. 13.
3 1 Thess. v. 5.
on behind Thee." Where is that same glue?
The glue itself is love. Have thou love, where-
with as with glue thy soul may be glued on be-
hind God. Not with God, but behind God ;
that He may go before, thou mayest follow. For
he that shall have willed to go before God, by his
own counsel would live, and will not follow the
commandments of God. Because of this even
Peter was rebuked, when he willed to give coun-
sel to Christ, who was going to suffer for us.
. . . " Far be it from Thee, O Lord, be Thou
merciful to Thyself." And the Lord, " Go back
behind Me, Satan : for thou savourest not the
things which are of God, but the things which
are of men." 5 Wherefore, the things which are
of men ? Because to go before Me thou desirest,
go back behind Me, in order that thou mayest
follow me : so that now following Christ he might
say, " My soul hath been glued on behind Thee."
With reason he addeth, " Me Thy right hand
hath taken up." This Christ hath said in us : that
is in the Man 6 which He was bearing for us,
which He was offering for us, He hath said this.
The Church also said this in Christ, she saith it
in her Head : for she too hath suffered here
great persecutions, and by her individual mem-
bers even now she suffereth. . . .
14. " But themselves in vain have sought my
soul. They shall go unto the lower places of the
earth" (ver. 9). Earth they were unwilling to
lose, when they crucified Christ : into the lower
places of the earth they have gone. What are
the lower places of the earth? Earthly lusts.
Better it is to walk upon earth, than by lust to
go under earth. For every one that in prejudice
of his salvation desireth earthly things, is under
the earth : because earth he hath put before him-,
earth upon himself he hath put, and himself be-
neath he hath laid. They therefore fearing to
lose earth, said what of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when they saw great multitudes go after Him,
forasmuch as He was doing wonderful things?
" If we shall have let Him go alive, there will
come the Romans, and will take away from us
both place and nation." 1 They feared to lose
earth, and they went under the earth : there befell
them even what they feared. For they willed to
kill Christ, that they might not lose earth ; and
earth they therefore lost, because Christ they
slew. For when Christ had been slain, because
the Lord Himself had said to them, "The king-
dom shall be taken from you, and shall be given
up to a nation doing righteousness : " 8 there fol-
lowed them great calamities of persecutions :
there conquered them Roman emperors, and
kings of the nations : they were shut out from
3 Matt. xvi. nt 23.
6 He does not mean by this phrase to attribute a twofold person-
ality to our Lord, as appears from his Retractations on Ps. i. i.
' John xi. 48. ' Matt. xxi. 43.
Psalm LXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
263
that very place where they crucified Christ, and
now that place is full of Christian praisers : it
hath no Jew, it hath been cleared of the enemies
of Christ, it hath been fulfilled with the praisers
of Christ. Behold, they have lost at the hands of
the Romans the place, because Christ they slew,
who to this end slew, that they might not lose
the place at the hands of the Romans. There-
fore, " They shall enter into the lower places
of the earth."
15. " They shall be delivered unto the hands
of the sword " (ver. 10). In truth, thus it hath
visibly befallen them, they have been taken by
storm by enemies breaking in. " Portions of
foxes they shall be." Foxes he calleth the kings
of the world, that then were when Judaea was
conquered. Hear in order that ye may know
and perceive, that those he calleth foxes. Herod
the king the Lord Himself hath called a fox.
" Go ye," He saith, "and tell that fox." ' See
and observe, my brethren : Christ as King they
would not have, and portions of foxes they have
been made. For when Pilate the deputy gov-
ernor in Judsea slew Christ at the voices of the
Jews, he said to the same Jews, " Your King shall
I crucify?"2 Because He was called King of
the Jews, and He was the true King. And they
rejecting Christ said, " We have no king but
Caesar." They rejected a Lamb, chose a fox :
deservedly portions of foxes they were made.
16. "The King in truth,"' is so written, because
they chose a fox, a King in truth they would not
have. " The King in truth : " that is, the true
King, to whom the title was inscribed, when He
suffered. For Pilate set this title inscribed over
His Head, "The King of the Jews," in the
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues : in order that
all they that should pass by might read of the
glory of the King, and the infamy of the Jews
themselves, who, rejecting the true King, chose
the fox Caesar. " The King in truth shall rejoice
in God." They have been made portions of
foxes. ..." Stopped up is the mouth of men
speaking unjust things." No one dareth now
openly to speak against Christ, now all men fear
Christ. " For stopped up is the mouth of men
speaking unjust things." When in weakness
the Lamb was, even foxes were bold against the
Lamb. There conquered the Lion of the tribe
of Judah,4 and the foxes were silenced.
PSALM LXIV.s
1 . Though chiefly the Lord's Passion is noticed
in this Psalm, neither could the Martyrs have
been strong, unless they had beheld Him, that
1 Luke xiii. 32. 3 John xix. 15. 3 Rex vero.
* Rev. v, 5.
s Lat. LXIII. Sermon to the Commonalty while keeping the
festival of the holy Martyrs.
first suffered ; nor such things would they have
endured in suffering, as He did, unless they had
hoped for such things in the Resurrection as He
had showed of Himself: but your Holiness5
knoweth that our Head is our Lord Jesus Christ,
and that all that cleave unto Him are the mem-
bers of Him the Head. . . . And let no one
say, that now-a-days in tribulation of passions we
are not. For alway ye have heard this fact, how
in those times the whole Church together as it
were was smitten against, but now through indi-
viduals she is tried. Bound indeed is the devil,
that he may not do as much as he could, that he
may not do as much as he would : nevertheless,
he is permitted to tempt as much as is expedi-
ent to men advancing. It is not expedient for
us to be without temptations : nor should we
beseech God that we be not tempted, but that
we be not " led into temptation." 7
2. Say we,- therefore, ourselves also : " Hearken,
O God, to my prayer, while I am troubled ; from
fear of the enemy deliver my soul" (ver. i).
Enemies have raged against the Martyrs : for
what was that voice of Christ's Body praying?
For this it was praying, to be delivered from ene-
mies, and that enemies might not have power to
slay them. Were they not therefore hearkened
to, because they were slain ; and hath God for-
saken His servants of a contrite heart, and de-
spised men hoping in Him? Far be it. For
" who hath called upon God, and hath been for-
saken ; who hath hoped in Him, and hath been
deserted by Him? " 8 They were hearkened to
therefore, and they were slain ; and yet from ene-
mies they were delivered. Others being afraid
gave consent, and lived, and yet the same by
enemies were swallowed up. The slain were
delivered, the living were swallowed up. Thence
is also that voice of thanksgiving, " Perchance
alive they would have swallowed us up." «...
Therefore for this prayeth the voice of the Mar-
tyrs, " From fear of the enemy deliver Thou my
soul : " not so that the enemy may not slay me,
but that I may not fear an enemy slaying. For
that to be fulfilled in the Psalm the servant pray-
eth, which but now in the Gospel the Lord was
commanding. What but now was the Lord com-
manding? "Fear not them that kill the body,
but the soul are not able to kill ; but Him rather
fear ye, that hath power to kill both body and
soul in the hell of fire." '° And He repeated,
"Yea, I say unto you, fear Him." " Who are
they that kill the body? Enemies. What was
the Lord commanding? That they should not
be feared. Be prayer offered, therefore, that He
may grant what He hath commanded. " From
fear of the enemy deliver my soul." Deliver
6 [Preached in the presence of a bishop, thus addressed. — C.J
7 Matt. vi. 13. 8 Ecclus. ii. zo. 9 Ps. cxxiv. 3.
10 Matt. x. 28. » I.uke xii. 5.
264
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIV.
me from fear of the enemy, and make me sub-
mit to the fear of Thee. I would not fear him
that killeth the body, but I would fear Him that
hath power to kill both body and soul in the
hell of fire. For not from fear would I be free :
but from fear of the enemy being free, under
fear of the Lord a servant.
3. " Thou hast protected me from the gather-
ing together of malignants, and from the multi-
tude of men working iniquity" (ver. 2). Now
upon Himself our Head let us look. Like things
many Martyrs have suffered : but nothing doth
shine out so brightly as the Head of Martyrs ;
in Him rather let us behold what they have gone
through. Protected He was from the multitude
of malignants, God protecting Himself, the Son
Himself and the Manhood ■ which He was car-
rying protecting His flesh : because Son of Man
He is, and Son of God He is ; Son of God
because of the form of God, Son of Man be-
cause of the form of a servant : having in His
power to lay down His life : and to take it
again.2 To Him what could enemies do? They
killed body, soul they killed not. Observe. Too
little therefore it were for the Lord to exhort the
Martyrs with word, unless He had enforced it by
example. Ye know what a gathering together
there was of malignant Jews, and what a multi-
tude there was of men working iniquity. What
iniquity? That wherewith they willed to kill the
Lord Jesus Christ. " So many good works,"
He saith, " I have shown to you, for which of
these will ye to kill Me ? " 3 He endured all their
infirm,4 He healed all their sick, He preached
the Kingdom of Heaven, He held not His peace
at their vices, so that these same should have
been displeasing to them, rather than the Physi-
cian by whom they were being made whole : for
all these His remedies being ungrateful, like men
delirious in high fever raving at the physician,
they devised the plan of destroying Him that had
come to heal them ; as though therein they
would prove whether He were indeed a man,
that could die, or were somewhat above men,
and would not suffer Himself to die. The word
of these same men we perceive in the wisdom of
Solomon : " with death most vile," say they, "let
us condemn Him ; let us question Him, for there
will be regard in the discourses of Him ; for if
truly Son of God He is, let Him deliver Him." 5
Let us see therefore what was done.
4. " For they have whet like a sword their
tongues" (ver. 3). Which saith another Psalm
also, " Sons of men ; their teeth are arms and
arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword." 6 Let
not the Jews say, we have not killed Christ.
For to this end they gave Him to Pilate the
1 Homine. See on Ps.
9 John x. 32.
> Wild. ii. 20, 18.
. Rttrs. ' John x. 18.
* Oxf. mss. "infirmities."
» Pi. lvii. 4.
judge, in order that they themselves might seem
as it were guiltless of His death. . . . But if he
is guilty because he did it though unwillingly,
are they innocent who compelled him to do it?
By no means. But he gave sentence against
Him, and commanded Him to be crucified :
and in a manner himself killed Him ; ye also,
O ye Jews, killed Him. Whence did ye kill
Him ? With the sword of the tongue : for ye
did whet your tongues. And when did ye smite,
except when ye cried out, " Crucify, Crucify " ? '
5. But on this account we must not pass over
that which hath come into mind, lest perchance
the reading of the Divine Scriptures should dis-
quiet any one. One Evangelist saith that the
Lord was crucified at the sixth hour,8 and another
at the third hour : > unless we understand it, we
are disquieted. And when the sixth hour was
already beginning, Pilate is said to have sat on
the judgment-seat : and in reality when the Lord
was lifted up upon the tree, it was the sixth hour.
But another Evangelist, looking unto the mind
of the Jews, how they wished themselves to seem
guiltless of the death of the Lord, by his account
proveth them guilty, saying, that the Lord was
crucified at the third hour. But considering all
the circumstance of the history, how many things
might have been done, when before Pilate the
Lord was being accused, in order that He might
be crucified ; we find that it might have been
the third hour, when they cried out, " Crucify,
Crucify." Therefore with more truth they killed
at the time when they cried out. The ministers
of the magistrate at the sixth hour crucified, the
transgressors of the law at the third hour cried
out : that which those did with hands at the
sixth hour, these did with tongue at the third
hour. More guilty are they that with crying out
were raging, than they that in obedience were
ministering. This is the whole of the Jews'
sagacity, this is that which they sought as some
great matter. Let us kill and let us not kill : so
let us kill, as that we may not ourselves be
judged to have killed.
6. " They have bended the bow, a bitter thing,
in order that they may shoot in secret One un-
spotted " (ver. 4). The bow he calleth lyings
in wait. For he that with sword fighteth hand
to hand, openly fighteth : he that shooteth an
arrow deceiveth, in order to strike. For the
arrow smiteth, before it is foreseen to come to
wound. But whom could the lyings in wait of
the human heart escape? Would they escape
our Lord Jesus Christ, who had no need that
any one should bear witness to Him of man?
" For Himself knew what was in man," IO as the
Evangelist testifieth. Nevertheless, let us hear
them, and look upon them in their doings as if
1 Luke xxiii. 21.
>° John ii. 25.
8 John xix. 14.
9 Mark xv. 35.
Psalm LXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
26 =
the Lord knew not what they devise. The ex-
pression he used, "They have bended the bow,"
is the same as, " in secret : " as if they were de-
ceiving by lyings in wait. For ye know by what
artifices they did this, how with money they
bribed a disciple that clave to Him, in order that
He might be betrayed to them,' how they pro-
cured false witnesses ; with what lyings in wait
and artifices they wrought, " in order that they
might shoot in secret One unspotted." Great
iniquity ! Behold from a secret place there
cometh an arrow, which striketh One unspotted,
who had not even so much of spot as could be
pierced with an arrow. A Lamb indeed He is
unspotted, wholly unspotted, alway unspotted ;
not one from whom spots have been removed,
but that hath contracted not any spots. For
He hath made many unspotted by forgiving sins,
being Himself unspotted by not having sins.
" Suddenly they shall shoot Him, and shall not
fear." O heart hardened, to wish to kill a Man
that did raise the dead ! " Suddenly : " that is,
insidiously, as if unexpectedly, as if not foreseen.
For the Lord was like to one knowing not, being
among men knowing not what He knew not and
what He knew : yea, knowing not that there
was nothing that He knew not, and that He
knew all things, and to this end had come in
order that they might do that which they thought
they did by their own power.
7. " They have confirmed to themselves ma-
lignant discourse " (ver. 5) . There were done so
great miracles, they were not moved, they per-
sisted in the design of the evil discourse. He
was given up to the judge : the judge trembleth,
and they tremble not that have given Him up to
the judge : trembleth power, and ferocity trem-
bleth not : he would wash his hands, and they
stain their tongues. But wherefore this? "They
have confirmed to themselves malignant dis-
course." How many things did Pilate, how
many things that they might be restrained !
What said he ? what did he ? But " they have
confirmed to themselves malignant discourse :
Crucify, crucify." 2 The repetition is the confir-
mation of the " malignant discourse." Let us see
in what manner " they have confirmed to them-
selves malignant discourse." " Your King shall I
crucify?" They said, "We have no king but
Caesar alone." 3 He was offering for King the
Son of God : to a man they betook themselves :
worthy were they to have the one, and not have
the Other. " I find not anything in this Man,"
saith the judge, "wherefore He is worthy of
death." 4 And they that " confirmed malignant
discourse," said, " His blood be upon us and
upon our sons." 5 " They confirmed malignant
discourse," not to the Lord, but to " themselves."
1 Matt xxvi. 14, 15.
* Luke xxiii. 14, 20, M.
2 Luke xxiii. 21.
5 Matt, xxvii. 25.
1 John xij
For how not to themselves when they say, " Upon
us and upon our sons " ? That which therefore
they confirmed, to themselves they confirmed :
because the same voice is elsewhere, " They dug
before my face a ditch, and fell into it." Death
killed not the Lord, but He death : but them
iniquity killed, because they would not kill iniq-
uity. . . .
8. " They told, in order that they might hide
traps: they said, Who shall see them?" (ver.
5 ) . They thought they would escape Him, whom
they were killing, that they would escape God.
Behold, suppose Christ was a man, like the rest
of men, and knew not what was being contrived
for Him : doth God also know not? O heart of
man ! wherefore hast thou said to thyself, Who
seeth me? when He seeth that hath made thee?
" They said, Who shall see them?"6 God did
see, Christ also was seeing : because Christ is
also God. But wherefore did they think that He
saw not? Hear the words following.
9. " They have searched out iniquity, they
have failed, searching searchings " (ver. 6):
that is, deadly and acute designs. Let Him not
be betrayed by us, but by His disciple : let Him
not be killed by us, but by the judge : let us do
all, and let us seem to have done nothing. . . .
10. But what befell them? "They failed
searching searchings." Whence? Because he
saith, " Who shall see them?" that is, that no
one saw7 them. This they were saying, this
among themselves they thought, that no one
saw them. See what befalleth an evil soul : it
departeth from the light of truth, and because
itself seeth not God, it thinketh that itself is not
seen by God. . . .
n. For what followeth ? "There shall draw
near a man and a deep heart." They said, Who
shall see us ? They failed in searching search-
ings, evil counsels. There drew near a man to
those same counsels, He suffered Himself to be
held as a man. For He would not have been
held except He were man, or have been seen
except He were man, or have been smitten ex-
cept He were man, or have been crucified or
have died except He were man. There drew
near a man therefore to all those sufferings, which
in Him would have been of no avail except He
were Man. But if He were not Man, there
would not have been deliverance for " man.
There hath drawn near a Man " and a deep
heart," that is, a secret "heart:" presenting
before human faces Man, keeping within God :
concealing the " form of God," wherein He is
equal with the Father,8 and presenting the form
of a servant, wherein He is less than the Father.
For Himself hath spoken of both : but one thing
there is which He saith in the form of God,
6 Eas (the traps). Oxf. MSS. '
7 Oxf. mss. " will see."
8 Philip, it 6.
266
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIV.
another thing in the form of a servant. He hath
said in the form of God, " I and the Father are
one : " ' He hath said in the form of a servant,
"For the Father is greater than I." 2 Whence in
the form of God saith He, " I and the Father
are one " ? . . .
12. "Arrows of infants have been made the
strokes of them" (ver. 7). Where is that sav-
ageness? where is that roar of the lion, of the
people roaring and saying, " Crucify, Crucify "ft
Where are the lyings in wait of men bending the
bow ? Have not " the strokes of them been
made the arrows of infants " ? Ye know in what
manner infants make to themselves arrows of
little canes. What do they strike, or whence do
they strike? What is the hand, or what the
weapon ? what are the arms, or what the limbs ?
13. "And the tongues of them have been
made weak upon them" (ver. 8). Let them whet
now their tongues like a sword, let them con-
firm to themselves malignant discourse. De-
servedly to themselves they have confirmed 4 it,
because " the tongues of them have been made
weak upon them." Could this be strong against
God ? " Iniquity," he saith, " hath lied to itself; " 5
" their tongues have been made weak upon
them." Behold, the Lord hath risen, that was
killed. . . . What thinkest thou of Him who
from the cross came not down, and from the
tomb rose again ? What therefore did they ef-
fect ? But even if the Lord had not risen again,
what would they have effected, except what the
persecutors of the martyrs have also effected?
For the Martyrs have not yet risen again, and
nevertheless they have effected nothing ; of them
not yet rising again we are now celebrating the
nativities. Where is the madness of their ra-
ging? To what did they bring those their
searchings, in which searchings they failed, so
that even, when the Lord was dead and buried,
they set guards at the tomb ? For they said to
Pilate, " That deceiver ; " by this name the
Lord Jesus Christ was called, for the comfort
of His servants when they are called deceivers ;
they say therefore to Pilate, " That deceiver said
when yet living, After three days I will rise
again : " 6 . . . They set for guards soldiers at
the sepulchre. At the earth quaking, the Lord
rose again : such miracles were done about the
sepulchre, that even the very soldiers that had
come for guards were made witnesses, if they
chose to tell the truth : but the same covetous-
ness which had led captive a disciple, the com-
panion of Christ, led captive also the soldier that
was guard of the sepulchre. We give you, they
say, money ; 7 and say ye, while yourselves were
sleeping there came His disciples, and took Him
1 John x. 30. 9 John xiv. 28. s Luke xxiii. 21; John xix. 6.
* Or, strengthened. J Ps. xxvii. 12, Vulgate.
6 Matt, xxvii. 63. 7 Matt, xxviii. 12, 13.
away. . . . Sleeping witnesses ye adduce : truly
thou thyself hast fallen asleep, that in searching
such devices hast failed. If they were sleeping,
what could they see ? if nothing they saw, how
are they witnesses ? But " they failed in search-
ing searchings : " failed of the light of God, failed
in the very completion of their designs : when
that which they willed, nowise they were able to
complete, surely they failed. Wherefore this?
Because " there drew near a Man and a deep
heart, and God was exalted." . . .
14. "And every man feared" (ver. 9). They
that feared not, were not even men. " Every
man feared ; " that is, every one using reason to
perceive the things which were done. Whence
they that feared not, must rather be called cattle,
rather beasts savage and cruel. A lion ramping
and roaring is that people as yet. But in truth
every man feared : that is, they that would be-
lieve, that trembled at the judgment to come.
" And every man feared : and they declared the
works of God." . . . "And every man hath
feared : and they have declared the works of
God, and His doings they have perceived."
What is, "His doings they have perceived"?
Was it, O Lord Jesu Christ, that Thou wast silent,
and like a sheep for a victim wast being led, and
didst not open before the shearer Thy mouth,8
and we thought Thee to be set in smiting and in
grief,9 and knowing how to bear weakness ? '" Was
it that Thou wast hiding Thy beauty, O Thou
beautiful in form before the sons of men ? " Was
it that Thou didst not seem to have beauty nor
grace ? ,2 Thou didst bear on the Cross men re-
viling and saying, " If Son of God He is, let Him
come down from the Cross." ,} . . . This thing
they, that would have had Him come down from
the Cross, perceived not : but when He rose
again, and being glorified ascended into Heaven,
they perceived the works of God.
15. "The just man shall rejoice in the Lord"
(ver. 10). Now the just man is not sad. For
sad were the disciples at the Lord's being cruci-
fied ; overcome with sadness, sorrowing they
departed, they thought they had lost hope. He
rose again, even when appearing to them He
found them sad. He held the eyes of two men
that walked in the way, so that by them he was
not known, and He found them groaning and
sighing, and He held them until He had expound-
ed the Scriptures, and by the same Scriptures
had shown that so it ought to have been done as
it was done.14 For He showed in the Scriptures,
how after the third day it behoved the Lord to rise
again.'5 And how on the third day would He
have risen again, if from the Cross He had come
down ? . . . Therefore let us all rejoice in the Lord,
8 Isa. liii. 7.
» P». xlv. 2.
l* Lukexxiv. 16, etc
9 Isa. liii. 4.
12 Isa. liii- 2.
10 Isa. liii. 3.
13 Matt, xxvii. 40.
n Luke xxiv. 46.
Psalm LXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
267
let us all after the faith be One Just Man, and let
us all in one Body hold One Head, and let us
rejoice in the I,ord, not in ourselves : because our
Good is not ourselves to ourselves, but He that
hath made us. Himself is our good to make us
glad. And let no one rejoice in himself, no one
rely on himself, no one despair of himself: let no
one rely on any man, whom he ought to bring in
to be the partner of his own hope, not the giver
of the hope.
16. Now because the Lord hath risen again,
now because He hath ascended into Heaven,
now because He hath showed that there is
another life, now because it is evident that His
counsels, wherein He lay concealed in deep
heart, were not empty, because to this end That
Blood was shed to be the price of the redeemed ;
now because all things are evident, because all
things have been preached, because all things
have been believed, under the whole of heaven,
"the just man shall rejoice in the Lord, and
shall hope in Him ; and all men shall be praised
that are right in heart." . . . God is displeasing to
thee, and thou art pleasing to thyself, of perverted
and crooked heart thou art : and this is the worse,
that the heart of God thou wouldest correct by
thy heart, to make Him do what thou wilt have,
whereas thou oughtest to do what He willeth.
What then? Thou wouldest make crooked the
heart of God which alway is right, according to
the depravity of thy own heart? How much
better to correct thy heart by the rectitude of
God? Hath not thy Lord taught thee this, of
Whose Passion but now were we speaking? Was
He not bearing thy weakness, when He said, " Sad
is My soul even unto death"?' Was He not
figuring thyself in Himself, when He was saying,
" Father, if it be possible, let there pass from Me
this cup " ? 2 For the hearts of the Father and of
the Son were not two and different : but in the
form of a servant He carried thy heart, that He
might teach it by His example. Now behold
trouble found out as it were another heart of thine,
which willed that there should pass away that
which was impending : but God would not. God
consenteth not to thy heart, do thou consent to
the heart of God.
1 7. What followeth ? If " there shall be praised
all men right in heart," there shall be condemned
the crooked in heart. Two things are set before
thee now, choose while there is time. ... If of
crooked heart thou hast become, there will come
that Judgment, there will appear all the reasons
on account of which God doeth all these things :
and thou that wouldest not in this life correct
thy heart by the rectitude of God, and pre-
pare thyself for the right hand, where " there
shall be praised all men right in heart," wilt
1 Matt. xxvi. 38.
2 Matt. xxvi. 39.
be on the left, where at that time thou
shalt hear, " Go ye into fire everlasting, that hath
been prepared for the devil and his angels." '
And will there be then time to correct the heart ?
Now therefore correct, brethren, now correct.
Who doth hinder? Psalm is chanted, Gospel is
read, Reader crieth, Preacher crieth ; long-suf-
fering is the Lord ; thou sinnest, and He spar-
eth ; still thou sinnest, still He spareth, and still
thou addest sin to sin. How long is God long-
suffering? Thou wilt find God just also. We
terrify because we fear ; teach us not to fear, and
we terrify no more. But better it is that God
teach us to fear, than that any man teach us not
to fear. . . . Thou bringest forth grain, barn
expect thou ; bringest forth thorns, fire expect
thou. But not yet hath come either the time of
the barn or the time of the fire : now let there
be preparation, and there will not be fear. In
the name of Christ both we who speak are living,
and ye to whom we speak are living : for amend-
ing our plan, and changing evil life into a good
life, is there no place, is there no time ? Can it
not, if thou wilt, be done to-day? Can it not, if
thou wilt, be now done ? What must thou buy in
order to do it, what specifics 4 must thou seek ?
To what Indies must thou sail? What ship pre-
pare ? Lo, while I am speaking, change the
heart ; and there is done what so often and so
long while is cried out for, that it be done, and
which bringeth forth everlasting punishment if
it be not done.
PSALM LXV.s
1. The voice of holy prophecy must be con-
fessed in the very title of this Psalm. It is
inscribed, " Unto the end, a Psalm of David, a
song of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, on account of
the people of transmigration when they were
beginning to go forth." How it fared with our
fathers 6 in the time of the transmigration to
Babylon, is not known to all, but only to those
that diligently study the Holy Scriptures, either by
hearing or by reading. For the captive people
Israel from the city of Jerusalem was led into
slavery unto Babylon.7 But holy Jeremiah proph-
esied, that after seventy years the people would
return out of captivity, and would rebuild the
very city Jerusalem, which they had mourned as
having been overthrown by enemies, liut at
that time there were prophets in that captivity
of the people dwelling in Babylon, among whom
was also the prophet Ezekiel. But that people
was waiting until there should be fulfilled the
3 Matt. xxv. 41.
* Symplasia, probably meaning "compounds;" older edition,
tmplastra; Oxf. and some other MSS., Tcntpla Asia, " Temples of
Asia."
5 Lat. LXIV. Sermon to the Commonalty.
6 [The student of the Ante-Nicene Fathers will remember similar
references to the Hebrew faithful as our fathers. — C]
7 2 Kings xxiv. 14.
268
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXV.
space of seventy years, according to the proph-
ecy of Jeremiah.' It came to pass, when the
seventy years had been completed, the temple
was restored which had been thrown down : and
there returned from captivity a great part of that
people. But whereas the Apostle saith, " these
things in figure happened unto them, but they
have been written for our sakes, upon whom the
end of the world hath come : " 2 we also ought
to know first our captivity, then our deliverance :
we ought to know the Babylon wherein we are
captives, and the Jerusalem for a return to which
we are sighing. For these two cities, according
to the letter, in reality are two cities. And the
former Jerusalem indeed by the Jews is not now
inhabited. For after the crucifixion of the Lord
vengeance was taken upon them with a great
scourge, and being rooted up from that place
where, with impious licentiousness being infu-
riated, they had madly raged against their Phy-
sician, they have been dispersed throughout
all nations, and that land hath been given to
Christians : and there is fulfilled what the Lord
had said to them, " Therefore the kingdom shall
be taken away from you, and it shall be given to
a nation doing justice." 3 But when they saw
great multitudes then following the Lord, preach-
ing the kingdom of Heaven, and doing wonder-
ful things, the rulers of that city said, " If we
shall have let Him go, all men will go after Him,
and there shall come the Romans, and shall take
from us both place and nation." 4 That they
might not lose their place, they killed the Lord ;
and they lost it, even because they killed. There-
fore that city, being one earthly, did bear the
figure of a certain city everlasting in the Heav-
ens : but when that which was signified began
more evidently to be preached, the shadow,
whereby it was being signified, was thrown down :
for this reason in that place now the temple is no
more, which had been constructed for the image
of the future Body of the Lord. We have the
light, the shadow hath passed away : neverthe-
less, still in a kind of captivity we are : " So long
as we are," he saith, " in the body, we are so-
journing afar from the Lord." s
2. And see ye the names of those two cities,
Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon is interpreted
confusion, Jerusalem vision of peace. Observe
now the city of confusion, in order that ye may
perceive the vision of peace ; that ye may en-
dure that, sigh for this. Whereby can those
two cities be distinguished? Can we anywise
now separate them from each other? They are
mingled, and from the very beginning of man-
kind mingled they run on unto the end of the
world. Jerusalem received beginning through
AbeJ, Babylon through Cain : for the buildings
1 Jer. xxv. ii, xxix. io.
4 John xi. 48.
2 1 Cor. x. 11.
* 3 Cor. v. 6.
3 Matt. xxi. 43.
of the cities were afterwards erected. That
Jerusalem in the land of the Jebusites was
builded : for at first it used to be called Jebus,6
from thence the nation of the Jebusites was
expelled, when the people of God was delivered
from Egypt, and led into the land of promise.
But Babylon was builded in the most interior
regions of Persia, which for a long time raised
its head above the rest of nations. These two
cities then at particular times were builded, so
that there might be shown a figure of two cities
begun of old, and to remain even unto the end
in this world, but at the end to be severed.
Whereby then can we now show them, that are
mingled? At that time the Lord shall show,
when some He shall set on the right hand, others
on the left. Jerusalem on the right hand shall
be, Babylon on the left. . . . Two loves make
up these two cities : love of God maketh Jerusa-
lem, love of the world maketh Babylon. There-
fore let each one question himself as to what he
loveth : and he shall find of which he is a citi-
zen : and if he shall have found himself to be a
citizen of Babylon, let him root out cupidity,
implant charity : but if he shall have found him-
self a citizen of Jerusalem, let him endure cap-
tivity, hope for liberty. . . . Now therefore let
us hear of, brethren, hear of, and sing of, and
long for, that city whereof we are citizens. And
what are the joys which are sung of to us? In
what manner in ourselves is formed again the
love of our city, which by long sojourning we
had forgotten? But our Father hath sent from
thence letters to us, God hath supplied to us the
Scriptures, by which letters there should be
wrought in us a longing for return : because by
loving our sojourning, to enemies we had turned
our face, and our back to our fatherland. What
then is here sung?
3. " For Thee a hymn is meet, O God, in
Sion" (ver. 1). That fatherland is Sion : Jeru-
salem is the very same as Sion ; and of this
name the interpretation ye ought to know. As
Jerusalem is interpreted vision of peace, so Sion
Beholding? that is, vision and contemplation.
Some great inexplicable sight to us is promised :
and this is God Himself that hath builded the
city. Beauteous and graceful the city, how
much more beauteous a Builder it hath ! " For
Thee a hymn is meet, O God," he saith. But
where? " In Sion : " in Babylon it is not meet.
For when a man beginneth to be renewed,
already with heart in Jerusalem he singeth, with
the Apostle saying, " Our conversation is in the
Heavens." 8 For " in the flesh though walking,"
he saith, " not after the flesh we war." » Already
in longing we are there, already hope into that
land, as it were an anchor, we have sent before,
6 Josh, xviii. 38.
9 3 Cor. x. 3.
1 Sptculati.
8 Philip, iii. 30.
Psalm LXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
269
lest in this sea being tossed we suffer shipwreck.
In like manner therefore as of a ship which is at
anchor, we rightly say that already she is come
to land, for still she rolleth, but to land in a
manner she hath been brought safe in the teeth
of winds and in the teeth of storms ; so against
the temptations of this sojourning, our hope
being grounded in that city Jerusalem causeth
us not to be carried away upon rocks. He
therefore that according to this hope singeth,
in that city singeth : let him therefore say, " For
Thee a hymn is meet, O God, in Sion." . . .
4. " And to Thee shall there be paid a vow in
Jerusalem." Here we vow, and a good thing it
is that there we should pay. But who are they
that here do vow and pay not? They that per-
severe not even unto the end ■ in that which
they have vowed. Whence saith another Psalm,
"Vow ye, and pay ye unto the Lord your
God : " 2 and, " to Thee shall it be paid in Jeru-
salem." For there shall we be whole, that is,
entire in the resurrection of just men : there
shall be paid our whole vow, not soul alone, but
the very flesh also, no longer corruptible, because
no longer in Babylon, but now a body heavenly
and changed. What sort of change is promised ?
" For we all shall rise again," saith the Apostle,
" but we shall not 3 all be changed. . . . Where
is, O death, thy sting? " 4 For now while there
begin in use the first-fruits of the mind, from
whence is the longing for Jerusalem, many things
of corruptible flesh do contend against us, which
will not contend, when death shall have been
swallowed up in victory. Peace shall conquer,
and war shall be ended. But when peace shall
conquer, that city shall conquer which is called
the vision of peace. On the part of death there-
fore shall be no contention. Now with how
great a death do we contend ! For thence are
carnal pleasures, which to us even unlawfully do
suggest many things : to which we give no con-
sent, but nevertheless in giving no consent we
contend. . . .
5. " Hearken," he saith, "to my prayer, unto
Thee every flesh shall come"- (ver. 2). And we
have the Lord saying, that there was given to
Him "power over every flesh." s That King
therefore began even now to appear, when there
was being said, " Unto Thee every flesh shall
come." " To Thee," he saith, " every flesh
shall come." Wherefore to Him shall " every "
flesh come? Because flesh He hath taken to
Him. Whither shall there come every flesh ? He
took the first-fruits thereof out of the womb of the
Virgin ; and now that the first-fruits have been
taken to Him, the rest shall follow, in order that
the holocaust may be completed. Whence thfcn
1 Matt. xxiv. 13.
3 *' Not " is wanting in our text.
* 1 Cor. xv. 51, etc.
2 Ps. lxxvi. 11.
* John xvii. a.
" every flesh " ? Every man. And whence every
man ? Have all been foretold, as going to be-
lieve in Christ? Have net many ungodly men
been foretold, that shall be condemned also ? Do
not daily men not believing die in their own un-
belief ? After what manner therefore do we un-
derstand, " Unto Thee every flesh shall come "?
By " every flesh " he hath signified, " flesh of
every kind : " out of every kind of flesh they shall
come to Thee. What is, out of every kind of flesh ?
Have there come poor men, and have there not
come rich men? Have there come humble men,
and not come lofty men ? Have there come un-
learned men, and not come learned men ? Have
there come men, and not come women ? Have
there come masters, and not come servants?
Have there come old men, and not come young
men ; or have there come young men, and not
come youths ; or have there come youths, and not
come boys ; or have there come boys, and have
there not been brought infants ? In a word, have
there come Jews6 (for thence were the Apos-
tles, thence many thousands of men at first be-
traying, afterwards believing '), and have there not
come Greeks ; or have there come Greeks, and
not come Romans ; or have there come Romans,
and not come Barbarians ? And who could num-
ber all nations coming to Him, to whom hath
been said, " Unto Thee every flesh shall come " ?
6. " The discourses of unjust men have pre-
vailed over us, and our iniquities Thou shalt propi-
tiate " 8 (ver. 3). . . . Every man, in whatsoever
place he is born, of that same land or region
or city learneth the language, is habituated
to the manners and life of that place. What
should a boy do, born among Heathens, to avoid
worshipping a stone, inasmuch as his parents
have suggested that worship? from them the
first words he hath heard, that error with his
milk he hath sucked in ; and because they that
used to speak were elders, and the boy that was
learning to speak was an infant, what could the
little one do but follow the authority of elders,
and deem that to be good which they recom-
mended? Therefore nations that are converted
to Christ afterwards, and taking to heart the im-
pieties of their parents, and saying now what the
prophet Jeremias himself said, " Truly a lie our
fathers have worshipped, vanity which hath not
profited them " 9 — when, I say, they now say this,
they renounce the opinions and blasphemies of
their unjust parents. . . . There have led us away
men teaching evil things, citizens of Babylon they
have made us, we have left the Creator, have
adored the creature : have left Him by whom we
were made, have adored that which we ourselves
6 Oxf. MSS. "have there not come Jews (for, etc.), or have there
come Jews and not come Greeks," etc.
7 Acts ii 41.
8 Propitiaberis. One mss. here, and many below, propitiabis.
9 Jer. xvi. 19.
270
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXV.
have made. For " the discourses of unjust
men have prevailed over us : " but nevertheless
they have not crushed us. Wherefore ? " Our
impieties Thou shalt propitiate," is not said ex-
cept to some priest offering somewhat, whereby
impiety may be expiated and propitiated. For im-
piety is then said to be propitiated, when God is
made propitious to the impiety. What is it for
God to be made propitious to impiety? It is,
His becoming forgiving, and giving pardon. But
in order that God's pardon may be obtained,
propitiation is made through some sacrifice.
There hath come forth therefore, sent from God
the Lord, One our Priest ; He took upon Him
from us that which He might offer to the Lord ;
we are speaking of those same first-fruits of the
flesh from the womb of the Virgin. This holo-
caust He offered to God. He stretched out His
hands on the Cross, in order that He might say,
" Let My prayer be directed as incense in Thy
sight, and the lifting up of My hands an evening
sacrifice." ' As ye know, the Lord about even-
tide hung on the Cross : 2 and our impieties were
propitiated ; otherwise they had swallowed us
up : the discourses of unjust men had prevailed
over us ; there had led us astray preachers of
Jupiter, and of Saturn, and of Mercury : " the
discourses of ungodly men had prevailed over
us." But what wilt Thou do? " Our impieties
Thou wilt propitiate." Thou art the priest,
Thou the victim ; Thou the offerer, Thou the
offering.3 . . .
7. " Blessed is he whom Thou hast chosen,
and hast taken to Thee " (ver. 4). Who is he
that is chosen by Him and taken to Him ? Was
any one chosen 4 by our Saviour Jesu Christ, or
was Himself after the flesh, because He is man,
chosen and taken to Him? ... Or hath not
rather Christ Himself taken to Him some blessed
one, and the same whom He hath taken to Him
is not spoken of in the plural number but in the
singular? For one man He hath taken to Him,
because unity He hath taken to Him. Schisms
He hath not taken to Him, heresies He hath not
taken to Him : a multitude they have made of
themselves, there is not one to be taken to Him.
But they that abide in the bond of Christ and
are the members of Him, make in a manner one
man, of whom saith the Apostle, " Until we all
arrive at the acknowledging of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age
of the fulness of Christ." 5 Therefore one man
is taken to Him, to which the Head is Christ;
because " the Head of the man is Christ." 6 The
same is that blessed man that "hath not de-
parted in the counsel of ungodly men,"7 and the
like things which there are spoken of: the same
1 P». cxli. 2. ' Malt, xxvii 46.
3 Hcb. ix. 7. * Oxf. mss. " taken and chosen."
* Eph. iv. 13. 6 1 Cor. xi. 3. 7 Ps. i. x.
is He that is taken to Him. He is not without
us, in His own members' we are, under one
Head we are governed, by one Spirit we all live,
one fatherland we all long for. . . . And to us
He will give what? "He shall inhabit," he
saith, " in Thy courts." Jerusalem, that is, to
which they sing that begin to go forth from
Babylon : " He shall inhabit in Thy courts : we
shall be filled with the good things of Thy
House." What are the good things of the House
of God ? Brethren, let us set before ourselves
some rich house, with what numerous good things
it is crowded, how abundantly it is furnished,
how many vessels there are there of gold and
also of silver ; how great an establishment of
servants, how many horses and animals, in a
word, how much the house itself delights us with
pictures, marble, ceilings, pillars, recesses, cham-
bers : — all such things are indeed objects of
desire, but still they are of the confusion of Baby-
lon. Cut off all such longings, O citizen of Jeru-
salem, cut them off; if thou wilt return, let not
captivity delight thee. But hast thou already
begun to go forth ? Do not look back, do not
loiter on the road. Still there are not wanting
foes to recommend thee captivity and sojourn-
ing : no longer let there prevail against thee the
discourses of ungodly men. For the House of
God long thou, and for the good things of that
House long thou : but do not long for such
things as thou art wont to long for either in thy
house, or in the house of thy neighbour, or in
the house of thy patron. . . .
8. " Thy holy Temple is marvellous in right-
eousness" (ver. 5). These are the good things
of that House. He hath not said, Thy holy Tem-
ple is marvellous in pillars, marvellous in marbles,
marvellous in gilded ceilings ; but is " marvellous
in righteousness." Without thou hast eyes where-
with thou mayest see marbles, and gold : within
is an eye wherewith may be seen the beauty of
righteousness. If there is no beauty in right-
eousness, why is a righteous old man loved?
What bringeth he in body that may please the
eyes? Crooked limbs, brow wrinkled, head
blanched with gray hairs, dotage everywhere
full of plaints. But perchance because thine
eyes this decrepit old man pleaseth not, thine
ears he pleaseth: with what words? with what
song? Even if perchance when a young man
he sang well, all with age hath been lost. Doth
perchance the sound of his words please thine
ears, that can hardly articulate whole words for
loss of teeth ? Nevertheless, if righteous he is,
if another man's goods he coveteth not, if of his
own that he possesseth he distributeth to the
needy, if he giveth good advice, and soundly
judgeth, if he believeth the entire faith, if for
his belief in the faith he is ready to expend even
those very shattered limbs, for many Martyrs are
Psalm LXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
271
even old men ; why do we love him ? What
good thing in him do we see with the eyes of
the flesh ? Not any. There is therefore a kind
of beauty in righteousness, which we see with the
eye of the heart, and we love, and we kindle
with affection : how much men found to love in
those same Martyrs, though beasts tare their
limbs ! Is it possible but that when blood was
staining all parts, when with the teeth of mon-
sters their bowels gushed out, the eyes had noth-
ing but objects to shudder at ? What was there
to be loved, except that in that hideous spectacle
of mangled limbs, entire was the beauty of right-
eousness? These are the good things of the
House of God, with these prepare thyself to be
satisfied. ..." Blessed they which hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." '
" Thy holy Temple is marvellous in righteous-
ness." And that same temple, brethren, do not
imagine to be aught but yourselves. Love ye
righteousness, and ye are the Temple of God.
9. " Hearken to us, O God, our Saviour "
(ver. 5). He hath disclosed now Whom he
nameth as God. The " Saviour" specially is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It hath appeared now more
openly of Whom he had said, " Unto Thee every
flesh shall come." 2 That One Man that is
taken unto Him into the Temple of God, is both
many and is One. In the person of One he hath
said, " Hearken, O God, i.e., to my hunger : " 3
and because the same One of many is com-
posed, now he saith, " Hearken to us, O God,
our Saviour." Hear Him now more openly
preached : " Hearken to us, O God, our Saviour,
the Hope of all the ends of the earth and in the
sea afar." Behold wherefore hath been said,
" Unto Thee every flesh shall come." From
every quarter they come. " Hope of all the
ends of the earth," not hope of one corner, not
hope of Judaea alone, not hope of Africa alone,
not hope of Pannonia, not hope of East or of
West : but " Hope of all the ends of the earth,
and in the sea afar : " of the very ends of the
earth. " And in the sea afar : " and because in
the sea, therefore afar. For the sea by a figure
is spoken of this world, with saltness bitter, with
storms troubled ; where men of perverse and
depraved appetites have become like fishes de-
vouring one another. Observe the evil sea,
bitter sea, with waves violent, observe with what
sort of men it is filled. Who desireth an inherit-
ance except through the death of another ? Who
desireth gain except by the loss of another?
By the fall of others how many men wish to be
exalted? How many, in order that they may
buy, desire for other men to sell their goods?
How they mutually oppress, and how they that
are able do devour ! And when one fish hath
1 Matt. v. 6.
2 Ps. \xv. a.
3 Ps. kv. 4.
devoured, the greater the less, itself also is
devoured by some greater. . . . Because evil
fishes that were taken within the nets they said
they would not endure ; they themselves have
become more evil than they whom they said 4
they could not endure. For those nets did take
fishes both good and evil. The Lord saith,
" The kingdom of Heaven is like to a sein cast
into the sea, which gathereth of every kind,
which, when it had been filled, drawing out, and
sitting on the shore, they gathered the good into
vessels, but the evil they cast out : so it shall
be," He saith, " in the consummation of the
world."5 He showeth what is the shore, He
showeth what is the end of the sea. " The
angels shall go forth, and shall sever the evil
from the midst of the just, and shall cast them
into the furnace of fire : there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth." Ha ! ye citizens of
Jerusalem that are within the nets, and are good
fishes ; endure the evil, the nets break ye not :
together with them ye are in a sea, not together
with them will ye be in the vessels. For " Hope "
He is "of the ends of the earth," Himself is
Hope "also in the sea afar." Afar, because
also in the sea.
10. "Preparing mountains in His strength"
(ver. 6). Not in their strength. For He hath
prepared great preachers, and those same He
hath called mountains ; humble in themselves,
exalted in Him. " Preparing mountains in His
strength." What saith one of those same
mountains ? " We ourselves in our own selves
have had the answer of death, in order that in
ourselves we should not trust, but in God that
raiseth the dead."6 He that in himself doth
trust, and in Christ trusteth not, is not of those
mountains which He hath prepared in His
strength. " Preparing mountains in His strength :
girded about in power." " Power," I under-
stand : "girded about," is what? They that
put Christ in the midst, " girded about " they
make Him, that is on all sides begirt. We all
have Him in common, therefore in the midst
He is : all we gird Him about that believe in
Him : and because our faith is not of our
strength, but of His power ; therefore girded
about He is in His power ; not in our own
strength.
n." That troublest the bottom of the sea "
(ver. 7). He hath done this: it is seen what
He hath done. For He hath prepared moun-
tains in His strength, hath sent them to preach :
girded about He is by believers in power : and
moved is the sea, moved is the world, and it
beginneth to persecute His saints. " Girded
about in power : that troublest the bottom of
the sea." He hath not said, that troublest the
* Al. " pretended." 5 Matt. xiii. 47-49. 6 a Cor. t. 9.
272
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXV.
sea ; but " the bottom of the sea." The bot-
tom of the sea is the heart of ungodly men.
For just as from the bottom more thoroughly
all things are stirred, and the bottom holdeth
firm all things : so whatsoever hath gone fortli
by tongue, by hands, by divers powers for the
persecution of the Church, from the bottom
hath gone forth. For if there were not the root
of iniquity in the heart, all those things would
not have gone forth against Christ. The bottom
He troubled, perchance in order that the bot-
tom He might also empty : for in the case of
certain evil men He emptied the sea from the
bottom, and made the sea a desert place. An-
other Psalm saith this, "That turneth sea into
dry land." ' All ungodly and heathen men that
have believed were sea, have been made land ;
with salt waves at first barren, afterwards with
the fruit of righteousness productive. " That
troublest the bottom of the sea : the sound of its
waves who shall endure ? " " Who shall endure,"
is what? What man shall endure the sound of
the waves of the sea, the behests of the high
powers of the world? But whence are they
endured? Because He prepareth mountains in
His strength. In that therefore which he hath
said "who shall" endure? he saith thus: We
ourselves of our own selves should not be able
to endure those persecutions, unless He gave
strength.
12. "The nations shall be troubled" (ver.
8). At first they shall be troubled: but those
mountains prepared in the strength of Christ,
are they troubled ? Troubled is the sea, against
the mountains it dasheth : the sea breaketh, un-
shaken the mountains have remained. " The
nations shall be troubled, and all men shall fear."
Behold now all men fear : they that before have
been troubled do now all fear. The Christians
feared not, and now the Christians are feared. All
that did persecute do now fear. For He hath over-
come that is girded about with power, to Him
hath come every flesh in such sort, that the rest
by their very minority do now fear. And all men
shall fear, that inhabit the ends of the earth, be-
cause of Thy signs. For miracles the Apostles
wrought, and thence all the ends of the earth
have feared and have believed. " Outgoings in
morning and in evening Thou shall delight :" that
is, Thou makest delightful. Already in this life
what is there being promised to us? There are
outgoings in morning, there are outgoings in the
evening. By the morning he signifieth the pros-
perity of the world, by the evening he signifieth
the trouble of the world. ... At first when he
was promising gain, it was morning to thee : but
now evening draweth on, sad thou hast become.
But He that hath given thee an outgoing in the
• P«. lxvi. 6.
morning, will give one also in the evening. In
the same manner as thou hast contemned the
morning of the world by the light of the Lord,
so contemn the evening also by the sufferings of
the Lord, in saying to thy soul, What more will
this man do to me, than my Lord hath suffered
for me ? May 1 2 hold fast justice, not consent
to iniquity. Let him vent his rage on the flesh,
the trap will be broken, and I will fly to my
Lord, that saith to me, " Do not fear them that
kill the body, but the soul are not able to kill." J
And for the body itself He hath given security,
saying, " A hair of your head shall not perish." 4
Nobly here he hath set down, " Thou wilt delight
outgoings in morning and in evening." For if
thou take not delight in the very outgoing, thou
wilt not labour to go out thence. Thou runnest
thy head into the promised gain, if thou art not
delighted with the promise of the Saviour. And
again thou yieldest to one tempting and terrify-
ing, if thou find no delight in Him that suffered
before thee, in order that He might make an
outgoing for thee.
13. "Thou hast visited the earth, and hast
inebriated it" (ver. 9). Whence hast inebri-
ated the earth ? " Thy cup inebriating how glo-
rious it is ! " 5 " Thou hast visited the earth, and
hast inebriated it." Thou hast sent Thy clouds,
they have rained down the preaching of the truth,
inebriated is the earth. " Thou hast multiplied
to enrich it." Whence? " The river of God is
filled with water." What is the river of God?
The people of God. The first people was filled
with water, wherewith the rest of the earth might
be watered. Hear Him promising water : " If
any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink :
he that believeth on Me, rivers of living water
from his belly shall flow : " 6 if rivers, one river
also ; for in respect of unity many are one. Many
Churches and one Church, many faithful and one
Bride of Christ : so many rivers and one river.
Many Israelites believed, and were fulfilled with
the Holy Spirit; from thence they were scattered
abroad through the nations, they began to preach
the truth, and from the river of God that was
filled with water, was the whole earth watered.
" Thou hast prepared food for them : because
thus is Thy preparing." Not because they have
deserved of Thee, whom Thou hast forgiven sins :
the merits of them were evil, but Thou for Thy
mercy's sake, " because thus is Thy preparing,"
thus " Thou hast prepared food for them."
14. "The furrows thereof inebriate Thou"
(ver. 10). Let there be made therefore at first
furrows to be inebriated : let the hardness of our
breast be opened with the share of the word of
God, " The furrows thereof inebriate Thou : mul-
tiply the generations thereof." We see, they
2 Oxf. mss. and old ed. " that I may."
< Luke xxi. x8. 5 Ps. xxiii. 5.
3 Matt. x. 28.
6 John vii. 37, 3a
PSAI.M LXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
2 73
believe, and by them believing other men be-
lieve, and because of those others believe ; and
it is not sufficient for one man, that having be-
come himself a believer, he should gain one.
So is multiplied seed too : a few grains are
scattered, and fields spring up. " In the drops
thereof it shall rejoice, when it shall rise up."
That is, before it be perchance enlarged to the
bulk of a river, " when it shall rise up, in its
drops," that is, in those meet for it, " it shall
rejoice." For upon those that are yet babes,
and upon the weak, are dropped some portions
of the sacraments, because they cannot receive
the fulness of the truth. Hear in what manner
he droppeth upon babes, while they are rising
up, that is, in their recent rising having small
capacities : the Apostle saith, " To you I could
not speak as if to spiritual, but as if to carnal,
as if to babes in Christ." * When he saith, " to
babes in Christ," he speaketh of them as already
risen up, but not yet meet to receive that plen-
teous wisdom, whereof he saith, " Wisdom we
speak among perfect men." 2 Let it rejoice in
its drops, while it is rising up and is growing,
when strengthened it shall receive wisdom also :
in the same manner as an infant is fed with milk,
and becometh fit for meat, and nevertheless at
first out of that very meat for which it was not
fit, for it milk is made.
15. "Thou shalt bless the crown of the year
of Thy goodness" (ver. 11). Seed is now sow-
ing, that which is sown is growing, there will be
the harvest too. And now over the seed the
enemy hath sown tares ; and there have risen up
evil ones among the good, false Christians, hav-
ing like leaf, but not like fruit. For those are
properly called tares,3 which spring up in the
manner of wheat, for instance darnel, for instance
wild oats, and all such as have the first leaf
the same. Therefore of the sowing of the tares
thus saith the Lord : " There hath come an
enemy, and hath sown over them tares ; " 4 but
what hath he done to the grain? The wheat is
not choked by the tares, nay, through endurance
of the tares the fruit of the wheat is increased.
For the Lord Himself said to certain workmen
desiring to root up the tares, " Suffer ye both
to grow unto the harvest." s . . . Conquer the
devil, and thou wilt have a crown. " Thou shalt
bless the crown of the year of Thy goodness."
Again he maketh reference to the goodness of
God, lest any one boast of his own merits. " Thy
plains shall be filled with abundance."
16. "The ends of the desert shall grow fat,
and the hills shall be encircled with exultation "
(ver. 12). Plains, hills, ends of the desert, the
same are also men. Plains, because of the
equality : because of equality, I say, from thence
1 1 Cor. iii. 1.
* Matt. xiii. 25.
2 1 Cor. ii. 6.
s Matt. xiii. 30.
3 Zizania.
just peoples have been called plains. Hills, be-
cause of lifting up : because God doth lift up in
Himself those that humble themselves. Ends
of the desert are all nations. Wherefore ends of
the desert? Deserted they were, to them no
Prophet had been sent : they were in like case
as is a desert where no man passeth by. No
word of God was sent to the nations : to the
people Israel alone the Prophets preached. We
came to the Lord ; 6 the wheat believed among
that same people of the Jews. For He said at
that time to the disciples, "Ye say, far off is
the harvest : look back, and see how white are the
lands to harvest." There hath been therefore a
first harvest, there will be a second in the last
age. The first harvest was of Jews, because there
were sent to them Prophets proclaiming a com-
ing Saviour. Therefore the Lord said to His
disciples, " See how white are the lands to har-
vest : " 7 the lands, to wit, of Judaea. " Other
men," He saith, " have laboured, and into their
labours ye have entered." 8 The Prophets la-
boured to sow, and ye with the sickle have en-
tered into their labours. There hath been finished
therefore the first harvest, and thence, with that
very wheat which then was purged, hath been
sown the round world ; so that there ariseth an-
other harvest, which at the end is to be reaped.
In the second harvest have been sown tares, now
here there is labour. Just as in that first harvest
the Prophets laboured until the Lord came : so
in that second harvest the Apostles laboured,
and all preachers of the truth labour, even until
at the end the Lord send unto the harvest His
Angels. Aforetime, I say, a desert there was,
" but the ends of the desert shall grow fat."
Behold where the Prophets had given no sound,
the Lord of the Prophets hath been received,
"The ends of the desert shall grow fat, and
with exultation the hills shall be encircled."
1 7. " Clothed have been the rams of the
sheep" (ver. 13) : "with exultation" must be
understood. For with what exultation the hills
are encircled, with the same are clothed the
rams of the sheep. Rams are the very same as
hills. For hills they are because of more emi-
nent grace ; rams, because they are leaders of
the flocks. ..." They shall shout : " thence
they shall abound with wheat, because they
shall shout. What shall they shout? " For a
hymn they shall say." For one thing it is to
shout against God, another thing to say a hymn ;
one thing to shout iniquities, another thing to
shout the praises of God. If thou shout in
blasphemy, thorns thou hast brought forth : if
thou shoutest in a hymn, thou aboundest in
wheat.
6 Ventuin est ad Dominum; al. a Domino, " The Lord came."
1 John iv. 35.
8 John iv. 38.
274
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVI.
PSALM LXVI.1
i. This Psalm hath on the title the inscription,
" For the end, a song of a Psalm of Resurrec-
tion." When ye hear " for the end," whenever
the Psalms are repeated, understand it " for
Christ:" the Apostle saying, "For the end of
the law is Christ, for righteousness to every one
believing." 2 In what manner therefore here Res-
urrection is sung, ye will hear, and whose Resur-
rection it is, as far as Himself deigneth to give
and disclose. For the Resurrection we Christians
know already hath come to pass in our Head,
and in the members it is to be. The Head of
the Church is Christ,' the members of Christ
are the Church. That which hath preceded in the
Head, will follow in the Body. This is our hope ;
for this we believe, for this we endure and per-
severe amid so great perverseness of this world,
hope comforting us, before that hope becometh
reality. . . . The Jews did hold the hope of the
resurrection of the dead : and they hoped that
themselves alone would rise again to a blessed life
because of the work of the Law, and because of
the justifications of the Scriptures, which the Jews
alone had, and the Gentiles had not. Crucified
was Christ, "blindness in part happened unto
Israel, in order that the fulness of the Gentiles
might enter in : " 4 as the Apostle saith. The
resurrection of the dead beginneth to be prom-
ised to the Gentiles also that believe in Jesus
Christ, that He hath risen again. Thence this
Psalm is against the presumption and pride of
the Jews, for the comfort of the Gentiles that are
to be called to the same hope of resurrection.
2. . . . Thence he beginneth, " Be joyful in
God." Who? " Every land" (ver.i). Not there-
fore Judaea alone. See, brethren, after what sort
is set forth the universality of the Church in the
whole world spread abroad : and mourn ye not
only the Jews, who envied the Gentiles that grace,
but still more for heretics wail ye. For if they
are to be mourned, that have not been gathered
together, how much more they that being gath-
ered together have been divided? " Jubilate in
God every land." What is " jubilate " ? Into
the voice of rejoicings break forth if ye cannot
into that of words. For "jubilation "is not of
words, but the sound alone of men rejoicing is
uttered, as of a heart labouring and bringing
forth into voice the pleasure of a thing imagined
which cannot be expressed. " Be joyful in God
every land : " let no one jubilate in a part : let
every land be joyful, let the Catholic Church
jubilate. The Catholic Church embraceth the
whole : whosoever holdeth a part and from
the whole is cut off, should howl, not jubilate.
3. "But play ye to His name" (ver. 2).
What hath he said ? By you " playing " let His
name be blessed. But what it is to "play"?
To play is also to take up an instrument which
is called a psaltery, and by the striking and
action of the hands to accompany voices. If
therefore ye jubilate so that God may hear ; play
also something that men may both see and hear :
but not to your own name. . . . For if for the
sake of yourselves being glorified ye do good
works, we make the same reply as He made to
certain of such men, " Verily I say unto you,
they have received their reward : " 5 and again,
" Otherwise no reward ye will have with your
Father that is in Heaven."6 Thou wilt say,
ought I, then, to hide my works, that I do them
not before men? No. But what saith He?
" Let your works shine before men." In doubt
then I shall remain. On one side Thou sayest
to me, " Take heed that ye do not your right-
eousness before men : " on the other side Thou
sayest to me, "Let your good works shine
before men;" what shall I keep? what do?,
what leave undone ? A man can as well serve
two masters commanding different things as one
commanding different things. I command not,
saith the Lord, different things. The end ob-
serve, for the end sing : with what end thou doest
it, see thou. If for this reason thou doest it,
that thou mayest be glorified, I have forbidden
it : but if for this reason, that God may be glori-
fied, I have commanded it. Play therefore, not
to your own name, but to the name of the Lord
your God. Play ye, let Him be lauded : live ye
well, let Him be glorified. For whence have
ye that same living well? If for everlasting ye
had had it, ye would never have lived ill; if
from yourselves ye had had it, ye never would
have done otherwise than have lived well.
" Give glory to His praise." Our whole atten-
tion upon the praise of God he directeth, noth-
ing for us he leaveth whence we should be
praised. Let us glory thence the more, and
rejoice : to Him let us cleave, in Him let us be
praised. Ye heard when the Apostle was being
read, "See ye your calling, brethren, how not
many wise after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble, but the foolish things of the world
God hath chosen to confound the wise." 1 . . .
But the Lord chose afterwards orators also ; but
they would have been proud, if He had not
first chosen fishermen ; He chose rich men ; but
they would have said that on account of their
riches they had been chosen, unless at first He
had chosen poor men: He chose Emperors
afterwards ; but better is it, that when an Em-
peror hath come to Rome, he should lay aside
his crown, and weep at the monument of a fish-
erman, than that a fisherman should weep at the
> Lat. LXV. Sermon to the Commonalty.
3 Col. i. 18.
2 Rom. x. 4.
4 Rom. xi. 25.
5 Matt. vi. 1.
<> Matt. vi. 1.
? 1 Cor. i. 26, 27.
Psalm LXVI.
ON THE PSALMS.
275
monument of an Emperor. " For the weak
things of the world God hath chosen to con-
found the strong," etc.1 . . . And what follow-
ed!? The Apostle hath concluded, "That there
might not glory before God any flesh." See ye
how from us He hath taken away, that He might
give glory : hath taken away ours, that He might
give His own ; hath taken away empty, that He
might give full ; hath taken away insecure, that
He might give solid. . . .
4. " Say ye to God, How to be feared are Thy
works ! " (ver. 3). Wherefore to be feared and
not to be loved ? Hear thou another voice of a
Psalm : " Serve ye the Lord in fear, and exult
unto Him with trembling."2 What meaneth
this ? Hear the voice of the Apostle : " With
fear," he saith, " and trembling, your own salva-
tion work ye out." 3 Wherefore with fear and
trembling ? He hath subjoined the reason : " for
God it is that worketh in you both to will and
to work according to good will."4 If therefore
God worketh in thee, by the Grace of God thou
workest well, not by thy strength. Therefore
if thou rejoicest, fear also : lest perchance that
which was given to a humble man be taken away
from a proud one. . . . Brethren, if against the
Jews of old, cut off from the root of the Patri-
archs, we ought not to exalt ourselves, but rather
to fear and say to God, " How to be feared are
Thy works : " how much less ought we not to
exalt ourselves against the fresh wounds of the
cutting off! Before there had been cut off
Jews, graffed in Gentiles; from the very graft
there have been cut off heretics ; but neither
against them ought we to exalt ourselves ; lest
perchance he deserve to be cut off, that delight-
eth to revile them that are cut off. My brethren,
a bishop's voice, however unworthy, hath sounded
to you : 5 we pray you to beware, whosoever ye
are in the Church, do not revile them that are
not within ; but pray ye rather, that they too
may be within. For God is able again to graft
them in.6 Of the very Jews the Apostle said this,
and it was done in their case. The Lord rose
again, and many believed : they perceived not
when they crucified, nevertheless afterwards they
believed in Him, and there was forgiven them
so great a transgression. The shedding of the
Lord's blood was forgiven the manslayers, not
to say, God-slayers : " for if they had known, the
Lord of glory they never would have crucified." 7
Now to the manslayers hath been forgiven the
shedding of the blood of Him innocent : and
that same blood which through madness they
shed, through grace they have drunk. . . . O
fulness of Gentiles, say thou to God, " How to
2 Ps. ii. 11.
3 Philip, ii. 12.
1 1 Cor. i 27.
* Philip, ii. 13.
* Some Oxf. mss. " My brethren, however their voice soundeth
toward you."
* Rom. xi. 23. 7 1 Cor. ii. 8.
be feared are Thy works ! " and so rejoice thou
as that thou mayest fear, be not exalted above
the branches cut off.
5. "In the multitude of thy power Thine ene-
mies shall lie to Thee." For this purpose he
saith, "to Thee thine enemies shall lie," in order
that great may be Thy power. What is this?
With more attention hearken. The power of our
Lord Jesus Christ most chiefly appeared in the
Resurrection, from whence this Psalm hath re-
ceived its title. And rising again, He appeared
to His disciples.8 He appeared not to His ene-
mies, but to His disciples. Crucified He appeared
to all men, rising again to believers: so that after-
wards also he that would might believe, and to
him that should believe, resurrection might be
promised. Many holy men wrought many mira-
cles ; no one of them when dead did rise again :
because even they that by them were raised to
life, were raised to life to die. . . . Because
therefore the Jews might say, when the Lord did
miracles, Moses hath done these things, Elias
hath done, Eliseus hath done them : they might
for themselves say these words, because those
men also did raise to life dead men, and did
many miracles : therefore when from Him a sign
was demanded, of the peculiar sign making
mention which in Himself alone was to be,
He saith, "This generation crooked and provok-
ing 9 seeketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given
to it, except the sign of Jonas the Prophet : for
as Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days
and three nights, so shall be also the Son of
Man in the heart of the earth three days and three
nights." '° In what way was Jonas in the belly
of the whale? Was it not so that afterwards
alive he was vomited out? Hell " was to the
Lord what the whale was to Jonas. This sign
peculiar to Himself He mentioned, this is the
most mighty sign. It is more mighty to live
again after having been dead, than not to have
been dead. The greatness of the power of the
Lord as He was made Man, in the virtue of
the Resurrection doth appear. . . .
6. Observe also the very lie of the false witnesses
in the Gospel, and see how it is about Resurrec-
tion. For when to the Lord had been said,
" What sign showest Thou to us, that Thou
doest these things?"'2 besides that which He
had spoken about Jonah '3 through another si-
militude of this same thing also He spake, that
ye might know this peculiar sign had been
especially pointed out : " Destroy this Temple,"
He saith, " and in three days I will raise it
up." And they said, "In forty and six years
was builded this temple, and wilt Thou in three
8 Acts x. 40.
9 Amaricans, etc.; most mss.'
10 Matt. xii. 30, 40.
» [iV, Hades, Sheol. — C]
IJ Matt. xii. 39.
evil and adulterous."
12 John ii. 18.
276
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVI.
days raise it up ? " ' And the evangelist explain-
ing what it was, " But this," he saith, "spake Jesus
of the Temple of His Body." 2 Behold this His
power He said He would show to men in the
same thing as that from whence He had given
the similitude of a Temple, because of His flesh,
which was the Temple of the Divinity hidden
within. Whence the Jews outwardly saw the
Temple, the Deity dwelling within they saw not.
Out of those words of the Lord false witnesses
made up a lie to say against Him, out of those
very words wherein He mentioned His future
Resurrection, in speaking of the Temple. For
false witnesses, when they were asked what they
had heard Him say, alleged against Him : " We
heard Him saying, I will destroy this Temple,
and after three days I will raise it up." 3 " After
three days I will raise up," they had heard : " I
will destroy," they had not heard : but had heard
" destroy ye." One word they changed and a
few letters, in order to support their false testi-
mony. But for whom changest thou a word, O
human vanity, O human weakness? For the
Word, the Unchangeable, dost thou change a
word? Thou changest thy word, dost thou
change God's Word ? . . . Wherefore said they
that Thou hadst said, "I will destroy ; " and said
not that which Thou saidest, "destroy ye"? It
was, as it were, in order that they might defend
themselves from the charge of destroying the
Temple without cause. For Christ, because He
willed it, died : and nevertheless ye killed Him.
Behold we grant you, O ye liars, Himself de-
stroyed the Temple. For it hath been said by
the Apostle, " That loved me, and gave up Him-
self for me." 4 It hath been said of the Father,
" That His own Son spared not, but gave Him
up for us all." 5 ... By all means be it that
Himself destroyed the Temple, Himself de-
stroyed that said, " Power I have to lay down
My Soul,6 and power I have again to take it : no
one taketh it from Me, but I Myself lay it down
from Me, and again I take it." 1 Be it that
Himself hath destroyed the Temple in His Grace,
in your malice. " In the multitude of Thy
power thine enemies shall lie to Thee." Behold
they lie, behold they are believed, behold Thou
art oppressed, behold Thou art crucified, behold
Thou art insulted, behold head is wagged at
Thee, " If Son of God He is, let Him come
down from the Cross." 8 Behold when Thou
wilt, life Thou layest down, and with lance in the
side art pierced, and Sacraments from Thy side
flow forth ; 9 Thou art taken down from the Tree,
wound in linens, laid in the sepulchre, there are
set guards lest Thy disciples take Thee away ;
1 John ii. 19, so. 2 John ii. 21.
3 Matt. xxvi. 61; Mark xiv. 58: John ii. 19
* Gal. ii. 30. 5 Rom. viii.32. 6 Or, " life."
' John x. 18. 8 Matt, xxvii. 49. 9 John xix. 34.
there cometh the hour of Thy Resurrection,
earth is shaken, tombs are cloven, Thou risest
again in secret, appearest openly. Where then
are those liars? Where is the false testimony
of evil will? Have not Thine enemies in the
multitude of Thy power lied to Thee ?
7. Give them also those guards at the Tomb,
let them recount what they have seen, let them
take money and lie too.10 . . . They too were
added to the lie of the enemies : increased was
the number of liars, that increased might be the
reward of believers. Therefore they lied, " in
the multitude of Thy power " they lied : to con-
found liars Thou hast appeared to men of truth,
and Thou hast appeared to those men of truth
whom Thou hast made men of truth.
8. Let Jews remain in their lies : to Thee,
because in the multitude of Thy power they lied,
let there be done that which followeth, " Let
every land worship Thee, and play to Thee, play
to Thy name, O Most Highest" (ver. 4). A
little before, Most Lowly, now Most Highest :
Most Lowly in the hands of lying enemies ; Most
Highest above the head of praising Angels. O
ye Gentiles, O most distant nations, leave lying
Jews, come confessing. " Come ye, and see the
works of the Lord : terrible in counsels above
the sons of men " (ver. 5). Son of Man indeed
He too hath been called, and verily Son of Man
He became : very Son of God in the form of
God ; " very Son of Man in form of a servant :
but do not judge of that form by the condition
of others alike : " terrible " He is " in counsels
above the sons of men." Sons of men took
counsel to crucify Christ, being crucified He
blinded the crucifiers. What then have ye done,
sons of men, by taking keen counsels against
your Lord, in whom was hidden Majesty, and to
sight shown weakness ? Ye were taking counsels
to destroy, He to blind and save ; to blind proud
men, to save humble men : but to blind those
same proud men, to the end that, being blinded
they might be humbled, being humbled might
confess, having confessed might be enlightened.
" Terrible in counsels above the sons of men."
Terrible indeed. Behold blindness in part to
Israel hath happened : l2 behold the Jews, out of
whom was born Christ, are without : behold the
Gentiles, that were against Judaea, in Christ are
within. "Terrible in counsels above the sons of
men."
9. Wherefore what hath He done by the
terror of His counsel? He hath turned the sea
into dry land. For this followeth, "That hath
turned the sea into dry land " (ver. 6). A sea
was the world, bitter with saltness, troubled with
tempest, raging with waves of persecutions, sea
it was : truly into dry land the sea hath been
10 Matt, xxviii. la.
» Philip, ii. 6.
« Rom. xi. 55.
Psalm LXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
277
turned, now there thirsteth for sweet water the
world that with salt water was filled. Who hath
done this? He " that hath turned the sea into
dry land." Now the soul of all the Gentiles
saith what ? " My soul is as it were land without
water to Thee." ' " That hath turned the sea
into dry land. In the river they shall pass
over on foot." Those same persons that have
been turned into dry land, though they were be-
fore sea, " in the river on foot shall pass over."
What is the river? The river is all the mortality
of the world. Observe a river : some things
come and pass by, other things that are to pass
by do succeed. Is it not thus with the water of
a river, that from earth springeth and floweth ?
Every one that is born must needs give place
to one going to be born : and all this order of
things rolling along is a kind of river. Into this
river let not the soul greedily throw herself, let
her not throw herself, but let her stand still.
And how shall she pass over the pleasures of
things doomed to perish ? Let her believe in
Christ, and she will pass over on foot : she pass-
eth over with Him for Leader, on foot she
passeth over.
10. "There we will be joyous in Him." O
ye Jews, of your own works boast ye : lay aside
the pride of boasting of yourselves, take up the
Grace of being joyous in Christ. For therein
we will be joyous, but not in ourselves : "there we
will be joyous in Him." When shall we joy?
When we shall have passed over the river on
foot. Life everlasting is promised, resurrection
is promised, there our flesh no longer shall be a
river : for a river it is now, while it is mortality.
Observe whether there standeth still any age.
Boys desire to grow up ; and they know not how
by succeeding years the span of their life is less-
ened. For years are not added to but taken
from them as they grow : just as the water of a
river alway dravveth near, but from the source it
withdraweth. And boys desire to grow up that
they may escape the thraldom of elders ; behold
they grow up, it cometh to pass quickly, they
arrive at youth : let them that have emerged
from boyhood retain, if they are able, their
youth 1 that too passeth away. Old age suc-
ceedeth : 2 let even old age be everlasting ; with
death it is removed. Therefore a river there is3
of flesh that is born. This river of mortality, so
that it doth not by reason of concupiscence of
things mortal undermine and carry him away, he
easily passeth over, that humbly, that is on foot,
passeth over, He being leader that first hath
passed over, that of the flood in the way even
unto death hath drunk, and therefore hath lifted
' Ps. cxliii. 6.
2 Oxf. mss. add, " Let even old age succeed for everlasting, let,"
' Oxf. mss. " is the mortality."
up the head.4 Passing over therefore on foot
that river, that is, easily passing over that mor-
tality that glideth along, " there we will be joyous
in Him." But now in what save in Him, or in
the hope of Him ? For even if we are joyous
now, in hope we are joyous ; but then in Him we
shall be joyous. And now in Him, but through
hope : " but then face to face." 5 " There we
will be joyous in Him."
11. In whom? " In Him that reigneth in His
virtue for everlasting" (ver. 7). For what
virtue have we? and is it everlasting? If ever-
lasting were our virtue, we should not have
slipped, should not have fallen into sin, we
should not have deserved penal mortality. He,
of His good pleasure, took up that whereunto
our desert threw us down. 6 " That reigneth in
His virtue for everlasting." Of Him partakers
let us be made, in whose virtue we shall be
strong, but He in His own. We enlightened,
He a light enlightening : we, being turned
away from Him, are in darkness ; turned away
from Himself He cannot be. With the heat of
Him we are warmed ; from whence withdrawing
we had grown cold, to the Same drawing near
again we are warmed. Therefore let us speak
to Him that He may keep us in His virtue,
because " in Him we will be joyous that reigneth
in His virtue for everlasting."
12. But this thing is not granted to believing
Jews alone. ..." The eyes of Him do look
upon the Gentiles." And what do we? The
Jews will murmur ; the Jews will say, " what He
hath given to us, the same to them also ; to
us Gospel, to them Gospel ; to us the Grace of
Resurrection, and to them the Grace of Resur-
rection ; doth it profit us nothing that we have
received the Law, and that in the justifications
of the Law we have lived, and have kept the
commandments of the fathers ? Nothing will it
avail? The same to them as to us." Let them
not strive, let them not dispute. " Let not
them that are bitter be exalted in their own
selves." 7 O flesh miserable and wasting, art
thou not sinful? Why crieth out thy tongue?
Let the conscience be listened to. " For all
men have sinned, and need the glory of God." 8
Know thyself, human weakness. Thou didst
receive the Law, in order that a transgressor
also of the Law thou mightest be : 9 for thou
hast not kept and fulfilled that which thou didst
receive. There hath come to thee because of
the Law, not the justification which the Law
enjoineth, but the transgression which thou hast
done. If therefore there hath abounded sin,
why enviest thou Grace more abounding. Be
not bitter, for " let not them that are bitter be
* Ps. ex. 7. 5 i Cor. xiii. 12.
7 [See on Ps. Ixix. ver. 10, infra, — C]
8 Kom. iii. 23. 9 Rom. v. 20.
6 Gen. iii. 17, etc.
278
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVI.
exalted in their own selves." He seemeth in a
manner to have uttered a curse in " Let not
them that are bitter be exalted ; " yea, be they
exalted, but not "in themselves." Let them be
humbled in themselves, exalted in Christ. For,
" he that humbleth himself shall be exalted ; and
he that exalteth himself shall be humbled." '
" Let not them that are bitter be exalted in
their own selves."
13. "Bless our God, ye nations" (ver. 8).
Behold, there have been driven back they that
are bitter, reckoning hath been made with them :
some have been converted, some have continued
proud. Let not them terrify you that grudge
the Gentiles Gospel Grace : now hath come the
Seed of Abraham, in whom are blessed all na-
tions.' Bless ye Him imwhom ye are blessed,
" Bless our God, ye nations : and hear ye the
voice of His praise." Praise not yourselves, but
praise Him. What is the voice of His praise ?
That by His Grace we are whatever of good we
are. " Who hath set my Soul unto life " (ver. 9) .
Behold the voice of his praise : " Who hath set
my Soul unto life." Therefore in death she was :
in death she was, in thyself. Thence it is that
ye ought not to have been exalted in yourselves.
Therefore in death she was, in thyself: where
will it be in life, save in Him that said, " I am
the Way, the Truth, and the Life "?3 Just as to
certain believers the Apostle saith, "Ye were
sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord."4
. . . "And hath not given unto motion my feet."
He hath set my Soul unto life, He guideth the
feet that they stumble not, be not moved and
given unto motion ; He maketh us to live, He
maketh us to persevere even unto the end, in
order that for everlasting we may live. . . .
14. " For thou hast proved us, O God ; Thou
hast fired us as silver is fired" (ver. 10). Hast
not fired us like hay, but like silver : by applying
to us fire, Thou hast not turned us into ashes, but
Thou hast washed off uncleanness, " Thou hast
fired us, as silver is fired." And see in what
manner God is wroth against them, whose Soul
He hath set unto life. " Thou hast led us into
a trap : " not that we might be caught and die,
but that we might be tried and delivered from
it. "Thou hast laid tribulations upon our
back." For having been to ill purpose lifted up,
proud we were : having been to ill purpose lifted
up, we were bowed down, in order that being
bowed down, we should be lifted up for good.
"Thou hast laid tribulations on our back:"
"Thou hast set men over our heads" (ver. n).
All these things the Church hath suffered in sun-
dry and divers persecutions : She hath suffered
this in Her individual members, even now doth
suffer it. For there is not one, that in this life
1 Matt, xxiii. xa.
* John xiv. 6.
1 Gen. xii. 3.
* Eph. v. 8.
could say that he was exempt from these trials.
Therefore there are set even men over our
heads : we endure those whom we would not,
we suffer for our betters those whom we know to
be worse. But if sins be wanting, a man is justly
superior : but by how much there are more sins,
by so much he is inferior. And it is a good
thing to consider ourselves to be sinners, and
thus endure men set over our heads : in order
that we also to God may confess that deserv-
edly we suffer. For why dost thou suffer with
indignation that which He doeth who is just?
" Thou hast laid tribulations upon our back :
Thou hast set men over our heads." God seem-
eth to be wroth, when He doeth these things :
fear not, for a Father He is, He is never so wroth
as to destroy. When ill thou livest, if He spar-
eth, He is more angry. In a word, these tribu-
lations are the rods of Him correcting, lest there
be a sentence from Him punishing. . . .
15. " We have passed through fire and water."
Fire and water are both dangerous in this life.
Certainly water seemeth to extinguish fire, and
fire seemeth to dry up water. Thus also these
are the trials, wherein aboundeth this life. Fire
bumeth, water corrupteth : both must be feared,
both the burning of tribulation and the water of
corruption. Whenever there is adversity, and
anything which is called unhappiness in this
world, there is as it were fire : whenever there
is prosperity, and the world's plenty floweth
about one, there is as it were water. See that fire
burn thee not, nor water corrupt. . . . Hasten
not to the water : through fire pass over to the
water, that thou mayest pass over the water also.
Therefore also in the mystic rites,' and in cate-
chising and in exorcising,6 there is first used fire.
For whence ofttimes do the unclean spirits cry
out, " I burn," if that is not fire? But after the
fire of Exorcism we come to Baptism : so that
from fire to water, from water unto refreshment.
But as in the Sacraments, so it is in the tempta-
tions of this world : the straitness of fear draw-
eth near first, in place of fire ; afterwards fear
being removed, we ought to be afraid lest worldly
happiness corrupt. But when the fire hath not
made thee burst, and when thou hast not sunk
in the water, but hast swum out ; through disci-
pline thou passest over to rest, and passing over
through fire and water, thou art led forth into
a place of refreshment. For of those things
whereof the signs are in the Sacraments, there
are the very realities in that perfection of life
everlasting. . . . But we are not torpid there,
but we rest : nor though it be called heat, shall
we be hot there, but we shall be fervent in spirit.
Observe that same heat in another Psalm : " nor
is there any one that hideth himself from the
s Sacramentis.
6 Exorcism before Baptism.
Psalm LXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
279
heat thereof."' What saith also the Apostle?
" In spirit fervent." ' Therefore, " we have gone
over through fire and water : and Thou hast led
us forth into a cool place."
16. Observe how not only concerning a cool
place, but neither of that very fire to be desired
he hath been silent : " I will enter into Thy
House in holocausts " (ver. 13). What is a holo-
caust ? A whole sacrifice burned up, but with
fire divine. For a sacrifice is called a holocaust,
when the whole is burned. One thing are the
parts of sacrifices, another thing a holocaust :
when the whole is burned and the whole con-
sumed by fire divine, it is called a holocaust :
when a part, a sacrifice. Every holocaust indeed
is a sacrifice : but not every sacrifice a holocaust.
Holocausts therefore he is promising, the Body
of Christ is speaking, the Unity of Christ is
speaking, " I will enter into Thy House in holo-
causts." All that is mine let Thy fire consume,
let nothing of mine remain to me, let all be
Thine. But this shall be in the Resurrection
of just men, " when both this corruptible shall
be clad in incorruption, and this mortal shall be
clad in immortality : then shall come to pass
that which hath been written,' Death is swallowed
up in victory.' "3 Victory is, as it were, fire divine :
when it swalloweth up our death also, it is a holo-
caust. There remaineth not anything mortal in
the flesh, there remaineth not anything culpable
in the spirit : the whole of mortal life shall be
consumed, in order that in life everlasting it
may be consummated, that from death we may
be preserved in life.4 These therefore will be
the holocausts. And what shall there be " in the
holocausts " ?
17. "I will render to Thee my vows, which
my lips have distinguished" (ver. 14). What
is the distinction in vows? This is the distinc-
tion, that thyself thou censure, Him thou praise :
perceive thyself to be a creature, Him the
Creator: thyself darkness, Him the Enlightener,
to whom thou shouldest say, " Thou shalt light
my lamp, O Lord my God, Thou shalt enlighten
my darkness." 5 For whenever thou shalt have
said, O soul, that from thyself thou hast light,
thou wilt not distinguish. If thou wilt not dis-,
tinguish, thou wilt not render distinct vows.
Render distinct vows, confess thyself changeable,
Him unchangeable : confess thyself without Him
to be nothing, but Himself without thee to be
perfect ; thyself to need Him, but Him not to
need thee. Cry to Him, " I have said to the
Lord, My God art Thou, for my good things
Thou needest not." 6 Now though God taketh
thee to Him for a holocaust, He groweth not,
He is not increased, He is not richer, He be-
1 Ps. xix. 6 s Rom. xii. n.
' 1 Cor. xv. 54. 4 Oxf. mss. add, " that from," etc.
' Ps. xviii. 28. b Ps. xvi. 2.
cometh not better furnished : whatsoever He
maketh of thee for thy sake, is the better for
thee, not for Him that maketh. If thou dis-
tinguishes! these things, thou renderest the vows
to thy God which thy lips have distinguished.
18. "And my mouth hath spoken in my
tribulation." How sweet ofttimes is tribulation,
how necessary ! In that case what hath the
mouth of the same spoken in his tribulation?
" Holocausts marrowed I will offer to Thee "
(ver. 15). What is "marrowed"? Within
may I keep Thy love, it shall not be on the sur-
face, in my marrow it shall be that I love Thee.
For there is nothing more inward than our mar-
row : the bones are more inward than the flesh,
the marrow is more inward than those same
bones. Whosoever therefore on the surface
loveth God, desireth rather to please men, but
having some other affection within, he offereth
not holocausts of marrow : but into whosesoever
marrow He looketh, him He receiveth whole.
" With incense and rams." The rams are the
rulers of the Church : the whole Body of Christ
is speaking : this is the thing which he offereth
to God. Incense 7 is what ? Prayer. " With in-
cense and rams." For especially the rams do
pray for the flocks. " I will offer to Thee oxen
with he-goats." Oxen we find treading out corn,
and the same are offered to God. The Apostle
hath said, that of the preachers of the Gospel
must be understood that which hath been written,
" Of the ox treading out corn the mouth thou
shalt not muzzle. Doth God care for oxen?" 8
Therefore great are those rams, great the oxen.
What of the rest, that perchance are conscious
of certain sins, that perchance in the very road
have slipped, and, having been wounded, by
penitence are being healed? Shall they too
continue, and to the holocausts shall they not
belong? Let them not fear, he hath added he-
goats also. " I will offer to Thee oxen with
he-goats." By the very yoking are saved the
he-goats ; of themselves they have no strength,
being yoked to bulls they are accepted. For
they have made friends of the mammon of
iniquity, that the same may receive them into
everlasting tabernacles.9 Therefore those he-
goats shall not be on the left, because they have
made to themselves friends of the mammon of
iniquity. But what he-goats shall be on the left ?
They to whom shall be said, " I hungred, and
ye gave me not to eat : " '° not they that have re-
deemed their sins by almsdeeds.
19. " Come ye, hear, and I will tell, all ye that
fear God " (ver. 16). Let us come, let us hear,
what he is going to tell, " Come ye, hear, and I
will tell." But to whom, " Come ye, and hear " ?
? [See (A. N. F. vol. vi. p. 528) Arnobius on incense. — C]
8 1 Cor. ix. 9; Deut. xxv. 4. 9 Luke xvi. 9.
10 Matt. xxv. 42.
28o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
1PSAI.M LXVI.
" All ye that fear God." If God ye fear not, I
will not tell. It is not possible that it be told to
any where the fear of God is not. Let the fear
of God open the ears, that there may be some-
thing to enter in, and a way whereby may enter
in that which I am going to tell. But what is
he going to tell ? " How great things He hath
done to my soul." Behold, he would tell : but
what is he going to tell? Is it perchance how
widely the earth is spread, how much the sky is
extended, and how many are the stars, and what
are the changes of sun and of moon ? This cre-
ation fulfilleth its course : but they have very
curiously sought it out, the Creator thereof have
not known.' This thing hear, this thing receive,
" O ye that fear God, how great things He hath
done to my soul : " if ye will, to yours also.
" How great things He hath done to my soul."
" To Him with my mouth I have cried " (ver.
17). "And this very thing, he saith, hath
been done to his soul ; that to Him with his
mouth he should cry, hath been done, he saith,
to his soul. Behold, brethren, Gentiles we were,
even if not in ourselves, in our parents. And
what saith the Apostle ? " Ye know, when Gen-
tiles ye were, to idols without speech how ye
went up, being led." 2 Let the Church now say,
" how great things He hath done to my soul."
" To Him with my mouth I have cried." I a
man to a stone was crying, to a deaf stock I was
crying, to idols deaf and dumb I was speak-'
ing : now the image of God hath been turned to
the Creator thereof. I that was " saying to a
stock, My father thou art ; and to a stone, Thou
hast begotten me : " 3 now say, " Our Father,
which art in Heaven." 4 ..." To Him with my
mouth I have cried, and I have exalted Him un-
der my tongue." See how in secret He would
be uncorrupt that offereth marrowed holocausts.
This do ye, brethren, this imitate, so that ye may
say, " Come ye, see how great things He hath
done to my soul." For all those things of which
he telleth, by His Grace are done in our soul.
See the other things of which he speaketh.
20. " If I have beheld iniquity in my heart,
may not the Lord hearken" (ver. 18). Con-
sider now, brethren, how easily, how daily men
blushing for fear of men do censure iniquities ;
He hath done ill, He haih done basely, a
villain the fellow is : this perchance for man's
sake he saith. See whether thou beholdest no
iniquity in thy heart, whether perchance that
which thou censurest in another, thou art medi-
tating to do, and therefore against him dost ex-
claim, not because he hath done it, but because
he hath been found out. Return to thyself,
within be to thyself a judge. Behold in thy hid
chamber, in the very inmost recess of the heart,
> Wild. xiii. 1.
' Jer. ii. 37.
8 1 Cor. xii. 3.
< Matt. vi. 9.
where thou and He that seeth are alone, there
let iniquity be displeasing to thee, in order that
thou mayest be pleasing to God. Do not regard
it, that is, do not love it, but rather despise it,
that is, contemn it, and turn away from it.
Whatever pleasing thing it hath promised to al-
lure thee to sin ; whatever grievous thing it hath
threatened, to drive thee on to evil doing ; all is
nought, all passeth away : it is worthy to be de-
spised, in order that it may be trampled upon ;
not to be eyed lest it be accepted.5 . . .
21. " Therefore God hath hearkened to me"
(ver. 19). Because I have not beheld iniquity in
my heart. " And He hath listened to the voice of
my prayer." " Blessed be my God, that hath not
thrust away my supplication and His mercy from
me " (ver. 20). Gather the sense from that place,
where he saith, " Come ye, hear, and I will tell
you, all ye that fear God, how great things He
hath done to my soul : " 6 he hath both said the
words which ye have heard, and at the end thus
he hath concluded : " Blessed be my God, that
hath not thrust away my supplication and His
mercy from me." For thus there arriveth at the
Resurrection he that speaketh, where already we
also are by hope : yea both it is we ourselves,
and this voice is ours. So long therefore as here
we are, this let us ask of God, that He thrust not
from us- our supplication, and His mercy, that is,
that we pray continually, and He continually
pity. For many become feeble in praying, and
in the newness of their own conversion pray fer-
vently, afterwards feebly, afterwards coldly, after-
wards negligently : as if they have become se-
cure. The foe watcheth : thou sleepest. The
Lord Himself hath given commandment in the
Gospel, how " it behoveth men always to pray
and not to faint." 7 And he giveth a comparison
from that unjust judge, who neither feared God,
nor regarded man, whom that widow daily im-
portuned to hear her ; and he yielded for weari-
ness, that was not influenced by pity : and the
naughty judge saith to himself, " Though neither
God I fear, nor men I regard, even because of
the weariness which this widow daily putteth
upon me, I will hear her cause, and will avenge
her." And the Lord saith, " If a naughty judge
hath done this, shall not your Father avenge His
chosen, that to Him do cry day and night?
Yea, I say unto you, He shall make judgment
of them speedily." Therefore let us not faint
in prayer. Though He putteth off what He is
going to grant, He putteth it not away : being
secure of His promise, let us not faint in praying,
and this is by His goodness. Therefore he hath
said, " Blessed is my God, that hath not thrust
away my supplication and His mercy from me."
5 Here followeth in the Oxf. ed. a part in brackets, " which is
omitted in some good mss. — Ben."
* Pi. lxvi. 16. 7 Luke xviii. i, etc.
tsalm lxvil]
ON THE PSALMS.
281
When thou hast seen thy supplication " not thrust
away from thee," be secure, that His mercy
hath not been thrust away from thee.
PSALM LXVII.1
1. Your Love remembereth, that in two
Psalms,2 which have been already treated of, we
have stirred up our soul to bless the Lord, and
with godly chant have said, " Bless thou, O my
soul, the Lord." If therefore we have stirred up
our soul in those Psalms to bless the Lord, in
this Psalm is well said, " May God have pity on
us, and bless us" (ver. 1). Let our soul bless
the Lord, and let God bless us. When God
blesseth us, we grow, and when we bless the
Lord, we grow, to us both are profitable. He is
not increased by our blessing, nor is He lessened
by our cursing. He that curseth the Lord, is him-
self lessened : he that blesseth the Lord, is himself
increased. First, there is in us the blessing
of the Lord, and the consequence is that we
also bless the Lord. That is the rain, this the
fruit. Therefore there is rendered as it were
fruit to God the Husbandman, raining upon and
tilling us. Let us chant these words with no
barren devotion, with no empty voice, but with
true heart. For most evidently God the Father
hath been called a Husbandman.^ The'Apostle
saith, " God's husbandry ye are, God's building
ye are."'* In things visible of this world, the vine
is not a building, and a building is not a vine-
yard : but we are the vineyard of the Lord,
because He tilleth us for fruit ; the building of
God we are, since He who tilleth us, dwelleth
in us. And what saith the same Apostle ? "I
have planted, Apollos hath watered, but the
increase God hath given. Therefore neither he
that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth,
but He that giveth the increase, even God." s
He it is therefore that giveth the increase. Are
those perchance the husbandmen? For a hus-
bandman he is called that planteth, that watereth :
but the Apostle hath said, " I have planted,
Apollos hath watered." Do we enquire whence
himself hath done this? The Apostle maketh
answer, " Yet not I, but the Grace of God with
me."6 Therefore whithersoever thou turn thee,
whether through Angels, thou wilt find God thy
Husbandman; whether through Prophets, the
Same is thy Husbandman ; whether through
Apostles, the very Same acknowledge to be thy
Husbandman. What then of us? Perchance
we are the labourers of that Husbandman, and
this too with powers imparted by Himself, and by
Grace granted by Himself. . . .
1 Lat. LXVI.
2 Ps. ciii.r civ.
* 1 Cor. hi. 6, 7.
Sermon to the Commonalty.
' John xv. 1. 4 , Cor. iii. 9.
6 I Cor. xv. 10.
2. " Lighten His countenance upon us."
Thou wast perchance going to enquire, what is
" bless us " ? In many ways men would have
themselves to be blessed of God : one would
have himself to be blessed, so that he may have
a house full of the necessary things of this life ;
another desireth himself to be blessed, so that
he may obtain soundness of body without flaw ;
another would have himself to be blessed, if per-
chance he is sick, so that he may acquire sound-
ness ; another longing for sons, and perchance
being sorrowful because none are born, would
have himself to be blessed so that he may have
posterity. And who could number the divers
wishes of men desiring themselves to be blessed
of the Lord God ? But which of us would say,
that it was no blessing of God, if either hus-
bandry should bring him fruit, or if any man's
house should abound in plenty of things tem-
poral, or if the very bodily health be either so
maintained that it be not lost, or, if lost, be
regained? . . .
3. " Every soul that is blessed is simple," i not
cleaving to things earthly nor with glued wings
grovelling, but beaming with the brightness of
virtues, on the twin wings of twin love doth
spring into the free air ; and seeth how from her
is withdrawn that whereon she was treading, not
that whereon she was resting, and she saith
securely, " The Lord hath given, the Lord hath
taken away ; as it hath pleased the Lord, so hath
been done : be the name of the Lord blessed."
. . . But let not perchance any weak man say,
when shall I be of so great virtue, as was holy Job ?
The mightiness of the tree thou wonderest at,
because but now thou hast been born : this great
tree, whereat thou wonderest, under the branches
and shade whereof thou coolest thyself, hath
been a switch. But dost thou fear lest there be
taken away from thee these things, when such
thou shalt have become? Observe that they
are taken away from evil men also. Why there-
fore dost thou delay conversion? That which
thou fearest when good to lose, perchance if
evil thou wilt lose still. If being good thou shalt
have lost them, there is by thee the Comforter
that hath taken them away : the coffer is emptied
of gold ; the heart is full of faith : without, poor
thou art, but within, rich thou art : thy riches
with thee thou earnest, which thou wouldest not
lose, even if naked from shipwreck thou should-
est escape. Why doth not the loss, that per-
chance, if evil, thou wilt lose, find thee good ;
forasmuch as thou seest evil men also suffer loss ?
But with greater loss they are stricken : empty
is the house, more empty the conscience is.
Whatsoever evil man shall have lost these things,
hath nothing to hold by without, hath nothing
' Prov. xi. 35, LXX.
282
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVII.
within whereon he may rest. He fleeth when he
hath suffered loss from the place where before
the eyes of men with the display of riches he
used to vaunt himself; now in the eyes of men
to vaunt himself he is not able : to himself within
he returneth not, because he hath nothing. He
hath not imitated the ant, he hath not gathered
to himself grains, while it was summer.1 What
have I meant by, while it was summer? While
he had quietude of life, while he had this world's
prosperity, when he had leisure, when happy he was
being called by all men, his summer it was. He
should have imitated the ant, he should have
heard the Word of God, he should have gathered
together grains, and he should have stored them
within. There had come the trial of tribulation,
there had come upon him a winter of numbness,
tempest of fear, the cold of sorrow, whether it
were loss, or any danger to his safety, or any
bereavement of his family ; or any dishonour and
humiliation ; it was winter ; the ant falleth back
upon that which in summer she hath gathered
together ; and within in her secret store, where no
man seeth, she is recruited by her summer toils.
When for herself she was gathering together these
stores in summer, all men saw her : when on
these she feedeth in winter, no one seeth. What
is this? See the ant of God, he riseth day by
day, he hasteneth to the Church of God, he
prayeth, he heareth lection, he chanteth hymn,
he digesteth that which he hath heard, with him-
self2 he thinketh thereon, he storeth within grains
gathered from the threshing-floor. They that
providently hear those very things which even
now are being spoken of, do thus, and by all
men are seen to go forth to the Church, go back
from Church, to hear sermon, to hear lection, to
choose a book, open and read it : all these things
are seen, when they are done. That ant is tread-
ing his path, carrying and storing up in the sight
of men seeing him. There cometh winter some-
time, for to whom cometh it not ? There chan-
ceth loss, there chanceth bereavement : other
men pity him perchance as being miserable, who
know not what the ant hath within to eat, and
they say, miserable he whom this hath befallen,
or what spirits, dost thou think, hath he whom
this hath befallen? how afflicted is he? He
measureth by himself, hath compassion accord-
ing to his own strength ; and thus he is deceived :
because the measure wherewith he measureth
himself, he would apply to him whom he know-
eth not. . . . O sluggard, gather in summer
while thou art able ; winter will not suffer thee
to gather, but to eat that which thou shalt have
gathered. For how many men so suffer tribula-
tion, that there is no opportunity either to read
anything, or to hear anything, and they obtain
1 Prov vi. 6, xxx. 25.
* Or, " at home."
no admittance, perchance, to those that would
comfort them. The ant hath remained in her
nest, let her see if she hath gathered anything
in summer, whereby she may recruit herself in
winter.
4. . . . There is a double interpretation, both
must be given : " lighten," he saith, " Thy face
upon us," show to us Thy countenance. For God
doth not ever light His countenance, as if ever
it had been without light : but He lighteth it
upon us, so that what was hidden from us, is
opened to us, and that which was, but to us was
hidden, is unveiled upon us, that is, is lightened.
Or else surely it is, " Thy image lighten upon
us : " so that he said this, in "lighten Thy coun-
tenance upon us : " Thou hast imprinted Thy
countenance upon us ; Thou hast made us after
Thine image and Thy likeness,3 Thou hast made
us Thy coin; but Thine image' ought not in
darkness to remain : send a ray of Thy wisdom,
let it dispel our darkness, and let there shine in
us Thy image ; let us know ourselves to be Thine
image, let us hear what hath been said in the
Song of Songs, " If Thou shalt not have known
Thyself, O Thou fair one among women." 4 For
there is said to the Church, " If Thou shalt not
have known Thyself." What is this? If Thou
shalt not have known Thyself to have been made
after the image of God. O Soul of the Church,
precious, redeemed with the blood of the Lamb
immaculate, observe of how great value Thou
art, think what hath been given for Thee. Let
us say, therefore, and let us long that He " may
lighten His face upon us." We wear His face :
in like manner as the faces of emperors are
spoken of, truly a kind of sacred face is that of
God in His own image : but unrighteous men
know not in themselves the image of God. In
order that the countenance of God may be light-
ened upon them, they ought to say what ? " Thou
shalt light my candle, O Lord my God, Thou
shalt light my darkness." 5 I am in the darkness
of sins, but by the ray of Thy wisdom dispelled
be my darkness, may Thy countenance appear ;
and if perchance through me it appeareth some-
what deformed, by Thee be there reformed that
which by Thee hath been formed.
5. "That we may know on earth Thy way "
(ver. 2). "On earth," here, in this life, "we may
know Thy way." What is, " Thy way " ? That
which leadeth to Thee. May we acknowledge
whither we are going, acknowledge where we
are as we go ; neither in darkness we can do.
Afar Thou art from men sojourning, a way to us
Thou hast presented, through which we must
return to Thee. " Let us acknowledge on earth
Thy way." What is His way wherein we have
desired, "That we may know on earth Thy
3 Gen. i. 26.
4 Song of Sol. i. 8.
s Ps. xviii. 28.
Psalm LXVII ]
ON THE PSALMS.
283
way " ? We are going to enquire this ourselves,
not of ourselves to learn it. We can learn of it
from the Gospel : " I am the Way," ' the Lord
saith : Christ hath said, " I am the Way." But
dost thou fear lest thou stray? He hath added,
"And the Truth." Who strayeth in the Truth?
He strayeth that hath departed from the Truth.
The Truth is Christ, the Way is Christ: walk
therein. Dost thou fear le^t thou die before
thou attain unto Him? " I am the Life : I am,"
He saith, " the Way and the Truth and the Life."
As if He were saying, "What fearest thou?
Through Me thou walkest, to Me thou walkest,
in Me thou restest." What therefore meaneth,
" We may know on earth Thy Way," but "we
may know on earth Thy Christ"? But let the
Psalm itself reply : lest ye think that out of
other Scriptures there must be adduced testi-
mony, which perchance is here wanting : by
repetition he hath shown what signified, " That
we may know on earth Thy Way : " and as if
thou wast inquiring, " In what earth, what way ? "
" In all nations Thy Salvation." In what earth,
thou art inquiring? Hear: "In all nations."
What way art thou seeking? Hear : "Thy Sal-
vation." Is not perchance Christ his Salvation?
And what is that which the old Symeon hath
said, that old man, I say, in the Gospel, pre-
served full of years even unto the infancy of the
Word ? 2 For that old man took in his hands
the Infant Word of God. Would He that in
the womb deigned to be, disdain to be in the
hands of an old man? The Same was in the
womb of the virgin, as was in the hands of
the old man, a weak infant both within the
bowels, and in the old man's hand, to give us
strength, by whom were made all things ; and
if all things, even His very mother. He came
humble, He came weak, but clothed with a
weakness to be changed into strength,3 because
" though He was crucified of weakness, yet He
liveth of the virtue of God," * the Apostle saith.
He was then in the hands of an old man. And
what saith that old man? Rejoicing that now
he must be loosed from this world, seeing how
in his own hand was held He by whom and in
whom his Salvation was upheld; he saith what?
" Now Thou lettest go," he saith, " O Lord, Thy
servant in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy
Salvation." 5 Therefore, " May God bless us,
and have pity on us ; may He lighten His coun-
tenance upon us, that we may know on earth
Thy Way!" In what earth? " In all nations? "
What Way? "Thy Salvation."
6. What followeth because the Salvation of
God is known in all nations? " Let the peoples
confess to Thee, O God " (ver. 3) ; "confess to
1 John xiv. 6. 2 Luke ii. 30.
3 Oxf. mss. add " into strength."
* Luke ii. 29, 30.
* 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
Thee," he saith, " all peoples." There standeth
forth a heretic, and he saith, In Africa I6 have
peoples : and another from another quarter, And
I in Galatia have peoples. Thou in Africa, he
in Galatia : therefore I require one that hath
them everywhere. Ye have indeed dared to
exult at that voice, when ye heard, " Let the
peoples confess to Thee, O God." Hear the
following verse, how he speaketh not of a part :
" Let there confess to Thee all peoples." Walk
ye in the Way together with all nations ; walk ye
in the Way together with all peoples, O sons of
peace, sons of the One Catholic Church,7 walk
ye in the Way, seeing as ye walk. Wayfarers do
this to beguile their toil. Sing ye in this Way ;
I implore you by that Same Way, sing ye in this
Way : a new song sing ye, let no one there sing
old ones : sing ye the love-songs of your father-
land, let no one sing old ones. New Way, new
wayfarer, new song. Hear thou the Apostle
exhorting thee to a new song : " Whatever there-
fore is in Christ is a new creature ; old things
have passed away, behold they have been made
new." A new song sing ye in the way, which
ye have learned " on the earth." In what earth ?
" In all nations." Therefore even the new song
doth not belong to a part. He that in a part
singeth, singeth an old song : whatever he please
to sing, he singeth an old song, the old man
singeth : divided he is, carnal he is. Truly in
so far as carnal he is, so far he is old ; and
in so far as he is spiritual, so far new. See what
saith the Apostle : " I could not speak to you as
if to spiritual, but as if to carnal."8 Whence
proveth he them carnal? " For while one saith,
I am of Paul ; but another, I of Apollos : are
ye not," he saith, "carnal? " » Therefore in the
Spirit a new song sing thou in the safe way.
Just as wayfarers sing, and ofttimes in the night
sing. Awful round about all things do sound,
or rather they sound not around, but are still
around ; and the more still the more awful ;
nevertheless, even they that fear robbers do sing.10
How much more safely thou singest in Christ !
That way hath no robber, unless thou by forsak-
ing the way fallest in the hands of a robber. . . .
Why fear ye to confess, and in your confession
to sing a new song together with all the earth ;
in all the earth, in Catholic peace, dost thou fear
to confess to God, lest He condemn thee that
hast confessed? If having not confessed thou
liest concealed, having confessed thou wilt be
condemned. Thou fearest to confess, that by
not confessing canst not be concealed : thou
6 Oxf. MSS. " I too."
7 [i.e., the Nicene communion, in which Rome and Constanti-
nople had co-equal dignities, — primacies of honour only, based on
synodical concession to imperial capitals. On which see A. N. F.
vol. viii. pp. 601-605, and pp. 641-644. — C]
8 1 Cor. iii. 1. 9 1 Cor. iii. 4.
10 [Coram latrone viator. Juv. Sat. x. 33. — C.J
284
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVII.
wilt be condemned if thou hast held thy peace,
that mightest have been delivered, by having con-
fessed. " O God, confess to Thee all peoples."
7. And because this confession leadeth not to
punishment, he continueth and saith, " Let the
nations rejoice and exult " (ver. 4). If robbers
after confession made do wail before man, let the
faithful after confessing before God rejoice. If
a man be judge, the torturer and his fear exact
from a robber a confession : yea sometimes fear
wringeth out confession, pain extorteth it : and
he that waileth in tortures, but feareth to be
killed if he confess, supporteth tortures as far as
he is able : and if he shall have been overcome
by pain, he giveth his voice for death. Nowise
therefore is he joyful ; nowise exulting : before
he confesseth the claw teareth1 him; when he
hath confessed, the executioner leadeth him
along a condemned felon : wretched in every
case. But " let the nations rejoice and exult."
Whence? Through that same confession. Why?
Because good He is to whom they confess : He
exacteth confession, to the end that He may de-
liver the humble ; He condemneth one not con-
fessing, to the end that He may punish the
proud. Therefore be thou sorrowful before thou
confessest ; after having confessed exult, now
thou wilt be made whole. Thy conscience had
gathered up evil humours, with boil it had swollen,
it was torturing thee, it suffered thee not to rest :
the Physician applieth the fomentations of words,2
and sometimes He lanceth it, He applieth the
surgeon's knife by the chastisement of tribulation :
do thou acknowledge the Physician's hand,
confess thou, let every evil humour go forth and
flow away in confession : now exult, now rejoice,
that which remaineth will be easy to be made
whole. ..." Let the nations rejoice and exult, for
Thou judgest the peoples in equity." And that
unrighteous men may not fear, he hath added,
" and the nations on the earth Thou directest."
Depraved were the nations and crooked were the
nations, perverse were the nations ; for the ill
desert of their depravity, and crookedness and
perverseness, the Judge's coming they feared :
there cometh the hand of the same, it is stretched
out mercifully to the peoples, they are guided in
order that they may walk the straight way ; why
should they fear the Judge to come, that have
first acknowledged Him for a Corrector? To
His hand let them give up themselves, Himself
guideth the nations on the earth. But guided
nations are walking in the Truth, are exulting in
Him, are doing good works ; and if perchance
there cometh in any water (for on sea they are
sailing) through the very small holes, through
1 Exarat vnptla, perhaps the torture referred to in irAet/pds
KaTafatpoprcc. S. Chrys. on Stat. Horn. xx. § 3, tr. p. 32a.
2 So Ben.; Oxf. MSS. /erramenta veriorum, the instru-
ments of words."
the crevices into the hold, pumping it out by
good works, lest by more and more coming it
accumulate, and sink the ship, pumping it out
daily, fasting, praying, doing almsdeeds, saying
with pure heart, " Forgive us our debts, as also
we forgive our debtors"3 — saying such words
walk thou secure, and exult in the way, sing in
the way. Do not fear the Judge : before thou
wast a believer, thou didst find a Saviour. Thee
ungodly He sought out that He might redeem,
thee redeemed will He forsake so as to destroy?
" And the nations on earth Thou directest."
8. He exulteth, rejoiceth, exhorteth, he re-
peated! those same verses in exhortation.4 " The
earth hath given her fruit" (ver. 6). What
fruit ? " Let all peoples confess to Thee."
Earth it was, of thorns it was full ; there came
the hand of One rooting them up, there came a
calling by His majesty and mercy, the earth be-
gan to confess ; now the earth giveth her fruit.
Would she give her fruit unless first she were
rained on? Would she give her fruit, unless
first the mercy of God had come from above ?
Let them read to me, thou sayest, how the earth
being rained upon gave her fruit. Hear of the
Lord raining upon her : " Repent, for the king-
dom of heaven is at hand." 5 He raineth, and
that same rain is thunder ; it terrifieth : fear thou
Him thundering, and receive Him raining. Be-
hold, after that voice of a thundering and raining
God, after that voice let us see something out of
the Gospel itself. Behold that harlot of ill fame
in the city burst into a strange house into which
she had not been invited by the host, but by
One invited she had been called ; 6 called 7 not
with tongue, but by Grace. The sick woman
knew that she had there a place, where she was
aware that her Physician was sitting at meat.
She has gone in, that was a sinner ; she dareth
not draw near save to the feet : she weepeth at
His feet, she washeth with tears, she wipeth with
hair, she anointeth with ointment. Why won-
derest thou? The earth hath given her fruit.
This thing, I say, came to pass by the Lord rain-
ing there through His own mouth ; there came
to pass the things whereof we read in the .Gos-
pel ; and by His raining through His clouds, by
the sending of the Apostles and by their preach-
ing the truth, the earth more abundantly hath
given her fruit, and that crop now hath filled the
round world.
9. The fruit of the earth was first in Jerusalem.
For from thence began the Church : there -came
there the Holy Spirit, and filled full the holy men
gathered together in one place ; miracles were
done, with the tongues of all men they spake.8
They were filled full of the Spirit of God, the
3 Matt, vi
3 Matt. iii. 2
7 Oxf. mss. repeat vocata
* " Let the people confess," etc., ver. 5.
6 Luke vii. 37.
8 Acts ii. i, 4.
Psalm LXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
285
people were converted that were in that place,
fearing and receiving the divine shower, by con-
fession they brought forth so much fruit, that all
their goods they brought together into a common
stock, making distribution to the poor, in order
that no one might call anything his own, but all
things might be to them in common, and they
might have one soul and one heart unto God.1
For there had been forgiven2 them the blood
which they had shed, it had been forgiven them
by the Lord pardoning, in order that now they
might even learn to drink that which they had
shed. Great in that place is the fruit : the earth
hath given her fruit, both great fruit, and most
excellent fruit. Ought by any means that earth
alone to give her fruit ? " May there bless us
God, our God, may there bless us God " (ver.
7). Still may He bless us : for blessing in mul-
tiplication is wont most chiefly and properly to
be perceived. Let us prove this in Genesis ; see
the works of God : God made light,3 and God
made a division between light and darkness : the
light He called day, and the darkness He called
night. It is not said, He blessed the light. For
the same light returneth and changeth by days
and nights. He calleth the sky the firmament
between waters and waters : it is not said, He
blessed the sky : He severed the sea from the
dry land, and named both, the dry land earth,
and the gathering together of the waters sea :
neither here is it said, God blessed. . . .
10. How should we will that to us He come?
By living well, by doing well. Let not things
past please us ; things present not hold us ; let
us not " close the ear " as it were with tail,4 let us
not press down the ear on the ground ; lest by
things past we be kept back from hearing, lest
by things present we be entangled and prevented
from meditating on things future ; let us reach
forth unto those things which are before, let us
forget things past.5 And that for which now we
toil, for which now we groan, for which now
we sigh, of which now we speak, which in part,
however small soever, we perceive, and to receive
are not able, we shall receive, we shall thoroughly
enjoy in the resurrection of the just. Our youth
shall be renewed as an eagle's,6 if only our old
man we break 7 against the Rock of Christ.
Whether those things be true, brethren, which
are said of the serpent, or those which are said
of the eagle, or whether it be rather a tale of
men than truth, truth is nevertheless in the Scrip-
tures, and not without reason the Scriptures have
spoken of this : let us do whatever it signifieth,
and not toil to discover how far that is true. Be
thou such an one, as that thy youth may be able
1 Acts iv. 32. 2 Or, " given." 3 Gen. i. 3.
* Ps. Iviii. 4. [See p. 232, supra. — C] 5 Philip, tit. 13.
* Ps. ciii. 5.
7 On Ps. ciii. 5, infra, he says that the eagle is said to break off
an excessive growth of the beak against a rock.
to be renewed as an eagle's. And know thou
that it cannot be renewed, except thine old man
on the Rock shall have been broken off : that is,
except by the aid of the Rock, except by the
aid of Christ, thou wilt not be able to be renewed.
Do not thou because of the pleasantness of the
past life be deaf to the word of God : do not by
things present be so held and entangled, as to say,
I have no leisure to read, I have no leisure to
hear. This is to press down the ear upon the
ground. Do thou therefore not be such an one :
but be such an one as on the other side thou
findest, that is, so that thou forget things past,
unto things before reach thyself out, in order
that thine old man on the Rock thou mayest
break off. And if any comparisons shall have
been made for thee, if thou hast found them in
the Scriptures, believe : if thou shalt not have
found them spoken of except by report," do not
very much believe them.8 The thing itself per-
chance is so, perchance is not so. Do thou
profit by it, let that comparison avail for thy
salvation. Thou art unwilling to profit by this
comparison, by some other profit, it mattereth
not provided thou do it : and, being secure, wait
for the Kingdom of God, lest thy prayer quarrel
with thee. For, O Christian man, when thou
sayest, Thy Kingdom come, how sayest thou,
"Thy kingdom come"?9 Examine thy heart :
see, behold, " Thy kingdom come : " He crieth
out to thee, "I come:" dost thou not fear?
Often we have told Your Love : both to preach
the truth is nothing, if heart from tongue dissent :
and to hear the truth is nothing, if fruit follow
not hearing. From this place exalted as it were
we are speaking to you : but how much we are
beneath your feet in fear, God knoweth, who is
gracious to the humble ; for the voices of men
praising do not give us so much pleasure as the
devotion of men confessing, and the deeds of
men now righteous. And how we have no pleas-
ure but in your advances, but by those praises
how much we are endangered, He knoweth,
whom we pray to deliver us from all dangers,
and to deign to know and crown us together
with you, saved from every trial, in His Kingdom.
PSALM LXVIII.10
1. Of this Psalm, the title seemeth not to need
operose discussion : for simple and easy it ap-
peareth. For thus it standeth : " For the end,
for David himself a Psalm of a Song." - But in
many Psalms already we have reminded you
what is " at the end : for the end of the Law is
Christ forrighteousness to every man believing: ""
He is the end which maketh perfect, not that
8 [The rule concerning the phcenix and other illustrations which,
as such, were currc.it among the Fathers. — C]
» Matt, vi, 10. ,0 Lat. LXVII. » Rom. x. 4.
286
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVIII.
which consumeth or destroyeth. Nevertheless,
if any one endeavoureth to inquire, what mean-
eth, " a Psalm of a Song : " why not either
" Psalm " or " Song," but both ; or what is the
difference between Psalm of Song, and Song of
Psalm, because even thus of some Psalms the titles
are inscribed : he will find perchance something
which we leave for men more acute and more
at leisure than ourselves. . . .
2. " Let God rise up, and let His enemies be
scattered " (ver. i ) . Already this hath come to
pass, Christ hath risen up, " who is over all
things, God blessed for ever," ' and His enemies
have been dispersed through all nations, to wit,
the Jews ; in that very place, where they practised
their enmities, being overthrown in war, and
thence through all places dispersed : and now they
hate, but fear, and in that very fear they do
that which followeth, " And let them that hate
Him flee from His face." The flight indeed of
the mind is fear. For in carnal flight, whither
flee they from the face of Him who everywhere
showeth the efficacy 2 of His presence ? " Whith-
er shall I depart," saith he, " from Thy Spirit,
and from Thy face whither shall I flee?"3 With
mind, therefore, not with body, they flee ; to
wit, by being afraid, not by being hidden ; and
not from that face which they see not, but from
that which they are compelled to see. For the
face of Him hath His presence in His Church
been called. . . .
3. " As smoke faileth, let them fail " (ver. 2).
For they lifted up themselves from the fires of
their hatred unto the vapouring of pride, and
against Heaven setting their mouth, and shout-
ing, " Crucify, Crucify," 4 Him taken captive they
derided, Him hanging they mocked : and being
soon conquered by that very Person against
whom they swelled victorious, they vanished
away. " As wax melteth from the face of fire,
so let sinners perish from the face of God."
Though perchance in this passage he hath re-
ferred to those men, whose hard-heartedness in
tears of penitence is dissolved : yet this also may
be understood, that he threateneth future judg-
ment ; because though in this world like smoke,
in lifting up themselves, that is, in priding them-
selves, they have melted away, there will come
to them at the last final damnation, so that from
His face they will perish for everlasting, when
in His own glory He shall have appeared, like
fire, for the punishment of the ungodly, and the
light of the righteous.
4. " Lastly, there followeth, " And let just men
be joyous, and exult in the sight of God, let
them delight in gladness" (ver. 3). For then
shall they hear, " Come, ye blessed of My Father,
receive ye the kingdom." ' " Let them be joy-
1 Rom. ix. 5,
4 John xix. 6.
» Effcctum.
3 Matt. xxv. 34.
J Ps. cxxxix. 6.
ous," therefore, that have toiled, " and exult in
the sight of God." For there will not be in this
exultation, as though it were before men, any
empty boasting ; but (it will be) in the sight of
Him who unerringly looketh into that which He
hath granted. " Let them delight in gladness : "
no longer exulting with trembling,6 as in this
world, so long as " human life is a trial upon
earth." 7 Secondly, he turneth himself to those
very persons to whom he hath given so great
hope, and to them while here living he speaketh
and exhorteth : " Sing ye to God, psalm ye to
His name " (ver. 4). Already on this subject in
the exposition of the Title we have before
spoken that which seemed meet. He singeth
to God, that liveth to God : He psalmeth to His
name, that worketh unto His Glory. In singing
thus, in psalming thus, that is, by so living, by
so working, " a way make ye to Him," he saith,
" that hath ascended above the setting." A
way make ye to Christ : so that through the
beautiful feet of men telling good tidings,8 the
hearts of men believing many have a way opened
to Him. For the Same is He that hath ascend-
ed above the " setting : " either because the
new life of one turned to Him receiveth Him
not, except the old life shall have set by his re-
nouncing this world, or because He ascended
above the setting, when by rising again He con-
quered the downfall of the body. " For The
Lord is His name." Which if they had known,
the Lord of glory they never would have cruci-
fied.'
5. "Exult ye in the sight of Him," O ye to
whom hath been said, " Sing ye to God, psalm ye
to the name of Him, a way make ye to Him
that hath ascended above the setting," also " exult
in the sight of Him : " as if " sorrowful, yet alway
rejoicing." IO For while ye make a way to Him,
while ye prepare a way whereby He may come
and possess the nations, ye are to suffer in the
sight of men many sorrowful things. But not
only faint not, but even exult, not in the sight
of men, but in the sight of God. " In hope
rejoicing, in tribulation enduring : " " "exult ye
in the sight of Him." For they that in the sight
of men trouble you, " shall be troubled by the
face of Him, the Father of orphans and Judge
of widows" (ver. 5). For desolate they sup-
pose them to be, from whom ofttimes by the
sword of the Word of God ,2 both parents from
sons, and husbands from wives, are severed :
but persons destitute and widowed have the con-
solation " of the Father of orphans and Judge
of widows : " they have the consolation of Him
that say to Him, " For my father and my mother
have forsaken me, but the Lord hath taken up
• Ps. ii. 11.
9 1 Cor. ii. 8.
13 Milt. x. 34.
7 Job vii. 1, LXX.
JO 2 Cor. vi. 10.
8 Isa. lii. 7.
11 Rom. xii. 13.
TSALM LXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
287
me :" ' and they that have hoped in the Lord,
continuing in prayers by night and by day : 2 by
whose face those men shall be troubled when
they shall have seen themselves prevail noth-
ing, for that the whole world hath gone away after
Him.* For out of those orphans and widows,
that is, persons destitute of partnership in this
world's hope, the Lord for Himself doth build a
Temple : whereof in continuation he saith, " The
Lord is in His holy place."
6. For what is His place he hath disclosed,
when he saith, " God that maketh to dwell
men of one mood in a house" (ver. 6) : men
of one mind, of one sentiment : this is the
holy place of the Lord. For when he had said,
" The Lord is in His holy place : " as though we
were inquiring in what place, since He is every-
where wholly, and no place of corporal space
containeth Him ; forthwith he hath subjoined
somewhat, that we should not seek Him apart
from ourselves, but rather being of one mood
dwelling in a house, we should deserve that He
also Himself deign to dwell among us. This is
the holy place of the Lord, the thing that most
men seek to have, a place where in prayer they
may be hearkened unto. . . . For as in a great
house of a man, the Lord thereof doth not
abide in every place whatsoever, but in some
place doubtless more private and honourable : so
God dwelleth not in all men that are in His
house (for He dwelleth not in the vessels of
dishonour), but His holy place are they whom
" He maketh to dwell of one mood," or " of one
manner, in a house." For what are called rpoiroi
in Greek, by both modi and mores (moods
and manners), in Latin may be interpreted.
Nor hath the Greek writer, " Who maketh to
dwell," but only "maketh to dwell." "The
Lord," then, " is in His holy place." . . .
7. But to prove that by His Grace He build-
eth to Himself this place, not for the sake of
the merits preceding of those persons out of
whom He buildeth it, see what followeth :
" Who leadeth forth men fettered, in strength."
For He looseth the heavy bonds of sins, where-
with they were fettered so that they could not
walk in the way of the commandments : but
He leadeth them forth " in strength," which
before His Grace they had not. " Likewise men
provoking that dwell in the tombs : " that is, every
way dead, taken up with dead works. For these
men provoke Him to anger by withstanding jus-
tice : for those fettered men perchance would
walk, and are not able, and are praying of God
that they may be able, and are saying to Him,
" From my necessities lead me forth." ♦ By
whom being heard, they give thanks, saying,
"Thou hast broken asunder my bonds." 5 But
1 Ps. xxvii. 10.
4 Ps. xxv. 17.
2 1 Tim. v. 5.
> Ps. cxvi. 16.
3 John xii. ig.
these provoking men that dwell in the tombs,
are of that kind, which in another passage the
Scripture pointeth out, saying, " From a dead
man, as from one that is not, confession perish-
eth."6 Whence there is this saying, "When
a sinner shall have come into the depth of evil
things, he despiseth." 1 For it is one thing to
long for, another thing to fight against righteous-
ness : one thing from evil to desire to be deliv-
ered, another thing one's evil doings to defend
rather than to confess : both kinds nevertheless
the Grace of Christ leadeth forth in strength.
With what strength, but that wherewith against
sin even unto blood they are to strive? For out
of each kind are made meet persons, whereof to
construct His holy place : those being loosened,
these being raised to life. For even of the
woman, whom Satan had bound for eighteen
years, by His command He loosed the bonds ; 8
and Lazarus' death by His voice He overcame.'
He that hath done these things in bodies, is able
to do more marvellous things in characters, and
to make men of one mood to dwell in a house :
" leading forth men fettered in strength, likewise
men provoking that dwell in the tombs." '°
8. " O God, when Thou wentest forth before
Thy people " (ver. 7). His going forth is per-
ceived, when He appeareth in His works. But
He appeareth not to all men, but to them that
know how to spy out His works. For I do not
now speak of those works which are conspicu-
ous to all men, Heaven and earth and sea and
all things that in them are ; but the works where-
by He leadeth forth men fettered in strength,
likewise men provoking that dwell in the tombs,
and maketh them of one manner to dwell in
a house. Thus He goeth forth before His peo-
ple, that is, before those that do perceive this
His Grace. Lastly, there followeth, " When
Thou wentest by in the desert, the earth was
moved" (ver. 8). A desert were the nations,
which knew not God : a desert they were, where
by God Himself no law had been given, where
no Prophet had dwelled, and foretold the Lord
to come. "When," then, "Thou wentest by in
the desert," when Thou wast preached in the
nations ; " the earth was moved," to the faith
earthly men were stirred up. But whence was it
moved ? " For the heavens dropped from the
face of God." Perchance here some one calleth
to mind that time, when in the desert God was
going over before His people, before the sons
of Israel, by day in the pillar of cloud, "by night
in the brightness of fire ; " and determineth that
thus it is that " the heavens dropped from the
face of God," for manna He rained upon His
people : " that the same thing also is that which
6 Ecclus. xvii. 28.
9 Johr. tu ^j.
12 Lxud. xvi. 15.
7 Prov. xviii. 3.
10 Ps. Ixviu. 6.
8 Luke xiii. 16.
11 Exod. xiii. ai.
288
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVIII.
followeth, " Mount Sina from the face of the God
of Israel," ' " with voluntary rain severing God
to Thine inheritance" (ver. 9), namely, the
God that on Mount Sina spake to Moses, when
He gave the Law, so that the manna is the
voluntary rain, which God severed for His inher-
itance, that is, for His people ; because them
alone He so fed, not the other nations also : so
that what next he saith, "and it was weakened,"
is understood of the inheritance being itself
weakened ; for they murmuring, fastidiously
loathed the manna, longing for victuals of flesh,
and those things on which they had been accus-
tomed to live in Egypt.2 . . . Lastly, all those
men in the desert were stricken down, nor were
any of them except two found worthy to go into
the land of promise.3 Although even if in the
sons of them that inheritance be said to have been
perfected, we ought more readily to hold to a
spiritual sense. For all those things in a figure
did happen to them ; 4 until the day should break,
and the shadows should be removed.5
9. May then the Lord open to us that knock ;
and may the secret things of His mysteries, as
far as Himself vouchsafeth, be disclosed. For
in order that the earth might be moved to the
Truth when into the desert of the Gentiles the
Gospel was passing, " the Heavens dropped from
the face of God." These are the Heavens, where-
of in another Psalm is sung, " The Heavens are
telling forth the glory of God." 6 ... So here
also, " the Heavens dropped ; " but " from the
face of God." For even these very persons have
been " saved through faith, and this not of them-
selves, but God's gift it is, not of works, lest per-
chance any man should be lifted up. For of
Himself we are the workmanship," » " that
maketh men of one mood to dwell in a
house." 8
10. But what is that which followeth, " Mount
Sina from the face of the God of Israel " ?
Must there be understood " dropped ; " so that
what he hath called by the name of Heavens,
the same he hath willed to be understood under
the name of Mount Sina also ; just as we said
that those are called mountains, which were
called Heavens? Nor in this sense ought it to
move us that He saith " mountain," not moun-
tains, while in that place they were called
" Heavens," not Heaven : for in another Psalm
also after it had been said, " The Heavens are
telling forth the glory of God : " 6 after the man-
ner of Scripture repeating the same sense in
different words, subsequently there is said, "And
the firmament telleth the works of His hands." 6
First he said " Heavens," not " Heaven : " and
yet afterwards not " firmaments," but " firma-
' Pi. Ixviii. 8.
* i Cor. x. if.
' Epb. ii. 8-10.
* Numb. xi. 5, 6.
3 Sot. Song ii. 17.
8 Pi. Ixviii. 6.
3 Numb. xiv. 23, 34.
6 Ps. xix. z.
ment." For God called the firmament Heaven,9
as in Genesis hath been written. Thus then
Heavens and Heaven, mountains and mountain,
are not a different thing, but the very same thing :
just as Churches many, and the One Church, are
not a different thing, but the very same thing.
Why then " Mount Sina, which gendereth unto
bondage " ? ,0 as saith the Apostle. . Is perchance
the Law itself to be understood in Mount Sina,
as that which " the Heavens dropped from the
face of God," in order that the earth might be
moved? And is this the very moving of the
earth, when men are troubled, because the Law
they cannot fulfil? But if so it is, this is the
voluntary rain, whereof in confirmation he saith,
" Voluntary rain God severing to Thine inher-
itance : " because " He hath not done so to any
nation, and His judgment He hath not mani-
fested to them." " God therefore set apart this
voluntary rain to His inheritance because He
gave the Law. And " there was made weak,"
either the Law, or the inheritance. The Law
may be understood to have been made weak,
because it was not fulfilled ; not that of itself it
is weak, but because it maketh men weak, by
threatening punishment, and not aiding through
grace. For also the very word the Apostle hath
used, where he saith, " For that which was im-
possible of the Law, wherein it was made weak
through the flesh : " '2 willing to intimate that
through the Spirit it is fulfilled : nevertheless,
itself he hath said is made weak, because by
weak men it cannot be fulfilled. But the in-
heritance, that is, the people, without any doubt
is understood to have been made weak by the
giving to them of the Law. For " the Law came
in, that transgression might abound." ,3 But that
which followeth, " But Thou hast made it perfect,"
to the Law is thus referred, forasmuch as it is
made perfect, that is, is fulfilled after that which
the Lord saith in the Gospel, " I have not come
to annul the Law, but to fulfil." '4 . . . There is in
these words yet another sense : which seemeth
to me more to approve itself. For much more
in accordance with the context, grace itself is
understood to be the voluntary rain, ,5 because
with no preceding merits of works it is given
gratis. ,b " For if grace, no longer of works :
otherwise grace no longer is grace." 'I . . . "But
to humble men He giveth grace." ,8 And it was
made weak, but Thou hast made it perfect : " be-
cause " virtue in weakness is perfected." '9 Some
copies indeed, both Latin and Greek, have not
" Mount Sina ; " but, " from the face of the God
of Sina, from the face of the God of Israel."
That is, "The Heavens dropped from the face
9 Gen. i. 8. IO Gal. iv. 24. " Ps cxlvii. 10.
12 Rom. viii. 3. *3 Rom. v. 20. I4 Matt. v. 17.
" Grace the voluntary rain.
16 [Seep. 189, *«/ra. — C.] 17 Rom. xi. 6.
13 Jas. iv. 6. lJ 2 Cor. xii. 9.
Psalm lxviii.]
ON THE PSALMS.
289
of God : " and, as if enquiry were made of what
God, " from the face of the God," he saith, " of
Sina, from the face of the God of Israel," that is,
from the face of the God that gave the Law to
the people of Israel. Why then " the Heavens
dropped from the face of God," from the face
of this God, but because thus was fulfilled that
which had been foretold, " Blessing He shall give
that hath given the Law " ? ' The Law whereby
to terrify a man that relieth on human powers ;
blessing, whereby He delivereth a man that
hopeth in God. Thou then, O God, hast made
perfect Thine inheritance ; because it is made
weak in itself, in order that it may be made per-
fect by Thee.
11." Thine animals shall dwell therein " (ver.
10). " Thine," not their own ; to Thee subject,
not for themselves free ; for Thee needy, not for
themselves sufficient. Lastly, he continueth,
" Thou hast prepared in Thine own sweetness
for the needy, O God." " In Thine own sweet-
ness," not in his meetness. For the needy he
is, for he hath been made weak, in order that
he may be made perfect : he hath acknowledged
himself indigent, that he may be replenished.
This is that sweetness, whereof in another place
is said, " The Lord shall give sweetness, and our
land shall give her fruit : " 2 in order that a good
work may be done not for fear, but for love ; not
for dread of punishment, but for love of right-
eousness. For this is true and sound freedom.
But the Lord hath prepared this for one wanting,
not for one abounding, whose reproach is that
poverty : of which sort in another place is said,
" Reproach to these men that abound, and con-
tempt to proud men." 3 For those he hath called
proud, whom he hath called them that abound.
12. "The Lord shall give the Word" (ver.
11) : to wit, food for His animals which shall
dwell therein. But what shall these animals
work to whom He shall give the word ? What but
that which followeth ? " To them preaching
the Gospel in much virtue." With what virtue,
but with that strength wherein He leadeth forth
men fettered ? Perchance also here he speaketh
of that virtue, wherewith in preaching the Gos-
pel they wrought wondrous signs. Who then
" shall give the Word to men preaching the Gos-
pel with much virtue "? " The King," he saith,
"of the virtues of the Beloved" (ver. 12).
The Father therefore is King of the virtues of
the Son. For the Beloved, when there is not
specified any person that is beloved, by a substi-
tution of name, of the Only Son is understood.
Is not the Son Himself King of His virtues, to
wit of the virtues serving Himself? Because
with much virtue the King of Virtues shall give
the Word to men preaching the Gospel, of Whom
1 Ps. Ixxxiv. 6 {at. lxxxiii. 8). Vulgate nearly so.
2 PS. IXXXV. 13. 3 PS. CXXUi.4.
it hath been said, "The Lord of Virtues, He
is the King of Glory ? " 4 But his not having
said King of Virtues, but " King of the Virtues
of the beloved," is a most usual expression in
the Scriptures, if any one observe : which thing
chiefly appeareth in those cases where even the
person's own name is already expressed, so that
it cannot at all be doubted that it is the same
person of whom something is said. Of which
sort also is that which in the Pentateuch in many
passages is found : " And Moses did it, as the
Lord commanded Moses." He said not that
which is usual in our expressions, And Moses did,
as the Lord commanded him ; but, " Moses did as
the Lord commanded Moses," as if one per-
son were the Moses whom He commanded,
and another person the Moses who did, whereas
it is the very same. In the New Testament
such expressions are most difficult to find.5 . . .
" The King," therefore, " of the virtues of the
Beloved," thus may be understood, as if it were
to be said, the King of His virtues, because
both King of Virtues is Christ, and the Beloved
is the very same Christ. However, this sense
hath not so great urgency, as that no other can
be accepted : because the Father also may be
understood as King of the virtues of His Beloved
Son, to whom the Beloved Himself saith, " All
Mine are Thine, and Thine Mine."6 But if
perchance it is asked, whether God the Father
of the Lord Jesus Christ can be called King also,
I know not whether any one would dare to with-
hold this name from Him in the passage where
the Apostle saith, " But to the King of ages, im-
mortal, invisible, the only God." 1 Because even
if this be said of the Trinity itself, therein is also
God the Father. But if we do not carnally un-
derstand, " O God, Thy Judgment to the King
give Thou, and Thy justice to the Son of the
King : " 8 I know not whether anything else hath
been said than, " to Thy Son." King therefore is
the Father also. Whence that verse of this
Psalm, " King of the virtues of the Beloved,-" in
either way may be understood. When therefore
he had said, " The Lord shall give the Word to
men preaching the Gospel with much virtue : "
because virtue itself by Him is ruled, and serveth
Him by whom it is given ; the Lord Himself,
he saith, who shall give the Word to men
preaching the Gospel with much virtue, is the
King of the virtues of the Beloved.
13. In the next place there followeth, " Of the
Beloved, and of the beauty of the House to di-
vide the spoils." The repetition belongeth to
eulogy. 9 . . . But whether it be repeated, or
* Ps. xxiv. 10. 3 Rom. i. 3, 4. * John xvii. 10.
7 1 Tim. i. it. 8 Ps. lxxii. I,
9 He adds: This repetition all the copies have not, and the more
careful mark it with a star put before it, which marks are called
asterisks, whereby they would have to be noted, that there are not in
the Septuagint Version, but there are in the Hebrew, those words
which are distinguished by such marks."
290
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVIII.
whether it be received as spoken once, the word
which hath been set down, namely, " Beloved," '
I suppose that thus must be understood that
which followeth, " and of the beauty of a house
to divide the spoils ; " as if there were said,
" Chosen even to divide the spoils of the beauty
of a house," that is, Chosen even for dividing
the spoils. For beautiful Christ hath made His
House, that is, the Church, by dividing to Her
spoils : in the same manner as the Body is
beautiful in the distribution of the members.
" Spoils " moreover those are called that are
stripped off from conquered foes. What this is
the Gospel adviseth us in the passage where we
read, " No one goeth into the house of a strong
man to spoil his vessels, unless first he shall have
bound the strong man." 2 Christ therefore hath
bound the devil with spiritual bonds, by over-
coming death, and by ascending from Hell above
the Heavens : He hath bound him by the Sacra-
ment of His Incarnation, because though finding
nothing in Him deserving of death, yet he was
permitted to kill : and from him so bound He
took away his vessels as though they were spoils.
For he was working in the sons of disobedience,'
of whose unbelief he made use to work his own
will. These vessels the Lord cleansing by the
remission of sins, sanctifying these spoils wrested
from' the foe laid prostrate and bound, these He
hath divided to the beauty of His House ; mak-
ing some apostles, some prophets, some pastors
and doctors,4 for the work of the ministry, for
the building up of the Body of Christ. For as the
body is one, and hath many members, and
though all the members of the body are many,
the body is one : so also is Christ.* " Are all
Apostles? Are all Prophets? Are all Powers?
Have all the gifts of healings? Do all speak with
tongues? Do all interpret ?" 5 " But all these
things worketh one and the same Spirit, dividing
to each one his own gifts, as He willeth." 1 And
such is the beauty of the house, whereto the
spoils are divided, that a lover thereof with this
fairness being enkindled, crieth out, " O Lord, I
have loved the grace of Thy House." 8
14. Now in that which followeth, he turneth
himself to address the members themselves,
whereof the beauty of the Housa is composed,
saying, " If ye sleep in the midst of the lots,9
wings of a dove silvered, and between the
shoulders thereof in the freshness of gold "
(ver. 13). First, we must here examine the
order of the words, in what manner the sentence
is ended ; which certainly awaiteth, when there
is said, " If ye sleep : " secondly, in that which
1 Dilecti, which signifies a love of choice.
3 Matt. xii. 39. 3 Eph. ii. 3. * Eph. iv. ti.
'' i Cor. xii. 13. 6 i Cor. xii. 39. ' 1 Cor. xii. 11.
• Pi. xxvi. 8.
9 ['Eap <co(«*)fl»JTf avattiaov ru>v n\rtp<av, K.T.A., Sept.; si
dormiatis inter medio* cieros, Vulgate; Inter medio* terminus,
Jerome. — C.J
he saith, namely, " wings of dove silvered,"
whether in the singular number it must be un-
derstood as being, "of this wing" lo thereof, or in
the plural as, " these wings." " But the singular
number the Greek excludeth, where always in
the plural we read it written. But still it is un-
certain whether it be these wings ; or whether, "O
ye wings," so as that he may seem to speak to the
wings themselves. Whether therefore by the
words which have preceded, that sentence be
ended, so that the order is, " The Lord shall give
the Word to men preaching the Gospel with
much virtue, if ye sleep in the midst of the lots,
O ye wings of a dove silvered : " or by these
which follow, so that the order is, " If ye sleep
in the midst of the lots, the wings of a dove
silvered with snow shall be whitened in Selmon ; "
that is, the wings themselves shall be whitened,
if ye sleep in the midst " of the lots : " so that
he may be understood to say this to them that
are divided to the beauty of the House, as it
were spoils ; that is, if ye sleep in the " midst of
the lots," O ye that are divided to the beauty
of the House, " through the manifestation of the
Spirit unto profit," ,2 so that " to one indeed is
given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to
another the word of knowledge," etc., if then ye
sleep in the midst of the lots, then the wings of
a dove silvered with snow shall be whitened in
Selmon. It may also be thus : " If ye being the
wings of a dove silvered, sleep in the midst of
the lots, with snow they shall be whitened in
Selmon," so as that those men be understood
who through grace receive remission of sins.
Whence also of the Church Herself, is said in
the Song of Songs, " Who is She that goeth up
whitened ? " For this promise of God is held
out through the Prophet, saying, "If your sins
shall have been like scarlet, like snow I will
whiten them." It may also thus be understood,
so that in that which hath been said, " wings of
a dove silvered," there be understood, ye shall
be, so that this is the sense, O ye that like as it
were spoils to the beauty of the house are divided,
if ye sleep in the " midst of the lots," wings of a
dove silvered ye shall be : that is, into higher
places ye shall be lifted up, adhering however to
the bond of the Church. For I think no other
dove silvered can be better perceived here, than
that whereof hath been said, " One is My dove." 'J
But silvered She is because with divine sayings
she hath been instructed : for the sayings of the
Lord in another place are called " silver with fire
refined, purged sevenfold." '4 Some great good
thing therefore it is, to sleep in the midst of the
lots, which so'me would have to be the Two
Testaments, so that to " sleep in the midst of the
10 Hufus penna.
1 ' Song of Sol. vi. 9.
M Ps. xii. 6.
11 Ha penna.
12 1 Cor. xii. 7.
Psalm IJCVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
291
lots " ! is to rest on the authority of those Testa-
ments, that is, to acquiesce in the testimony of
either Testament : so that whenever anything
out of them is produced and proved, all strife is
ended in peaceful acquiescence. . . .
15. " Between the shoulders," however. This
is indeed a part of the body, it is a part about
the region of the heart, at the hinder parts how-
ever, that is, at the back : which part of that
dove silvered he saith is " in the greenness of
gold," that is, in the vigour of wisdom, which
vigour I think cannot be better understood than
by love. But why on the back, and not on the
breast ? Although I wonder in what sense this
word is put in another Psalm, where there is
said, " Between His shoulders He shall over-
shadow thee, and under His wings thou shalt
hope : " 2 forasmuch as under wings there cannot
be overshadowed anything but what shall be
under the breast. And in Latin, indeed, " be-
tween the shoulders," perchance in some degree
of both parts may be understood, both before
and behind, that we may take shoulders to be
the parts which have the head betwixt them ;
and in Hebrew perchance the word is ambiguous,
which may in this manner also be understood :
but the word that is in the Greek, /xcra^ptra,
signifieth not anything but at the back, which is
" between the shoulders." Is there for this
reason there the greenness of gold, that is,
wisdom and love, because in that place there are
in a manner the roots of the wings? or because
in that place is carried that light burden? For
what are even the wings themselves, but the two
commandments of love, whereon hangeth the
whole Law and the Prophets ? 3 what is that same
light burden, but that same love 4 which in these
two commandments is fulfilled? For whatever
thing is difficult in a commandment, is a light
thing to a lover. Nor on any other account is
rightly understood the saying, " My burden is
light," s but because He giveth the Holy Spirit,
whereby love is shed abroad in our hearts,6 in
order that in love we may do freely that which he
that doeth in fear doeth slavishly ; nor is he a lover
of what is right, when he would prefer, if so be it
were possible, that what is right should not be
commanded.
16. It may also be required, when it hath not
been said, if ye sleep in the lots, but " in the
midst of the lots ; " what this is, " in the midst
of the lots." Which expression indeed, if more
exactly it were translated from the Greek, would
signify, " in the midst between the lots," » which
is in no one of the interpreters I have read :
therefore I suppose, that what hath been said
2 Ps xci. 4.
J Matt, xi 30.
1 tnter medics cleros.
3 Matt. xxii. 40. * Charitas.
6 Rom. v. 5.
7 Inter medium clerorum. The other might mean, between or
among the middlemost lots.
signifieth much the same, to wit the expression,
" in the midst of the lots." Hence therefore
what seemeth to me I will explain. Ofttimes
this word is wont to be used for uniting and
pacifying one thing and another, that they may
not mutually disagree : as when God is establish-
ing His covenant8 between Himself and His
people, this word the Scripture useth ; for in-
stead of that expression which is in Latin
between Me and you, the Greek hath, in the
midst of Me and you. So also of the sign of
Circumcision, when God speaketh to Abraham,
He saith, " There shall be a testament between
Me and thee and all thy seed : " 9 which the
Greek hath, in the midst of Me and thee, and
the midst of thy seed. Also when He was
speaking to Noe of the bow in the clouds to
establish a sign, '° this word very often He re-
peateth : and that which the Latin copies have,
between Me and you-, or between Me and every
living soul, and whatever suchlike expressions
there are used, is found in the Greek to be, in
the middle of Me and you, which is ava /ne'ow.
David also and Jonathan establish a sign be-
tween them, " that they may not disagree with
a difference of thought : and that which in Latin
is expressed, between both, in the middle of
both, the Greek hath expressed in the same
word, which is avb. /xecrov. But it was best that
in this passage of the Psalms our translators
said not, " among the lots," which expression
is more suited to the Latin idiom ; but, " in
the midst of the lots," as though " in the midst
between the lots," which rather is the read-
ing in the Greek, and which is wont to be said
in the case of those things which ought to have
a mutual consent. . . . But why in the " lots " "
the Testaments should be perceived, though this
word is Greek, and the Testament is not so
named, the reason is, because through a testa-
ment is given inheritance, which in Greek is
called KkripovofjLia, and an heir K\r)povo/j.os. Now
kA^os in Greek is the term for lot, and lots ac-
cording to the promise of God are called those
parts of the inheritance which were distributed
to the people. '3 Whence the tribe of Levi was
commanded not to have lot among their breth-
ren, because they were sustained by tithes from
them. For, I think, they that have been or-
dained in the grades of the Ecclesiastical Ministry
have been called both Clergy and Clerks, be-
cause Matthias by lot was chosen, who we read
was the first that was ordained by the Apostles.'4
Henceforth, because of inheritance which is
given by testament, as though by that which
is made that which maketh, by the name of
" lots " the Testaments themselves are signified.
8 Testamentum.
11 1 Sam. xx. 4a.
u Acts i. a6.
9 Gen. xvii. 4. 7.
U Clem.
10 Gen. ix. 12.
xi Numb, xviii. 30.
292
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LVXIII.
17. Nevertheless, to me here another sense
also occurreth, if I mistake not, to be preferred ;
understanding by cleri the inheritances them-
selves : so that, whereas the inheritance of the
Old Testament, although in a shadow significant
of the future, is earthly felicity ; but the inherit-
ance of the New Testament is everlasting im-
mortality ; to " sleep in the midst of the lots" is
not too earnestly now to seek the former, and
still patiently to look for the latter. . . . And
because so well they have slept, on them, as it
were on wings now flieth, and with praises is
exalted, the Church : to wit, the Dove silvered, in
order that by this fame of theirs, posterity having
been invited to imitate them, while in like man-
ner the rest also sleep, there may be added
wings whereby even unto the end of the world
sublimely she may be preached.
18. "While He that is above the heavens1
distinguisheth kings over Her, with snow they
shall be made white in Selmon " (ver. 14).
While He " above the heavens," He that as-
cended over all heavens that He might fulfil all
things, " while He distinguisheth kings over
Her," that is, over that same " Dove silvered."
For the Apostle continueth and saith, and " He
hath Himself given some for Apostles, and some
Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pas-
tors and Teachers." 2 For what other reason is
there to distinguish kings over Her, save for
the work of the Ministry, for the edification of the
Body of Christ : when she is indeed Herself
the Body of Christ ? But they are called kings
from ruling : and what more than the lusts of
the flesh, that sin may not reign in their mortal
body to obey the desires thereof, that they yield
not their members instruments of iniquity unto
sin, but yield themselves to God, as though
from the dead living, and their members instru-
ments of righteousness to God?3 For thus shall
the kings be distinguished from foreigners, be-
cause they draw not the yoke with unbelievers :
secondly, in a peaceful manner being distin-
guished from one another by their proper gifts.
For not all are Apostles, or all Prophets, or all
Teachers, or all have gifts of healings, or all
with tongues do speak, or all interpret.4 " But
all these things worketh one and the same
Spirit, dividing proper gifts to each one as He
willeth." ' In giving which Spirit He that is
above the Heavens distinguisheth kings over the
Dove silvered. Of which Holy Spirit, when,
sent to His Mother full of grace, the Angel was
speaking, to her enquiring in what manner it
could come to pass that she was announced as
going to bear, seeing she knew not a man : 6
... he saith, " The Holy Spirit shall come over
upon thee, and the virtue of the Most Highest
1 Supercaleitit. 2 Eph. iv. n. 3 Rom. vi. 12, 13.
4 1 Cor. ah. 29, 30. S 1 Cor. xii. 11. 6 Luke i. 34.
shall overshadow thee," that is, shall make a
shadow for thee, " wherefore that Holy Thing
which shall be born of thee, shall be called the
Son of God." 7 That " shadow " again is under-
stood of a defence against the heat of carnal
lusts : whence not in carnal concupiscence, but
in spiritual belief, the Virgin conceived Christ.
But the shadow consisteth of light and body :
and further, The " Word " that " was in the be-
ginning," 8 that true Light,9 in order that a noon-
day shadow might be made for us ; " the
Word," I say, " was made Flesh, and dwelled in
us." IO . . .
19. But this mountain he calleth the " moun-
tain of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain
full of curds" (ver. 15), or "a mountain fat."
But here what else would he call fat but fruit-
ful ? For there is also a mountain called by that
name, that is to say, Selmon. But what moun-
tain ought we to understand by " the mountain
of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain full of
curds," but the same Lord Christ? Of whom
also another Prophet saith, " There shall be
manifest in the last times the mountain of the
Lord prepared on the top of the mountains " ? "
He is Himself the " Mountain full of curds," "
because of the babes to be fed with grace as
though it weTe with milk ; '3 a mountain rich to
strengthen and enrich them by the excellence
of the gifts ; for even the milk itself whence
curd is made, in a wonderful manner signifieth
grace ; for it flovveth out of the overflowing of
the mother's bowels, and of a sweet compassion
unto babes freely it is poured forth. But in
the Greek the case is doubtful, whether it be the
nominative or the accusative : for in that lan-
guage mountain is of the neuter gender, not of
the masculine : therefore some Latin translators
have not translated it, " unto the Mountain of
God," but, " the Mountain of God." But I
think, " unto Selmon the Mountain of God," is
better, that is, " unto " the Mountain of God
which is called Selmon : according to the inter-
pretation which, as we best could, we have ex-
plained above.
20. Secondly, in the expression, " Mountain
of God, Mountain full of curds," Mountain " fruit-
ful," let no one dare from this to compare the
Lord Jesus Christ with the rest of the Saints,
who are themselves also called mountains of
God. . . . For there were not wanting men to call
Him, some John Baptist, some Elias, some Jere-
mias, or one of the Prophets j '* He turneth to
them and saith, " Why do ye imagine '5 mountains
full of curds, a mountain," he saith, "wherein it
hath pleased God to dwell therein "? (ver. 16).
1 Luke i. 35.
10 John i. 14.
IJ 1 Cor. iii. r.
M Suspicamini.
8 John i. 1.
11 Jsa. ii. 2.
s* Matt. xvi. 14.
9 John i. 9.
12 Incateatut.
Psalm LXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
293
"Why do ye imagine?"' For as they are a
light, because to themselves also hath been said,
" Ye are the Light of the world,"2 but something
different hath been called " the true Light which
enlighteneth every man . " 3 so they are moun-
tains ; but far different is the Mountain " pre-
pared on the top of the mountains." 4 These
mountains therefore in bearing that Mountain
are glorious : one of which mountains saith, " but
from me far be it to glory, save in the Cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to me the
world hath been crucified, and I to the world : " 5
so that " he hath glorieth, not in himself, but in
the Lord may glory." 5 " Why " then " do ye
imagine mountains full of curds," that " Moun-
tain wherein it hath pleased God to dwell there-
in " ? Not because in other men He dwelleth
not, but because in them through Him. " For
in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead," 7
not in a shadow, as in the temple made by king
Solomon,8 but " bodily," that is, solidly and truly.
..." For there is One God, and One Medi-
ator of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus," »
Mountain of mountains, as Saint of saints.
Whence He saith, " I in them and Thou in
Me." '° " Why then do ye imagine mountains full
of curds, the mountain wherein it hath pleased
God to dwell in Him?" For those mountains
full of curds that Mountain the Lord shall inhabit
even unto the end, that something they may be
to whom He saith, " for without Me nothing ye
are able to do." "
21. Thus cometh to pass that also which fol-
lowed! : " The Chariot of God is of ten thou-
sands manifold : " or "of tens of thousands
manifold : " or, "ten times thousand times man-
ifold" (ver. 17). For one Greek word, which
hath there been used, fivpioTrXda-iov, each Latin
interpreter hath rendered as best he could, but
in Latin it could not be adequately expressed :
for a thousand with the Greeks is called xtA'a>
but /xvpia&s are a number of tens of thousands :
for one /u-vpiAs are ten thousands. Thus a vast
number of saints and believers, who by bearing
God become in a manner the chariot I2 of God,
he hath signified under this name. By abiding
in and guiding this, He conducteth it, as though
it were His Chariot, unto the end, as if unto
some appointed place. For, " the beginning is
Christ ; secondly, that are of Christ, at the ap-
pearing of Him ; then the end." '3 This is Holy
Church : which is that which followeth, " thou-
sands of men rejoicing." For in hope they are
joyful, until they be conducted unto the end,
which now they look for through patience.'4 For
1 Or, " look up to."
^ Isa. it. a.
7 Col. ii. 9
See St. Macarius, Horn, i
3+ Rom. xii. 12.
* Matt. v. 14.
5 Gal. vi. 14.
8 1 Kings viii. 27.
10 John xvii. 23. » John xv. 5.
32 B< "
3 John i. 9.
6 1 Cor. t. 31.
9 1 Tim. ii. 5.
13 xCor. xv. 23,24.
admirably, when he had said, " Thousands of
men rejoicing:" immediately he added, "The
Lord is in them." That we may not wonder
why they rejoice, " The Lord is in them." For
through many tribulations we must needs enter
into the kingdom of God,1' but, " The Lord is in
them." Therefore even if they are as it were
sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing,'6 though not now in
that same end, to which they have not yet come,
yet in hope they are rejoicing, and in tribulation
patient : for, " The Lord is in them, in Sina in
the holy place." In the interpretations of He-
brew names, we find Sina interpreted command-
ment : and some other interpretations it has, but
I think this to be more agreeable to the present
passage. For giving a reason why those thou-
sands rejoice, whereof the Chariot of God doth
consist, " The Lord," he saith, " is in them, in
Sina in the holy place : " that is, the Lord is
in them, in the commandment ; which command-
ment is holy, as saith the Apostle : " Therefore
the law indeed is holy, and the commandment is
holy, and just, and good." "7 . . .
22. In the next place, turning his address to
the Lord Himself, "Thou hast gone up," he
saith, " on high, Thou hast led captivity captive,
Thou hast received gifts in men" (ver. 18). Of
this the Apostle thus maketh mention, thus ex-
poundeth in speaking of the Lord Christ : " But
unto each one of us," he saith, " is given grace
after the measure of the giving of Christ : for
which cause he saith, He hath gone up on high,
He hath led captive captivity, He hath given
gifts to men." '8 . . . And let it not move us
that the Apostle making mention of that same
testimony saith not, " Thou hast received gifts
in men ; " but, " He hath given gifts unto men."
For he with Apostolic authority hath spoken thus
according to the faith that the Son is God with
the Father. For in respect of this He hath given
gifts to men, sending to them the Holy Spirit,
which is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son.
But forasmuch as the self-name Christ is under-
stood in His Body which is the Church, wherefore
also His members are His saints and believers,
whence to them is said, " But ye are the Body of
Christ, and the members," '9 doubtless He hath
Himself also received gifts in men. Now Christ
hath gone up on high, and sitteth at the right
hand of the Father : 2° but unless He were here
also on the earth, He would not thence have
cried, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?""
When the Same saith Himself, " Inasmuch as
to one of My least ye have done it, to Me ye
have done it : " 22 why do we doubt that He
receiveth in His members, the gifts which the
members of Him receive ?
13 Acts xiv. 22.
18 Eph. iv. 7, 8.
21 Acu ix. 4.
36 2 Cor. vi. 10.
3» 1 Cor. xii. 27.
22 Matt. xxv. 40.
17 Romj-vii. 19.
80 Marx xvi. 19.
294
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVIII.
23. But what is, " Thou hast led captivity cap-
tive " ? Is it because He hath conquered death,
which was holding captive those over whom it
reigned? Or hath he called men themselves
captivity, who were being held captive under the
devil ? Which thing's mystery even the title of
that Psalm ' doth contain, to wit, " when the
house was being builded after the captivity : " that
is, the Church after the coming in of the Gentiles.
Calling therefore those very men who were being
held captive a captivity, as when " the service " J is
spoken of there are understood those that serve
also, that same captivity he saith by Christ hath
been led captive. For why should not captivity
be happy, if even for a good purpose men may
be caught ? Whence to Peter hath been said,
" From henceforth thou shalt catch men." 3 Led
captive therefore they are because caught, and
caught because subjugated, being sent under
that gentle yoke,4 being delivered from sin where-
of they were servants, and being made servants
of righteousness5 whereof they were children.
Whence also He is Himself in them, that hath
given gifts to men, and hath received gifts in
men. And thus in that captivity, in that servi-
tude, in that chariot, under that yoke, there are
not thousands of men lamenting, but thousands
of men rejoicing. For the Lord is in them, in
Sina, in the holy place.6 . . .
24. But what next doth he adjoin? "For
they that believe not to dwell" (ver. 18) : or,
as some copies have, " For not believing to
dwell : " for what else are men not believing, but
they that believe not? To whom this hath been
said, is not easy to perceive. For as though a
reason were being given of the above words,
when it had been said, " Thou hast led captivity
captive, Thou hast received gifts in men : " there
hath been added in continuation, " for they that
believe not to dwell," that is, not believing that
they should dwell. What is this? Of whom
saith he this? Did that captivity, before it
passed into a good captivity, show whence it was
an evil captivity? For through not believing
they were possessed by the enemy, " that work-
eth in the sons of unbelief: among whom ye
were sometime, while ye were living among
them."' By the gifts therefore of His grace, He
that hath received gifts in men, hath led captive
that captivity. For they believed not that they
should dwell. For faith hath thence delivered
them, in order that now believing they may
dwell in the House of God, even they too be-
coming the House of God, and the Chariot of
God, consisting of thousands of men rejoicing.
25. Whence he that was singing of these things,
1 See Title P». xcv., Vulgate. » Militia.
3 Luke v. 10. 4 Matt. xi. 30. ^ J Rom. vi. 18.
* Pt. lxviii. 17. He adds: " with which sense agreeth another
interpretation also, whereby Sina is interpreted ' measure.' "
' Eph. ii. a.
in the Spirit foreseeing them, even he too being
fulfilled with joy hath burst forth 8 a hymn, say-
ing, " The Lord God is blessed, blessed is the
Lord God from day unto day " (ver. 19) . Which
some copies have, " by day daily," because the
Greeks have it thus, ri/iepav naff rj/xtpav : which
more exactly would be expressed by, " by day
daily." Which expression I think signifieth the
same as that which hath been said, to wit, " from
day unlo day." For daily this He doeth even
unto the end, He leadeth captive captivity,
receiving gifts in men.
26. And because He leadeth that chariot unto
the end, He continueth and saith, " A prosper-
ous journey there shall make for us the God of
our healths, our God, the God of making men
safe" (ver. 20). Highly is grace here com-
mended. For who would be safe, unless He
Himself should make whole? But that it might
not occur to the mind, Why then do we die, if
through His grace we have been made safe?
immediately he added below, " and the Lord's
is the outgoing of death : " as though he were
saying, Why are thou indignant, O lot of human-
ity, that thou hast the outgoing of death ? Even
thy Lord's outgoing was no other than that of
death. Rather therefore be comforted than be
indignant : for even " the Lord's is the outgoing
of death." " For by hope we have been saved :
but if that which we see not we hope for, through
patience we wait for it."9 Patiently therefore
even death itself let us suffer, by the example of
Him, who though by no sin He was debtor to
death, and was the Lord, from whom no one
could take away life, but Himself laid it down of
Himself, yet had Himself the outgoing of death.
27. " Nevertheless, God shall break in pieces
the heads of His enemies, the scalp of hair of
men walking on in their transgressions " (ver. 21):
that is, too much exalting themselves, being too
proud in their transgressions : wherein at least
they ought to be humble, saying, " O Lord, be
Thou merciful to me a sinner." IO But He shall
break in pieces their heads : for he that exalteth
himself shall be humbled." And thus though
even of the Lord be the outgoing of death :
nevertheless the same Lord, because He was
God, and died after the flesh of His own will,
not of necessity, "shall12 break in pieces the
heads of His enemies : " not only of those who
mocked and crucified Him, and wagged their
heads, and said, " If Son of God He is, let Him
come down from the Cross ; " '3 but also of all
men lifting up themselves against His doctrine,
and deriding His death as though it were of a
man. For that very same One of whom hath
been said, " Others He saved, Himself He can-
8 EructavU.
11 Luke xviii. 14.
u Matt xxvii. 40.
9 Rom. viii. 24, 25.
» Oxf. mss. " did."
10 Luke xviii. 13.
Psalm LXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
295
not save," ' is the " God of our healths," and is
the " God of saving men : " but for an example
of humility and of patience, and to efface the
handwriting of our sins, He even willed that
the outgoing of death should be His own, that we
might not fear that death, but rather this from
which He hath delivered us through that. Nev-
ertheless, though mocked and dead, " He shall
break 2 in pieces the heads of His enemies," of
whom He saith, " Raise Thou me up, and I shall
render to them : " 3 whether it be good things for
evil things, while to Himself He subdueth the
heads of them believing, or whether just things
for unjust things, while He punisheth the heads
of them proud. For in either way are shattered
and broken the heads of enemies, when from
pride they are thrown down, whether by humility
being amended, or whether unto the lowest
depths of hell being hurled.
28. " The Lord hath said, Out of Basan I will
be turned " (ver. 22) : or, as some copies have,
" Out of Basan I will turn." For He turneth that
we may be safe, of whom above hath been said,
" God of our healths, and God of saving men." 4
For to Him elsewhere also is said, " O God of
virtues, turn Thou us, and show Thy face, and
safe we shall be." s Also in another place, " Turn
us, O God of our healths." 6 But he hath said,
" Out of Basan I will turn." Basan is interpreted
confusion. What is then, I will turn out of con-
fusion, but that there is confounded because of
his sins, he that is praying of the mercy of God
that they may be put away? Thence it is that
the Publican dared not even to lift up his eyes
to Heaven : 7 so, on considering himself, was he
confounded ; but he went down justified,8 be-
cause " the Lord hath said, Out of Basan I will
turn." Basan is also interpreted drought : and
rightly the Lord is understood to turn out of
drought, that is, out of scarcity. For they that
think themselves to be in plenty, though they be
famished ; and full, though they be altogether
empty ; are not turned. ..." I will turn unto
the deep of the sea." If, " I will turn," why,
" unto the deep of the sea"? Unto Himself in-
deed the Lord turneth, when savingly He turneth,
and He is not surely Himself the deep of the sea.
Doth perchance the Latin expression deceive us,
and hath there been put " unto the deep," for a
translation of what signifieth " deeply " ? For
He doth not turn Himself: but He turneth those
that in the deep of this world lie sunk down
with the weight of sins, in that place where one
that is turned saith, " From the depths I have
cried to Thee, O Lord." » But if it is not, " I
will turn," but, " I will be turned unto the deep
1 Matt, xxvii. 42.
3 Ps. xli. 10.
6 Ps. lxxxv. 4.
9 Ps. cxxx. 1.
2 Oxf. mss. " brcaketh."
* Ps. Ixviii. 19, 5 ps. Ixxx. 19.
7 Luke xviii. 13. 8 Luke xviii. 14.
of the sea ; " our Lord is understood to have
said, how by His own mercy He was turned even
unto the deep of the sea, to deliver even those
that were sinners in most desperate case.
Though in one Greek copy I have found, not,
"unto the deep," but "in the depths," that is,
if fiv6oi<i : which strengtheneth the former sense,
because even there God turneth to Himself men
crying from the depths. And even if He be
understood Himself there to be turned, to deliver
such sort also, it is not beside the purpose : and
so then He turneth, or else to deliver them is so
turned, that His foot is stained in blood. Which
to the Lord Himself the Prophet speaketh :
" That Thy foot may be stained in blood "
(ver. 23) : that is, in order that they themselves
who are turned to Thee, or to deliver whom
Thou art turned, though in the deep of the sea
by the burden of iniquity they may have been
sunk, may make so great proficiency by Thy
Grace (for where there hath abounded sin, there
hath superabounded grace IO), that they may be-
come Thy foot among Thy members, to preach
Thy Gospel, and for Thy name's sake drawing
out a long martyrdom, even unto blood they may
contend. For thus, as I judge, more meetly is
perceived His foot stained in blood.
29. Lastly, he addeth, " The tongue of Thy
dogs out of enemies by Himself," calling those
very same that had been about to strive for the
faith of the Gospel, even dogs, as though bark-
ing for their Lord. Not those dogs, whereof
saith the Apostle, " Beware of dogs : " " but those
that eat of the crumbs which fall from the table
of their masters. For having confessed this, the
woman of Canaan merited to hear, " O woman,
great is thy faith, be it done to thee as thou
wilt." I2 Dogs commendable, not abominable ;
observing fidelity towards their master, and
before his house barking against enemies. Not
only " of dogs " he hath said, but " of Thy
dogs : " nor are their teeth praised, but their
tongue is : for it was not indeed to no purpose,
not without a great mystery, that Gedeon was
bidden to lead those alone, who should lap the
water of the river like dogs ; '3 and of such sort
not more than three hundred among so great a
multitude were found. In which number is the
sign of the Cross because of the letter T, which
in the Greek numeral characters signifieth three
hundred. Of such dogs in another Psalm also
is said, " They shall be turned at even, and
hunger they shall suffer as dogs." '4 For even
some dogs have been reproved by the Prophet
Isaiah, not because they were dogs, but because
they knew not how to bark, and loved to sleep.1'
In which place indeed he hath shown, that if
they had watched and barked for their Lord,
10 Rom. v. 20.
li Judg. vii. 5.
11 Philip, tii. 2.
'< Ps. iix. 14.
12 Matt. xv. 27, 28.
*s Isa. Ivi. 10.
296
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVIII.
they would have been praiseworthy dogs : just
as they are praised, of whom is said, "The
tongue of Thy dogs." . . .
30. "There have been seen Thy steps, O
God" (ver. 24). The steps are those where-
with Thou hast come through the world, as
though in that chariot Thou wast going to trav-
erse the round world ; which chariot of clouds
He intimateth to be His holy and faithful ones
in the Gospel, where He saith, " From this time '
ye shall see the Son of Man coming in the
clouds." 2 Leaving out that coming wherein
He shall be Judge of quick and dead, 3 " From
this time," He saith, "ye shall see the Son of
Man coming in clouds." These " Thy steps
have been se"en," that is, have been manifested,
by the revealing the grace of the New Testa-
ment. Whence hath been said, " How beautiful
are the feet of them that proclaim peace, that
proclaim good things ! " * For this grace and
those steps were lying hid in the Old Testament :
but when there came the fulness of time, and it
pleased God to reveal His Son,s that He might
be proclaimed among the Gentiles, " there were
seen Thy steps, O God : the steps of my God,
of the6 King who is in the holy place." In
what holy place, save in His Temple? "For
the Temple of God is holy," he saith, " which
ye are." 7
31. But in order that those steps might be
seen, " there went before princes conjoined with
men psalming, in the midst of damsels players
on timbrels" (ver. 25). The princes are the
Apostles : for they went before, that the peoples
might come in multitudes. " They went before"
proclaiming the New Testament : " conjoined
with men psalming," by whose good works that
were even visible, as it were with instruments
of praise, God was glorified. But those same
princes are " in the midst of damsels players on
timbrels," to wit, in an honourable ministry : for
thus in the midst are ministers set over new
Churches ; for this is " damsels : " with flesh
subdued praising God ; for this is " players on
timbrels," because timbrels are made of skin
dried and stretched.
32. Therefore, that no one should take these
words in a carnal sense, and by these words
should conceive in his mind certain choral bands
of wantonness, he continueth and saith, "In
the Churches bless ye the Lord " (ver. 26) : as
though he were saying, wherefore, when ye hear
of damsels, players on timbrels, do ye think of
wanton pleasures ? " In the Churches bless ye
the Lord." For the Churches are pointed out
to you by this mystic intimation : the Churches
are the damsels, with new grace decked : the
1 A tttodo.
4 Rom. x. 15.
7 1 Cor. iii. 17.
2 Marx xiii.
J Gal. iv. 4.
■6,
' a Tim. iv. i.
6 Oxf. mss. " my.'
Churches are the players on the timbrels, with
chastened flesh being spiritually tuneful. " In
the Churches," then, " bless ye the Lord God
from the wells of Israel." For from thence He
first chose those whom He made wells. For
from thence were chosen the Apostles ; and
they first heard, " He that shall have drunk of
the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst,
but there shall be made in him a well of water
springing unto life everlasting." 8
33. "There is Benjamin the younger in a
trance " (ver. 27). There is Paul the last of the
Apostles, who saith, " For even I am an Israel-
ite, out of the seed of Abraham, out of the tribe
of Benjamin." 9 But evidently " in a trance,"
all men being amazed at a miracle so great as
that of his calling. For a trance is the mind's
going out : which thing sometimes chanceth
through fear ; but sometimes through some
revelation, the mind suffering separation from
the corporal senses, in order that that which is
to be represented may be represented to the
spirit. Whence even thus may be understood
that which here hath been written, namely, " in
a trance ; " for when to that persecutor there
had been said IO from Heaven, " Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me : " " there being taken from
him the light of the eyes of flesh, he made
answer to the Lord, whom in spirit he saw, but
they that were with him heard the voice of him
replying, though seeing no one to whom he was
speaking. Here also the trance may be under-
stood to be that one of his, whereof he himself
speaking, saith, that he knew a man caught up
even unto the third Heaven ; but whether in the
body, or whether out of the body, he knew not : "
but that he being caught up into Paradise, heard
ineffable words, which it was not lawful for a
man to speak. " Princes of Juda the leaders
of them, princes of Zabulon, princes of Neph-
thalim." Since he is indicating the Apostles as
princes, wherein is even " Benjamin the younger
in a trance," in which words that Paul is indi-
cated no one doubteth ; or when under the
name of princes there are indicated in the
Churches all men excelling and most worthy of
imitation : what mean these names of the tribes
of Israel ? . . . For the names are Hebrew :
whereof Juda is said to be interpreted confes-
sion, Zabulon habitation of strength, Nephthalim
my enlargement. All which words do intimate
to us the most proper princes of the Church,
worthy of their leadership, worthy of imitation,
worthy of honours. For the Martyrs in the
Churches hold the highest place, and by the
crown of holy worth they do excel. But how-
ever in martyrdom the first thing is confession,
8 John iv. 14. 9 Philip, iii. 5.
10 Oxf. mss. " He wan about to »ay." " Acts ix. 4.
13 a Cor. xii. a.
TSALM LXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
297
and for this is next put on strength to endure
whatsoever shall have chanced ; then after all
things have been endured, straits being ended,
breadth followeth in reward. It may also thus
be understood ; that whereas the Apostle chiefly
commendeth these three things, faith, hope,
love ; ' confession is in faith, strength in hope,
breadth in love. For of faith the substance is,
that with the heart men believe unto righteous-
ness, but with the mouth confession be made
unto. salvation.2 But in sufferings of tribulations
the thing itself is sorrowful, but the hope is
strong. For, " if that which we see not we hope
for, through patience we wait for it."3 But
breadth the shedding abroad of love in the heart
doth give. For " love perfected casteth out
fear: " which fear "hath torment,"4 because of
the straits of the soul. . . .
34. " Command, O God, Thy Virtue " (ver.
28). For one is our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom are all things,5 and we in Him, of whom
we read that He is " the Virtue of God and the
Wisdom of God." 6 But how doth God com-
mand His Christ, save while He commendeth
Him? For "God commendeth His love in us,
in that while yet we were sinners, for us Christ
died." i " How hath He not also with Him given
to us all things?" 8 " Command, O God, Thy
Virtue : confirm, O God, that which Thou hast
wrought in us." Command by teaching, con-
firm by aiding.
35. " From Thy Temple in Jerusalem, to
Thee kings shall offer presents" (ver. 29).
Jerusalem, which is our free mother,9 because
the same also is Thy holy Temple : from that
Temple then, "to Thee kings shall offer pres-
ents." Whatever kings be understood, whether
kings of the earth, or whether those whom " He
that is above the heavens distinguisheth over
the dove silvered ; " " to Thee kings shall offer
presents." And what presents are so accepta-
ble lo as the sacrifices of praise ? But there is a
noise against this praise, from men bearing the
name of Christian, and having diverse opinions.
Be there done that which followeth, " Rebuke
Thou the beasts of the cane " " (ver. 30). For
both beasts they are, since by not understand-
ing they do hurt : and beasts of the cane they
are, since the sense of the Scriptures they wrest
according to their own misapprehension. For
in the cane the Scriptures are as reasonably per-
ceived, as language in tongue, according to the
mode of expression whereby the Hebrew or
the Greek or the Latin tongue is spoken of, or
the like ; that is to say, by the efficient cause the
thing which is being effected is implied. Now
1 1 Cor. xiii 13. 2 Rom. x. 10.
' 1 John iv. 18. S 1 Cor. viii. 6.
7 Rom. v. 8. 8 Rom. viii. 32.
10 Oxf. mss. " more acceptable than.
11 Or, " pen" (of cane), calami.
3 Rom. viii. 25.
6 1 Cor. i. 24.
9 Gal. iv. 26.
it is usual in the Latin language for writing to
be called style, because with the stilus it is
done : so then cane also, because with a cane it
is done. The Apostle Peter saith, that " men
unlearned and unstable do wrest the Scriptures
to their own proper destruction : " l2 these are the
beasts of the cane, whereof here is said, " Re-
buke Thou the beasts of the cane."
36. Concerning these also is that which fol-
loweth, "The congregation of bulls amid the
cows of the peoples, in order that there may be
excluded they that have been tried with silver." '3
Calling them bulls because of the pride of a
stiff and untamed neck : for he is referring to
heretics. But by " the cows of the peoples," I
think souls easily led astray must be understood,
because easily they follow these bulls. For they
lead not astray entire peoples, among whom are
men grave and stable ; whence hath been writ-
ten, " In a people grave I will praise Thee : " '4
but only the cows which they may have found
among those peoples. " For of these are
they that steal into houses, and lead captive
silly women laden with sins, who are led with
divers lusts, alway learning, and at the knowl-
edge of the truth never arriving." '5 . . . For,
" may be excluded," hath been said, meaning,
may appear, may stand forth : as he saith, " may
be made manifest." Whence also, in the art
of the silversmith, they are called exclusores,
who out of the shapelessness of the lump are
skilled to mould the form of a vessel. For
many meanings of the holy Scriptures are con-
cealed, and are known only to a few of singular
intelligence, and are never vindicated so suita-
bly and acceptably as when our diligence to
make answer to heretics constraineth us. For
then even they that neglect the pursuits of
learning, shaking off their slumber, are stirred
up to a diligent hearing, in order that their op-
ponents may be refuted. In a word, how many
senses of holy Scriptures concerning Christ as
God have been vindicated against Photinus, how
many concerning Christ as man against Mani-
chasus, how many concerning the Trinity against
Sabellius, how many concerning the Unity of
the Trinity against Arians, Eunomians, Mace-
donians? How many concerning the Catholic
Church in the whole world spread abroad,
against Donatists, and" Luciferians, and others,
whoever they be, that with like error dissent
from the truth : how many against the rest of
heretics, whom to enumerate or mention were
too long a task, and for the present work un-
necessary ? ... Of whom, as it were bulls, that
is, not subject to the peaceful and gentle yoke
of discipline, the Apostle maketh mention, in
the place where he hath said that such an one
12 2 Pet. iii. 16.
14 Ps. xxxv. 18.
13 See on Ps. Jv. p. 216, note 7.
x5 2 Tim. iii. 6, 7.
298
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXVIU
must be chosen for the Episcopate as is " able
to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince the
gainsayers. For there are many unruly ; " ' these
are bulls with uplifted neck, impatient of plough
and yoke : vain-talkers and leaders astray of
minds ; which minds this Psalm hath intimated
under the name of cows. . . .
37. "There shall come ambassadors out of
Egypt, Ethiopia shall prevent the hands of Him "
(ver. 31 ). Under the name of Egypt or of Ethi-
opia, he hath signified the faith of all nations,
from a part the whole : calling the preachers of
reconciliation ambassadors. " For Christ," he
saith, " we have an embassy, God as it were ex-
horting through us : we beseech you for Christ
to be reconciled to God." 2 Not then of the
Israelites alone, whence the Apostles were
chosen, but also from the rest of the nations
that there should be preachers of Christian
peace, in this manner hath been mystically proph-
esied. But by that which he saith, " shall
prevent the hands of Him," he saith this, shall
prevent the vengeance of Him : to wit, by turn-
ing to Him, in order that their sins may be
forgiven, lest by continuing sinners they be
punished. Which thing also in another Psalm
is said, " Let us come before 3 the face of Him in
confession." 4 As by hands he signifieth ven-
geance, so by face, revelation and presence,
which will be in the Judgment. Because then,
by Egypt and Ethiopia he hath signified the
nations of the whole world ; immediately he hath
subjoined, " to God (are) the kingdoms of the
earth." Not to Sabellius, not to Arius, not to
Donatus, not to the rest of the bulls stiff-necked,
but " to God (are) the kingdoms of the earth."
But the greater number of Latin copies, and
especially the Greek, have the verses so punctu-
ated, that there is not one verse in these words,
" to God the kingdoms of the earth," but, " to
God," is at the end of the former verse, and so
there is said, " Ethiopia shall come before the
hands of her to God," and then there followeth
in another verse, " Kingdoms of the earth, sing
ye to God, psalm ye to the Lord" (ver. 32).
By which punctuation, doubtless to be preferred
by the agreement of many copies, and those
deserving of credit, there seemeth to me to be
implied faith which precedeth works : because
without the merits of good works through faith
the ungodly is justified, just as the Apostle
said, " To one believing in Him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous-
ness : " 5 in order that afterwards faith itself
through love may begin to work. For those
alone are to be called good works,6 which are
done through love of God. But these faith
must needs go before, so that from thence these
1 Til. i. o, 10.
4 Ps. xcv. 2.
2 3 Cor. v. 20.
5 Rom. iv. 5.
3 Or, " prevent "
6 Sola bona opera.
may begin, not from these this. . . . This is
faith, whereof to the Church Herself is said in
the Song of Songs, " Thou shalt come and shalt
pass hence from the beginning of faith." 7 For
She hath come 8 like the chariot of God in
thousands of men rejoicing, having a prosperous
course, and She hath passed over from this world
to the Father : in order that there may come to
pass in Her that which the Bridegroom Him-
self saith, who hath passed hence from this
world to the Father,9 " I will that where I am,
these also may be with Me : " '° but from the
beginning of faith. Because then in order that
good works may follow, faith doth precede ;
and there are not any good works, save those
which follow faith preceding : nothing else seem-
eth to have been meant in, " Ethiopia shall come
before the hands of her to God," but, Ethiopia
shall believe in God. For thus she " shall come
before the hands of her," that is, the works of
her. Of Whom, except of Ethiopia herself?
For this in the Greek is not ambiguous : for the
word "of her" " there in the feminine gender
most clearly hath been put down. And thus
nothing else hath been said than " Ethiopia shall
come before her hands to God," that is, by
believing in God she shall come before her
works. For, " I judge," saith the Apostle,
" that a man is justified through faith without
the works of the Law. Is He God of the
Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles?" "
So then Ethiopia, which seemeth to be the ut-
most limit of the Gentiles, is justified through
faith, without the works of the Law. . . . For
the expression in Greek, x"Pa <*"">)«, which* most
copies have, both of " hand of her " and " her
own hand " may be understood : but that which
is uncommon in the Greek copies, x«p<« avr!j<s,
by both " hands of her " and " her own '3 hands,"
in Latin may be expressed.
38. Henceforward, as if through prophecy all
things had been discoursed of which now we
see fulfilled, he exhorteth to the praise of Christ,
and next He foretelleth His future Advent.
" Kingdoms of earth, sing ye to God, psalm ye
to the Lord : psalm ye to God, who hath
ascended above the Heaven of Heavens to the
East" (ver. 33). Or, as some copies have it,
"who hath ascended above the Heaven of
Heaven to the East." In these words he pre-
ceiveth not Christ, who believeth not His Resur-
rection and Ascension. But hath not " to the
East," which he hath added, expressed the very
spot; since in the quarters of the East is* where
He rose again, and whence He ascended?
Therefore above the Heaven of Heaven He
? Cant. iv. 8, LXX. E. V. " the top of Amana."
• Oxf. mss. " shall come," " shall pass." » John xui. I,
10 John xvit. 24. lx Lat. ejus, of him or her.
12 Rom. iii. 28, etc. " Suas.
Psalm LXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
299
sitteth at the right hand of the Father. This is
what the Apostle saith, " the Same is He that
hath ascended above all Heavens." ' For what
of Heavens doth remain after the Heaven of
Heaven ? Which also we may call the Heavens
of Heavens, just as He hath called the firmanent
Heaven : 2 which Heaven, however, even as
Heavens we read of, in the place where there is
written, " and let the waters which are above the
Heavens praise the name of the Lord." 3 And
forasmuch as from thence He is to come,4 to
judge quick and dead, observe what followeth :
" behold, He shall give His voice, the voice of
power." s He that like a lamb before the shearer
of Him was without voice,6 " behold shall
give His voice," and not the voice of weakness,
as though to be judged ; but " the voice of
power," as though going to judge. For God
shall not be hidden, as before, and in the judg-
ment of men not opening His mouth ; but " God
shall come manifest, our God, and He shall not
be silent." 7 Why do ye despair, ye unbelieving
men? Why do ye mock? What saith the evil
servant? "My Lord delayeth to come."8
" Behold, He shall give His voice, the voice
of power."
39. " Give ye glory to God, above Israel is
the magnificence of Him " (ver. 34). Of whom
saith the Apostle, " Upon the Israel of God." »
For " not all that are out of Israel, are Israel-
ites : " '° for there is also an Israel after the flesh.
Whence he saith, " See ye Israel after the flesh." "
" For not they that are sons of the flesh, are sons
of God, but sons of promise are counted for a
seed." '2 Therefore at that time when without
any intermixture of evil men His people shall be,
like a heap purged by the fan,'3 like Israel in whom
guile is not,'4 then most pre-eminent "^'oove
Israel " shall be " the magnificence " of " Him :
and the virtue of Him in the clouds." For not
alone He shall come to judgment, but with the
elders of His people : 's to whom He hath prom-
ised that they shall sit upon thrones to judge,'6
who even shall judge angels.'7 These be the
clouds.
40. Lastly, lest of anything else the clouds
be understood, he hath in continuation added,
" Wonderful is God in His saints, the God of
Israel" (ver. 35). For at that time even most
truly and most fully there shall be fulfilled the
name Israel itself, which is one " seeing God : " for
we shall see Him as He is.'8 " He Himself shall
give virtue "> and strength to His people, blessed
be God : " to His people now frail and weak.
For " we have this treasure in earthen vessels." 2°
1 Eph. iv. 10.
* Acts i. ii.
1 Ps. I. 3.
'° Rom. ix. 6.
*3 Matt. iii. 12.
16 Matt. xix. 28.
xv Or, " power."
2 Gen. i. 8.
5 Virtutif.
8 Luke xii. 45.
I« 1 Cor. x. 18.
1* John i. 47.
Cor. vi. 3.
Cor. iv. 7.
17
3 Ps. cxlviii. 4.
6 Isa. liii. 7.
9 Gal. vi. 16.
12 Rom. ix. 8.
'5 Isa. iii. 14.
xa 1 John iii. 2.
But then by a most glorious changing even of
our bodies, " He Himself shall give virtue and
strength to His people." For this body is sown
in weakness, shall rise in virtue.2' He Himself
then shall give the virtue which in His own flesh
He hath sent before, whereof the Apostle saith,
" the power of His Resurrection." 22 But strength
whereby shall be destroyed the enemy death.23
Now then of this long and difficultly understood
Psalm we have at length by His own aid made
an end. " Blessed be God. Amen."
PSALM LXIX.24
1. We have been born into this world, and
added to the people of God, at that period where-
in already the herb from a grain of mustard seed
hath spread out its branches ; wherein already
the leaven, which at first was contemptible, hath
leavened three measures,2* that is, the whole
round world repeopled by the three sons of
Noe : 26 for from East and West and North and
South shall come they that shall sit down with
the Patriarchs,2' while those shall have been
driven without, that have been born of their
flesh and have not imitated their faith. Unto
his glory then of Christ's Church our eyes we
have opened ; and that barren one, for whom
joy was proclaimed and foretold, because she
was to have more sons than she that had the
husband,28 her we have found to be such an one
as hath forgotten the reproaches and infamy of
her widowhood : and so we may perhaps wonder
when we chance to read in any prophecy the
words of Christ's humiliation, or our own. And
it may be, that we are less affected by them ;
because we have not come at that time when
these things were read with zest, in that tribula-
tion abounded. But again if we think of the
abundance of tribulations, and observe the way
wherein we are walking (if indeed we do walk
in it), how narrow it is, and how through straits
and tribulations it leadeth unto rest everlasting,2-1
and how that very thing which in human affairs
is called felicity, is more to be feared than
misery ; since indeed misery ofttimes doth bring
out of tribulation a good fruit, but felicity doth
corrupt the soul with a perverse security, and
giveth place for the Devil the Tempter — when,
I say, we shall have judged prudently and rightly,
as the salted victim 3° did, that " human life upon
earth is trial," 3' and that no one is at all secure,
nor ought to be secure, until he be come to that
country, whence no one that is a friend goeth
forth, into which no one that is an enemy is
1 Cor. xv. 43.
irm.
23 1 Cor. xv. 26.
Luke xiii. 19, 21.
22 Philip, iii. 10.
« Lat. LXVIII. « Matt. xiii. 31, 33
26 Gen. ix. 19. 27 Matt. viii. ex.
28 Isa. tiv. 1 ; Gal. iv. 27. 29 Matt. vii. 14.
3° Salita victima : most copies have psallit hac viciima. -
Ben. [Mark ix. 4.— C.J
i' Job vii. 1, LXX.
300
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[PSALM LXIX.
admitted, even now in the very glory of the
Church we acknowledge the voices of our tribu-
lation : and being members of Christ, subject to
our Head in the bond of love, and mutually sup-
porting one another, we will say from the Psalms,
that which here we have found the Martyrs said,
who were before us ; that tribulation is common
to all men from the beginning even unto the
end. . . .
2. The Title of the Psalm is : " Unto the end,
in behalf of those that shall be changed, to David
himself." Now of the change for the better hear
thou ; for change either is for the worse or for
the better. . . . That we have been changed
then for the worse, to ourselves let us ascribe : that
for the better we are changed, let us praise God.
" For those," then, " that shall be changed," this
Psalm is. But whence hath this change been
made but by the Passion of Christ? The very
word Pascha in Latin is interpreted passage.
For Pascha ' is not a Greek word but a Hebrew.
It soundeth indeed in the Greek language like
Passion, because Trd<T\uv signifieth to suffer : but
if the Hebrew expression be examined, it point-
eth to something else. Pascha doth intimate
passage. Of which even John the Evangelist hath
admonished us, who (just before the Passion
when the Lord was coming to the supper wherein
He set forth the Sacrament of His Body and
Blood) thus speaketh : " But when there had
come the hour, wherein Jesus was to pass from
this world to the Father." 2 He hath expressed
then the " passage " of the Pascha. But unless
He passed Himself hence to the Father, who
came for our sake, how should we have been able
to pass hence, who have not come down for
the sake of taking up anything, but have fallen?
But He Himself fell not ; He but came down, in
order that He might raise up him that had fallen.
The passage therefore both of Him and of us is
hence to the Father, from this world to the king-
dom of Heaven, from life mortal to life ever-
lasting, from life earthly to life heavenly, from life
corruptible to life incorruptible, from intimacy
with tribulations to perpetual security. Accord-
ingly, " In behalf of them that shall be changed,"
the Psalm's title is. The cause therefore of our
change, that is, the very Passion of the Lord and
our own voice in tribulations in the text of the
Psalm let us observe, let us join in knowing, join in
groaning, and in hearing, in joint-knowing, joint-
groaning, let us be changed, in order that there
may be fulfilled in us the Title of the Psalm, " In
behalf of them that shall be changed."
3. " Save me, O God, for the waters have
entered in even unto my soul" (ver. 1). That
grain is despised now, that seemeth to give
forth humble words. In the garden it is buried,
1 Noh e-t grtgcum itoinen.
2 John xiii. 1.
though the world will admire the greatness of
the herb, of which herb the seed was despised
by the Jews. For in very deed observe ye the
seed of the mustard, minute, dull coloured,
altogether despicable, in order that therein may
be fulfilled that which hath been said, We have
seen Him, and He had neither form nor come-
liness.3 But He saith, that waters have come in
even unto His soul ; because those multitudes,
which under the name of waters He hath pointed
out, were able so far to prevail as to kill Christ.
. . . Whence then doth He so cry out, as
though He were suffering something against His
will, except because the Head doth prefigure
the Members? For He suffered because He
willed : but the Martyrs even though they willed
not ; for to Peter thus He foretold his passion :
" When thou shalt be old," He saith, " another
shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wilt
not."4 For though we desire to cleave to
Christ, yet we are unwilling to die : and there-
fore willingly or rather patiently we suffer, be-
cause no other passage is given us, through
which we may cleave to Christ. For if we could
in any other way arrive at Christ, that is, at life
everlasting, who would be willing to die? For
while explaining our nature, that is, a sort of
association of soul and body, and in these two
parts a kind of intimacy of gluing and fasten-
ing together, the Apostle saith, that " we have a
House not made with hands, everlasting in the
Heavens : " 5 that is, immortality prepared for
us, wherewith we are to be clothed at the end,
when we shall have risen from the dead ; and he
saith, " Wherein we are not willing to be stripped,
but to be cldthed upon, that the mortal may be
swallowed up of life." 6 If it might so be, we
should so will, he saith, to become immortal, as
that now that same immortality might come,
and now as we are it should change us, in order
that this our mortal body by life should be swal-
lowed up, and the body should not be laid
aside through death, so as at the end again to
have to be recovered. Although then from evil
to good things we pass, nevertheless the very
passage is somewhat bitter, and hath the gall
which the Jews gave to the Lord in the Passion,
hath something sharp to be endured, whereby
they are shown that gave Him vinegar to drink.7
. . . For here both sweet are temporal pleas-
ures, and bitter are temporal tribulations : but
who would not drink the cup of tribulation tem-
poral, fearing the fire of hell ; and who would
not contemn the sweetness of the world, longing
for the sweetness of life eternal ? From hence
that we may be delivered let us cry : lest per-
chance amidst oppressions we consent to iniq-
uity, and truly irreparably we be swallowed up.
3 Isa liii. 3.
6 2 Cor. v. 4.
* John xxi. 18.
7 Matt, xxvii. 34.
* 3 Cor. v. 1.
Psalm LXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
301
4. " Fixed I am in the clay of the deep, and
there is no substance" (ver. 2). What called
He clay? Is it those very persons that have
persecuted? For out of clay man hath been
made.1 But these men by falling from righteous-
ness have become the clay of the deep, and
whosoever shall not have consented to them
persecuting and desiring to draw him to iniquity,
out of his clay doth make gold. For the clay
of the same shall merit to be converted into a
heavenly form,2 and to be made associate of
those of whom saith the Title of the Psalm, " in
behalf of them that shall be changed." But at
the time when these were the clay of the deep.
I stuck in them : that is, they held Me, prevailed
against Me, killed Me. " Fixed " then " I am in
the clay of the deep, and there is no substance."
What is this, "there is no substance"? Can it
be that clay itself is not a substance ? What is
then, "fixed I am"? Can it be that Christ
hath thus stuck? Or hath He stuck, and was
not, as hath been said in the book of Job, " the
earth delivered into the hands of the ungodly
man " ? 3 Was He fixed in body, because it
could be held, and suffered even crucifixion ?
For unless with nails He had been fixed, cruci-
fied He had not been. Whence then " there is
no substance"? Is that clay not a substance?
But we shall understand, if it be possible, what
is, " and there is no substance," if first we shall
have understood what is a substance. For there
is substance spoken of even of riches, as we
say, he hath substance, and he hath lost sub-
stance. . . .
5. God is a sort of substance : for that which
is no substance, is nothing at all. To be a sub-
stance then is to be something. Whence also in
the Catholic Faith against the poisons of certain
heretics thus we are builded up, so that we say,
Father and Son and Holy Spirit are of one sub-
stance. What is, of one substance ? For exam-
ple, if gold is the Father, gold is also the Son,
gold also the Holy Spirit. Whatever the Father
is because He is God, the same is the Son,
the same the Holy Spirit. But when He is the
Father, this is not what He is. For Father He
is called not in reference to Himself, but in refer-
ence to the Son : but in reference to Himself
God He is called. Therefore in that He is God,
by the same He is a substance. And because
of the same substance the Son is, without doubt
the Son also is God. But yet in that He is
Father, because it is not the name of the sub-
stance, but is referred to the Son ; we do not
say that the Son is Father in the same manner as
we say the Son is God. Thou askest what the
Father is ; we answer, God. Thou askest what
is the Father and the Son : we answer, God.
1 Gen. u. 7.
2 Habitudinem.
3 Job ix. 24.
If questioned of the Father alone, answer thou
God : if questioned of both, not Gods, but God,
answer thou. We do not reply as in the case of
men, when thou inquirest what is father Abra-
ham, we answer a man ; the substance of him
serveth for answer : thou inquirest what is his
son Isaac, we answer, a man ; of the same sub-
stance are Abraham and Isaac : fhou inquirest
what is Abraham and Isaac, we answer not man,
but men. Not so in things divine. For so
great in this case is the fellowship of substance,
that of equality it alloweth, plurality alloweth
not. If then it shall have been said to thee,
when thou tellest me that the Son is the same as
the Father, in fact the Son also is the Father ;
answer thou, according to the substance I have
told thee that the Son is the same as the Father,
not according to that term which is used in refer-
ence to something else. For in reference to
Himself He is called God, in reference to the
Father is called Son. And again, the Father in
reference to Himself is called God, in reference
to the Son He is called Father. The Father as
He is called in reference to the Son, is not the
Son : the Son as He is called in reference to
the Father, is not the Father : what the Father is
called in reference to Himself and the Son in
reference to Himself, the same is Father and
Son, that is, God. What is then, " there is no
substance " ? After this interpretation of sub-
stance, how shall we be able to understand this
passage of the Psalm, " Fixed I am in the clay
of the deep, and there is no substance " ? God
made man,4 He made substance ; and O that he
had continued in that which God made Him ! If
man had continued in that which God made
him, in him would not have been fixed He whom
God begot. But moreover because through
iniquity man fell from the substance wherein he
was made5 (for iniquity itself is no substance;
for iniquity is not a nature which God formed,
but a perverseness which man made) ; the Son
of God came to the clay of the deep, and was
fixed ; and that was no substance wherein He
was fixed, because in the iniquity of them He was
fixed. " All things by Him were made, and
without Him there was made nothing."6 All
natures by Him were made, iniquity by Him was
not made, because iniquity was not made.7
Those substances by Him were made, which
praise Him. The whole creation praising God
is commemorated by the three children in the
furnace,8 and from things earthly to things heav-
enly, or from things heavenly to things earthly
reacheth the hymn of them praising God. Not
that all these things have sense to praise ; but
4 Gen. i. 27. 3 Gen. iii. 6. 6 John i. 3.
7 Oxf. mss. " was no substance."
8 Dan. iii. [In the Benedicite, after Baruch, in the Apocrypha
-C]
302
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIX.
because all things being well meditated upon, do
beget praise, and the heart by considering crea-
tion is fulfilled to overflowing with a hymn to the
Creator. All things do praise God, but only
the things which God hath made. Do ye observe
in that hymn that covetousness praiseth God?
There even the serpent praiseth God, covetous-
ness praiseth not. For all creeping things are
there named in the praise of God : there are
named all creeping things ; but there are not
there named any vices. For vices out of our-
selves and out of our own will we have : and vices
are not a substance. In these was fixed the
Lord, when He suffered persecution : in the vice
of the Jews, not in the substance of men which
by Him was made.
6. " I have come into the depth of the sea,
and the tempest hath made Me to sink down."
Thanks to the mercy of Him who came into
the depth of the sea, and vouchsafed to be
swallowed by the sea whale, but was vom-
ited forth the third day.' He came into the
depth of the sea, in which depth we were thrust
down, in which depth we had suffered shipwreck :
He came thither Himself, and the tempest made
Him to sink down : for there He suffered waves,
those very men ; tempests, the voices of men
saying, " Crucify, Crucify."2 Though Pilate said,
I find not any cause in this Man why He should
be killed : there prevailed the voices of them,
saying, " Crucify, Crucify." The tempest in-
creased, until He was made to sink down that
had come into the depth of the sea. And the
Lord suffered in the hands of the Jews that
which He suffered not when upon the waters He
was walking : 3 the which not only He had not
suffered Himself, but had not allowed even Peter
to suffer it.
7. " I have laboured, crying, hoarse have be-
come my jaws " ( ver. 3 ) . Where was this ? When
was this? Let us question the Gospel. For the
Passion of our Lord in this Psalm we perceive.
And, indeed, that He suffered we know ; that
there came in waters even unto His Soul, be-
cause peoples prevailed even unto His death, we
read, we believe ; in the tempest that He was
sunk down, because tumult prevailed to His
killing, we acknowledge : but that He laboured
in crying, and that His jaws were made hoarse,
not only we read not, but even on the contrary
we read, that He answered not to them a word,
in order that there might be fulfilled that which
in another Psalm hath been said, " I have be-
come as it were a man not hearing, and having
not in his mouth reproofs." * And that which in
Isaiah hath been prophesied, " like a sheep to be
sacrificed He was led, and like a lamb before
one shearing Him, so He opened not His
1 Matt, xii. 40.
4 I':, xxxviii. 14.
3 John xix. 6.
3 Matt. xiv. 35.
mouth." s If He became like a man not hearing,
and having not in His mouth reproofs, how did
He labour crying, and how were His jaws made
hoarse? Is it that He was even then silent,
because He was hoarse with having cried so
much in vain ? And this indeed we know to have
been His voice on the Cross out of a certain
Psalm :* " O God, My God, why hast Thou for-
saken Me? "6 But how great was that voice, or
of how long duration, that in it His jaws should
have become hoarse? Long while He cried,
" Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees : " ? long
while He cried, " Woe unto the world because
of offences." 8 And truly hoarse in a manner He
cried, and therefore was not understood, when
the Jews said, What is this that He saith?
" Hard is this saying, who is able to hear it?"9
We know not what He saith. He said all these
words : but hoarse were His jaws to them
that understood not His words. " Mine eyes
have failed from hoping in My God." Far be it
that this should be taken of the person of the
Head : far be it that His eyes should have failed
from IO hoping in His God : in whom rather there
was God reconciling the world to Himself," and
Who was the Word made flesh and dwelled in
us, so that not only God was in Him, but also
He was Himself God. Not so then : the eyes
of Himself, our Head, failed not from hoping
in His God : but the eyes of Him have failed in
His Body, that is, in His members. This voice
is of the members, this voice is of the Body, not
of the Head. How then do we find it in His
Body and members ? . . .
8. Thus " there have been multiplied above
the hairs of My head they that hate Me gratis "
(ver. 4). How multiplied? So as that they
might add to themselves even one out of the
twelve.12 " There have been multiplied above
the hairs of My head they that hate Me for
nought." With the hairs of His head He hath
compared His enemies. With reason they were
shorn when in the place of Calvary He was cru-
cified.'3 Let the members accept this voice, let
them learn to be hated gratis. For now, O
Christian, if it must needs be that the world
hate thee, why dost thou not make it hate thee
gratis, in order that in the Body of thy Lord
and in this Psalm sent before concerning Him,
thou mayest acknowledge thy own voice ? How
shall it come to pass that the world hate thee
gratis? If thou no wise hurtest any one, and art
still hated : for this is gratis, without cause. . . .
9. " O God, Thou hast known mine im-
providence " (ver. 5). Again out of the mouth
of the Body. For what improvidence is there
9 Tsa. liii. 7.
i Matt, xxiii. 13, 15, etc.
9 John vi. 60, vu. 36, xvi. 17, 18.
" 2 Cor. v. 19. " Matt. xxvi. 14.
6 Ps. xxii. 1.
8 Matt, xviii. 7.
<° Ah.
13 Malt, xxvii. 33.
Psalm LXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
303
in Christ? Is He not Himself the Virtue of
God, and the Wisdom of God? Doth He call
this His .improvidence, whereof the Apostle
speaketh, " the foolishness of God is wiser than
men " ? ' Mine improvidence, that very thing
which in Me they derided that seem to them-
selves to be wise, Thou hast known why it was
done. For what was so much like improvidence,
as, when He had it in His power with one word
to lay low the persecutors, to suffer Himself to
be held, scourged, spit upon, buffeted, with
thorns to be crowned, to the tree to be nailed?
It is like improvidence, it seemeth a foolish
thing ; but this foolish thing excelleth all wise
men. Foolish indeed it is : but even when
grain falleth into the earth, if no one knoweth
the custom of husbandmen, it seemeth foolish.
. . . Improvidence it appeareth ; but hope
maketh it not to be improvidence. He then
spared not Himself: because even the Father
spared Him not, but delivered Him up for us
all.2 And of the Same, " Who loved me," saith
the Apostle, " and delivered up Himself for
me : " 3 for except a grain shall have fallen into
the land so that it die, fruit, He saith, it will
not yield.4 This is the improvidence. " And my
transgressions from Thee are not concealed."
It is plain, clear, open, that this must be per-
ceived to be out of the mouth of the Body.
Transgressions none had Christ : He was the
bearer of transgressions, but not the committer.
" Are not concealed : " that is, I have con-
fessed to Thee_ all my transgressions, and be-
fore my mouth Thou hast seen them in my
thought, hast seen the wounds which Thou wast
to heal. But where? Even in the Body, in the
members : in those believers out of whom there
was now cleaving to Him that member, who was
confessing his sins.
10. " Let them not blush in 5 Me, that wait
for Thee, O Lord, Lord of virtues" (ver. 6).
Again, the voice of the Head, " Let them not
blush in Me : " let it not be said to them, Where
is He on whom ye were relying? Let it not be
said to them, Where is He that was saying to
you, " Believe ye 6 in God, and in Me believe " ? 7
" Let them not blush in Me, that wait for Thee,"
O Lord, Lord of virtues. Let them not be
confounded concerning Me, that seek Thee, O
God of Israel." This also may be understood
of the Body, but only if thou consider the Body
of Him not one man : for in truth one man is
not the Body of Him, but a small member, but
the Body is made up of members. Therefore
the full Body of Him is the whole Church.
With reason then saith the Church, " Let them
not blush in Me, that wait for Thee, O Lord,
Lord of virtues." . . .
1 1 Cor. i. 25. 2 Rom. viii. 32. 3 Gal. ii. 30.
* John xii. 24. 5 Or, " for Me."
6 Lxl. mss. " ye believe." 7 John xiv. 1.
11. "For because of Thee I have sustained
upbraiding, shamelessness hath covered my
face " (ver. 7). No great thing is that which is
spoken of in " I have sustained : " but that
which is spoken of in " for Thy sake I have sus-
tained," is. For if thou sustainest because thou
hast sinned ; for thine own sake thou sustainest,
not for the sake of God. For to you what
glory is there, saith Peter, if sinning ye are pun-
ished, and ye bear it? But if thou sustainest
because thou hast kept the commandment of
God, truly for the sake of God thou sustainest ;
and thy reward remaineth for everlasting, be-
cause for the sake of God thou hast sustained
revilings.8 For to this end He first sustained,
in order that we might learn to sustain. . . .
"Shamelessness hath covered my face." Shame-
lessness is what? Not to be confused. Lastly,
it seemeth to be as it were a fault, when we say,
the man is shameless. Great is the shameless-
ness of the man, that he doth not blush.
Therefore shamelessness is a kind of folly. A
Christian ought to have this shamelessness, when
he cometh among men to whom Christ is an
offence. If he shall have blushed because of
Christ, he will be blotted out from the book
of the living. Thou must needs therefore have
shamelessness when Thou art reviled because of
Christ ; when they say, Worshipper of the Cru-
cified, adorer of Him that died ill, venerator of
Him that was slain ! here if thou shalt blush
thou art a dead man. For see the sentence of
Him that deceiveth no one. " He that shall
have been ashamed of Me before men, I will
also be ashamed of him before the Angels of
God." ^ Watch therefore thyself whether there
be in thee shamelessness ; be thou boldfaced,10
when thou hearest a reproach concerning
Christ ; yea be boldfaced. Why fearest thou
for thy forehead which thou hast armed with
the sign of the Cross? . . .
12. "An alien I have become to My breth-
ren, and a stranger to the sons of My mother "
(ver. 8). To the sons of the Synagogue He
became a stranger. . . . Why so? Why did
they not acknowledge? Why did they call Him
an alien ? Why did they dare to say, we know
riot whence He is ? " Because the zeal of Thine
House hath eaten Me up : " that is, because I
have persecuted in them their own iniquities,
because I have not patiently borne those whom
I have rebuked, because I have sought Thy
glory in Thy House, because I have scourged
them that in the Temple dealt unseemly: " in
which place also there is quoted, " the zeal of
Thine House hath eaten Me up." Hence an
alien, hence a stranger ; hence, we know not
whence He is. They would have acknowledged
8 1 Pet. ii. 20.
10 Frontosus.
9 Matt. x. 33 ; Luke ix. 26.
11 John ii. 15.
3©4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIX.
whence I am, if they had acknowledged that
which Thou hast commanded. For if I had
found them keeping Thy commandments, the
zeal of Thine House would not have eaten Me
up. " And the reproaches of men reproaching
Thee haven fallen upon Me." Of this testi-
mony Paul the Apostle hath also made use
(there hath been read but now the very lesson),
and saith, "Whatsoever things aforetime have
been written, have been written that we might
be instructed.'" . . . Why "Thee"? Is the
Father reproached, and not Christ Himself?
Why have " the reproaches of men reproaching
Thee fallen upon Me " ? Because, " he that
hath known Me, hath known the Father also : " 2
because no one hath reviled Christ without re-
viling God : because no one honoureth the
Father, except he that honoureth the Son also.3
13. "And I have covered in fasting My Soul,
and it became to Me for a reviling " (ver. 10).
His fasting was, when there fell away all they
that had believed in Him ; because also it was
His hunger, that men should believe in Him :
because also it was His thirst, when He said to
the woman, I thirst, " give Me to drink : " 4 yea
for her faith He was thirsting. And from the
Cross when He was saying, " I thirst," 5 He was
seeking the faith of them for whom He had
said, " Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." 6 But what did those men give
to drink to Him thirsty? Vinegar. Vinegar is
also called old? With reason of the old man
they gave to drink, because they willed not to
be new. Why willed they not to become new ?
Because to the title of this Psalm whereon is
written, " For them that shall be changed," they
belonged not. Therefore, " I have covered in
fasting My Soul." Lastly, He put from Him
even the gall which they offered : He chose
rather to fast than to accept bitterness. For
they enter not into His Body that are embit-
tered,8 whereof in another place a Psalm saith,
" They that are embittered shall not be exalted
in themselves." » Therefore, " I have covered
in fasting My Soul : and it became to Me for
a reviling." This very thing became to Me for a
reviling, that I consented not to them, that is,
from them I fasted. For he that consenteth
not to men seducing to evil, fasteth from them ;
and through this fasting earneth reviling, so that
he is upbraided because he consenteth not to
the evil thing.
14. " And I have set sackcloth my garment "
(ver. n). Already before IO we have said some-
thing of the sackcloth, from whence there is this,
" But I, when they were troubling Me, was
1 Rom. _xv. 4. 9 John xiv. 9. 3 John v. 23.
* John iv. 7. ' John xix. 28. 6 Luke xxiii. 34.
? Vetut. • A tnaricantes. 9 Ps. lxvi, 7.
10 Ps. xxxv., p. 82, note 11, supra.
covering myself with sackcloth, and was humbling
My Soul in fasting. I have set sackcloth for
My garment : " that is, have set against them My
flesh, on which to spend their rage, I have
concealed My divinity. " Sackcloth," because
mortal the flesh was : in order that by sin He
might condemn sin in the flesh." "And I have
set sackcloth my garment : and I have been
made to them for a parable," that is, for a
derision. It is called a parable, whenever a com-
parison is made concerning some one, when
he is evil spoken of. " So may this man perish,"
for example, " as that man did," is a parable :
that is, a comparison and likeness in cursing.
" I have been made to them," then, " for a parable."
15. "Against Me were reviling they that were
sitting in the gate" (ver. 12). "In the gate"
is nothing else but in public. " And against Me
they were chanting,12 they that were drinking
wine." Do ye think, brethren, that this hath
befallen Christ alone? Daily to Him in His
members it happeneth : whenever perchance it
is necessary for the servant of God to forbid
excess of wine and luxuries in any village or
town, where there hath not been heard the Word
of God, it is not enough that they sing, nay
more even against him they begin to sing, by
whom they are forbidden to sing. Compare ye
now His fasting and their wine.
16. "But I with My prayer with Thee,1' O
Lord " (ver. 13). But I was with Thee. But
how ? With Thee by praying. For when thou
art evil spoken of, and knowest not what thou
mayest do ; when at thee are hurled reproaches,
and thou findest not any way of rebuking him
by whom they are hurled ; nothing remaineth for
thee but to pray. But remember even for that
very man to pray. " But I with my prayer with
Thee, O Lord. It is the time of Thy good
pleasure, O God." For behold the grain is
being buried, there shall spring up fruit. " It
is the time of Thy good pleasure, O God." Of
this time even the Prophets have spoken, where-
of the Apostle maketh mention : " Behold now
the time acceptable, behold now the day of
salvation." '4 " It is the time of Thy good pleas-
ure, O God. In the multitude of Thy mercy."
This is the time of good pleasure, "in the
multitude of Thy mercy." For if there were not
a multitude of Thy mercy, what should we do
for the multitude of our iniquity ? " In the
multitude of Thy mercy; Hearken to me in
the truth of Thy Salvation." Because He hath
said, " of Thy mercy," he hath added truth also :
for " mercy and truth " are all the ways of the
Lord.1' Why mercy? In forgiving sins. Why
truth? In fulfilling the promises.
17. "Save Thou Me from the mire, that I
11 Rom. viii. 3.
** a Cor. vi, 3.
■* Psallebant.
W Ps. xxv. 10.
» Ad Tt.
Psalm LXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
305
may not stick" (ver. 14). From that whereof
above he had spoken, " Fixed I am in the clay of
the deep, and there is no substance." ' Further-
more, since ye have duly received the exposition
of that expression, in this place there is nothing
further for you to hear particularly. From
hence he saith that he must be delivered, where-
in before he said that he was fixed : " Save Thou
Me from the mire, that I may not stick." And
he explaineth this himself: " Let Me be rescued
from them that hate Me." They were them-
selves therefore the clay wherein he had stuck.
But the following perchance suggesteth itself. A
little before he had said, Fixed I am ; now he
saith, Save Thou Me from the mire, that I may
not stick : " whereas after the meaning of what
was said before he ought to have said, Save
Thou Me from the mire where I had stuck, by
rescuing Me, not by causing that I stick not.
Therefore He had stuck in flesh, but had not
stuck in spirit. He saith this, because of the in-
firmity of His members. Whenever perchance
thou art seized by one that urgeth thee to
iniquity, thy body indeed is taken, in regard to
the body thou art fixed in the clay of the deep :
but so long as thou consentest not, thou hast not
stuck ; but if thou consentest, thou hast stuck.
Let then thy prayer be in that place, in order that
as thy body is now held, so thy soul may not be
held, so thou mayest be free in bonds.
18. "Let not the tempest of waters drown
Me" (ver. 15). But already he had been
drowned. " I have come into the depth of the
sea," thou hast said, and "the tempest hath
drowned Me," ' thou hast said. It hath drowned
after the flesh, let it not drown after the Spirit.
They to whom was said, If they shall have per-
secuted you in one city, flee ye into another ; 2
had this said to them, that neither in flesh they
should stick, nor in spirit. For we must not
desire to stick even in flesh ; but as far as we are
able we ought to avoid it. But if we shall have
stuck, and shall have fallen into the hands of
sinners : then in body we have stuck, we are
fixed in the clay of the deep, it remaineth to
entreat for the soul that we stick not, that is, that
we consent not, that the tempest of water drown
us not, so that we go into the deep of the clay.
" Neither let the deep swallow Me, nor the pit
close her mouth upon Me." What is this,
brethren? What hath he prayed against? Great
is the pit of the depth of human iniquity : every
one, if he shall have fallen into it, will fall into
the deep. But yet if a man being there placed
confesseth his sins to his God, the pit will not
shut her mouth upon him : as is written in another
Psalm, " From the depths I have cried to Thee,
O Lord ; Lord, hearken unto my voice." ' But
1 Ps lxix. 2.
3 PS. CXXX. I.
2 Matt. x. 33.
if there is done in him that which another passage
of Scripture saith, " When a sinner shall have
come into the depth of evil things, he will
despise," 4 upon him the pit hath shut her mouth.
Why hath she shut her mouth? Because she
hath shut his mouth. He hath lost confession,
really dead he is, and there is fulfilled in him
that which elsewhere is spoken of, " From a dead
man, as from one that is not, there perisheth
confession." 5 . . .
19. " Hearken unto me, O Lord, for sweet is
Thy mercy" (ver. 16). He hath given this as
a reason why He ought to be hearkened unto,
because sweet is the mercy of God. . . . To a
man set in trouble the mercy of God must needs
be sweet. Concerning this sweetness of the
mercy of God see ye what in another place the
Scripture saith : " Like rain in drought, so beau-
tiful is the mercyof God in trouble."6 That which
there he saith to be " beautiful," the same he
saith here to be " sweet." Not even bread would
be sweet, unless hunger had preceded. There-
fore even when the Lord permitteth or causeth
us to be in any trouble, even then He is merciful :
for He doth not withdraw nourishment, but stir-
reth up longing. Accordingly what saith he now,
" Hearken to me, O Lord, for sweet is Thy
mercy " ? Now do not Thou defer hearkening,
in so great trouble I am, that sweet to me is
Thy mercy. For to this end Thou didst defer to
succour, in order that to me that wherewith
Thou didst succour might be sweet : but now no
longer is there cause why Thou must defer ; my
trouble hath arrived at the appointed measure
of distress, let Thy mercy come to do the work
of goodness. " After the multitude of Thy pities
have regard unto me : " not after the multitude
of my sins.
20. " Turn not away Thy face from Thy child"'
(ver. 17). And this is a commending of hu-
mility ; " from Thy child," that is, " from Thy
little one : " because now I have been rid of
pride through the discipline of tribulation, " turn
not away Thy face from Thy child." This is
that beautiful mercy of God, whereof he spake
above. For in the following verse he explaineth
that whereof he spake : " For I am troubled,
speedily hearken Thou unto me." What is
" speedily "? Now there is no cause why Thou
must defer it : I am troubled, my affliction hath
gone before ; let Thy mercy follow.
21. "Give heed to my soul, and redeem her,"
doth need no exposition : let us see therefore
what followeth. " Because of mine enemies de-
liver me " (ver 18). This petition is evidently
wonderful, neither briefly to be touched upon,
nor hastily to be skipped over ; truly wonderful :
" Because of mine enemies deliver me." What
* Prov. xviii. 3.
6 Ecclus. xxxv. 20.
5 Ecclus. xvii. 28.
7 Puero ; E. V. " servant."
3°6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIX.
is, " Because of mine enemies deliver me " ? . ,
I see no reason for this petition, " Because of
mine enemies deliver me : " unless we under-
stand it of something else, which when I shall
have spoken by the help of the Lord, He shall
judge in you, that dwelleth in you.1 There is a
kind of secret deliverance of holy men : this for
their own sakes is made. There is one public
and evident : this is made because of their ene-
mies, either for their punishment, or for their
deliverance. For truly God delivered not the
brothers in the book of Maccabees from the fires
of the persecutor.2 . . . But again the Three
Children openly were delivered from the furnace
of fire ; 3 because their body also was rescued,
their safety was public. The former were in
secret crowned, the latter openly delivered : all
however saved. . . . There is then a secret de-
liverance, there is an open deliverance. Secret
deliverance doth belong to the soul, open de-
liverance to the body as well. For in secret the
soul is delivered, openly the body. Again, if so
it be, in this Psalm the voice of the Lord let us
acknowledge : to the secret deliverance doth
belong that whereof he spake above, " Give heed
to my soul, and redeem her." There remaineth
the body's deliverance : for on His arising and
ascending into the Heavens, and sending the
Holy Ghost from above, there were converted
to His faith they that at His death did rage, and
out of enemies they were made friends through
His grace, not through their righteousness.4
Therefore he hath continued, " Because of mine
enemies deliver me. Give heed to my soul,"
but this in secret : but " because of mine ene-
mies deliver " even my body. For mine enemies
it will profit nothing if soul alone Thou shalt
have delivered ; that they have done something,
that they have accomplished something, they
will believe. "What profit is there in my blood,
while I go down into corruption? " 5 Therefore
" give heed to my soul, and redeem her," which
Thou alone knowest : secondly also, " because
of mine enemies deliver me," that my flesh may
not see corruption.
22. "Thou knowest my reproach, and my con-
fusion, and my shame " (ver. 19). What is re-
proach ? What is confusion ? What shame ?
Reproach is that which the enemy casteth in
the teeth. Confusion is that which gnaweth the
conscience. Shame is that which causeth even
a noble brow to blush, because of the upbraiding
with a pretended crime. There is no crime ;
or even if there is a crime, it doth not belong to
him, against whom it is alleged : but yet the
infirmity of the human mind ofttimes is made
ashamed even when a pretended crime is alleged ;
not because it is alleged, but because it is be-
1 Oxf. mss. " in you also." 2 2 Mace. vii.
3 Dan. iii. 26. * Actl i. 9, ii. 41. * IV xxx. y.
lieved. All these things are in the Body of the
Lord. For confusion in Him could not be, in
whom guilt was not found. There was alleged
as a crime against Christians, the very fact that
they were Christians. That indeed was glory :
the brave gladly received it, and so received it
as that they blushed not at all for the Lord's
name. For fearlessness had covered the face
of them, having the effrontery of Paul, saying,
" for I blush not because of the Gospel : for the
virtue of God it is for salvation to every one be-
lieving." 6 O Paul, art not thou a venerator of
the Crucified? Little it is, he saith, for me not
to blush for it : nay, therein alone I glory, where-
fore the enemy thinketh me to blush. " But
from me far be it to glory, save in the Cross of
Jesus Christ, through whom to me the world is
crucified, and I to the world." ' At such a brow
as this then reproach alone could be hurled.
For neither could there be confusion in a con-
science already made whole, nor shame in a brow
so free. But when it was being alleged against
certain that they had slain Christ, deservedly
they were pricked through with evil conscience,
and to their health confounded and converted,
so that they could say, " Thou hast known my
confusion." Thou therefore, O Lord, hast known
not only my reproach but also my confusion, in
certain shame also : who, though in me they be-
lieve, publicly blush to confess me before ungodly
men, human tongue having more influence with
them than promise divine. Behold ye therefore
them : even such are commended to God, not
that so He may leave them, but that by aiding
them He may make them perfect. For a certain
man believing and wavering hath said, " I be-
lieve, O Lord, help Thou mine unbelief." 8
23. " In Thy sight are all they that trouble Me "
(ver. 20). Why I have reproach, Thou knowest ;
why confusion, Thou knowest ; why shame,
Thou knowest : therefore deliver Thou me be-
cause of mine enemies, because Thou knowest
these things of me, they know not ; and thus,
because they are themselves in Thy sight, not
knowing these things, they will not be able to be
either confounded or corrected, unless openly
Thou shalt have delivered me because of mine
enemies. " Reproach my heart hath expected,
and misery." What is, " hath expected " ? Hath
foreseen these things as going to be, hath fore-
told them as going to be. For He came not
for any other purpose. If He had been unwil-
ling to die, neither would He have willed to be
born : for the sake of resurrection He did both.
For there jvere two particular things known to
us among mankind, but one thing unknown.
For we knew that men were born and died :
that they rose again and lived for everlasting we
6 Rom. i. 16.
7 Gal. vi. 14.
8 Mark ix. 24.
Psalm LXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
307
knew not. That He might show to us that which
we knew not, He took upon Him the two things
which we knew. To this end therefore He
came. " Reproach my heart hath expected and
misery." But the misery of whom ? For He
expected misery, but rather of the crucifiers,
rather of the persecutors, that in them should
be misery, in Him mercy. For pitying the mis-
ery of them even while hanging on the Cross,
He saith, " Fathar, forgive them, for they know
not what they do."' What then did it profit,
that I expected? That is, what did it profit
that I foretold ? What did it profit that I said
to this end I had come ? I came to fulfil that
which I said, " I waited for one that together
should be made sorrowful, and there was not ;
and men comforting, and I found not : " that
is, there was none. For that which in the
former verse He said, " I waited for one that
together should be made sorrowful," the same is
in the following verse, " and men comforting."
But that which in the former verse is, " and there
was not ; " the same in the following verse is,
" and I found not." Therefore another sentence
is not added, but the former is repeated. Which
sentence if we reconsider, a question may arise.
For were His disciples nowise made sorrowful
when He was led to the Passion, when on the
tree hanged, when dead? So much were they
made sorrowful, that Mary Magdalene, who first
saw Him, rejoicing told them as they were
mourning what she had seen.2 The Gospel
speaketh of these things : it is not our presump-
tion, not our suspicion : it is evident that the
disciples grieved, it is evident that they mourned.
Strange women were weeping, when to the Pas-
sion He was being led, unto whom turning He
saith, " Weep ye, but for yourselves, do not for
Me." 3 . . . Peter certainly loved very much,
and without hesitation threw himself to walk on
the waves,4 and at the voice of the Lord he was
delivered : and though following Him when led
to the Passion, with the boldness of love, yet
being troubled, thrice he denied Him. Whence,
except because an evil thing it seemed to him
to die? For he was shunning that which he
thought an evil thing. This then even in the
Lord he was lamenting, which he was himself
shunning. On this account even before he had
said, " Far be it from Thee, O Lord, merciful
be Thou to Thyself: there shall not come to
pass this thing : " 5 at which time he merited
to hear, " Satan ; " after that he had heard,
" Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona." There-
fore in that sorrowfulness which the Lord felt
because of those for whom He prayed, " Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do : " '
no companion He found. " And I waited for
1 Luke xxiii. 34.
3 Luke xxiii. 28.
2 John xx. 18; Mark xvi. 9.
* Matt. xiv. 29. 3 Matt. xvi. 22.
one that together should be made sorrowful,
and there was not." There was not at all. " And
men comforting, and I found not." Who are
men comforting? Men profiting. For they
comfort us, they are the comfort of all preachers
of the Truth.
24. " And they gave for My food gall, and
in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink "
(ver. 22). This was done indeed to the letter.
And the Gospel declareth this to us. But we
must understand, brethren, that the very fact that
I found not comforters, that the very fact that I
found not one that together should be made
sorrowful, this was My gall, this to Me was bitter,
this was vinegar : bitter because of grief, vine-
gar because of their old man. For we read,
that to Him indeed gall was offered, as the
Gospel speaketh ; but for drink, not for food.6
Nevertheless, we must so take and consider that
when fulfilled, which here had been before pre-
dicted, " They gave for My food gall : " and in
that very action, not only in this saying, we
ought to seek for a mystery, at secret things
to knock, to enter the rent veil of the Temple, to
see there a Sacrament, both in what there hath
been said and in what there hath been done.
" They gave," He saith, " for My food gall : "
not the thing itself which they gave was food,
for it was drink : but " for food they gave it."
Because already the Lord had taken food, and
into it there had been thrown gall. But He
had taken Himself pleasant food, when He ate
the Passover with His disciples : therein He
showed the Sacrament of His Body.7 Unto this
food so pleasant, so sweet, of the Unity of
Christ, of which the Apostle maketh mention,
saying, " For one bread, One Body, being many
we are ; " 8 unto this pleasant food who is there
that addeth gall, except the gainsayers of the
Gospel, like those persecutors of Christ? For
less the Jews sinned in crucifying Him walking
on earth, than they that despise Him sitting in
Heaven. That which then the Jews did, in giv-
ing above the food which He had already taken
that bitter draught to drink, the same they do
that by evil living bring scandal upon the
Church : the same do embittered heretics, " But
let them not be exalted in their own selves." 9
They give gall after so delectable meat. But
what doth the Lord ? He admitteth them not
to His Body. In this mystery, when they pre-
sented gall, the Lord Himself tasted, and would
not drink.6 If we did not suffer them,-neither
at all should we taste : but because it is neces-
sary to suffer them, we must needs taste. But
because in the members of Christ such sort
cannot be, they can be tasted, received into the
6 Matt, xxvii. 34.
7 Luke xxii. 19. The Sacrament of the Body of Christ.
8 1 Cor. x. 17. 9 Ps. lxvi. 7.
3o8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIX.
Body they cannot be. " And they gave for My
food gall, and in My thirst they gave Me vine-
gar to drink." I was thirsting, and vinegar I
received : that is, for the faith of them I longed,
and I found oldness.
25. " Let the table of them be made in their
own presence for a trap" (ver. 23). Like the
trap which for Me they set, in giving Me such a
draught, let such a trap be for them. Why then,
" in their own presence " ? " Let the table of them
be made for a trap," would have been sufficient.
They are such as know their iniquity, and in it
most obstinately do persevere : in their own
presence there is made a trap for them. These
are they that, being too destructive, " go down
into Hell alive." ' Lastly, of persecutors what
hath been said ? Except that the Lord were in
us, perchance alive they had swallowed us up.2
What is alive? Consenting to them, and knowing
that we ought not to consent to them. There-
fore in their own presence there is made a trap,
and they are not amended. Even though in
their own presence there is a trap, let them
not fall into it. Behold they know the trap,
and thrust out foot, and bow their necks to
be caught. How much better were it to turn
away from the trap, to acknowledge sin, to con-
demn error, to be rid of bitterness, to pass over
into the Body of Christ, to seek the Lord's
glory ! But so much prevaileth presumption of
mind, that even in their own presence the trap
is, and they fall into it. " Let the eyes of them
be darkened, that they see not," 3 followeth
here : that whereas without benefit they have
seen, it may chance to them even not to see.
" L?t the table of them," therefore, " be made
in their own presence for a trap." It is not
from one wishing, but from one prophesying :
not in order that it may come to pass, but be-
cause it will come to pass. This we have often
remarked, and ye ought to remember it : lest
that which the prescient mind saith in the Spirit
of God, it should seem with ill will to imprecate.
. . . Let it then be done to them, " both for
a requital and for a stumbling-block." And is
this by any means unjust? It is just. Why?
For it is " for a requital." For not anything
would happen to them, which was not owed.
" For a requital " it is done, " and for a stum-
bling-block : " for they are themselves a stum-
bling-block to themselves. " Let the eyes of
them be darkened, that they see not, and the
back of them alway bow Thou down " (ver.
24). This is a consequence. For they, whose
eyes have been darkened that they see not, it
followeth, must have their back bowed down.
How so? Because when they have ceased to
take knowledge of things above, they must
' Pi. lv. 15.
a Ps. cxxiv. 1-3.
3 Ps. lxix. 34.
needs think of things below. He that well
heareth, " lift up the heart," a bowed back hath
not. For with stature erect he looketh for the
hope laid up for him in Heaven ; most espe-
cially if he send before him his treasure, whither
his heart followeth.4 But, on the other hand,
they perceive not the hope of future life ; al-
ready being blinded, they think of things below :
and this is to have a bowed back : from which
disorder the Lord delivered that woman. For
Satan hath bound her eighteen years, and her
that was bowed down 5 He raised up : 6 and be-
cause on the Sabbath He did it, the Jews were
scandalized ; suitably were they scandalized at
her being raised up, themselves being bowed.
" Pour forth upon them Thine anger, and let
the indignation of Thine anger overtake them "
(ver. 25), are plain words: but nevertheless,
in " overtake them " we perceive them as it
were fleeing. But whither are they to flee?
Into Heaven? Thou art there. Into Hell?
Thou art present. Their wings they will not
take to fly straight : ? " Let the indignation of
Thine anger overtake them," let it not permit
them to escape.
26. " Let the habitation of them become for-
saken " 8 (ver. 26). This is now evident. For
in the same manner as He hath mentioned not
only a secret deliverance of His, saying, " Give
heed to My soul, and redeem her; "9 but also
one open after the body, adding, " because of
mine enemies deliver me : " so also to these
men He foretelleth how there are to be certain
secret misfortunes, whereof a little before He
was speaking. . . . For the blindness of the
Jews was secret vengeance : but the open was
what? " Let their habitation become forsaken,
and in their tabernacles let there not be any
one to inhabit." There hath come to pass this
thing in the very city Jerusalem, wherein
they thought themselves mighty in crying
against the Son of God, " Crucify, Crucify ; " lo
and in prevailing because they were able to kill
Him that raised dead men. How mighty to
themselves, how great, they seemed ! There fol-
lowed afterwards the vengeance of the Lord,
stormed was the city, utterly conquered the
Jews, slain were I know not how many thou-
sands of men. No one of the Jews is permitted
to come thither now : where they were able to
cry against the Lord, there by the Lord they
are not permitted to dwell. They have lost the
place of their fury : and O that even now they
would know the place of their rest ! What
profit to them was Caiaphas in saying," " If we
shall have let go this man thus, there will come
* Matt- vi. 2t.
5 Cnrziatam, Ben. Most MSS. curatam, " cured."
6 Luke xiii. 16. 7 Ps. exxxix. 7-9. 8 Acts i. ao.
9 Ps. lxix. 19. IO John xix. 6.
" Or, " What did it profit Caiaphas to say ? " MSS.
Psalm LXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
309
the Romans, and take away from us both place
and kingdom " ? ■ Behold, both they did not let
Him go alive, and He liveth : and there have
come the Romans, and have taken from them
both place and kingdom. But now we heard,
when the Gospel was being read, " Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered to-
gether thy sons, as a hen her chickens under
her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold,
there is left to you your house forsaken." 2 . . .
27. Why so? "For Him whom Thou hast
smitten they have themselves persecuted, and
upon the pain of my wounds they have added "
(ver. 27). How then have they sinned 'if they
have persecuted one by God smitten? What
sin is ascribed to their mind? Malice. For the
thing was done in Christ which was to be. To
suffer indeed He had come, and He punished
him through whom He suffered. For Judas the
traitor was punished, and Christ was crucified :
but us He redeemed by His blood, and He
punished him in the matter of his price. For
he threw down the price of silver, for which by
him the Lord had been sold ; 3 and he knew not
the price wherewith he had himself by the Lord
been redeemed.4 This thing was done in the case
of Judas. But when we see that there is a sort of
measure of requital in all men, and that not any
one can be suffered to rage more than he hath
received power to do : how have they "added,"
or what is that smiting of the Lord ? Without
doubt He is speaking in the person of him from
whom He had received a body, from whom He
had taken unto Him flesh, that is in the person
of mankind, of Adam himself who was smitten
with the first death because of his sin.5 Mortal
therefore here are men born, as born with their
punishment : to this punishment they add, who-
soever do persecute men. For now here man
would not have had to die, unless God had
smitten him. Why then dost thou, O man, rage
more than this? Is it little for a man that i
some time he is to die ? Each one of us there- j
fore beareth his punishment : to this punishment |
they would add that persecute us. This punish-
ment is the smiting of the Lord. For the Lord
smote man with the sentence : " What day ye
shall have touched it," He saith, "with death
ye shall die." 6 Out of this death He had taken
upon Him flesh, and our old man hath been
crucified together with Him.' By the voice of
that man He hath said these words, " Him whom
Thou hast smitten they have themselves perse-
cuted, and upon the pain of My wounds they
have added." Upon what pain of wounds ? Up-
on the pain of sins they have themselves added.
1 John xi. 48. * Matt, xxiii. 37, 38. 3 Matt, xxvii. 5.
4 Redtmptus, Oxf. Mjs. ; and two in Ben. redimendus, "was
to be redeemed." See note at the end of Homilies on St. John.
> Gen. iii. 6. <• Gen. ii. 17. ' Rom. vi. 6.
For sins He hath called His wounds. But do
not look to the Head, consider the Body ; ac-
cording to the voice whereof hath been said by
the Same in that Psalm, wherein He showed
there was His voice, because in the first verse
thereof He cried from the Cross, " God, My God,
look upon Me, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " 8
There in continuation He saith, " Afar from My
safety are the words of Mine offences." . . .
28. "Lay Thou iniquity upon their iniquity "
(ver. 28). What is this? Who would not be
afraid? To God is said, " Lay Thou iniquity
upon their iniquity." Whence shall God lay
iniquity? For hath He iniquity to lay? For we
know that to be true which hath been spoken
through Paul the Apostle, " What then shall we
say ? Is there anywise iniquity with God ? Far
be it." 9 Whence then, " Lay Thou iniquity up-
on iniquity"? How must we understand this?
May the Lord be with us, that we may speak,
and because of your weariness may be able to
speak briefly. Their iniquity was that they
killed a just Man : there was added another, that
they crucified the Son of God. Their raging
was as though against a man : but " if they had
known, the Lord of Glory they had never cruci-
fied." '° They with their own iniquity willed to
kill as it were a man : there was laid iniquity
upon their own iniquity, so that the Son of God
they should crucify. Who laid this iniquity
upon them? He that said, "Perchance they
will reverence My Son," " Him I will send. For
they were wont to kill servants sent to them, to
demand rent and profit. He sent the Son Him-
self, in order that Him also they might kill. He
laid iniquity upon their own iniquity. And these
things did God do in wrath, or rather in just
requital? For, " May it be done to them," He
saith, " for a requital and for a stumbling-
block." I2 They had deserved to be so blinded
as not to know the Son of God. And this
God did, laying iniquity upon their iniquity ;
not in wounding, but in not making whole.
For in like manner as thou increasest a fever,
increasest a disorder, not by adding disorder,
but by not relieving : so because they were
of such sort as that they merited not to be
healed, in their very naughtiness in a manner
they advanced ; as it is said, " But evil men and
wicked doers advance for the worse : " '3 and
iniquity is laid upon their own iniquity. " And
let them not enter in '4 Thy righteousness." This
is a plain thing.
29. " Let them be blotted out from the book
of the living" (ver. 29). For had they been
some time written therein? Brethren, we must
not so take it, as that God writeth any one in
8 Ps. xxii. 1.
11 Matt. xxi. 37.
'« Oxf. mss. '' into."
9 Rom. ix. 14.
" Ps. lxix. 21.
i° 1 Cor. ii. 8.
U 2 Tim. iii. 13.
3io
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXIX.
the book of life, and blotteth him out. If a man
said, " What I have written I have written," '
concerning the title where it had been written,
" King of the Jews : " doth God write any one,
and blot him out? He foreknoweth, He hath
predestined all before the foundation of the
world that are to reign with His Son in life ever-
lasting.2 These He hath written down, these
same the Book of Life doth contain. Lastly, in
the Apocalypse, what saith the Spirit of God,
when the same Scripture was speaking of the
oppressions that should be from Antichrist?
" There shall give consent 3 to him all they that
have not been written in the book of life." * So
then without doubt they will not consent that
have been written. How then are these men
blotted out from that book wherein they were
never written ? This hath been said according
to their own hope, because they thought of them-
selves that they were written. What is, " let
them be blotted out from the book of life"?
Even to themselves let it be evident, that they
were not there. By this method of speaking
hath been said in another Psalm, " There shall
fall from Thy side a thousand, and tens of thou-
sands from on Thy right hand : " 5 that is, many
men shall be offended, even out of that number
who thought that they would sit with Thee, even
out of that number who thought that they would
stand at Thy right hand, being severed from the
left-hand goats : 6 not that when any one hath
there stood, he shall afterwards fall, or when any
one with Him hath sat, he shall be cast away ;
but that many men were to fall into scandal, who
already thought themselves to be there, that is,
many that thought that they would sit with Thee,
many that hoped that they would stand at the
right hand, will themselves fall. So then here
also they that hoped as though by the merit of
their own righteousness themselves to have been
written in the book of God, they to whom is
said, " Search the Scriptures, wherein ye think
yourselves to have life eternal : " ' when their
condemnation shall have been brought even to
their own knowledge, shall be effaced from the
book of the living, they shall know themselves
not to be there. For the verse which followeth,
explaineth what hath been said : " And with just
men let them not be written." I have said then,
" Let them be effaced," according to their hope :
but according to Thy justice I say what?
30. " Poor and sorrowful I am " (ver. 30) .
Why this ? Is it that we may acknowledge that
through bitterness of soul this poor One doth
speak evil ? For He hath spoken of many things
to happen to them. And as if we were saying
to Him, " Why such things? " — " Nay, not so
1 John xix. 33.
4 Rev. xiii. 8.
7 John v. 39.
a Rom. viii. 39.
s P». xci. 7.
' E. V. "worship."
6 Matt. xxv. 33.
much ! " He answereth, " poor and sorrowful
I am." They have brought Me to want, unto
this sorrow they have set Me down, therefore I
say these words. It is not, however, the indig-
nation of one cursing, but the prediction of one
prophesying. For He was intending to recom-
mend to us certain things which hereafter He
saith of His poverty and His sorrow, in order
that we may learn to be poor and sorrowful.
For, " Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the
kingdom of Heaven." 8 And, " Blessed are they
that mourn, for they shall be comforted." This
therefore He doth Himself before now show to
us : and so, " poor and sorrowful I am." The
whole Body of Him saith this. The Body of
Christ in this earth is poor and sorrowful. But
let Christians be rich. Truly if Christians they
are, they are poor; in comparison with the
riches celestial for which they hope, all their gold
they count for sand. " And the health of Thy
countenance, O God, hath taken Me up." Is
this poor One anywise forsaken? When dost
thou deign to bring near to thy table a poor'man
in rags? But again, this poor One the health of
the countenance of God hath taken up : in His
countenance He hath hidden His need. For of
Him hath been said, " Thou shalt hide them in
the hiding place of Thy countenance." » But
in that countenance what riches there are would
ye know? Riches here give thee this advantage,
that thou mayest dine on what thou wilt, when-
ever thou wilt : but those riches, that thou
mayest never hunger. " The health of Thy
countenance, O God, hath taken Me up." For
what purpose? In order that no longer I may
be poor, no longer sorrowful ? "I will praise
the name of the Lord with a song, I will magnify
Him in praise" (ver. 31). Now it hath been
said, this poor One praiseth the name of the
Lord with a song, he magnifieth Him in praise.
When would He have ventured to sing, unless
He had been refreshed from hunger? "I will
magnify Him with praise." O vast riches !
What jewels of God's praise hath he brought out
of his inward treasures ! These are my riches !
" The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken
away." '° Then miserable he hath remained ?
Far be it. See the riches : " As it hath pleased
the Lord, so hath been done, be the name of the
Lord blessed."
31. " And it shall please God : " that I shall
praise Him, shall please : " above a new calf,
bearing horns and hoofs." More grateful to
Him shall be the sacrifice of praise than the sac-
rifice of a calf. " The sacrifice of praise shall
glorify me. " " " Immolate to God the sacrifice
of praise." ™ So then His praise going forth from
my mouth shall please God more than a great
8 Matt. v. 3.
» Pi. 1. 33.
9 Ps xxxi. 33.
" Ps. 1. 14.
10 Job i. 31.
Psalm LXX ]
ON THE PSALMS.
3"
victim led up to His altar. . . . Therefore above
this calf my praising shall please Thee, such as
hereafter will be, after poverty and sorrow, in the
eternal society of Angels, where neither adver-
sary there shall be in battle to be tossed, nor
sluggard from earth to be stirred up. " Let the
needy see and rejoice" (ver. 32). Let them
believe, and in hope be glad. Let them be more
needy, in order that they may deserve to be
filled : lest while they belch out pride's satiety,
there be denied them the bread whereon they
may healthily live. " Seek the Lord," ye
needy, hunger ye and thirst ; ' for He is Himself
the living bread that came down from Heaven.2
" Seek ye the Lord, and your soul shall live."
Ye seek bread, that your flesh may live : the
Lord seek ye, that your soul may live.3
32. " For the Lord hath hearkened to the
poor " (ver. 33). He hath hearkened to the poor,
and He would not have hearkened to the poor,
unless they were poor. Wilt thou be hearkened
to ? Poor be thou : let sorrow cry out from thee,
and not fastidiousness. " And His fettered ones
He hath not despised." Being offended at His
servants, He hath put them in fetters : but them
crying from the fetters He hath not despised.
What are these fetters? Mortality, the corrupt-
ibleness of the flesh are the fetters wherewith we
have been bound. And would ye know the
weight of these fetters? Of them is said, "The
body which is corrupted weigheth down the
soul." 4 Whenever men in the world will to be
rich, for these fetters they are seeking rags.
But let the rags of the fetters suffice : seek so
much as is necessary for keeping off want, but
when thou seekest superfluities, thou longest to
load thy fetters. In such a prison then let the
fetters abide even alone. " Sufficient for the
day be the evil thereof." 5 " Let there praise
Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creep-
ing in them " (ver. 34). The true riches of this
poor man are these, to consider the creation, and
to praise the Creator. " Let there praise Him
heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping
therein." And doth this creation alone praise
God, when by considering of it God is praised?
33. Hear thou another thing also : " for God
shall save Sion" (ver. 35). He restoreth His
Church, the faithful Gentiles He doth incorporate
with His Only-Begotten ; He beguileth not them
that believe in Him of the reward of His prom-
ise. " For God shall save Sion ; and there shall
be builded the cities of Juda." These same
are the Churches. Let no one say, when shall it
come to pass that there be builded the cities of
Juda? 0 that thou wouldest acknowledge the
Edifice, and be a living stone, that thou mightest
enter into Her. Even now the cities of Juda
1 Matt. v. 6.
* WiKl. IX. 15.
2 John vi. 33, 51.
* Matt. vi. 34.
3 Isa. Iv. 3.
are being built. For Juda is interpreted con-
fession. By confession of humility there are
being builded the cities of Juda : in order that
there may remain without the proud, who blush
to confess. " For God shall save Sion." What
Sion ? Hear in the following words : " and the
seed of His servants shall possess Her, and they
that love His name shall dwell therein " (ver.
36)
PSALM LXX.6
1. Thanks to the " Corn of wheat,"7 because
He willed to die and to be multiplied : thanks
to the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, who disdained not to undergo our
death, in order that He might make us worthy
of His life. Behold Him that was single until
He went hence ; as He said in another Psalm,
" Single I am until I go hence ; " 8 for He was a
single corn of wheat in such sort as that He had
in Himself a great fruitfulness of increase ; in
how many corns imitating the Passion of Him
we exult, when we celebrate the nativities of the
Martyrs ! Many therefore members of Him,
under one Head our Saviour Himself, being
bound together in the bond of love and peace
(as ye judge it fit that ye know, for ye have often
heard), are one man: and of the same, as of
one man, the voice is ofttimes heard, in the
Psalms, and thus one crieth as though it were
all, because all in one are one. . . .
2. There is then in this Psalm the voice of
men troubled, and so indeed of Martyrs amid
sufferings in peril, but relying on their own Head.
Let us hear them, and speak with them out of
sympathy of heart, though it be not with similar-
ity of suffering. For they are already crowned,
we are still in peril : not that such sort of perse-
cutions do vex us as have vexed them, but worse
perchance in the midsts of all kinds of so great
scandals. For our own times do more abound
in that woe, which the Lord cried : " Woe to
the world because of scandals." ' And, " Because
iniquity hath abounded, the love of man shall
wax cold." '° For not even that holy Lot at Sodom
suffered corporal persecution from any one, or
had it been told him that he should not dwell
there:" the persecution of him were the evil
doings of the Sodomites. Now then that Christ
sitteth-in Heaven, now that He is glorified, now
that necks of kings are made subject to His
yoke, and their brows placed beneath His sign,
now that not any one remaineth to dare openly
to trample upon Christians, still, however, we
groan amid instruments and singers, still those
enemies of the Martyrs, because with words and
* Lat. LXIX. Sermon preached at the celebration of the
Martyrs.
J Preface. John xii. 34.
8 Ps. cxli. 10, LXX.; and Vulgate nearly.
9 Matt, xviii. 7. I0 Matt. xxiv. is. n Gen. xix. 19.
312
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXX
steel they have no power, with their own wanton-
ness do persecute them. And O that we were
sorrowing for Heathens alone : it would be some
sort of comfort, to wait for those that not yet
have been signed with the Cross of Christ ; when
they should be signed, and when, by His author-
ity attached, they should cease to be mad. We
see besides men wearing on their brow the sign
of Him, at the same time on that same brow
wearing the shamelessness of wantonness, and
on the days and celebrations of the Martyrs not
exulting but insulting. And amid these things
we groan, and this is our persecution, if there is
in us the love which saith, " Who is weak, and I
am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I burn
not ? " ' Not any servant of God, then, is without
persecution : and that is a true saying which the
Apostle saith, " But even all men that will to live
godly in Christ, shall suffer persecution." 2 . . .
3. "O God, to my aid make speed" (ver. 1).
For need we have for an everlasting aid in this
world. But when have we not? Now however
being in tribulation, let us especially say, " O
God, to my aid make speed." " Let them be
confounded and fear that seek my soul." Christ
is speaking : whether Head speak or whether
Body speak ; He is speaking that hath said,
"Why persecutest thou Me?"3 He is speaking
that hath said, " Inasmuch as ye have done it to
one of the least of Mine, to Me ye have done
it." 4 The voice then of this Man is known to
be of the whole man, of Head and of Body :
that need not often be mentioned, because it is
known. " Be they confounded," he saith, " and
fear that seek my soul." In another Psalm He
saith, " I was looking unto the right and saw,
and there was not one that would know Me :
flight hath perished from Me, and there is not
one to seek out My soul.-" ' There of perse-
cutors He saith, that there was not one to seek
out His soul : but here, " Let them be con-
founded and fear that seek My soul." . . . And
where is that which thou hast heard from thy
Lord, " Love ye your enemies, do good to them
that hate you, and pray for them that persecute
you "?6 Behold thou sufferest persecution, and
cursest them from whom thou sufferest : how
dost thou imitate the Passions of thy Lord that
have gone before, hanging on the cross and say-
ing, " Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do."7 To persons saying such things
the Martyr replieth and saith, thou hast set
before me the Lord, saying, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do : " under-
stand thou my voice also, in order that it may
be thine too : for what have I said concerning
mine enemies? " Let them be confounded and
1 3 Cor. xi. so.
* Matt. xxv. 40.
7 Luke xxiii. 34.
3 3 Tim. iii. ta.
> Ps. cxlii. 4.
3 Acts ix. 4.
6 Matt. v. 44.
fear." Already such vengeance hath been taken
on the enemies of the Martyrs. That Saul that
persecuted Stephen, he was confounded and
feared. He was breathipg out slaughters,8 he
was seeking some to drag and slay : a voice
having been heard from above, " Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou Me," 3 he was confounded and
laid low, and he was raised up to obedience,
that had been inflamed unto persecuting. This
then the Martyrs desire for their enemies, " Let
them be confounded and fear." For so long as
they are not confounded and fear, they must
needs defend their actions : glorious they think
themselves, because they hold, because they
bind, because they scourge, because they kill,
because they dance, because they insult, and
because of all these doings they be some time
confounded and fear.° For if they be con-
founded, they will also be converted : because
converted they cannot be, unless they shall have
been confounded and shall have feared. Let
us then wish these things to our enemies, let us
wish them without fear. Behold I have said,
and let me have said it with you, may all that
still dance and sing and insult the Martyrs " be
confounded and fear : " at last within these walls
confounded may they beat their breasts !
4. " Let them be turned away backward and
blush that think evil things to me" (ver. 2).
At first there was the assault of them persecut-
ing, now there hath remained the malice of
them thinking. In fact, there are in the Church
distinct seasons of persecutions following one
another.10 There was made an assault on the
Church when kings were persecuting : and be-
cause kings had been foretold as to persecute
and as to believe, when one had been fulfilled
the other was to follow. There came to pass
also that which was consequent ; kings believed,
peace was given to the Church, the Church began
to be set in the highest place of dignity, even
on this earth, even in this life : but there is not
wdnting the roar of persecutors, they have turned
their assaults into thoughts. In these thoughts,
as in a bottomless pit, the devil hath been
bound," he roareth and breaketh not forth. For
it hath been said concerning these times of the
Church, "The sinner shall see, and shall be
angry."'2 And shall do what? That which he
did at first? Drag, bind, smite? He doeth not
this. What then ? " With his teeth he shall
gnash, and shall pine away." And with these
men the Martyr is, as it were, angry, and yet for
these men the Martyr prayeth. For in like
manner as he hath wished well to those men
8 Acts vii. 5°., ix. 1.
9 Oxf. mss. " and no more defend their doings."
10 The reading sequert mentioned in Ben. is probably a mistake
for segue, which is found at Oxford. Or it is, " follow them in their
succession."
» Vide Rev. xx. 3. " Ps. cxii. :o.
Psalm LXX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
3'3
concerning whom he hath said, " Let them be
confounded and fear that seek ray soul : " '
so also now, " Let them be turned back-
ward, and blush, that think evil things to me."
Wherefore? In order that they may not go
before, but follow. For he that censureth the
Christian religion, and on his own system willeth
to live, willeth as it were to go before Christ, as
though He indeed had erred and had been weak
and infirm, because He either willed to suffer or
could suffer in the hands of the Jews ; but that
he is a clever man for guarding against all these
things ; in shunning death, even in basely lying
to escape death, and slaying his soul that he may
live in body, he thinketh himself a man of
singular and prudent measures. He goeth before
in censuring Christ, in a manner he outstrippeth
Christ : let him believe in Christ, and follow
Christ. For that which had been desired but
now for persecutors thinking evil things, the same
the Lord Himself said to Peter. Now in a
certain place Peter willed to go before the
Lord. ... A little before, " Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it to thee, but My Father which is in
Heaven : " now in a moment, " Go back behind
Me, Satan." 2 What is, " Go back behind Me " ?
Follow Me. Thou wiliest to go before Me, thou
wiliest to give Me counsel, it is better that thou
follow My counsel : this is, " go back," go back
behind Me. He is silencing one outstripping,
in order that he may go backward ; and He is
calling him Satan, because he willeth to go before
the Lord. A little before, " blessed ; " now,
" Satan." Whence a little before, " blessed " ?
Because, " to thee," He saith, " flesh and blood
hath not revealed it, but My Father which is in
Heaven." Whence now, "Satan"? Because
" thou savourest not," He saith, " the things which
are of God, but the things which are of men."
Let us then that would duly celebrate the nativi-
ties of the Martyrs, long for the imitation of the
Martyrs ; let us not wish to go before the Mar-
tyrs, and think ourselves to be of better under-
standing than they, because we shun sufferings
in behalf of righteousness and faith which they
shunned not. Therefore be they that think evil
things, and in wantonness feed their hearts,
" turned backward and blush." Let them hear
from the Apostle afterwards saying, " But what
fruit had ye some time in those things at which
ye now blush? "
5. What followeth? "Let them be turned
away forthwith blushing, that say to me, Well,
well " (ver. 3). Two are the kinds of persecut-
ors, revilers and flatterers. The tongue of the
flatterer doth more persecute than the hand of
the slayer : for this also the Scripture hath called
1 Ps. Ux. 2.
2 Matt. xvi. 33.
a furnace. Truly when the Scripture was speak-
ing of persecution, it said, " Like gold in a fur-
nace it hath proved them" (speaking of Martyrs
being slain), "and as the holocaust's victim it
hath received them."3 Hear how even the tongue
of flatterers is of such sort : " The proving," he
saith, " of silver and of gold is fire ; but a man is
proved by the tongue of men praising him." *
That is fire, this also is fire : out of both tho'i
oughtest to go forth safe. The censurer hath
broken thee, thou hast been broken in the fur-
nace like an earthen vessel. The Word hath
moulded thee, and there hath come the trial of
tribulation : that which hath been formed, must
needs be seasoned ; if it hath been well moulded,
there hath come the fire to strengthen. Whence
He said in the Passion, " Dried up like a pot-
sherd hath been My virtue." s For Passion and
the furnace of tribulation had made Him strong-
er. .. .
6. And what cometh to pass when they are all
turned back and blush, whether it be they that
seek my soul, or they that think evil things to
me, or they that with perverse and feigned be-
nevolence with tongue would soften the stroke
which they inflict, when they shall have been
themselves turned away and confounded ; there
shall come to pass what? " Let them exult and
be joyous in Thee : " not in me, not in this man
or in that man ; but in whom they have been
made light that were darkness. " Let them ex-
ult and be joyous in Thee, all that seek Thee "
(ver. 4). One thing it is to seek God, another
thing to seek man. " Let them be joyous that
seek Thee." They shall not be joyous then
that seek themselves,6 whom Thou hast first sought
before they sought Thee. Not yet did that
sheep seek the Shepherd, it had strayed from the
flock, and He went down to it ; 7 He sought it,
and carried it back upon His shoulders. Will
He despise thee, O sheep, seeking Him, who
hath first sought thee despising Him and not
seeking Him? Now then begin thou to seek
Him that first hath sought thee, and hath carried
thee back on His shoulders. Do thou that which
He speaketh of, " They that are My sheep hear
My voice, and follow Me." 8 If then thou seek-
est Him that first hath sought thee, and hast
become a sheep of His, and thou hearest the
voice of thy Shepherd, and followest Him ; see
what He showeth to thee of Himself, what of
His Body, in order that as to Himself thou may-
est not err, as to the Church thou mayest not
err, that no one may say to thee, that is Christ
which is not Christ, or that is the Church which
is not the Church. For many men have said
that Christ had no flesh, and that Christ hath
3 Wisd. iii. 6. * Prov. xxvii. 21.
6 mss. Reg. non te, " aught but Thee."
8 John x. 27.
5 Ps. xxii. 15.
7 Luke xv. 4.
3*4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXX.
not risen in His Body: do not thou follow the
voices of them. Hear thou the voice of Him-
self the Shepherd, that was clothed with flesh, in
order that He might seek lost flesh. He hath
risen again, and He saith, " Handle ye and see ;
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me
have." ' He showeth Himself to thee, the voice
of Him follow thou. He showeth also the
Church, that no one may deceive thee by the
name of Church. "It behoved," He saith,
" Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead
the third day, and that there should be preached
repentance and remission of sins through all
nations, beginning with Jerusalem." 2 Thou
hast the voice of Thy Shepherd, do not thou
follow the voice of strangers : 3 and a thief thou
shalt not fear, if thou shalt have followed
the voice of the Shepherd. But how shalt
thou follow? If thou shalt neither have said
to any man, as if it were by his own merit,
Well, well : nor shalt have heard the same with
joy, so that thy head be not made fat with the
oil of a sinner.4 " Let all them exult and be joy-
ous in Thee, that seek Thee ; and let them say"
— let them say what, that exult ? " Be the Lord
alway magnified ! " Let all them say this, that
exult and seek Thee. What? "Be the Lord
alway magnified ; yea, they that love Thy salva-
tion." Not only, " Be the Lord magnified ; "
but also, " alway." ... A sinner thou art, be
He magnified in order that He may call ; thou
confessest, be He magnified in order that He
may forgive : now thou livest justly, be He mag-
nified in order that He may direct : thou per-
severest even unto the end, be He magnified in
order that He may glorify. " Be the Lord,"
then, "alway magnified; yea, they love His
saving health." For from Him they have sal-
vation, not from themselves. The saving health
of the Lord our God, is the Saviour our Lord
Jesus Christ : whosoever loveth the Saviour, con-
fesseth himself to have been made whole ; who-
soever confesseth himself to have been made
whole, confesseth himself to have been sick.s
Not their own saving health, as if they could save
themselves of themselves : not as it were the
saving health of a man, as though by him they
could be saved. " Do not," he saith, " confide
in princes, and in the sons of men, in whom there
is no safety."6 Why so? "Of the Lord is
safety, and upon Thy people is Thy blessing." t
7. Behold, " Be the Lord magnified : " wilt
thou never, wilt thou nowhere? In Him was
something, in me nothing: but if in Him is
whatsoever I am, be He, not I. But thou then
what? "But I am needy and poor" (ver. 5).
1 Luke xxiv. 39. i Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
J John x. 5. 4 p5. cxli. 5.
» Here Oxf. mss. repeat, *' They that love Thy savine health."
* Pi. cxlvi. 3. 7 p,. Ui. 8.
He is rich, He abounding, He needing nothing.
Behold my light, behold whence I am illu-
mined ; for I cry, " Thou shalt illumine my
candle, O Lord."8 What then of thee? "But
I am needy and poor." I am like an orphan,
my soul is like a widow destitute and desolate :
help I seek, alway mine infirmity I confess.
There have been forgiven me my sins, now I
have begun to follow the commandments of
God : still, however, I am needy and poor.
Why still needy and poor? Because "I see
another law in my members fighting against the
law of my mind." 9 Why needy and poor? Be-
cause, " blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after righteousness." '° Still I hunger, still I
thirst : my fulness hath been put off, not taken
away. " O God, aid Thou me." Most suitably
also Lazarus is said to be interpreted, " one
aided : " that needy and poor man, that was
transported into the bosom of Abraham ; " and
beareth the type of the Church, which ought
alway to confess that she hath need of aid.
This is true, this is godly. " I have said to the
Lord, My God Thou art." Why ? " For my
goods Thou needest not." " He needeth not
us, we need Him : therefore He is truly Lord.
For thou art not the very true Lord of thy ser-
vant : both are men, both needing God. But if
thou supposest thy servant to need thee, in
order that thou mayest give him bread ; thou
also needest thy servant, in order that he may
aid thy labours. Each one of you doth need
the other. Therefore neither of you is truly
lord, and neither of you truly servant. Hear
thou the true Lord, of whom thou art the true
servant : " I have said to the Lord, My God
Thou art." Why art Thou Lord? "Because
my goods Thou needest not " ? But what of
thee? "But I am needy and poor." Behold
the needy and poor : may God feed, may God
alleviate, may God aid : " O God," he saitH,
" aid Thou me."
8. " My helper and deliverer art Thou ; O
Lord, delay not." Thou art the helper and
deliverer : I need succour, help Thou ; en-
tangled I am, deliver Thou. For no one will
deliver from entanglings except Thee. There
stand round about us the nooses of divers cares,
on this side and on that we are torn as it were
with thorns and brambles, we walk a narrow
way, perchance we have stuck fast in the bram-
bles : let us say to God, " Thou art my deliv-
erer." He that showed us the narrow way,'J
hath taught us to follow it. . . .
9. What is, " delay not "? Because many men
say, it is a long time till Christ comes. What
then : because we say, " delay not," will He
come before He hath determined to come?
8 Ps. xviii. 28.
11 Luke xvi. 33.
9 Rom. vii. 23.
12 Ps. xvi. 2.
10 Matt. v. 6.
13 Matt. vii. 14.
Psalm LXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
315
What meaneth this prayer, "delay not"?
May not Thy coming seem to me to be too
long delayed. For to thee it seemeth a long
time, to God it seemeth not long, to whom
a thousand years are one day, or the three
hours of a watch.' But if thou shalt not have
had endurance, late for thee it will be : and
when to thee it shall be late, thou wilt be di-
verted from , Him, and' wilt be like unto those
that were wearied in the desert, and hastened to
ask of God the pleasant things which He was
reserving for them in the Land ; and when there
were not given on their journey the pleasant
things, whereby perchance they would have
been corrupted, they murmured against God,
and went back in heart unto Egypt : 2 to that
place whence in body they had been severed, in
heart they went back. Do not thou, then, so,
do not so : fear the word of the Lord, saying,
" Remember Lot's wife." 3 She too being on
the way, but now delivered from the Sodomites,
looked back ; in the place where she looked
back, there she remained : she became a statue
of salt, in order to season thee. For to thee
she hath been given for an example, in order
that thou mayest have sense, mayest not stop
infatuated on the way. Observe her stopping
and pass on : observe her looking back, and do
thou be reaching forth unto the things before, as
Paul was.4 What is it, not to look back. " Of
the things behind forgetful," he saith. There-
fore thou followest, being called to the heavenly
reward, whereof hereafter thou wilt glory. For
the same Apostle saith, " There remaineth for
me a crown of righteousness, which in that day
the Lord, the just Judge, shall render to me." 5
PSALM LXXI.6
1. In all the holy Scriptures the grace of God
that delivereth us commendeth itself to us, in
order that it may have us commended. This is
sung of in this Psalm, whereof we have under-
taken to speak. . . . This grace the Apostle
commendeth : by this he got to have the Jews for
enemies, boasting of the letter of the law and of
their own justice. This then commending in the
lesson which hath been read, he saith thus :
" For I am the least of the Apostles, that am
not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I
persecuted the Church of God." 7 " But therefore
mercy," he saith, " I obtained, because ignorant
I did it in unbelief." 8 Then a little afterwards,
" Faithful the saying is, and worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am first." °
1 Ps. xc. 4.
3 Luke xvii. 32.
* Lat. LXX.
9 1 Tim. i. 15.
2 Exod. xvi. 2;
* Philip, iii. 13.
7 1 Cor. xv. 9.
Acts vii. 39.
3 2 Tim. iv. 8.
8 x Tim. i. 13.
Were there before him not any sinners? What
then, was he the first then? Yea, going before
all men not in time, but in evil disposition.
" But therefore," he saith, " mercy I obtained,"
in order that in me Christ Jesus might show all
long-suffering, for the imitation of those that
shall believe in Him unto life eternal : that is,
every sinner and unjust man, already despairing of
himself, already having the mind of a gladiator,'0
so as to do whatsoever he willeth, because he
must needs be condemned, may yet observe the
Apostle Paul, to whom so great cruelty and so
very evil a disposition was forgiven by God ; and
by not despairing of himself may he be turned
unto God. This grace God doth commend to
us in this Psalm also. . . .
2. The title then of this Psalm is, as usual, a
title intimating on the threshold what is being
done in the house : " To David himself for the
sons of Jonadab, and for those that were first led
captive." Jonadab (he is commended to us in
the prophecy of Jeremiah) was a certain man,
who had enjoined his sons not to drink wine,
and not to dwell in houses, but in tents. But
the commandment of the father the sons kept
and observed, and by this earned a blessing from
the Lord." Now the Lord had not commanded
this, but their own father. But they so received
it as though it were a commandment from the
Lord their God ; for even though the Lord had
not commanded that they should drink no wine
and should dwell in tents ; yet the Lord had
commanded that sons should obey their father.
In this case alone a son ought not to obey his
father, if his father should have commanded any-
thing contrary to the Lord his God. For indeed
the father ought not to be angry, when God is
preferred before him. But when a father doth
command that which is not contrary to God ; he
must be heard as God is : because to obey one's
father God hath enjoined. God then blessed
the sons of Jonadab because of their obedience,
and thrust them in the teeth of His disobedient
people, reproaching them, because while the
sons of Jonadab were obedient to their father,
they obeyed not their God. But while Jeremiah
was treating of these topics, he had this object in
regard to the people of Israel, that they should
prepare themselves to be led for captivity into
Babylon, and should not hope for any other
thing, but that they were to be captives. The
title then of this Psalm seemeth from thence to
have taken its hue, so that when he had said,
" Of the sons of Jonadab ; " he added, " and of
them that were first led captive : " not that the
sons of Jonadab were led captive, but because to
them that were to be led captive there were
10 Gladiatioriitm animnm : i.e., of utter desperation, since a
gladiator would expect to perish in one tight if not in another.
11 Jer. xxxv. 6, etc.
3i6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXI.
opposed the sons of Jonadab, because they were
obedient to their father : in order that they
might understand that they had been made cap-
tive, because they were not obedient to God.
It is added also that Jonadab is interpreted, " the
Lord's spontaneous one." What is this, the
Lord's spontaneous one? Serving God freely
with the will. What is, the Lord's spontaneous
one ? " In me are, O God, Thy vows, which I
will render of praise to Thee." ■ What is, the
Lord's spontaneous one? "Voluntarily I will
sacrifice to Thee." 2 For if the Apostolic teaching
admonisheth a slave to serve a human master,
not as though of necessity, but of good will, and
by freely serving make himself in heart free ; how
much more must God be served with whole and
full and free will, who seeth thy very will? . . .
The first man made us captive, the second man
hath delivered us from captivity. " For as in
Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made
alive." But in Adam they die through the flesh's
nativity, in Christ they are delivered through the
heart's faith. It was not in thy power not to be
born of Adam : it is in thy power to believe in
Christ. Howsoever much then thou shalt have
willed to belong to the first man, unto captivity
thou wilt belong. And what is, shalt have willed
to belong? or what is, shalt belong? Already
thou belongest : cry out, " Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? " 3 Let us hear then
this man crying out this.
3. " O God, in Thee I have hoped, O Lord, I
shall not be confounded for everlasting " (ver.
1). Already I have been confounded, but not
for everlasting. For how is he not confounded,
to whom is said, " What fruit had ye in these
things wherein ye now blush ? " 4 What then shall
be done, that we may not be confounded for
everlasting? "Draw near unto Him, and be ye
enlightened, and your faces shall not blush." s
Confounded ye are in Adam, withdraw from
Adam, draw near unto Christ, and then ye shall
not be confounded. " In Thee I have hoped,
O Lord, I shall not be confounded for everlast-
ing." If in myself I am now5 confounded, in
Thee I shall not be confounded for everlasting.
4. " In Thine own righteousness deliver me,
and save me " (ver. 2). Not in mine own, but
in Thine own : for if in mine own, I shall be
one of those whereof he saith, " Being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and their own righteous-
ness willing to establish, to the righteousness of
God they were not made subject." ' Therefore,
" in Thine own righteousness," not in mine.
For mine is what? Iniquity hath gone before.
And when I shall be righteous, Thine own
righteousness it will be : for by righteousness
1 Ps. lvi. It.
* Rom. vi. 21.
7 Rom. x. 3.
' Ps. Hv. 6.
i Ps. xxxiv. 5.
I Rom. vii. 24.
6 Oxf. MSS. nunc.
given to me by Thee I shall be righteous ; and
it shall be so mine, as that it be Thine, that is,
given to me by Thee. For I believe on Him
that justified! an ungodly man, so that my faith
is counted for righteousness.8 Even so then the
righteousness shall be mine, not however as
though mine own, not as though by mine own
self given to myself: as they thought who
through the letter made their boast, and re-
jected grace. ... It is a small thing then that
thou acknowledge the good thing which is in
thee to be from God, unless also on that account
thou exalt not thyself above him that hath not
yet, who perchance when he shall have received,
will outstrip thee. For when Saul was a stoner
of Stephen,9 how many were the Christians of
whom he was persecutor ! Nevertheless, when
he was converted, all that had gone before he
surpassed. Therefore say thou to God that
which thou hearest in the Psalm, " In Thee I
have hoped, O Lord, I shall not be confounded
for everlasting : in Thine own righteousness,"
not in mine, " deliver me, and save me." " In-
cline unto me Thine ear." This also is a
confession of humility. He that saith, " Incline
unto me," is confessing that he is lying like a
sick man laid at the feet of the Physician stand-
ing. Lastly, observe that it is a sick man that is
speaking : " Incline unto me Thine ear, and save
me."
5. "Be Thou unto me for a protecting God "
(ver. 3). Let not the darts of the enemy reach
unto me : for I am not able to protect myself.
And a small thing is " protecting : " he hath
added, " and for a walled place, that Thou mayest
save me." " For a walled place " be Thou to
me, be Thou my walled place. . . . Behold,
God Himself hath become the place of thy
fleeing unto, who at first was the fearful object
of thy fleeing from. " For a walled place," he
saith, be Thou to me, " that Thou mayest save
me." I shall not be safe except in Thee : ex-
cept Thou shalt have been my rest, my sickness
shall not be able to be made whole. Lift me
from the earth ; upon Thee I will lie, in order
that I may rise unto a walled place. What can
be better walled-? When unto that place thou
shalt have fled for refuge, tell me what adversaries
thou wilt dread? Who will lie in wait, and
come at thee ? A certain man is said from the
summit of a mountain to have cried out, when
an Emperor was passing by, " I speak not ,0 of
thee : " the other is said to have looked back
and to have said, " Nor I of thee." He had
despised an Emperor with glittering arms, with
mighty army. From whence? From a strong
place. If he was secure on a high spot of earth,
how secure art thou on Him by whom heaven
• Rom. iv. 5.
9 Acts vii. 59.
10 Or, " I care not."
Psalm LXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
317
and earth were made? I, if for myself I shall
have chosen another place, shall not be able to
be safe. Choose thou indeed, O man, if thou
shalt have found one, a place better walled.
There is not then a place whither to flee from
Him, except we flee to Him. If thou wilt escape
Him angry, flee to Him appeased. " For my
firmament and my refuge Thou art." " My
firmament" is what? Through Thee I am firm,
and by Thee I am firm. " For my firmament
and my refuge Thou art : " in order that I
may be made firm by Thee, in whatever re-
spects I shall have been made infirm in myself,
I will flee for refuge unto Thee. For firm the
grace of Christ maketh thee, and immovable
against all temptations of the enemy. But there
is there too human frailness, there is there still
the first captivity, there is there too the law in
the members fighting against the law of the
mind, and willing to lead captive in the law of
sin : ■ still the body which is corrupt presseth
down the soul.2 Howsoever firm thou be by the
grace of God, so long as thou still bearest an
earthly vessel, wherein the treasure of God is,
something must be dreaded even from that same
vessel of clay.3 Therefore " my firmament Thou
art," in order that I may be firm in this world
against all temptations. But if many they are,
and they trouble me : " my refuge Thou art."
For I will confess mine infirmity, to the end that
I may be timid like a " hare," because I am full
of thorns like a " hedgehog." And as in an-
other Psalm is said, " The rock is a refuge for
the hedgehogs and the hares : " * but the Rock
was Christ. s
6. " O God, deliver me from the hand of the
sinner" (ver. 4). Generally, sinners, among
whom is toiling he that is now to be delivered
from captivity : he that now crieth, " Unhappy
man I, who shall deliver me from the body of
this death? The grace of God through Jesus
Christ our Lord." 6 Within is a foe, that law in
the members ; there are without also enemies :
unto what cryest thou? Unto Him, to whom
hath been cried, " From my secret sins cleanse
me, O Lord, and from strange sins spare Thy
servant."7 . . . But these sinners are of two
kinds : there are some that have received Law,
there are others that have not received : all the
heathen have not received Law, all Jews and
Christians have received Law. Therefore the
general term is sinner ; either a transgressor of
the Law, if he hath received Law ; or only un-
just without Law, if he hath not received the
Law. Of both kinds speaketh the Apostle, and
saith, " They that without Law have sinned, with-
out Law shall perish, and they that in the Law
1 Rom. vii. 23.
* Ps. civ. 18.
7 Ps. xix. 12.
3 Wisd. ix. 15.
3 1 Cor. x. 4.
* 2 Cor. iv. 7.
6 Rom. vii. 24, 25.
have sinned, by the Law shall be judged." 8 But
thou that amid both kinds dost groan, say to
God that which thou hearest in the Psalm, " My
God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner."
Of what sinner? " From the hand of him that
transgresseth the Law, and of the unjust man."
He that transgresseth the Law is indeed also
unjust ; for not unjust he is not, that transgresseth
the Law : but every one that transgresseth the
Law is unjust, not every unjust man doth trans-
gress the Law. For, " Where there is not a
Law," saith the Apostle, " neither is there trans-
gression." 9 They then that have not received
Law, may be called unjust, transgressors they
cannot be called. Both are judged after their
deservings. But I that from captivity will to
be delivered through Thy grace, cry to Thee,
" Deliver me from the hand of the sinner."
What is, from the hand of him? From the
power of him, that while he is raging, he lead me
not unto consenting with him ; that while he
lieth in wait, he persuade not to iniquity. " From
the hand of the sinnerand of the unjust man." . . .
7. Lastly, there followeth the reason why I say
this: "for Thou art my patience" (ver. 5).
Now if He is patience rightly, He is that also
which followeth, " O Lord, my hope from my
youth." My patience, because my hope : or
rather my hope, because my patience. " Tribu-
lation," saith the Apostle, " worketh patience,
patience probation, but probation hope, but hope
confoundeth not." IO With reason in Thee I
have hoped, O Lord, I shall not be confounded
for everlasting. " O Lord, my hope from my
youth." From thy youth is God thy hope? Is
He not also from thy boyhood, and from thine
infancy? Certainly, saith he. For see what
followeth, that thou mayest not think that I have
said this, " my hope from my youth," as if God
noways profited mine infancy or my boyhood ;
hear what followeth : " In Thee I have been
strengthened from the womb." Hear yet :
" From the belly of my mother Thou art my
Protector" (ver. 6). Why then, "from my
youth," except it was the period from which I
began to hope in Thee ? For before in Thee I
was not hoping, though Thou wast my Protector,
that didst lead me safe unto the time, when I
learned to hope in Thee. But from my youth
I began in Thee to hope, from the time when
Thou didst arm me against the Devil, so that in
the girding of Thy host being armed with Thy
faith, love, hope, and the rest of Thy gifts, I
waged conflict against Thine invisible enemies,
and heard from the Apostle, " There is not for
us a wrestling against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, and powers," etc." There
a young man it is that doth fight against these
8 Rom. ii. 12.
11 Eph. v. la.
9 Rom. iv. 15.
10 Rom. v. 3-5.
3i«
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXI.
things : but though he be a young man, he
falleth, unless He be the hope of Him to whom
he crieth, " O Lord, my hope from my youth."
" In Thee is my singing alway." Is it only from
the time when I began to hope in Thee until
now? Nay, but "alway." What is, "alway"?
Not only in the time of faith, but also in the
time of sight. For now, " So long as we are in
the body we are absent from the Lord : for by
faith we walk, not by sight : " ■ there will be a
time when we shall see that which being not
seen we believe : but when that hath been seen
which we believe, we shall rejoice : but when
that hath been seen which they believed not,
ungodly men shall be confounded. Then will
come the substance whereof there is now the
hope. But, " Hope which is seen is not hope.
But if that which we see not we hope for, through
patience we wait for it." 2 Now then thou groan-
est, now unto a place of refuge thou runnest, in
order that thou mayest be saved ; now being
in infirmity thou entreatest the Physician : what,
when thou shalt have received perfect soundness
also, what when thou shalt have been made
" equal to the Angels of God," 3 wilt thou then
perchance forget that grace, whereby thou hast
been delivered? Far be it.
8. " As it were a monster I have become unto
many" (ver. 7). Here in time of hope, in time
of groaning, in time of humiliation, in time of
sorrow, in time of infirmity, in time of the voice
from the fetters — here then what? "As it were
a monster I have become unto many." Why,
" As it were a monster " ? Why do they insult
me that think me a monster? Because I believe
that which I see not. For they being happy
in those things which they see, exult in drink, in
wantonness, in chamberings, in covetousness,
in riches, in robberies, in secular dignities, in the
whitening of a mud wall, in these things they
exult : but I walk in a different way, contemning
those things which are present, and fearing even
the prosperous things of the world, and secure
in no other thing but the promises of God. And
they, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
die." 4 What sayest thou? Repeat it : " let us
eat," he saith, " and drink." Come now, what
hast thou said afterwards ? " for to-morrow we
die." Thou hast terrified, not led me astray.
Certainly by the very thing which thou hast said
afterwards, thou hast stricken me with fear to
consent with thee. " For to-morrow we die,"
thou hast said : and there hath preceded, " Let
us eat and drink." For when thou hadst said,
" Let us eat and drink ; " thou didst add, " for
to-morrow we die." Hear the other side from
me, " Yea let us fast and pray, ' for to-morrow
we die.' " I keeping this way, strait and narrow,
2 Cor v. 6.
1 1 Cor xv 33.
2 Rom. viii. 34.
3 Matt. xxii. 30.
" as it were a monster have become unto many :
but Thou art a strong helper." Be Thou with
me, O Lord Jesus, to say to me, faint not in
the narrow way, I first have gone along it, I am
the way itself,* I lead, in Myself I lead, unto
Myself I lead home. Therefore though " a
monster I have become unto many ; ' ' neverthe-
less I will not fear, for " Thou art a strong
Helper."
9. " Let my mouth be fulfilled with praise,
that with hymn I may tell of Thy glory, all the
day long Thy magnificence" (ver. 8). What
is " all the day long " ? Without intermission.
In prosperity, because Thou dost comfort : in
adversity, because Thou dost correct : before I
was in being, because Thou didst make ; when
I was in being, because Thou didst give health :
when I had sinned, because Thou didst forgive ;
when I was converted, because Thou didst
help ; when I had persevered, because Thou
didst crown.
i o. My hope from my youth, " cast me not away
in time of old age" (ver. 9). What is this time
of old age ? " When my strength shall fail, forsake
Thou not me." Here God maketh this answer
to thee, yea indeed let thy strength fail, in order
that in thee mine may abide : in order that thou
mayest say with the Apostle, " When I am made
weak, then I am mighty." 6 Fear not, that thou
be cast away in that weakness, in that old age.
But why? Was not thy Lord made weak on the
Cross? Did not most mighty men and fat bulls
before Him, as though a man of no strength,
made captive and oppressed, shake the head
and say, " If Son of God He is, let Him come
down from the Cross " ? » Has he deserted
because He was made weak, who preferred not
to come down from the Cross, lest He should
seem not to have displayed power, but to have
yielded to them reviling? What did He hang-
ing teach thee, that would not come down, but
patience amid men reviling, but that thou should-
est be strong in thy God? Perchance too in
His person was said, " As it were a monster I
have become unto many, and Thou art a strong
Helper." 8 In His person according to His
weakness, not according to His power ; accord-
ing to that whereby He had transformed us into
Himself, not according to that wherein He had
Himself come down. For He became a monster
unto many. And perchance the same was the
old age of Him ; because on account of its old-
ness it is not improperly called old age, and the
Apostle saith, " Our old man hath been crucified
together with Him."9 If there was there our old
man, old age was there ; because old, old age.'°
Nevertheless, because a true saying is, " Renewed
5 John xiv. 6. 6 2 Cor. xii. 10. ' Matt, xxvii. 39, 40, etc.
8 Ps. Ixxi. 6. 9 Rom. vi. 6.
10 [A. N. F. vol. i. p. 392, note 6. — C]
Psalm LXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
3'9
as an eagle's shall be Thy youth ; " ' He rose
Himself the third day, promised a resurrection
at the end of the world. Already there hath
gone before the Head, the members are to
follow. Why dost thou fear lest He should for-
sake thee, lest He cast thee away for the time
of old age, when thy strength shall have failed ?
Yea at that time in thee will be the strength of
Him, when thy strength shall have failed.
11. Why do I say this? " For mine enemies
have spoken against me, and they that were
keeping watch for My soul, have taken counsel
together (ver. 10) : saying, God hath forsaken
Him, persecute Him, and seize Him, for there
is no one to deliver Him" (ver. 11). This
hath been said concerning Christ. For He that
with the great power of Divinity, wherein He is
equal to the Father, had raised to life dead per-
sons, on a sudden in the hands of enemies be-
came weak, and as if having no power, was
seized. When would He have been seized, ex-
cept they had first said in their heart, " God
hath forsaken Him?" Whence there was that
voice on the Cross, " My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me?"2 So then did God
forsake Christ, though "God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself," 3 though
Christ was also God. out of the Jews indeed
according to the flesh, " Who is over all things,
God blessed for ever,"4 — did God forsake
Him? Far be it. But in our old man our voice
it was, because our old man was crucified to-
gether with Him : 5 and of that same our old
man He had taken a Body, because Mary was
of Adam. Therefore the very thing which they
thought, from the Cross He said, " Why hast
Thou forsaken Me ? " 6 Why do these men
think Me left alone to their evil? What is,
think Me forsaken in their evil ? " For if they
had known, the Lord of glory they had never
crucified.7 Persecute and seize Him." More
familiarly however, brethren, let us take this of
the members of Christ, and acknowledge our
own voice in these words : because even He
used such words in our person, not in His own
power and majesty ; but in that which He be-
came for our sakes, not according to that which
He was, who hath made us.
12. "O Lord, my God, be not far from me"
(ver. 12). So it is, and the Lord is not far off
at all. For, " The Lord is nigh unto them that
have bruised the heart." 8 " My God, unto my
help look Thou." " Be they confounded and fail
that engage 9 my soul " (ver. 13). What hath he
desired? "Be they confounded and fail." Why
hath he desired it? "That engage my soul"?
What is, " That engage my soul " ? Engaging
1 Ps. ciii. 5.
* Rom. ix. 5.
' 1 Cor. U. 8.
3 Ps. xxii. i.
5 Rom. vi. 6.
8 Ps. xxxiv. 18*
3 1 Cor. v. 10.
6 Matt, xxvii. 46.
9 Committentcs.
as it were unto some quarrel. For they are said
to be engaged that are challenged to quarrel.
If then so it is, let us beware of men that en-
gage our soul. What is, " That engage our
soul"? First provoking us to withstand God,
in order that in our evil things God may dis-
please us. For when art thou right, so that
to thee the God of Israel may be good, good to
men right in heart ? IO When art thou right? Wilt
thou hear? When in that good which thou
doest, God is pleasing to thee ; but in that evil
which thou sufferest, God is not displeasing to
thee. See ye what I have said, brethren, and
be ye on your guard against men that engage
your souls. For all men that deal with you in
order to make you be wearied in sorrows and
tribulations, have this aim, namely, that God
may be displeasing to you in that which ye
suffer, and there may go forth from your mouth,
"What is this? For what have I done ? " Now
then hast thou done nothing of evil, and art
thou just, He unjust ? A sinner I am, thou say-
est, I confess, just I call not myself. But what,
sinner, hast thou by any means done so much
evil as he with whom it is well ? As much as
Gaiuseius?" I know the evil doings of him,
I know the iniquities of him, from which I,
though a sinner, am very far ; and yet I see
him abounding in all good things, and I am suf-
fering so great evil things. I do not then say,
0 God, " what have I done " to Thee, because
1 have done nothing at all of evil ; but because I
have not done so much as to deserve to suffer
these things. Again, art thou just, He unjust?
Wake up, wretched man, thy soul hath been en-
gaged ! I have not, he saith, called myself just.
What then sayest thou? A sinner I am, but
I did not commit so great sins, as to deserve
to suffer these things. Thou sayest not then to
God, just I am, and Thou art unjust : but thou
sayest, unjust I am, but Thou art more unjust.
Behold thy soul hath been engaged, behold now
thy soul wageth war. What ? Against whom ?
Thy soul, against God ; that which hath been
made against Him by whom it was made. Even
because thou art in being to cry out against
Him, thou aYt ungrateful. Return, then, to the
confession of thy sickness, and beg the healing
hand of the Physician. Think thou not they
are happy who flourish for a time. Thou art
being chastised, they are being spared : per-
chance for thee chastised and amended an in-
heritance is being kept in reserve. . . . Lastly,
see what followeth, " Let them put on confusion
and shame, that think evil things to me."
" Confusion and shame," confusion because of
a bad conscience, shame because of modesty.
Let this befall them, and they will be good. . . .
>° Ps. lxxiii. 1.
» A I. Gaius.
320
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXI.
13. " But I alway in Thee will hope, and will
add to all Thy praise " (ver. 14). What is this?
" I will add to all Thy praise," ought to move
us. More perfect wilt thou make the praise of
God ? Is there anything to be superadded ? If
already that is all praise, wilt thou add anything?
God was praised in all His good deeds, in every
creature of His, in the whole establishment of
all things, in the government and regulation
of ages, in the order of seasons, in the height of
Heaven, in the fruitfulness of the regions of
earth, in the encircling of the sea, in every ex-
cellency of the creature everywhere brought
forth, in the sons of men themselves, in the
giving of the Law, in delivering His people from
the captivity of the Egyptians, and all the rest of
His wonderful works : not yet He had been
praised for having raised up flesh unto life eter-
nal. Be there then this praise added by the
Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ : in order
that here we may perceive His voice above all
past praise : thus it is that we rightly understand
this also. .'. .
14. " My mouth shall tell out Thy righteous-
ness " (ver. 15) : not mine. From thence I will
add to all Thy praise : because even that I am
righteous, if righteous I am, is Thy righteousness
in me, not mine own : for Thou dost justify the
ungodly.' " All the day long Thy salvation."
What is, "Thy salvation "? Let no one assume
to himself, that he saveth himself, " Of the Lord
is Salvation."2 Not any one by himself saveth
himself, " Vain is man's salvation." ' " All the
day long Thy Salvation : " at all times. Something
of adversity cometh, preach the Salvation of the
Lord : something of prosperity cometh, preach
the Salvation of the Lord. Do not preach in
prosperity, and hold thy peace in adversity :
otherwise there will not be that which hath been
said, " all the day long." For all the day long is
day together with its own night. Do we when
we say, for example, thirty days have gone by,
mention the nights also ; do we not under the
very term days include the nights also ? In Gene-
sis what was said ? " The evening was made, and
the morning was made, one day." 4 Therefore a
whole day is the day together with its own night :
for the night doth serve the day, not the day the
night. Whatever thou doest in mortal flesh,
ought to serve righteousness : whatever thou
doest by the commandment of God, be it not
done for the sake of the advantage of the flesh,
lest day serve night. Therefore all the day long
speak of the praise of God, to wit, in prosperity
and in adversity ; in prosperity, as though in the
day time ; in adversity, as though in the night
time : all the day long nevertheless speak of the
praise of God, so that thou mayest not have
1 Rom. iv. 5,
* Gen. i. J.
» Ps. iii. 8.
» Ps. U. 11.
sung to no purpose, " I will bless God at every
time, alway the praise of Him is in my
mouth." 5 . . .
15. Therefore, he saith, "For I have not
known tradings."6 What are these tradings?
Let traders hear and change their life ; and if
they have been such, be not such ; let them not
know what they have been, let them forget ;
lastly, let them not approve, not praise ; let them
disapprove, condemn, be changed, if trading is
a sin. For on this account, O thou trader, be-
cause of a certain eagerness for getting, when-
ever thou shalt have suffered loss, thou wilt
blaspheme ; and there will not be in thee that
which hath been spoken of, " all the day long
Thy praise." But whenever for the price of the
goods which thou art selling, thou not only liest,
but even falsely swearest ; how in thy mouth all
the day long is there the praise of God ? While,
if thou art a Christian, even out of thy mouth
the name of God is being blasphemed, so that
men say, see what sort of men are Christians !
Therefore if this man for this reason speaketh
the praise of God all the day long, because he
hath not known tradings ; let Christians amend
themselves, let them not trade. But a trader
saith to me, behold I bring indeed from a dis-
tant quarter merchandise unto these places,
wherein there are not those things which I have
brought, by which means I may gain a living : I
ask but as reward for my labour, that I may sell
dearer than I have bought : for whence can I
live, when it hath been written, " the worker is
worthy of his reward "? » But he is treating of
lying, of false swearing. This is the fault of me,
not of trading : for I should not, if I would, be
unable to do without this fault. I then, the
merchant, do not shift mine own fault to trading :
but if I lie, it is I that lie, not the trade. For I
might say, for so much I bought, but for so much
I will sell ; if thou pleasest, buy. For the buyer
hearing this truth would not be offended, and
not a whit less all men would resort to me : be-
cause they would love truth more than gain. Of
this then, he saith, admonish me, that I lie not,
that I forswear not ; not to relinquish business
whereby I maintain myself. For to what dost
thou put me when thou puttest me away from
this? Perchance to some craft? I will be a
shoemaker, I will make shoes for men. Are
not they too liars ? are not they too false-swearers ?
Do they not, when they have contracted to
make shoes for one man, when they have re-
ceived money from another man, give up that
which they were making, and undertake to make
for another, and deceive him for whom they
have promised to make speedily? Do they not
often say, to-day I am about it, to-day I'll get
5 Ps. xxxiv.
7 Luke x. 7.
• E. V, " For I know not the number thereof."
Psalm LXXL]
ON THE PSALMS.
321
them done? Secondly, in the very sewing do
they not commit as many frauds? These are
their doings and these are their sayings : but
they are themselves evil, not the calling which
they profess. All evil artificers, then, not fearing
God, either for gain, or for fear of loss or want,
do lie, do forswear themselves ; there is no con-
tinual praise of God in them. How then dost
thou withdraw me from trading? Wouldest
thou that I be a farmer, and murmur against
God thundering, so that, fearing hail, I consult a
wizard, in order to learn what to do to protect
me against the weather ; so that I desire famine
for the poor, in order that I may be able to sell
what I have kept in store? Unto this dost thou
bring me? But good farmers, thou sayest, do
not such things. Nor do good traders do those
things. But why, even to have sons is an evil
thing, for when their head is in pain, evil and
unbelieving mothers seek for impious charms
and incantations? These are the sins of men,
not of things. A trader might thus speak to me
— Look then, O Bishop, how thou understand
the tradings which thou hast read in the Psalm :
lest perchance thou understand not, and yet for-
bid me trading. Admonish me then how I
should live ; if well, it shall be well with me :
one thing however I know, that if I shall have
been evil, it is not trading that maketh me so,
but my iniquity. Whenever truth is spoken,
there is nothing to be said against it.
16. Let us inquire then what he hath called
tradings, which indeed he that hath not known,
all the day long doth praise God. Trading '
even in the Greek language is derived from ac-
tion, and in the Latin from want of inaction : but
whether it be from action or want of inaction, let
us examine what it is. For they that are active
traders, rely as it were upon their own action,
they praise their works, they attain not to the
grace of God. Therefore traders are opposed
to that grace which this Psalm doth commend.
For it doth commend that grace, in order that
no one may boast of his own works. Because
in a certain place is said, " Physicians shall not
raise to life,"2 ought men to abandon medicine?
But what is this? Under this name are under-
stood proud men, promising salvation to men,
whereas " of the Lord is Salvation." 3 . . . With
reason the Lord drave from the Temple them
to whom He said, " It is written, My House
shall be called the House of prayer, but ye have
made it a house of trading ; " 4 that is, boasting
of your works, seeking no inaction, nor hearing
the Scripture speaking against your unrest and
trading, " be ye still, and see that I am the
Lord." 5 . . .
1 Negotiatio, Lat.
2 Ps. Ixxxviii. 10.
* Matt. xxi. 13. E. V
irpayjudreta, Gr.
den of robbers.'
' Ps. iii. 8.
3 Ps. xlvi. 10.
17. But there is in some copies, " For I have
not known literature." Where some books have
" trading," there others " literature : " how they
may accord is a hard matter to find out ; and
yet the discrepancy of interpreters perchance
showeth the meaning, introduceth no error. Let
us inquire then how to understand literature
also, lest we offend grammarians in the same
way as we did traders a little before : because a
grammarian too may live honourably in his call-
ing, and neither forswear nor lie. Let us exam-
ine then the literature which he hath not known,
in whose mouth all the day long is the praise of
God. There is a sort of literature of the Jews :
for to them let us refer this ; there we shall find
what hath been said : just as when we were in-
quiring about traders, on the score of actions
and works, we found that to be called detestable
trading, which the Apostle hath branded, saying,
" For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and
willing to establish their own, to the righteous-
ness of God they were not made subject." 6 . . .
Just as then we found out the former charge
against traders, that is men boasting of action,
exalting themselves because of business which
admitteth no inaction, unquiet men rather than
good workmen ; because good workmen are
those in whom God worketh ; so also we find a
sort of literature among the Jews. . . . Moses
wrote five books : but in the five porches encir-
cling the pool,7 sick men were lying, but they
could not be healed. See how the letter re-
mained, convicting the guilty, not saving the
unrighteous. For in those five porches, a figure
of the five books, sick men were given over
rather than made whole. What then in that
place did make whole a sick man ? The moving
of the water. When that pool was moved there
went down a sick man, and there was made
whole one, one 8 because of unity : whatsoever
other man went down unto that same moving
was not made whole. How then was there com-
mended the unity of the Body crying from the
ends of the earth ? Another man was not healed,
except again the pool were moved. The moving
of the pool then did signify the perturbation of
the people of the Jews when the Lord Jesus
Christ came. For at the coming of an Angel
the water in the pool was perceived to be moved.
The water then encircled with five porches was
the Jewish nation encircled by the Law. And
in the porches the sick lay, and in the water
alone when troubled and moved they were
healed. The Lord came, troubled was the wa-
ter ; He was crucified, may He come down in
order that the sick man may be made whole.
What is, may He come down? May He hum-
ble Himself. Therefore whosoever ye be that
6 Rom. x. 3.
7 John v. 2.
6 Oxf mss. repeat unus.
322
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXI.
love the letter without grace, in the porches ye
will remain, sick ye will be, lying ill, not grow-
ing well. . . . For the same figure also it is that
Eliseus at first sent a staff by his servant to raise
up the dead child. There had died the son of
a widow his hostess ; it was reported to him, to
his servant he gave his staff: go thou, he saith,
lay it on the dead child. Did the prophet not
know what he was doing? The servant went
before, he laid the staff upon the dead, the dead
arose not. " For if there had been given a law
which could have made alive, surely out of the
law there had been righteousness." ■ The law
sent by the servant made not alive : and yet he
sent his staff by the servant, who himself after-
wards followed, and made alive.2 For when that
infant arose not, Eliseus came himself, now
bearing the type of the Lord, who had sent be-
fore his servant with the staff, as though with the
Law : he came to the child that was lying dead,
he laid his limbs upon it. The one was an in-
fant, the other a grown man : he contracted and
shortened i'n a manner the size of his full growth,
in order that he might fit the dead child. The
dead then arose, when he being alive adapted
himself to the dead : and the Master did that
which the staff did not ; and grace did that
which the letter did not. They then that have
remained in the staff, glory in the letter ; and
therefore are not made alive. But I will to
glory concerning Thy grace. ... In that same
grace I glorying " literature have not known : "
that is, men on the letter relying, and from grace
recoiling, with whole heart I have rejected.
1 8. With reason there followeth, " I will enter
into the power of the Lord : " not mine own, but
the Lord's. For they gloried in their own power
of the letter, therefore grace joined to the letter
they knew not. . . . But because " the letter kill-
eth, but the Spirit maketh alive : " 3 "I have not
known literature, and I will enter into the power
of the Lord." Therefore this verse following
doth strengthen and perfect the sense, so as to
fix it in the hearts of men, and not suffer any
other interpretation to steal in from any quarter.
" O Lord, I will be mindful of Thy righteousness
alone" (ver. 16). Ah! "alone." Why hath he
added "alone," I ask you? It would suffice to
say, " I will be mindful of Thy righteousness."
" alone," he saith, entirely : there of mine own I
think not. " For what hast thou which thou hast
not received? But if also thou hast received,
why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received." 4
Thy righteousness alone doth deliver me, what is
mine own alone is nought but sins. May I not
glory then of my own strength, may I not re-
main in the letter ; may I reject " literature,"
that is, men glorying of the letter, and on their
1 Gal. iii. 21.
* i Cor. iv. 7.
8 3 Kings iv, ao-36. 3 3 Cor. iii. 6.
own strength perversely, like men frantic, rely-
ing : may I reject such men, may I enter into
the power of the Lord, so that when I am weak,
then I may be mighty ; in order that Thou in
me mayest be mighty, for, " I will be mindful of
Thy righteousness alone."
19. "O God, Thou hast taught me from my
youth" (ver. 17). What hast thou taught me?
That of Thy righteousness alone I ought to be
mindful. For reviewing my past life, I see what
was owing to me, and what I have received in-
stead of that which was owing to me. There
was owing punishment, there hath been paid
grace : there was owing hell, there hath been
given life eternal. " O God, Thou hast taught
me from my youth." From the very beginning
of my faith, wherewith Thou hast renewed me,
Thou didst teach me that nothing had preceded
in me, whence I might say that there was owing
to me what Thou hast given. For who is turned
to God save from iniquity? Who is redeemed
save from captivity? But who can say that un-
just was his captivity, when he forsook his Cap-
tain and fell off to the deserter ? God is for our
Captain,* the devil a deserter : the Captain gave
a commandment, the deserter suggested guile :5
where were thine ears between precept and de-
ceit? was the devil better than God ? Better he
that revolted7 than He that made thee? Thou
didst believe what the devil promised, and didst
find what God threatened. Now then out of
captivity being delivered, still however in hope,
not yet in substance, walking by faith, not yet
by sight, " O God," he saith, " Thou hast taught
me from my youth." From the time that I have
been turned to Thee,8 renewed by Thee who had
been made by Thee, re-created who had been
created, re-formed who had been formed : from
the time that I have been converted, I have
learned that no merits of mine have preceded,
but that Thy grace hath come to me gratis, in
order that I might be mindful of Thy righteous-
ness alone.
20. What next after youth? For, "Thou hast
taught me," he saith, " from my youth : " what
after youth ? For in that same first conversion
of thine thou didst learn, how before conver-
sion thou wast not just, but iniquity preceded,
in order that iniquity being banished, there might
succeed love : and having been renewed into a
new man, only in hope, not yet in substance,
thou didst learn how nothing of thy good had
preceded, and by the grace of God thou wast
converted to God : now perchance since the
time that thou hast been converted wilt thou
have anything of thine own, and on thy own
3 Impcralor.
6 Gen. ii. 17, iii. 5.
7 De/ecit ; al. te fuficft, " that infected thee.
8 [Augustin here talks like the poet Cowper, or like Wesley and
Whitefield: and the fact is very instructive in connection with his
doctrine of baptism. Sec Cowper's " Truth," line 17th from close. —
C.J
Psalm LXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
323
strength oughtest thou to rely? Just as men are
wont to say, now leave me, it was necessary for
thee to show me the way ; it is sufficient, 1 will
walk in the way. And he that hath shown thee
the way, " wilt thou not that I conduct thee to
the place?" But thou, if thou art conceited,
" let me alone, it is enough, I will walk in the
way." Thou art left, and through thy weakness
again thou wilt lose the way. Good were it for
thee that He should have conducted thee, who
first put thee in the way. But unless He too
lead thee, again also thou wilt stray : say to Him
then, " Conduct me, O Lord, in Thy way, and
I will walk in Thy truth." ' But thy having
entered on the way, is youth, the very renewal
and beginning of the faith. For before thou
wast walking through thy own ways a vagabond ;
straying through woody places, through rough
places, torn in all thy limbs, thou wast seeking
a home, that is, a sort of settlement of thy spirit,
where thou mightest say, it is well ; and being
in security mightest say it, at rest from every
uneasiness, from every trial, in a word from every
captivity ; and thou didst not find. What shall I
say? Came there to thee one to show thee the
way? There came to thee the Way itself, and
thou wast set therein by no merits of thine pre-
ceding, for evidently thou wast straying. What,
since the time that thou hast set foot therein
dost thou now direct thyself? Doth He that
hath taught thee the way now leave thee ? No,
he saith : " Thou hast taught me from my youth ;
and even until now I will tell forth Thy wonder-
ful works." For a wonderful thing is that
which still Thou doest ; namely, that Thou dost
direct me, who in the way hast put me : and
these are Thy wonderful works. What dost thou
think to be the wonderful works of God ? What
is more wonderful among God's wonderful works,
than the raising the dead? But am I by any
means dead, thou sayest? Unless dead thou
hadst been, there would not have been said to
thee, " Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall enlighten thee."1
Dead are all unbelievers, all unrighteous men ;
in body they live, but in heart they .are extinct.
But he that raiseth a man dead according to the
body, doth bring him back to see this light and
to breathe this air : but he that raiseth is not
himself light and air to him ; he beginneth to
see, as he saw before. A soul is not so resus-
citated. For a soul is resuscitated by God ;
though even a body is resuscitated by God : but
God, when He doth resuscitate a body, to the
world doth bring it back : when He doth resus-
citate a soul, to Himself He bringeth it back.
If the air of this world be withdrawn, there
dieth body : if God be withdrawn, there dieth
Ps. Ixxxvi. 1:
* Eph. v. 14.
soul. When then God doth resuscitate a soul,
unless there be with her He that hath resus-
citated, she being resuscitated liveth not. For
He doth not resuscitate, and then leave her to
live to herself: in the same manner as Lazarus,
when he was resuscitated after being four days
dead, was resuscitated by the Lord's corporal
presence. . . . The Lord withdrew from that
same city or from that spot, did Lazarus cease
to live ? Not so is the soul resuscitated : God
doth resuscitate her, she dieth if God shall
have withdrawn. For I will speak boldly, breth-
ren, but yet the truth. Two lives there are, one
of the body, another of the soul : as the life of
the body is the soul, so the life of the soul is
God : in like manner as, if the soul forsake, the
body dieth : so the soul dieth, if God forsake.
This then is His grace, namely, that He resusci-
tate and be with us. Because then He doth
resuscitate us from our past death, and doth
renew in a manner our life, we say to Him, " O
God, Thou hast taught me from my youth."
But because He doth not withdraw from those
whom He resuscitateth, lest when He shall have
withdrawn from them they die, we say to Him,
"and even until now I will tell forth Thy wonder-
ful works : " because while Thou art with me I
live, and of my soul Thou art the life, which will
die if she be left to herself. Therefore while
my life is present, that is, my God, " even until
now," what next?
21." And even unto oldness 3 and old age " *
(ver. 18). These are two terms for old age,
and are distinguished by the Greeks. For the
gravity succeeding youth hath another name
among the Greeks, and after that same gravity
the last age coming on hath another name ; for
Trpeo-fivTrjs signifieth grave, and yipmv old. But
because in the Latin language the distinction of
these two terms holdeth not, both words imply-
ing old age are inserted, oldness and old age :
but ye know them to be two ages. "Thou hast
taught me Thy grace from my youth ; and even
until now ; " after my youth, " I will tell forth
Thy wonderful works," because Thou art with
me in order that I may not die, who hast come
in order that I may rise : " and even unto old-
ness and old age," that is, even unto my last
breath, unless with me Thou shalt have been,
there will not be any merit of mine ; may Thy
grace alway remain with me. Even one man
would say this, thou, he, I : but because this
voice is that of a certain great Man, thijt is, of
the Unity itself, for it is the voice of the Church ;
let us investigate the youth of the Church.
When Christ came, He was crucified, dead, rose
again, called the Gentiles, they began to be con-
verted, became Martyrs strong in Christ, there
3 Scntcta.
« Senium.
324
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXI.
was shed faithful blood, there arose a harvest
for the Church : this is Her youth. But sea-
sons advancing let the Church confess, let Her
say, " Even until now I will tell forth Thy won-
derful works." Not only in youth, when Paul,
when Peter, when the first Apostles told : even
in advancing age I myself, that is, Thy Unity,
Thy members, Thy Body, " will tell forth Thy
marvellous works." What then? "And even
unto oldness and old age," I will tell forth Thy
wonderful works : even until the end of the
world here shall be the Church. For if She
were not to be here even unto the end of the
world ; to whom did the Lord say, " Behold, I
am with you always, even unto the consumma-
tion of the world " ? Why was it necessary that
these things should be spoken in the Scriptures ?
Because there were to be enemies of the Chris-
tian Faith who would say, '' for a short time are
the Christians, hereafter they shall perish, and
there shall come back idols, there shall come
back that which was before. How long shall be
the Christians? " ' " Even unto oldness and old
age : " that is, even unto the end of the world.
When thou, miserable unbeliever, dost expect
Christians to pass away, thou art passing away
thyself without Christians : and Christians even
unto the end of the world shall endure ; and as
for thee with thine unbelief when thou shalt have
ended thy short life, with what face wilt thou
come forth to the Judge, whom while thou wast
living thou didst blaspheme ? Therefore " from
my youth, and even until now, and even unto
oldness and old age, O Lord, forsake not me."
It will not be, as mine enemies say, even for a
time. " Forsake not me, until I tell forth Thine
arm to every generation that is yet to come."
And the Arm of the Lord hath been revealed
to whom ? 2 The Arm of the Lord is Christ.
Do not Thou then forsake me : let not them re-
joice that say, " only for a set time the Chris-
tians are." May there be persons to tell forth
Thine arm. To whom ? " To every generation
that is yet to come." If then it be to every
generation that is yet to come, it will be even
unto the end of the world : for when the world
is ended, no longer any generation will come on.
22. " Thy power and Thy righteousness " (ver.
19). That is, that I may tell forth to every
generation that is yet to come, Thine arm. And
what hath Thine arm effected? This then let
me tell forth, that same grace to every genera-
tion succeeding : let me say to every man that
is to be born, nothing thou art by thyself, on
God call thou, thine own are sins, merits are
God's : 3 punishment to thee is owing, and
when reward shall have come, His own gifts He
will crown, not thy merits. Let me say to every
1 Sec on Ps. xl. % 1 and note. Oxf. edition.
* Oxf. mss. add, " by grace given to thee."
2 Isa. liii. 1.
generation that is to come, out of captivity thou
hast come, unto Adam thou didst belong. Let
me say this to every generation that is to come,
that there is no strength of mine, no righteous-
ness of mine ; but " Thy strength and Thy
righteousness, O God, even unto the most high
mighty works which Thou hast made." " Thy
power and Thy righteousness," as far as what?
even unto flesh and blood ? Nay, " even unto
the most high mighty works which Thou hast
made." For the high places are the heavens,
in the high places are the Angels, Thrones, Do-
minions, Principalities, Powers : to Thee they
owe it that they are ; to Thee they owe it that
they live, to Thee they owe it that righteously
they live, to Thee they owe it that blessedly they
live. " Thy power and Thy righteousness,"
as far as what ? " Even unto the most high
mighty works which Thou hast made." Think
not that man alone belongeth to the grace
of God. What was Angel before he was made ?
What is Angel, if He forsake him who hath
created ? Therefore " Thy power and Thy
justice even unto the most high mighty works
which Thou hast made."
23. And man exalteth himself: and in order
that he may belong to the first captivity, he
heareth the serpent suggesting, " Taste, and ye
shall be as Gods." * Men as Gods? " O God,
who is like unto Thee?" Not any in the pit,
not in Hell, not in earth, not in Heaven, for all
things Thou hast made. Why doth the work
strive with the Maker? "O God, who is like
unto Thee?" But as for me, saith miserable
Adam, and Adam is 5 every man, while I per-
versely will to be like unto Thee, behold what
I have become, so that from captivity to Thee I
cry out : I with whom it was well under a good
king, have been made captive under my se-
ducer ; and cry out to Thee, because I have
fallen from Thee. And whence have I fallen
from Thee? While I perversely seek to be like
unto Thee. . . .
24. Ill straying, ill presuming, doomed to
die by withdrawing from the path6 of right-
eousness : behold he breaketh the command-
ment, he hath shaken off from his neck the
yoke of discipline, uplifted with high spirit he
hath broken in sunder the reins of guidance :
where is he now? Truly captive he crieth, "O
Lord, who is like unto Thee?" I perversely
willed to be like unto Thee, and I have been
made like unto a beast ! Under Thy dominion,
under Thy commandment, I was indeed like :
"But a man in honour set hath not perceived,
he hath been compared to beasts without sense,
* Gen. iii. 5.
5 Ben. " In Adam every man; " but it is noted that the mss.
omit " in."
* " Life," moat mss.
Psalm LXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
325
and hath been made like unto them." ' Now
out of the likeness of beasts cry though late and
say, " O God, who is like unto Thee? "
25. " How great troubles hast Thou shown to
me, many and evil!" (ver. 20). Deservedly,
proud servant. For thou hast willed perversely to
be like thy God, who hadst been made after the
image of thy Lord.2 Wouldest thou have it to
be well with thee, when withdrawing from that
good? Truly God saith to thee, if thou with-
dravvest from Me, and it is well with thee, I am
not thy good. Again, if He is good, and in the
highest degree good, and of Himself to Himself
good, and by no foreign good thing good, and is
Himself our chief good ; by withdrawing from
Him, what wilt thou be but evil? Also if He
is Himself our blessedness, what will there be to
one withdrawing from Him, except misery?
Return thou then after misery, and say, " O
Lord, who is like unto Thee ? How great trou-
bles hast Thou shown to me, many and evil ! "
26. But this was discipline ; admonition, not
desertion. Lastly, giving thanks, he saith what?
" And being turned Thou hast made me alive,
and from the bottomless places of the earth again
Thou hast brought me back." But when before ?
What is this " again " ? Thou hast fallen from a
high place, O man, disobedient slave, O thou
proud against thy Lord, thou hast fallen. There
hast come to pass in thee, " every one that exalt-
eth himself shall be humbled : " may there come
to pass in thee, " every one that humbleth him-
self shall be exalted." J Return thou from the
deep. I return, he saith, I return, I acknowl-
edge ; " O God, who is like unto Thee ? How
great troubles hast Thou shown to me, many
and evil ! and being turned Thou hast made
me alive, and from the bottomless places of
the earth again Thou hast brought me back."
" We perceive," I hear. Thou hast brought us
back from the bottomless places of the earth,
hast brought us back from the depth and drown-
ing of sin. But why " again " ? When had it
already been done ? Let us go on, if perchance
the latter parts of the Psalm itself do not explain
to us the thing which here we do not yet perceive,
namely, why he hath said " again." Therefore
let us hear : " How great troubles Thou hast
shown to me, many and evil ! And being
turned Thou hast made me alive, and from the
bottomless places of the earth again Thou hast
brought me back." What then? "Thou hast
multiplied Thy righteousness, and being turned
Thou hast comforted me, and from the bottom-
less places of the earth again Thou hast brought
me back" (ver. 21). Behold a second "again " !
If we labour to unravel this " again " when
written once, who will be able to unravel
1 Ps. xlix. 12.
2 Gen. i. 27.
3 Luke xiv. xi.
it when doubled ? Now " again " itself is a
redoubling, and once more there is written
" again." May He be with us from whom is
grace, may there be with us the arm also which
we are telling forth to every generation that is to
come : may He be with us Himself, and as with
the key of His Cross open to us the mystery
that is locked up. For it was not to no purpose
that when He was crucified the veil of the tem-
ple was rent in the midst, but to show that
through His Passion the secret things of all mys-
teries were opened.4 May He then Himself be
with men passing over unto Him, be the veil
taken away : 5 may our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ tell us why such a voice of the Prophet
hath been sent before, " Thou hast shown to me
troubles many and evil : and being turned Thou
hast made me alive, and from the bottomless
places of the earth again Thou hast brought me
back." Behold this is the first "again" which
hath been written. Let us see what this is, and
we shall see why there is a second " again."
27. . . . Therein Christ died, wherein thou art
to die : and therein Christ rose again, wherein
thou art to rise again. By His example He taught
thee what thou shouldest not fear, for what thou
shouldest hope. Thou didst fear death, He died :
thou didst despair of rising again, He rose again.
But thou sayest to me, He rose again, do I by
any means rise again? But He rose again in
that which for thee He received of thee. There-
fore thy nature in Him hath preceded thee ; and
that which was taken of thee, hath gone up be-
fore thee : therein therefore thou also hast
ascended. Therefore He ascended first, and we
in Him : because that flesh is of the human
race. . . . Behold one " again." Hear of its
being fulfilled from the Apostle : " If then ye
have risen with Christ, the things which are
above seek ye, where Christ is sitting on the
right hand of God ; the things which are above
mind ye, not the things which are upon the
earth."6 He then hath gone before : already we
also have risen again, but still in hope. Hear
the Apostle Paul saying this same thing : " Even
we ourselves groan in ourselves, looking for the
adoption, the redemption of our body." What
is it then that Christ hath granted to thee?
Hear that which followeth : " For by hope we
are saved : but hope which is seen is not hope.
For that which a man seeth, why doth he hope
for? But if that which we see not we hope
for, through patience we wait for it." We have
been brought back therefore again from the
bottomless places in hope. Why again? Be-
cause already Christ had gone before. But
because we shall rise again in substance, for now
in hope we are living, now after faith we are
4 Matt, xxvii. 51.
3 3 Cor. iii. 16.
6 Col. iii. i, a.
326
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXII.
walking ; we have been brought back from the
bottomless places of the earth, by believing in
Him who before us hath risen again from the
bottomless place of the earth. . . . Thou hast
heard one " again," thou hast heard the other
" again ; " one " again " because of Christ going
before ; and the other, yet however in hope, and
a thing which remaineth to be in substance.
" Thou hast multiplied Thy righteousness," '
already in me believing, already in those that
first have risen again in hope. ..." Thou hast
multiplied Thy righteousness, and being turned
Thou hast comforted me ; " and because of
the body to rise again at the end, " even from the
bottomless places of the earth again Thou hast
brought me back.
28. " For I will confess to Thee in the ves-
sels of a Psalm Thy truth " (ver. 22). The
vessels of a Psalm are a Psaltery. But what is a
Psaltery ? An instrument of wood and strings.2
What doth it signify ? There is some difference
between it and a harp : . . . there seemeth to
be signified by the Psaltery the Spirit, by the
harp the flesh. And because he had spoken of
two bringings back of ours from the bottomless
places of the earth, one after the Spirit in hope,
the other after the body in substance ; hear thou
of these two : " For I will confess to Thee in
the vessels of a Psalm Thy truth." This after the
Spirit: concerning the body what? "I will
psalm to Thee on a harp, Holy One of Israel."
29. Again hear this because of that same
" again " and " again." "My lips shall exult when
I shall psalm to Thee " (ver. 23). Because lips
are wont to be spoken of both belonging to the
inner and to the outward man, it is uncertain in
what sense lips have been used : there followeth
therefore, " And my soul which Thou hast re-
deemed." Therefore regarding the inward lips
having been saved in hope, brought back from
the bottomless places of the earth in faith and
love, still however waitiug for the redemption of
our body,3 we say what ? Already he hath said,
" And my soul which Thou hast redeemed."
But lest thou shouldest think the soul alone re-
deemed, wherein now thou hast heard one
"again," "but still," he saith ; why still? "but
still my tongue also : " therefore now the tongue
of the body : " all day long shall meditate of
Thy righteousness" (ver. 24) : that is, in eter-
nity without end. But when shall this be?
Hereafter at the end of the world, at the resur-
rection of the body and the changing into the
Angelic state. Whence is it proved that this is
spoken of the end, " but still my tongue also all
day long shall meditate of Thy righteousness " ?
" When they shall have been confounded and shall
have blushed, that seek evil things for me."
1 Or, " justice."
* Rom. viii, 33.
a [Sec p. 170, tupra. — C]
When shall they be confounded, when shall they
blush, save at the end of the world ? For in two
ways they shall be confounded, either when they
shall believe in Christ, or when Christ shall have
come. For so long as the Church is here, so
long as grain groaneth amid chaff, so long as
wheat groaneth amid tares,4 so long as vessels of
mercy groan amid vessels of wrath made for dis-
honour,5 so long as lily groaneth amid thorns,
there will not be wanting enemies to say, " When
shall he die, and his name perish? " 6 " Behold
there shall come the time when Christians shall
be ended and shall be no more : as they began
at a set time, so even unto a particular time they
shall be." But while they are saying these things
and without end 7 are dying, and while the
Church is continuing preaching the Arm of the
Lord 8 to every generation that is to come ; there
shall come Himself also at last in His glory,9
there shall rise again all the dead, each with his
cause : there shall be severed good men to the
right hand, but evil men to the left, and they
shall be confounded that did insult, they shall
blush that did mock : and so my tongue after
resurrection shall meditate of Thy righteousness,
all day long of Thy praise, " when they shall
have been confounded and shall have blushed,
that seek evil things for me."
PSALM LXXII.10
1. " For Salomon " indeed this Psalm's title
is fore-noted : but things are spoken of therein
which could not apply to that Salomon king of
Israel after the flesh, according to those things
which holy Scripture speaketh concerning him :
but they can most pertinently apply to the Lord
Christ. Whence it is perceived, that the very
word Salomon is used in a figurative sense, so
that in him Christ is to be taken. For Salomon
is interpreted peace-maker : and on this account
such a word to Him most truly and excellently
doth apply, through Whom, the Mediator, having
received remission of sins, we that were enemies
are reconciled to God. For " when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son." " The Same is Himself that
Peace-maker. . . . Since then we have found
out the true Salomon, that is, the true Peace-
maker : next let us observe what the Psalm doth
teach concerning Him.
2. " O God, Thy judgment to the King give
Thou, and Thy justice to the King's Son " (ver.
1). The Lord Himself in the Gospel saith,
" The Father judgeth not any one, but all judg-
ment He hath given to the Son : " " this is then,
* Matt. Hi. is, xiii. 30. 3 3 Tim. ii. 30. 6 Pa. xli 5.
7 " Faith," most mss. 8 [Sec A. N. F. vol. v. 516, 520. — C.J
9 Matt. xxv. 31. » Lat. LXXI. " Rom. v. 10.
13 Joha V. 33.
Psalm LXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
327
"O God, Thy judgment to the King give Thou."
He that is King is also the Son of the King :
because God the Father also is certainly King.
Thus it hath been written, that the King made a
marriage for His Son.' But after the manner of
Scripture the same thing is repeated. For that
which he hath said in, " Thy judgment ; " the
same he hath otherwise expressed in, " Thy jus-
tice : " and that which he hath said in, " the
King," the same he hath othenvise expressed in,
" to the King's Son." . . . But these repetitions
do much commend the divine sayings, whether
the same words, or whether in other words the
same sense be repeated : and they are mostly
found in the Psalms, and in the kind of discourse
whereby the mind's affection is to be awakened.
3. Next there followeth, " To judge Thy
people in justice, and Thy poor in judgment "
(ver. 2). For what purpose the royal Father
gave to the royal Son His judgment and His
justice is sufficiently shown when he saith, " To
judge Thy people in justice ; " that is, for the
purpose of judging Thy people. Such an idiom
is found in Salomon : " The Proverbs of Salo-
mon, son of David, to know wisdom and disci-
pline : "2 that is, the Proverbs of Salomon, for
the purpose of knowing wisdom and discipline.
So, " Thy judgment give Thou, to judge Thy
people : " that is, " Thy judgment " give Thou for
the purpose of judging Thy people. But that
which he saith before in, " Thy people," the
same he saith afterwards in, " Thy poor : " and
that which he saith before in, " in justice ; " the
same afterward in, " in judgment : " according
to that manner of repetition. Whereby indeed
he showeth, that the people of God ought to be
poor, that is, not proud, but humble. For,
" blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of Heaven." 3 In which poverty even
blessed Job was poor even before he had lost
those great earthly riches. Which thing for this
reason I thought should be mentioned, because
there are certain persons who are more ready to
distribute all their goods to the poor,4 than
themselves to become the poor of God. For
they are puffed up with boasting wherein they
think their living well should be ascribed to
themselves, not to the grace of God : and
therefore now they do not even live well, how-
ever great the good works which they seem to
do. . . .
4. But seeing that he hath changed the order
of the words (though he had first said, " O
God, Thy judgment to the King give Thou, and
Thy justice to the King's'Son," putting judgment
first, then justice), and hath put justice first, then
judgment, saying, "To judge Thy people in
justice, and Thy poor in judgment : " he doth
1 Matt. xxii. 2.
* God's poor.
1 Prov. i. j.
3 Matt. v. 3.
more clearly show that he hath called judgment
justice, proving that there is no difference made
by the order in which the word is placed,
because it signifieth the same thing. For it is
usual to say " wrong judgment " of that which
is unjust : but justice iniquitous or unjust we are
not wont to speak of. For if wrong and un-
just it be ; no longer must it be called justice.
Again, by putting down judgment and repeating
it under the name of justice, or by putting down
justice and repeating it under the name of judg-
ment, he clearly showeth that he specially nameth
that judgment which is wont to be put instead
of justice, that is, that which cannot be under-
stood of giving an evil judgment. For in the
place where He saith, "Judge not according to
persons, but right judgment judge ye ; " 5 He
showeth that there may be a wrong judgment,
when He saith, " right judgment judge ye : "
lastly, the one He doth forbid, the other He doth
enj»in. But when without any addition He
speaketh of judgment, He would at once have
just judgment to be understood : as is that which
He saith, " Ye forsake the weightier matters of
the Law, mercy and judgment."6 That also
which Jeremiah saith is, " making his riches
not with judgment." I He saith not, making his
riches by wrong or unjust judgment, or not with
judgment right or just, but not with judgment :
calling not anything judgment but what is right
and just.
5. "Let the mountains bear peace to the
people, and the hills justice" (ver. 3). The
mountains are the greater, the hills the less.
These are without doubt those which another
Psalm hath, " little with great." 8 For those
mountains did exult like rams, and those hills
like lambs of the sheep, at the departure of
Israel out of Egypt, that is, at the deliverance
of the people of God from this world's servi-
tude. Those then that are eminent in the
Church for passing sanctity, are the mountains,
who are meet to teach other men also,9 by so
speaking as that they may be faithfully taught,
by so living as that they may imitate them to
their profit : but the hills are they that follow the
excellence of the former by their own obedience.
Why then " the mountains peace : and the hills
justice " ? '° Would there perchance have been
no difference, even if it had been said thus,
Let the mountains bear justice to the people
and the hills peace ? For to both justice, and
to both peace is necessary : and it may be that
under another name justice herself may have been
called peace. For this is true peace, not such
as unjust men make among them. Or rather
5 John vii. 24. 6 Matt, xxiii. 23. 7 Jer. xvii. 11.
8 Ps. cxiv. 4, 6. 9 2 Tim. ii. 2.
10 [Coleridge has justly remarked on the feebleness of this Latin
word justice, as compared with our English " righteousness." — C.]
328
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXII.
with a distinction not to be overlooked must
that be understood which he saith, " the moun-
tains peace, and the hills justice " ? For men
excelling in the Church ought to counsel for
peace with watchful care ; lest for the sake of
their own distinctions by acting proudly they
make schisms and dissever the bond of union.
But let the hills so follow them by imitation and
obedience, that they prefer Christ to them : lest
being led astray by the empty authority of evil
mountains (for they seem to excel), they tear
themselves away from the Unity of Christ. . . .
6. Thus also most pertinently may be under-
stood, " let the mountains bear peace to the
people," namely, that we understand the peace
to consist in the reconciliation whereby we are
reconciled to God : for the mountains receive
this for His people. ..." Let the mountains,
therefore, receive peace for the people, and the
hills justice : " so that in this manner, both being
at one, there may come to pass that which hath
been written, " justice and peace have kissed one
another." ' But that which other copies have,
" let the mountains receive peace for the people,
and let the hills : " I think must be understood
of all sorts of preaching of Gospel peace, whether
those that go before, or those that follow after.
But in these copies this followeth, " in justice
He shall judge the poor of the people." But
those copies are more approved of which have
that which we have expounded above, " let the
mountains bear peace to the people, and the hills
justice." But some have, " to Thy people ; "
some have not to " Thy," but only " to the
people."
7. " He shall judge the poor of the people,
and shall save the sons of the poor" (ver. 4).
The poor and the sons of the poor seem to me
to be the very same, as the same city is Sion and
the daughter of Sion. But if it is to be under-
stood with a distinction, the poor we take to
be the mountains, but the sons of the poor
the hills : for instance, Prophets and Apostles, the
poor, but the sons of them, that is, those that
profit under their authority, the sons of the poor.
But that which hath been said above, " shall
judge ; " and afterwards, " shall save ; " is as it
were a sort of exposition in what manner He
shall judge. For to this end He shall judge,
that He may save, that is, may sever from those
that are to be destroyed and condemned, those
to whom He giveth " salvation ready to be
revealed at the " last time.2 For by such men to
Him is said, " Destroy not with ungodly men
my soul : " ' and, " Judge Thou me, O God, and
sever my cause from the nation unholy." 4 We
must observe also that he saith not, He shall
judge the poor people, but, " the poor of the
1 Pi. lxxxv. 10.
* IV xliii. 1.
1 Pet. i. 5.
3 Ps. xxvi. 9.
people." For above when he had said, " to
judge Thy people in justice and Thy poor in
judgment," ' the same he called the people of God
as His poor, that is, only the good and those that
belong to the right hand side. But because in
this world those for the right and those for the
left feed together, who, like lambs and goats at
the last are to be put asunder ; 6 the whole, as it
is mingled together, he hath called by the name
of the People. And because even here he
putteth judgment in a good sense, that is, for
the purpose of saving : therefore he saith, " He
shall judge the poor of the people," that is,
shall sever for salvation those that are poor
among the people. " And He shall humble the
false-accuser." No false-accuser can be more
suitably recognised here than the devil. False
accusation in his business. " Doth Job worship
God gratis? " ' But the Lord Jesus doth humble
him, by His grace aiding His own, in order that
they may worship God gratis, that is, may take
delight in the Lord.8 He humbled him also
thus ; because when in Him the devil, that is,
the prince of this world, had found nothing,'' he
slew Him by the false accusations of the Jews,
whom the false-accuser made use of as his
vessels, working in the sons of unbelief.10 . . .
8. "And He shall endure to the sun," or, "shall
endure with the sun " (ver. 5). For thus some
of our writers have thought would be more
exactly translated that which in the Greek is
o-vfiLTrapafKvtL. But if in Latin it could have been
expressed in one word, it must have been ex-
pressed by compermanebit : however, because
in Latin the word cannot be expressed, in
order that the sense at least might be translated,
it hath been expressed by, " He shall endure
with the sun." For He shall co-endure to the
sun is nothing else but, " He shall endure with
the sun." But what great matter is it for Him
to endure with the sun, through whom all things
were made, and without whom nothing was
made," save that this prophecy hath been sent
before for the sake of those who think that the
religion of the Christian name up to a particular
time in this world will live, and afterwards will
be no more?'2 "He shall endure" therefore
" with the sun," so long as the sun riseth and
setteth, that is, so long as these times revolve,
there shall not be wanting the Church of God,
that is, Christ's body on earth. But that which
he addeth, " and before the moon, generations
of generations : " he might have expressed by,
and before the sun, that is, both with the sun
and before the sun : which would have been
understood by both with times and before times.
That then which goeth before time is eternal ;
5 Ps. lxxii. 3.
8 Ps. xxxvii. 4.
11 John i. 3.
* Matt. xxv. 32.
9 John xiv. 30.
la t D. „
7 Job i. 9.
° Eph. u. a.
9 John xtv. 30. IO fc.ph.
■ See on Ps. xli. p. 138, note 9
Psalm LXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
329
and that is truly to be held eternal which by no
time is changed, as, " in the beginning was the
Word." ' But by the moon he hath chosen rather
to intimate the waxings and wanings of things
mortal. Lastly, when he had said, " before the
moon," wishing in a manner to explain for what
purpose he inserted the moon, " generations," he
saith, " of generations." As though he were
saying, before the moon, that is, before the gen-
erations of generations which pass away in the
departure and succession of things mortal, like
the lunar wanings and waxings. And thus what
is better to be understood by His enduring
before the moon, than that He taketh precedence
of all mortal things by immortality ? Which also
as followeth may not impertinently be taken,
that whereas now, having humbled the false-
accuser, He sitteth at the right hand of the
Father, this is to endure with the sun. For
the brightness of the eternal glory is understood
to be the Son : 2 as though the Sun were the
Father, and the Brightness of Him His Son.
But as these things may be spoken of the invis-
ible Substance of the Creator, not as of that
visible creation wherein are bodies celestial, of
which bright bodies the sun hath the pre-emi-
nence, from which this similitude hath been
drawn : just as they are drawn even from things
earthly, to wit, stone, lion, lamb, man having two
sons, and the like : therefore having humbled
the false-accuser, He endureth with the sun :
because having vanquished the devil by the
Resurrection, He sitteth at the right hand of the
Father,3 where He dieth no more, and death no
longer over Him shall have dominion.4 This too
is before the moon, as though the First-born
from the dead were going before the Church,
which is passing on in the departure and succes-
sion of mortals. These are " the generations
of generations." Or perchance it is because
generations are those whereby we are begotten
mortally ; but generations of generations those
whereby we are begotten again immortally. And
such is the Church which He went before, in
order that He might endure before the moon,
being the First-born of the dead. To be sure,
that which is in the Greek yevtai ywtwv, some
have interpreted, not " generations," but, " of a
generation of generations : " because yevtas is
of ambiguous case in Greek, and whether it be
the genitive singular ttji ycvtas, that is, of the
generation, or the accusative plural ras yevtas,
that is, the generations, doth not clearly appear,
except that deservedly that sense hath been
preferred wherein, as though explaining what
he had called " the moon," he added in contin-
uation, " generations of generations,"
9. " And He shall come down like rain into a
1 John i. 1.
* Rom. vi. 9.
' Heb. i. 3.
3 Markxvi. 19.
fleece, and like drops distilling upon the earth "
(ver. 6). He hath called to our minds and
admonished us, that what was done by Gedeon
the Judge, in Christ hath its end. For he asked
a sign of the Lord, that a fleece laid on the floor
should alone be rained upon, and the floor should
be dry ; and again, the fleece alone should be
dry, and the floor should be rained upon ; and
so it came to pass.s Which thing signified, that,
being as it were on a floor in the midst of the
whole round world, the dry fleece was the former
people Israel. The same Christ therefore Him-
self came down like rain upon a fleece, when
yet the floor was dry : whence also He said, " I
am not sent but to the sheep which were lost of
the house of Israel." 5 There He chose out a
Mother by whom to receive the form of a servant,
wherein He was to appear to men : there the
disciples, to whom He gave this same injunction,
saying, " Into the way of the nations go ye not
away, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter
ye not : go ye first to the sheep which are lost of
the house of Israel." 7 When He saith, go ye first
to them, He showeth also that hereafter, when
at length the floor was to be rained upon, they
would go to other sheep also, which were not of
the old people Israel, concerning whom He
saith, " I have other sheep which are not of this
fold, it behoveth Me to bring in them also, that
there may be one flock and one Shepherd." 8
Hence also the Apostle : " for I say," he saith,
" that Christ was a minister of the Circumcision
for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of
the fathers." 9 Thus rain came down upon the
fleece, the floor being yet dry. But inasmuch as he
continueth, " but that the nations should glorify
God for His mercy : " IO that when the time came
on, that should be fulfilled which by the Prophet
He saith, " a people whom I have not known
hath served Me, in the hearkening of the ear it
hath obeyed Me : " " we now see, that of the
grace of Christ the nation of the Jews hath
remained dry, and the whole round world through
all nations is being rained upon by clouds full of
Christian grace. For by another word he hath
indicated the same rain, saying, " drops distill-
ing : " no longer upon the fleece, but " upon the
earth." For what else is rain but drops distill-
ing? But that the above nation under the name
of a fleece is signified, I think is either because
they were to be stripped of the authority of
teaching, just as a sheep is stripped of its skin ;
or because in a secret place He was hidkng that
same rain, which He willed not should be
preached to uncircumcision, that is, be revealed
to uncircumcised nations.
io. "There shall arise in His days justice
36-38.
5 Judg. vi. 36--
8 John x. 16.
11 Ps. xviii. 43.
6 Matt. xv. 24.
9 Rom. xv. 8.
'? Matt. x. 5, 6.
10 Rom. xv. g.
33°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm I.XXII.
and abundance of peace, until the moon be
taken away" (ver. 7). The expression tolla-
tur some have interpreted by "be taken
away," but others by "be exalted," translating
one Greek word, which is there used, avravaiptO-fj,
just as each of them thought good. But they
who have said, 'be removed," and they who
have said, " be taken away," do not so very much
differ. For by the expression, "be removed,"
custom doth teach us that there should be rather
implied, that a thing is taken away and is no
more, than that it is raised to a higher place :
but " be taken away " can be understood in no
other way at all, than that a thing is destroyed :
that is, it is no more : but by " be exalted,"
only that it is raised to a higher place. Which
indeed when it is put in a bad sense is wont to
signify pride : as is the passage, " In thy wisdom
be not exalted." ■ But in a good sense it
belongeth to a more exceeding honour, as, for
instance, when anything is being raised ; as is,
" In the nights exalt ye your hands unto holy
places, and bless ye the Lord." 2 Here then if
we have understood the expression, "be re-
moved," what will be, " until the moon be re-
moved," but that it be so dealt with that it be
no more? For perchance he willed this also
to be perceived, that mortality is to be no
longer, " when the last enemy shall be destroyed,
death : " ' so that abundance of peace may be
brought down so far as that nothing may with-
stand the felicity of the blessed from the in-
firmity of mortality : which will come to pass
in that age, of which we have the faithful
promise of God through Jesus Christ our Lord,
concerning which it is said, "There shall arise
in His days justice and abundance of peace : "
until, death being utterly overcome and de-
stroyed, all mortality be consumed. But if
under the term moon, not the mortality of the
flesh through which the Church is now passing,
but the Church Herself in general hath been
signified, which is to endure for everlasting,
being delivered from this mortality, thus must
be taken the expression, "There shall arise in
His days justice and abundance of peace, until
the moon be exalted ; " as though it were said,
There shall arise in His days justice, to conquer
the contradiction and rebellion of the flesh, and
whereby there may be made a peace so increas-
ing and abundant, until the moon be exalted,
that is, until the Church be lifted up, through
the glory of the Resurrection to reign with Him,
who went before Her in this glory, the first-
born of the dead, that He might sit at the right
hand of the Father ; 4 thus with the sun ' endur-
ing before the moon, in the place whereunto
hereafter was to be exalted the moon also.
1 Ecclus. xxxii. 4; Vulgate, xxxii. 6.
* x Car. xv. 26. 4 Mark xvi. 19.
2 Ps. cxxxiv. a.
* Or, "abiding."
11. "And He shall be Lord from sea even
unto sea, and from the river even unto the ends
of the round world " (ver. 8) : He to wit con-
cerning whom he had said, "There shall arise
in His days justice and abundance of peace,
until the moon be exalted."6 If the Church
here is properly signified under the term moon,
in continuation he showed how widely that same
Church He was going to spread abroad, when
He added, "and He shall be Lord from sea
even unto sea." For the land is encircled by
a great sea which is called the Ocean : from
which there floweth in some small part in the
midst of the lands, and maketh those seas
known to us, which are frequented by ships.
Again, in " from sea even unto sea " He hath
said, that from any one end of the earth even
unto any other end, He would be Lord, whose
name and power in the whole world were to
be preached and to prevail exceedingly. To
which, that there might not be understood in
any other manner, " from sea even unto sea : "
He immediately added, "and from the river
even unto the ends of the round world."
Therefore that which He saith in " even unto
the ends of the round world," the same He had
said before in " from sea even unto sea." But
in that which now He saith, " from the river,"
He hath evidently expressed that He willed
Christ to publish at length His power from that
place from whence also He began to choose
His disciples, to wit from the river Jordan,
where upon the Lord, on His baptism, when the
Holy Ghost descended, there sounded a voice
from Heaven, " This is My beloved Son." t
From this place then His doctrine and the
authority of the heavenly ministry setting out,
is enlarged even unto the ends of the round
world, when there is preached the Gospel of
the kingdom in the whole world, for a testimony
unto all nations : and then shall come the end.8
12. "In His presence shall fall down the
Ethiopians, and His enemies shall lick the
earth" (ver. 9). By the Ethiopians, as by a
part the whole, He hath signified all nations,
selecting that nation to mention especially by
name, which is at the ends of the earth. By
" in His presence shall fall down " hath been
signified, shall adore Him. And because there
were to be schisms in divers quarters of the
world, which would be jealous of the Church
Catholic spread abroad in the whole round
world, and again those same schisms dividing
themselves into the names of men, and by loving
the men under whose authority they had been
rent, opposing themselves to the glory of Christ
which is throughout all lands ; so when He had
said, " in His presence shall fall down the Ethi-
6 P». lxxii. 7.
f Matt. iii. 17.
8 Matt. xxiv. 14.
Psalm LXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
331
opians," He added, "and His enemies shall
lick the earth : " that is, shall love men, so that
they shall be jealous of the glory of Christ, to
whom hath been said, " Be Thou exalted above
the Heavens, O God, and above all the earth
Thy glory." ' For man earned to hear, " Earth
thou art, and unto earth thou shalt go." 2 By
licking this earth, that is, being delighted with
the vainly talking authority of such men, by
loving them, and by counting them for the most
pleasing of men, they gainsay the divine sayings,
whereby the Catholic Church hath been fore-
told, not as to be in any particular quarter of
the world, as certain schisms are, but in the
whole universe by bearing fruit and growing so
as to attain even unto the very Ethiopians, to
wit, the remotest and foulest of mankind.3
13. 4"The kings of Tharsis and the isles
shall offer gifts, the kings of the Arabians and
of Saba shall lead5 presents" (ver. 10). This
no longer requireth an expounder but a thinker ;
yea it doth thrust itself upon the sight not only
of rejoicing believers, but also of groaning
unbelievers — except perchance we must in-
quire why there hath been said, "shall lead
presents." For there are wont to be led those
things which can walk. For could it by any
means have been spoken with reference to the
sacrifice of victims? Far be it that such "right-
eousness " should arise in His days. But those
gifts which have been foretold as to be led,
seem to me to signify men, whom into the
fellowship of the Church of Christ the authority
of kings doth lead : although even persecuting
kings have led gifts, knowing not what they did,
in sacrificing the holy Martyrs. " And there shall
adore Him all kings of the earth, all nations
shall serve Him" (ver. 11).
14. But while he is explaining the reasons why
so great honour is paid Him by kings, and He
is served of all nations : " because He hath
delivered," he saith, " the needy man from the
mighty, and the poor man, to whom was no
helper" (ver. 12). This needy and poor
man is the people of men believing in Him.
In this people are also kings adoring Him. For
they do not disdain to be needy and poor, that
is, humbly confessing sins, and needing the
glory of God 6 and the grace of God, in order
that this King, Son of the King, may deliver
them from the mighty one. For this same
mighty one is he who above was called the
Slanderer : whom mighty to subdue men to
himself, and to hold them bound in captivity,
not his virtue did make, but men's sins. The
1 Ps. cviii. 5. 2 Gen. iii. 19.
3 [It must be borne in mind that the Hindoos as well as the sons
of Phut were so called. — C]
* Oxf. mss. add here: " Observe, brethren, that it is said in this
Psalm."
5 Vid. in/ra. 6 Rom. iii. 23.
same is himself also called strong; therefore
here mighty also. But He that hath humbled
the slanderer and hath entered into the house
of the strong man to bind him and to spoil his
vessels,7 He " hath delivered the needy and the
poor man." For this neither the virtue of
any one could accomplish, nor any just man,
nor any Angel. When then there was no helper,
by His coming He saved them Himself.
15. But it might occur to one; if because of
sins man was held by the devil, have sins pleased
Christ, who saved the needy man from the
mighty? Far be it. But " He it is that shall
spare the helpless and poor man " (ver. 13) :
that is, shall remit sins to the man, humble and
not trusting in his own merits, or hoping for
salvation because of his own virtue, but needing
the grace of his Saviour. But when he hath
added, "and the souls of the poor He shall
save : " he hath recommended to our notice both
the aids of grace ; both that which is for the re-
mission of sins, when he saith, " He shall spare
the poor and needy man ; " and that which doth
consist in the imparting of righteousness, when
he hath added, " and the souls of the poor He
shall save." For no one is meet of himself for
salvation (which salvation is perfect righteous-
ness), unless God's grace aid: because the
fulness of the law is nought but love, which doth
not exist in us of ourselves, but is shed abroad
in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which
hath been given unto us.8
16. " From usuries and iniquity He shall
redeem the souls of them " (ver. 14). What are
these usuries but sins, which are also called debts ?9
But I think they have been called usuries, because
more of ill is found in the punishments than
hath been committed in the sins. For, for
example's sake, while a man-slayer killeth only
the body of a man, but can no wise hurt the
soul ; of himself both soul and body is destroyed
in hell. Because of such despisers of present
commandment and deriders of future punishment
hath been said, " I coming would have exacted
with usuries," '" from these usuries are redeemed
the souls of the poor by that blood which hath
been shed for the remission of sins. He shall
redeem, I say, from usuries, by remitting sins
which owed larger punishments : but He shall
redeem from iniquity, by helping them by grace
even to do righteousness. Therefore the same
two things have been repeated which were said
above. For in that which is above, " He- shall
spare the helpless and poor man,"" there is
understood " from usuries : " but in that which
there he saith, " and the souls of the poor He
shall save ; " there seemeth to have been implied,
" from iniquity : " so that the words " He shall
7 Matt. xii. 29.
10 Matt. xxv. 27.
8 Rom v. 5.
11 Ps. lxxii. 13.
• Matt. vi. J2.
332
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXII.
redeem," are understood with both. So when
He shall spare the poor and helpless man, and
shall save, the souls of the poor: thus "from
usuries and iniquity He shall redeem the souls
of them. And honourable shall be the name of
Him in the presence of them." For they give
honour to His name for so great benefits, and
they respond that " meet and right it is " ' to
render thanks to the Lord their God. Or, as
some copies have' it, " and honourable is the
name of them in the presence of Him : " for even
if Christians seem despicable to this world, the
name of them in the presence of Him is hon-
ourable, who to them hath given it, no longer
remembering those names in His lips, whereby
before they used to be called, when they were
bound fast by the superstitions of the Gentiles,
or signed with names derived from their own
evil deserts, before they were Christians, which
name is honourable in the presence of Him,
even if it seemeth despicable to enemies.
17. "And He shall live, and there shall be
given to Him of the gold of Arabia" (ver. 15).
There would not have been said, " and He shall
live "(for of whom could not this be said, though
living for ever so brief a space of time on this
earth?) unless that life were being recommended
to our notice, wherein He " dieth no more, and
death over Him shall have no more dominion." 2
And thus, " and He shall live," that was despised
in death : for, as another Prophet saith, " there
shall be taken away from the earth the life of
Him." 3 But what is, " and there shall be given
to Him of the gold of Arabia " ? For the fact
that from thence even the former Salomon re-
ceived gold, in this Psalm hath been in a figure
transferred unto another true Salomon, that is,
the true Peace-maker. For the former did not
have dominion " from the river even unto the
ends of the round world." * Thus then hath been
prophesied, that even the wise men of this
world in Christ would believe. But by Arabia
we understand the Gentiles ; by gold wisdom,
which doth as much excel among all doctrines as
gold among metals. Whence hath been written,
" Receive ye prudence as silver,5 and wisdom as
proved gold." 6 " And they shall pray concerning
Himself alway." That which the Greek hath,
irtpl airou, some have interpreted by " concern-
ing Himself," some " for Himself," or " for Him."
But what is, " concerning Himself," except per-
chance that for which we pray, saying, "Thy
kingdom come"?' For Christ's coming shall
make present to believers the kingdom of God.
But how to understand " for Him " is difficult ;
1 Dig^num et jitstiim, used then, as still, in the service for Holy
Communion [In all the liturgies, according to Sir William Palmer
See A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 532, note 9. — C. J
2 Rom vi. 9. 3 Isa. liii. 8.
' Ps. Ixxii. 8. 5 '• And not silver," E. V.
6 Prov. viii. 10. 7 MatLvi. 10.
except that when prayer is made for the Church,
for Himself prayer is made, because she is His
Body. For concerning Christ and the Church
hath been sent before a great Sacrament," " there
shall be two in one flesh." But now that which
followeth, " all the day long," that is, in all time,
" they shall bless Him," is sufficiently evident.
18. " And there shall be a firmament on the
earth, on the tops of the mountains" (ver. 16).
For, " all the promises of God in Him are Yea," »
that is, in Him are confirmed : because in Him
hath been fulfilled whatever hath been prophesied
for our salvation. For the tops of the moun-
tains it is meet to understand as the authors
of the divine Scriptures, that is, those persons
through whom they were supplied : wherein He
is indeed Himself the Firmament : for unto
Him all things that have been divinely written
are ascribed. But this He willed should be on
earth ; because for the sake of those that are
upon earth, they were written. Whence He
came also Himself upon earth, in order that
He might confirm all these things, that is, in
Himself might show them to have been fulfilled.
" For it was necessary," He saith, " for all things
to be fulfilled which were written in the Law, and
the Prophets, and Psalms, concerning Me : " IO
that is, "in the tops of the mountains." " For
so there cometh in the last times the evident
Mount of the Lord, prepared on the summit of
the mountains : of which here he speaketh, " in
the tops of the mountains." " Highly super-
exalted above Libanus shall be His fruit." Lib-
anus we are wont to take as this world's dignity :
for Libanus is a mountain bearing tall trees,
and the name itself is interpreted whiteness.12
For what marvel, if above every brilliant state
of this world there is superexalted the fruit of
Christ, of which fruit the lovers have contemned
all secular dignities ? But if in a good sense we
take Libanus, because of the " cedars of Libanus
which He hath planted : " ,3 what other fruit must
be understood, that is being exalted above this
Libanus, except that whereof the Apostle speak-
eth when he is going to speak concerning that
love of his, "yet a pre-eminent way to you I
show " ? '4 For this is put forward even in the
first rank of divine gifts, in the place where he
saith, " but the fruit of the Spirit is love : " '5 and
with this are conjoined the remaining words as
consequent. " And they shall flourish from the
city like hay of the earth." Because city is used
ambiguously, and there is not annexed of Him,
or of God, for there hath not been said, " from
the city " of Him, or " from the city " of God,
but only " from the city : " in a good sense it is
understood, in order that from the city of God,
8 Eph. v. 3a.
11 Isa. ii. 2.
K 1 Cor. xii. 3X.
9 2 Cor. i 20.
12 Candidatio.
" Gal. v. 32.
10 Luke xxiv. 44.
13 Ps. civ. 10.
Psalm LXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
333
that is, from the Church, they may flourish like
grass ; but grass bearing fruit, as is that of wheat :
for even this is called grass ' in Holy Scripture ;
as in Genesis 2 there is a command for the earth
to bring forth every tree and every grass, and
there is not added every wheat : which without
doubt would not have been passed over unless
under the name of grass this also were under-
stood ; and in many other passages of the Scrip-
tures this is found. But if we must take, " and
they shall flourish like the grass of the earth,"
in the same manner as is said, " all flesh is grass,
and the glory of a man like the flower of grass : "3
certainly then that city must be understood
which doth intimate this world's society : for it
was not to no purpose that Cain was the first
to build a city.4 Thus the fruit of Christ being
exalted above Libanus, that is, above enduring
trees and undecaying timbers, because He is the
everlasting fruit, all the glory of a man accord-
ing to the temporal exaltation of the world is
compared to grass ; for by believers and by men
already hoping for life eternal temporal felicity
is despised, in order that there may be fulfilled
that which hath been written, " all flesh is grass,
and all the glory of flesh as the flower of grass :
the grass hath dried, the flower hath fallen off,
but the word of the Lord doth endure for ever."
There is the fruit of Him exalted above Libanus.
For always flesh hath been grass, and the glory
of flesh as the flower of grass : but because it
was not clearly proved •what felicity ought to
have been chosen and preferred, the flower of
grass was esteemed for a great matter : not only
it was by no means despised, but it was even
chiefly sought after. As if therefore at that time
He shall have begun to be thus, when there is
reproved and despised whatever used to flourish
in the world, thus hath been said, " superexalted
above Libanus shall be the fruit of Him, and
they shall flourish from the city like grass of the
earth : " that is, glorified above all things shall
be that which is promised for everlasting, and
compared to the grass of the earth shall be
whatever is counted a great matter in the world.
19. " Be," therefore, " the name of Him
blessed for ever : before the sun endureth the
name of Him" (ver. 17). By the sun times are
signified. Therefore for everlasting endureth
the name of Him. For eternity doth precede
times, and is not bounded by time. " And there
shall be blessed in Him all the tribes of the
earth." For in Him is fulfilled that which hath
been promised to Abraham. " For He saith
not, In seeds, as though in many ; but as though
in one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ." 5 But
to Abraham is said, " In thy Seed shall be blessed
1 Foenum.
3 Isa. xl. 6.
» Gal. iii. 16.
2 Gen. i. n. [See p. 206, supra.
* Gen. iv. 17.
-CI
all the tribes of the earth." 6 And not the sons
of the flesh but the sons of promise are counted
in the Seed.7 " All nations shall magnify Him."
As if in explanation there is repeated that which
above hath been said. For because they shall
be blessed in Him, they shall magnify Him ; not
of themselves making Him to be great, that of
Himself is great, but by praising and confessing
Him to be great. For thus we magnify God :
thus also we say, " Hallowed be Thy name," 8
which is indeed always holy.
20. " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who
hath done wonderful things alone" (ver. 18).
Contemplating all things above spoken of, a
hymn bursteth 9 forth ; and the Lord God of
Israel is blessed. For that is being fulfilled
which hath been spoken to that barren woman,
"and He that hath delivered Thee, the God
of Israel, shall Himself be called of the whole
earth." IO " He doeth " Himself " marvellous
things alone : " for whosoever do them, He doth
Himself work in them, " who doeth wonderful
things alone." " And blessed be the name of His
glory" for everlasting, and forage of age" (ver.
19). For what else should the Latin interpret-
ers have said, who could not have said for ever-
lasting, and for everlasting of everlasting ? For
it soundeth as if one thing were meant in the
expression " for everlasting," and another thing
in the expression " for age : " but the Greek hath
eis tov alu>va, kcu cis tov aitova. tov auuvof, which
perchance more meetly might have been ren-
dered by, " for age, and for age of age : " so
that by " for age," might have been understood
as long as this age ,2 endureth ; but " for age of
age," that which after the end of this is prom-
ised to be. " And there shall be fufilled with
the glory of Him every land : so be it, so be it."
Thou hast commanded, O Lord, so it is coming
to pass : so it is coming to pass, until that which
began with the river, may attain fully even unto
the ends of the round world.
PSALM LXXIII.-3
1. This Psalm hath an inscription, that is, a
title, " There have failed the hymns of David, the
son of Jesse.14 A Psalm '• of Asaph himself."
So many Psalms we have on the titles whereof
is written the name David, nowhere there is
added, " son of Jesse," except in this alone.
Which we must believe hath not been done to
no purpose, nor capriciously. For everywhere
6 Gen. xxii. 18. 7 Rom. ix. 8.
9 Lit. " is belched."
11 " Majesty," most MSS., Ben.
'I Lat. LXXII.
8 Matt. vi. 9.
10 Isa. liv. 5.
" Or, " world.'
l* This sentence in our version and in the Vulgate stands at the
end of the previous Psalm. [Where it is more significant. David
can prophesy no further concerning the glory that shall be revealed.
See A. N. F. vol. i. p. 211, note 3. — C.J
■5 Title of Psalm ixxiii.
334
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIII.
God doth make intimations to us, and to the
understanding thereof doth invite the godly study
of love. What is, " there have failed the hymns
of David, the son of Jesse"? Hymns are
praises of God accompanied with singing :
hymns are songs containing the praise of God.
If there be praise, and it be not of God, it is
no hymn : if there be praise, and God's praise,
and it be not sung, it is no hymn. It must
needs then, if it be a hymn, have these three
things, both praise, and that of God, and sing-
ing. What is then, "there have failed the
hymns " ? There have failed the praises which
are sung unto God. He seemeth to tell of a
thing painful, and so to speak deplorable. For
he that singeth praise, not only praiseth, but only
praiseth with gladness : he that singeth praise,
not only singeth, but also loveth him of whom
he singeth. In praise, there is the speaking
forth of one confessing ; in singing, the affection
of one loving. " There have failed " then " the
hymns of David," he saith : and he hath added,
" the son of Jesse." For David was king of
Israel, son of Jesse,' at a certain time of the Old
Testament, at which time the New Testament
was therein hidden, like fruit in a root. For if
thou seek fruit in a root, thou wilt not find, and
yet dost thou not find any fruit in the branches,
except that which hath gone forth from the root.
. . . And in like manner as Christ Himself to be
born after the flesh was hidden in the root, that
is in the seed of the Patriarchs, and at a certain
time must be revealed, as at the fruit appearing,
according as it is written, " there hath flourished
a shoot from the root of Jesse :"2 so also the
New Testament itself which is in Christ, in those
former times was hidden, being known to the
Prophets alone, and to the very few godly men,
not by the manifestation of things present, but
by the revelation of things future. For what
meaneth it, brethren (to mention but one
thing), that Abraham sending his faithful servant
to espouse a wife for his only son, maketh him
swear to him, and in the oath saith to him, " Put
thy hand under my thigh, and swear " ? 3 What
was there in the thigh of Abraham, where he put
his hand in swearing? What was there there,
except that which even then was promised to
him, " In thy seed shall be blessed all nations " ?4
Under the name of thigh, flesh is signified.
From the flesh of Abraham, through Isaac and
Jacob, and not to mention many names, through
Mary was our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. But that the root was in the Patriarchs,
how shall we show ? Let us question Paul. The
Gentiles now believing in Christ, and desiring as
it were to boast over the Jews who crucified
1 i Sam. xvi. 19. 3 Isa. xi. 1.
s Gen. xxiv. 2. [Seep. 148, note II, supra. — C.J
* Gen. xxii. 18.
Christ ; although also from that same people
there came another wall, meeting in the corner,
that is, in Christ Himself, the wall of uncircum-
cision, that is, of the Gentiles, coming from a
different quarter : when, I say, the nations were
lifting up themselves, he doth thus depress them.
" For if thou," he saith, " being cut out of the
natural wild olive, hast been grafted in among
them, do not boast against the branches : for if
thou boastest, thou dost not bear the root, but
the root thee." 5 Therefore he speaketh of
certain branches broken off from the root of the
Patriarchs because of unbelief, and the wild
olive therein graffed in, that it might be partaker
of the fatness of the olive, that is, the Church
coming out of the Gentiles. And who doth
graff the wild olive on the olive ? The olive is
wont to be graffed on the wild olive ; the wild
olive on the olive we never saw. For whosoever
may have done so will find no berries but those
of the wild olive. For that which is graffed in,
the same groweth, and of that kind the fruit is
found. There is not found the fruit of the root
but of the graft. The Apostle showing that God
did this thing by His Omnipotence, namely, that
the wild olive should be graffed into the root
of the olive, and should not bear wild berries, but
olive — ascribing it to the Omnipotence of God,
the Apostle saith this, " If thou hast been cut
out of the natural wild olive and against nature
hast been graffed into a good6 olive, do not
boast," he saith, " against the branches." 7 . . .
3. In the time then of the Old Testament,
brethren, the promises from our God to that
carnal people were earthly and temporal. There
was promised an earthly kingdom, there was
promised that land into which they were also
led, after being delivered from Egypt : by Jesus 8
son of Nave they were led into the land of
promise, where also earthly Jerusalem was
builded, where David reigned : they received
the land, after being delivered from Egypt, by
passing through the Red Sea. . . . Such were
also those promises, which were not to endure,
through which however were figured future prom-
ises which were to endure, so that all that
course of temporal promises was a figure and a
sort of prophecy of things future. Accordingly
when that kingdom was failing, where reigned
David, the son of Jesse, that is, one that was a
man, though a Prophet, though holy, because he
saw and foresaw Christ to come, of whose seed
also after the flesh He was to be bom : never-
theless a man, nevertheless not yet Christ, never-
theless not yet our King Son of God, but king
David son of Jesse : because then that kingdom
* Rom. xi. 17, 18.
6 Ben. notes that the word " good " is not in the mss. ; it is found
at Oxford, and probably in mss. used for earlier editions.
7 Rom. xi. 34, 18.
8 [t.t., Joshua the son of Nun. — C.J
Psalm LXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
335
was to fail, through the receiving of which king-
dom at that time God was praised by carnal
men ; for this thing alone they esteemed a great
matter, namely, that they were delivered tem-
porally from those by whom they were being
oppressed, and that they had escaped from perse-
cuting enemies through the Red Sea, and had
been led through the desert, and had found
country and kingdom : for this alone they praised
God, not yet perceiving the thing which God
was designing beforehand and promising in these
figures. In the failing therefore of those things
for which the carnal people, over whom reigned
that David, was praising God, " there failed the
hymns of David," not the Son of God, but
the " son of Jesse." . . .
4. Whose voice is the Psalm? "Of Asaph."'
What is Asaph? As we find in interpretations
from the Hebrew language into the Greek, and
those again translated to us from the Greek into
the Latin, Asaph is interpreted Synagogue.
It is the voice therefore of the Synagogue.
But when thou hast heard Synagogue, do not
forthwith abhor it, as if it were the murderer of
the Lord. That Synagogue was indeed the
murderer of the Lord, no man doubteth it : but
remember, that from the Synagogue were the
rams whereof we are the sons. Whence it is
said in a Psalm, " Bring ye to the Lord the sons
of rams."2 What rams are thence? Peter,
John, James, Andrew, Bartholomew, and the rest
of the Apostles. Hence also he too at first Saul,
afterwards Paul : that is, at first proud, after-
wards humble. . . . Therefore even Paul came
to us from the Synagogue, and Peter and the
other Apostles from the Synagogue. Therefore
when thou hast heard the voice of the Syna-
gogue, do not look to the deserving thereof, but
observe the offspring. There is speaking there-
fore in this Psalm, the Synagogue, after the fail-
ing of the hymns of David, the son of Jesse :
that is, after the failing of things temporal,
through which God was wont to be praised by the
carnal people. But why did these fail, except in
order that others might be sought for? That
there might be sought for what? Was it things
which were not there? No, but things which
were there being hidden in figures : not which
were not yet there,3 but which there as it were in
a sort were concealed in certain secret things of
mysteries. What things? "These," saith the
Apostle himself, " were our figures." 4 . . .
5. It was the Synagogue therefore, that is,
they that there worshipped God after a godly
sort, but yet for the sake of earthly things, for
the sake of these present things (for there are
ungodly men who seek the blessings of present
1 See Title of Psalm. * Ps. xxix.
3 Oxf. mss. add, " not which," etc.
* l Cor. x. 6.
1, Gr. and Lat.
things from demons : but this people was on
this account better than the Gentiles, because
although it were blessings present and temporal,
yet they sought them from the One God, who is
the Creator of all things both spiritual and cor-
poral). When therefore those godly men after
the flesh were observing — that is that Synagogue
which was made up of good men, men for the
time good, not spiritual men, such as were the
Prophets therein, such as were the few that
understood the kingdom heavenly, eternal —
that Synagogue, I say, observed what things it
received from God, and what things God prom-
ised to that people, abundance of things
earthly, land, peace, earthly felicity : but in
all these things were figures, and they not per-
ceiving what was there concealed in things
figured, thought that God gave this for a great
matter, and had nothing better to give to men
loving Him and serving Him : they remarked
and saw certain sinners, ungodly, blasphemers,
servants of demons, sons of the Devil, living in
great naughtiness and pride, yet abounding in
such things earthly, temporal, for which sort of
things they were serving God themselves : and
there sprang up a most evil thought in the heart,
which made the feet to totter, and almost slip
out of God's way. And behold this thought
was in the people of the Old Testament : I
would it be not in our carnal brethren, when
now openly there is being proclaimed the felicity
of the New Testament. . . .
6. " How good is the God of Israel ! " But
to whom? "To men right in heart" (ver. 1).
To men perverse what? Perverse He seemeth.
So also in another Psalm He saith : " With a
holy man holy Thou shalt be, and with the inno-
cent man innocent Thou shalt be, and with the
perverse man perverse Thou shalt be." 5 What
is, perverse Thou shalt be with the perverse
man? Perverse the perverse man shall think
Thee. Not that by any means God is made
perverse. Far be it : what He is, He is. But
in like manner as the sun appeareth mild to one
having clear, sound, healthy, strong eyes, but
against weak eyes doth dart hard spears, so to
say ; the former looking at it it doth invigorate,
the latter it doth torture, though not being itself
changed, but the man being changed : so when
thou shalt have begun to be perverse, and to
thee God shall seem to be perverse, thou art
changed, not He. That therefore to thee will
be punishment which to good men is joy." He
calling to mind this thing, saith, " How good is
the God of Israel to men right in heart ! "
7. But what to thee ? " But my feet were
almost moved" (ver. 2). When were the feet
moved, except when the heart was not right?
5 Ps. xviii. 25,
336
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIII.
Whence was the heart not right ? Hear : " My
steps were well nigh overthrown." What he
hath meant by " almost," the same he hath
meant by " well nigh : " and what he hath
meant by " my feet were almost moved," the
same he hath meant by " my steps were over-
thrown." Almost my feet were moved, almost
my steps were overthrown. Moved were the
feet : but whence were the feet moved and the
steps overthrown? Moved were the feet to
going astray, overthrown were the steps to fall-
ing : not entirely, but " almost." But what is
this? Already I was going to stray, I had not
gone : already I was falling, I had not fallen.
8. But why even this ? " For I was jealous," he
saith, " in the case of sinners, looking on the peace
of sinners " (ver. 3). I observed sinners, I saw
them to have peace. What peace? Temporal,
transient, falling, and earthly : but yet such as I
also was desiring of God. I saw them that
served not God to have that which I desired in
order that I might serve God : and my feet were
moved, and my steps were almost overthrown.
But why sinners have this, he saith briefly :
" Because there is no avoidance of their death,
and there is a firmament in their scourge " (ver.
4). Now I have perceived, he saith, why they
have peace, and flourish on the earth ; because
of their death there is no avoidance, because
death sure and eternal doth await them, which
neither doth avoid them, nor can they avoid it,
" because there is no avoidance of their death,
and there is a firmament in their scourge."
And there is a firmament in their scourge.
For their scourge is not temporal, but firm
for everlasting. Because of these evil things
then which are to be to them eternal, now
what ? " In the labours of men they are not,
and with men they shall not be scourged "
(ver. 5). Doth not even the devil himself es-
cape scourging with men, for whom nevertheless
an eternal punishment is being prepared ?
9. Wherefore on this account what do these
men, while they are not scourged, while they
labour not with men ? " Therefore," he saith,
" there hath holden them pride " (ver. 6). Ob-
serve these men, proud, undisciplined ; observe
the bull, devoted for a victim, suffered to stray
at liberty ; and to damage whatever he may, even
up to the day of his slaughter. Now it is a good
thing, brethren, that we should hear in the very
words of a prophet of this bull as it were,
whereof I have spoken. For thus of him the
Scripture doth make mention in another place :
he saith that they are, as it were, made ready
as for a victim, and that they are spared for
an evil liberty.' " Therefore," he saith, " there
hath holden them pride." What is, " there hath
1 Prov. vii. 33.
holden them pride "? "They have been clothed
about with their iniquity and ungodliness." He
hath not said, covered ; but, " clothed about,"
on all sides covered up with their ungodliness.
Deservedly miserable, they neither see nor are
seen, because they are clothed about ; and the
inward parts of them are not seen. For whoso-
ever could behold the inward parts of evil men,
that are as it were happy for a time, whosoever
could see their torturing consciences, whosoever
could examine their souls racked with such
mighty perturbations of desires and fears, would
see them to be miserable even when they are
called happy. But because " they are clothed
about with their iniquity and ungodliness," they
see not; but neither are they seen. The Spirit
knew them, that saith these words concerning
them : and we ought to examine such men with
the same eye as that wherewith we know that we
see, if there is taken from our eyes the covering
of ungodliness. . . .
10. At first these men are being described.
" There shall go forth as if out of fat their in-
iquity" (ver. 7). ... A poor beggar commit-
teth a theft ; out of leanness hath gone forth the
iniquity : but when a rich man aboundeth in so
many things, why doth he plunder the things of
others ? Of the former the iniquity out of lean-
ness, of the other out of fatness, hath gone forth.
Therefore to the lean man when thou sayest,
Why hast thou done this ? Humbly afflicted and
abject he replieth, Need hath compelled me.
Why hast thou not feared God? Want was ur-
gent. Say to a rich man, Why doest thou these
things, and fearest not God? — supposing thee
to be great enough to be able to say it — see if
he even deigneth to hear ; see if even against
thyself2 there will not go forth iniquity out of his
fatness. For now they declare war with their
teachers and reprovers, and become enemies of
them that speak the truth, having been long ac-
customed to be coaxed with the words of flat-
terers, being of tender ear, of unsound heart.
Who would say to a rich man, Thou hast ill done
in robbing other men's goods ? Or perchance
if any man shall have dared to speak, and he is
such a man as he could not withstand, what doth
he reply? All that he saith is in contempt of
God. Why? Because he is proud. Why?
Because he is fat. Why? Because he is de-
voted for a victim. "They have passed over
unto purpose of heart." Here within they have
passed over. What is, " they have passed over " ?
They have crossed over the way. What is, " they
have passed over " ? They have exceeded the
bounds of mankind, men like the rest they think
not themselves. They have passed over, I say,
the bounds of mankind. When thou sayest to
1 Ed. in teipso ; Ben. conj. and Oxf. Mss. in tcipsum.
Psalm LXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
\7
such a man, Thy brother this beggar is ; when
thou sayest to such a man, Thy brother ' this
poor man is ; the same parents ye have had,
Adam and Eve : do not heed thy haughtiness,
do not heed the vapour unto which thou hast
been elevated ; although an establishment wait-
eth about thee, although countless gold and sil-
ver, although a marbled house doth contain thee,
although fretted ceilings cover thee, thou and the
poor man together have for covering that roof of
the universe, the sky ; but thou art different
from the poor man in things not thine own, added
to thee from without : thyself see in them, not
them in thee. Observe thyself, how thou art in
relation to the poor man ; thyself, not that which
thou hast. For why dost thou despise thy
brother? In the bowels of your mothers ye were
both naked. Forsooth, even when ye shall have
departed this life, and these bodies shall have
rotted, when the soul hath been breathed forth,
let the bones of the rich and poor man be dis-
tinguished ! I am speaking of the equality of
condition, of that very lot of mankind, wherein
all men are born : 2 for both here doth a man be-
come rich, and a poor man will not alway be
here : and as a rich man doth not come rich, so
neither doth he depart rich ; the very same is
the entrance of both, and like is the departure.
I add, that perchance ye will change conditions.
Now everywhere the Gospel is being preached :
observe a certain poor man full of sores, who
was lying before the gate of a rich man,3 and was
desiring to be filled with crumbs, which used to
fall from the table of the rich man ; observe also
that likeness4 of thine who was clothed with
purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously
every day. It chanced, I say, for that poor
man to die, and to be borne by the Angels into
the bosom of Abraham : but the other died and
was buried ; for the other's burial perchance no
one cared. . . . Brethren, how great was the toil
of the poor man ! Of how long duration were
the luxuries of the rich man ! But the condition
which they have received in exchange is everlast-
ing. . . . Deservedly too late he will say, " Send
Lazarus," s " let him tell even my brethren ; "
since to himself there is not granted the fruit of
repentance. For it is not that repentance 6 is not
given, but everlasting will be the repentance, and
no salvation after repentance. Therefore these
men " have passfid over unto purpose of heart."
ii. "They have thought and have spoken
spitefulness " (ver. 8). But men do speak spite-
fulness even with fear: but these men how?
" Iniquity on high they have spoken." Not only
1 The words from " this heggar," added from Oxf. MSS.
2 [See A. N. F. vol. vii. p. isi. — C.l
3 Luke xvi. 19. * Al. " father.' 5 Luke xvi. 27.
6 Used, of course, in the lower sense. [The sense, i.e., of mere
attrition. See Roman doctrine, Liguori, vol. iv. p. 245, ed. Paris,
1852. -C]
they have spoken iniquity ; but even openly, in
the hearing of all, proudly ; " I will do it j" "I
will show you ; " " thou shalt know with whom
thou hast to do ; " "I will not let thee live."
Thou ' mightest have but thought such things,
not have given utterance to them ! Within the
chambers of thought at least the evil desire might
have been confined, he might have at least re-
strained it within his thought. Why? Is he
perchance lean ? " There shall go forth as if out
of fatness the iniquity of them." " Iniquity on
high they have spoken."
12. "They have set against Heaven their
mouth, and their tongue hath passed over above
the earth "(ver. 9). For this, " hath passed over
above the earth " is, they pass over all earthly
things ? What is it to pass over all earthly things ?
He doth not think of himself as a man that can die
suddenly, when he is speaking ; he doth menace
as if he were alway to live : his thought doth
transcend earthly frailty, he knoweth not with
what sort of vessel he is enwrapped ; he know-
eth not what hath been written in another place
concerning such men : " His spirit shall go forth,
and he shall return unto his earth, in that day
shall perish all his thoughts."8 But these men
not thinking of their last day, speak pride,9 and
unto Heaven they set their mouth, they tran-
scend the earth. If a robber were not to think
of his last day, that is, the last day of his trial,
when sent to prison, nothing would be more
monstrous than he : and yet he might escape.
Whither dost thou flee to escape death ? Cer-
tain will that day be. What is the long time
which thou hast to live ? How much is the long
time which hath an end, even if it were a long
time? To this there is added that it is nought :
and the very thing which is called long time is
not a long time, and is uncertain. Why doth he
not think of this? Because he hath set against
Heaven his mouth, and his tongue hath passed
over above the earth. " And full days shall be
found in them."
13. "Therefore there shall return hither My
people " (ver. 10). Now Asaph himself is return-
ing hither. For he saw these things abound to
unrighteous men, he saw them abound to proud
men : he is returning to God, and is beginning
to inquire and discuss. But when? "When
full days shall be found in them." What is
"full days"? " But when there came the ful-
ness of time, God sent His Son." IO This is the
very fulness of time, when He came to teach
men that things temporal should be despised,
that they should not esteem as a great matter
whatever object evil men covet, that they should
suffer whatever evil men fear. He became the
7 Oxf. MSS. and some of Ben. " Thou proud man, thou." etc.
8 Ps. cxlvi. 4. 9 Oxf. and other MSS. " proud things."
»° Gal. iv. 4.
338
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIII.
way, He recalled us to inward thought, admon-
ished us of what should be sought of God. And
see from what thought reacting upon itself, and
in a manner recalling the waves of its impulse,
he doth pass over unto choosing true things.
14. " And they said, How hath God known,
and is there knowledge in the Most High?"
(ver. 1 1 ). See through what thought they pass.
Behold unjust men are happy, God doth not
care for things human. Doth He indeed know
what we do ? See what things are being said.
We are inquiring, brethren, " How hath God
known," etc. (no longer let Christians say it).
For h.ow doth it appear to thee that God knoweth
not, and that there is_ no knowledge in the Most
High ? He replieth, " Lo ! themselves they are
sinners, and in the world they have gotten abun-
dant riches" (ver. 12). Both sinners they are,
and in the world they have gotten abundant
riches. He confessed that he willed not to be
a sinner in order that he might have riches. A
carnal soul for things visible and earthly would
have sold its justice. What sort of justice is that
which is retained for the sake of gold, as if gold
were a more precious thing than justice herself,
or as if when a man denieth the deposit of
another man's goods, he to whom he denied
them should suffer a greater loss, than he that
denieth them to him. The former doth lose
a garment, the latter fidelity. " Lo ! they are
themselves sinners, and in the world they have
gotten abundant riches." On this account there-
fore God knoweth not, and on this account there
is no knowledge in the Most High.
15. "And I said, therefore' without cause I
have justified my heart" (ver. 13). In that
I serve God, and have not these things ; they
serve him not, and they abound in these things :
" therefore without cause I have justified my
heart, and have washed among the innocent
my hands." This without cause I have done.
Where is the reward of my good life ? Where is
the wage of my service ? I live well and am in
need ; and the unjust man doth abound. " And
I have washed among the innocent my hands.
And I have been scourged all the day long"
(ver. 14). From me the scourges of God do
not impart. I serve well, and I am scourged ;
he serveth not, and is honoured. He hath pro-
posed to himself a great question. The soul is
disturbed, the soul doth pass over things which
are to pass away unto despising things earthly
and to desiring things eternal. There is a pas-
sage of the soul herself in this thought ; where
she doth toss in a sort of tempest she will reach
the harbour. And it is with her as it is with
sick persons, who are less violently sick, when
recovery is far off: when recovery is at hand
• MSS. want " therefore."
they are in higher fever ; physicians call it the
" critical 2 accession " through which they pass
to health : greater fever is there, but leading to
health : greater heat, but recovery is at hand.
So also is this man enfevered. For these are
dangerous words, brethren, offensive, and almost
blasphemous, " How hath God known? " This
is why I say, " and almost ; " He hath not said,
God hath not known : he hath not said, there is
no knowledge in the Most High : but as if in-
quiring, hesitating, doubting. This is the same
as he said a little before, " My steps were almost
overthrown." 3 He doth not affirm it, but the
very doubt is dangerous. Through danger he
is passing to health. Hear now the health:
" Therefore in vain I have justified my heart, and
have washed among the innocent my hands :
and I have been scourged all the day long, and
my chastening was in the morning." Chastening
is correction. He that is being chastened is
being corrected. What is, " in the morning " ?
It is not deferred. That of the ungodly is being
deferred, mine is not deferred : the former is too
late or is not at all ; mine is in the morning.
16. "If I said, I shall declare thus; behold,
the generation of Thy sons I have reprobated "
(ver. 15) : that is, I will teach thus. How wilt
thou teach? that there is no knowledge in the
Most High, that God doth not know? Wilt
thou propound this opinion, that without cause
men live justly who do live justly ; that a just
man hath lost his service, because God doth
more show favour to evil men, or else He doth
care for no one? Wilt thou tell this, declare
this? He doth restrain himself by an authority
repressing him. What authority? A man
wisheth some time to break out in this senti-
ment : but he is recalled by the Scriptures
directing us alway to live well, saying, that God
doth care for things human, that He maketh
a distinction between a godly man and an un-
godly man. Therefore this man also wishing to
put forth this sentiment, doth recollect himself.
And what saith he ? "I have reprobated the
generation of Thy sons." If I shall declare
thus, the generation of just men I shall repro-
bate. As also some copies have it, " Behold, the
generation of thy sons with which I have been
in concert : " that is, with which consisting of
Thy sons I have been in concert ; that is, with
which I have agreed, to which I have been con-
formed : I have been out of time with all, if so
I teach. For he doth sing in concert who giveth
the tune together; but he that giveth not the
tune together doth not sing in concert. Am I to
say something different from that which Abraham
said, from that which Isaac said, from that which
Jacob said, from that which the Prophets said ?
! MSS. crtticam.
3 Fs. Ixxiii. 2.
Psalm LXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
339
For all they said that God doth care for things
human, am I to say that He careth not? Is
there greater wisdom in me than in them?
Greater understanding in me than in them?
A most wholesome authority hath called back
his thought from ungodliness. And what fol-
loweth? That he might not reprobate, he did
what? "And I undertook to know" (ver. 16).
May God be with him in order that he may
know. Meanwhile, brethren, from a great fall
he is being withheld, when he doth not presume
that he already knoweth, but hath undertaken to
know that which he knew not. For but now he
was willing to appear as if knowing, and to
declare that God hath no care of things human.
For this hath come to be a most naughty and
ungodly doctrine of unrighteous men. Know,
brethren, that many men dispute and say that
God careth not for things human, that by chances
all things are ruled, or that our wills have been
made subject to the stars, that each one is not
dealt with according to his deserts, but by the
necessity of his stars, — an evil doctrine, an
impious doctrine. Unto these thoughts was
going that man whose feet were almost moved,
and whose steps were all but overthrown, into
this error he was going ; but because he was not
in tune with the generation of the sons of God,
he undertook to know, and condemned the
knowledge wherein with God's just men he
agreed not. And what he saith let us hear;
how that he undertook to know, and was helped,
and learned something, and declared it to us.
" And I undertook," he saith, " to know." " In
this labour is before me." Truly a great labour ;
to know in what manner both God doth care for
things human, and it is well with evil men, and
good men labour. Great is the importance of
the question ; therefore, " and this labour is
before me." As it were there is standing in my
face a sort of wall, but thou hast the voice of
a Psalm, " In my God I shall pass over the
wall." '
17. . . . And he hath done this; for he saith
how long labour is before him ; " until I enter
into the sanctuary of God, and understand upon
the last things" (ver. 17). A great thing it is,
brethren : now for a long time I labour, he
saith, and before my face I see a sort of insu-
perable labour, to know in what manner both
God is just, and doth care for things human,
and is not unjust because men sinning and doing
wicked actions have happiness on this earth ;
but the godly and men serving God are wasted
ofttimes in trials and in labours ; a great diffi-
culty it is to know this, but only " until I enter
into the Sanctuary of God." For in the Sanc-
tuary what is presented to thee, in order that
« Ps. ;
thou mayest solve this question? "And I un-
derstand," he saith, " upon the last things : " not
present things. I, he saith, from the Sanctuary of
God stretch out mine eye unto the end, I pass over
present things. All that which is called the hu-
man race, all that mass of mortality is to come
to the balance, is to come to the scale, thereon
will be weighed the works of men. All things
now a cloud doth enfold : but to God are known
the merits of each severally. " And I under-
stand," he saith, " upon the last things : " but
not of myself; for before me there is labour.
Whence " may I understand upon the last
things"? Let me enter into the Sanctuary of
God. In that place then he understood also
the reason why these men now are happy.
18. To wit, "because of deceitfulness Thou
hast set upon them" (ver. 18). Because de-
ceitful they are, that is fraudulent ; because
deceitful they are, they suffer deceits. What is
this, because fraudulent they are they suffer a
fraud? They desire to play a fraud upon man-
kind in all their naughtinesses, they themselves
also suffer a frand, in choosing earthly good
things, and in forsaking the eternal. Therefore,
brethren, in their very playing off a fraud they
suffer a fraud. In that which but now I said,
brethren, " What manner of wit 2 hath he who to
gain a garment doth lose his fidelity?" hath he
whose garment he hath taken suffered a fraud,
or he that is smitten with so great a loss ? If a
garment is more precious than fidelity, the former
doth suffer the greater loss : but if incomparably
good faith doth surpass the whole world, the lat-
ter shall seem to have sustained the loss of a
garment ; but to the former is said, " What doth
it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but
suffer the loss of his own soul?"' Therefore
what hath befallen them? " Because of deceit-
fulness Thou hast set for them : Thou didst throw
them down while they were being exalted." He
hath not said, Thou didst throw them down be-
cause they were lifted up : not as it were after
that they were lifted up Thou didst throw them
down ; but in their very lifting up they were
thrown down. For thus to be lifted up is al-
ready to fall.
19. " How have they become a desolation
suddenly?" (ver. 19). He is wondering at
them, understanding unto the last things. " They
have vanished." Truly like smoke, which while
it mounteth upward, doth vanish, so they have
vanished. How doth he say, "They have van-
ished"? In the manner of one who under-
standeth the last things : " they have perished
because of their iniquity." "Like as the dream
of one rising up " (ver. 20) . How have they van-
ished ? As vanisheth the dream of one rising up.
* Cor.
3 Matt. xvi. 26.
34Q
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIII.
Fancy a man in sleep to have seen himself find
treasures ; he is a rich man, but only until he
awaketh. " Like as the dream of one rising up : "
so they have vanished, like the dream of one
awaking. It is sought then and it is not : there
is nothing in the hands, nothing in the bed. A
poor man he went to sleep, a rich man in sleep
he became : had he not awoke, he were a rich
man : he woke up, he found the care which he
had lost while sleeping. And these men shall
find the misery which they had prepared for
themselves. When they shall have awoke from
this life, that thing doth pass away which was
grasped as if in sleep. " Like as the dream of
one rising up." And that there might not be
said, "What then? a small thing doth their glory
seem to thee, a small thing doth their state seem
to thee, small things seem to thee inscriptions,
images, statues, distinctions, troops of clients?"
" O Lord," he saith, " in Thy city their image '
Thou shalt bring to nothing." . . . He hath
taken away the pride of rich men, he giveth
counsel.2 As if they 3 were saying, We are rich
men, thou dost forbid us to be proud, dost prohib-
it us from boasting of the parade of our riches :
what then are we to do with these riches? Is
it come to this, that there is nothing which they
may do therewith ? " Be they rich," he saith,
" in good works ; let them readily distribute,
communicate."4 And what doth this profit?
" Let them treasure urito themselves a good
foundation for the future, that they may lay hold
of true life." 5 Where ought they to lay up treas-
ure for themselves? In that place whereunto
he set his eye, when entering into the Sanctuary
of God. Let there shudder all our rich brethren,
abounding in money, gold, silver, household,
honours, let them shudder at that which but now
hath been said, " Thou shalt bring to nothing
their image." Are they not worthy to suffer
these things, to wit that God bring to nothing
their image in His city, because also they have
themselves brought to nothing the image of God
in their earthly city ?
20. " Because my heart was delighted " (ver.
2 1 ) . He is saying with what things he is tempted :
" because my heart was delighted," he saith,
" my reins also were changed." When those tem-
poral things delighted me, my reins were changed.
It may also be understood thus : " because my
heart was delighted " in God, " my reins also
were changed, that is, my lusts were changed,
and I became wholly chaste. " My reins were
changed." And hear how. " And I was brought
unto nothing, and I knew not" (ver. 22). I,
1 Oxf. MSS. " images."
9 [He uses the word ferimus in the omitted paragraph. — C]
He seems to mean, that such teaching, addressed to any one in
common intercourse, would be " smiting."
' Oxf. mss. " the rich." < 1 Tim. vi. 18.
* 1 Tim. vi. 19.
the very man, who now say these things of rich
men, once longed for such things : therefore
" even I was brought to nothing " when my steps
were almost overthrown. " And I was brought
unto nothing, and I knew not." We must not
therefore despair even of them, against whom I
was saying such things.
2 1 . What is, " I knew not " ? " As it were a
beast I became to Thee, and I am alway with
Thee "(ver. 23). There is a great difference be-
tween this man and others. He became as it were
a beast in longing for earthly things, when being
brought to nothing he knew not things eternal :
but he departed not from his God, because he
did not desire these things of demons, of the devil.
For this I have already brought to your notice.
The voice is from the Synagogue, that is, from that
people which served not idols. A beast indeed
I became, when desiring from my God things
earthly : but I never departed from That my
God.
22. Because then, though having become a
beast, I departed not from my God, there fol-
loweth, "Thou hast held the hand of my right
hand." He hath not said my right hand, but
" the hand of my right hand." If the hand of
the right hand it is, a hand hath a hand. " The
hand Thou hast held of my right hand," in order
that Thou mightest conduct me. For what hath
he put hand ? For power. For we say that a
man hath that in his hand which he hath in his
power : just as the devil said to God concerning
Job, " Lay to Thine hand, and take away the
things which he hath." 6 What is, lay to Thine
hand ? Put ' forth power. The hand of God
he hath called the power of God : as hath been
written in another place, " death and life are in
the hands of the tongue." 8 Hath the tongue
hands ? But what is, in the hands of the tongue ?
In the power of the tongue. What is, in the
power of the tongue? "Out of thy mouth
thou shalt be justified, and out of thy mouth thou
shalt be condemned." 9 " Thou hast held," there-
fore, " the hand of my right hand," the power
of my right hand. What was my right hand ?
That I was alway with Thee. Unto the left I
was holding, because I became a beast, that is,
because there was an earthly concupiscence in
me : but the right was mine, because I was
alway with thee. Of this my right hand Thou
hast held the hand, that is, hast directed the
power. What power? " He gave them power
to become sons of God." '° He is beginning
now to be among the sons of God, belonging to
the New Testament. See in what manner the
hand of his right hand was held. " In Thy will
Thou hast conducted me." What is, "in thy
will " ? Not in my merits. What is, " in Thy
6 Job i. 11.
9 Matt. xii. 37.
7 Lit. " give.'
10 John i. 12.
8 Prov. xviii. 31.
Psalm LXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
341
will " ? Hear the apostle, who was at first a
beast longing for things earthly, and living after
the Old Testament. He saith what? " I that at
first was a blasphemer, and persecutor, and inju-
rious : but mercy I obtained." ' What is, "in Thy
will"? "By the grace of God I am what I
am." 2 " And in 3 glory Thou hast taken me up."
Now to what glory he was taken up, and in
what glory, who can explain, who can say ? Let
us await it, because in the Resurrection it will be,
in the last things it will be.
23. And he is beginning to think of that same
Heavenly felicity, and to reprove himself, be-
cause he hath been a beast, and hath longed for
things earthly. " For what have I in Heaven,
and from Thee what have I willed upon earth? "
(ver. 25). By your voice I see that ye have
understood.4 He compared with his earthly will
the heavenly reward which he is to receive ; he
saw what was there being reserved for him ; and
while thinking and burning at the thought of
some ineffable thing, which neither eye hath
seen, nor ear heard, nor into the heart of man
hath ascended,5 he hath not said, this or that I
have in Heaven, but, " what have I in Heaven?"
What is that thing which I have in Heaven?
What is it? How great is it? Of what sort is
it? "And," since that which I have in heaven
doth not pass away, "from Thee what have I willed
upon earth?" 6. . . Thou reservest, he saith, for
me in Heaven riches immortal, even Thyself,
and I have willed from Thee on earth that which
even ungodly men have, which even evil men
have, which even abandoned men have, money,
gold, silver, jewels, households, which even many,
wicked men have : which even many profligate
women have, many profligate men : these things
as a great matter I have desired of my God upon
earth : though my God reserveth Himself for
me in Heaven !
24. " My heart and my flesh hath failed, O
God of my heart " (ver. 26). This then for me
in Heaven hath been reserved, " God of my
heart, and my portion is my God." What is it,
brethren ? Let us find out our riches, let man-
kind choose their parts. Let us see men torn
with diversity of desires : let some choose war-
service, some advocacy, some divers and sundry
offices of teaching, some merchandise, some
farming, let them take their portions in human
affairs : let the people of God cry, " my portion
is my God." Not for a time "my portion ;" but
" my portion is my God for everlasting." Even
if I alway have gold, what have I ? Even if I
1 1 Tim. i. 13. a 1 Cor. xv. 10.
3 So mss.: Ben. " with."
4 [Here there were voluntary " amens," or the like, from the
people. See p. 207, supra. — O]
5 1 Cor. ii. 0.
6 [Here he interpolates: " I will speak as I am able, but forgive
me; accept my endeavour, mine earnestness to attempt; for to
explain it 1 have not power." — C]
did not alway have God, how great a good
should I have? To this is added, that He
promiseth Himself to me, and He promiseth
that I shall have this for everlasting. So great
a thing I have, and never have it not. Great
felicity: "my portion is God!" How long?
" For everlasting." For behold and see after
what sort He hath loved him ; He hath made
his heart chaste ; " God of my heart, and my
portion is God for everlasting." His heart hath
become chaste, for nought now God is loved,
from Him is not sought any other reward. He
that doth seek any other reward from God, and
therefore is willing to serve God, more precious
doth make that which he willeth to receive, than
Him from whom he willeth to receive. What
then, is there no reward belonging to God?
None except Himself. The reward belonging
to God, is God Himself. This he loveth, this
he esteemeth ; if any other thing he shall have
loved, the love will not be. chaste. Thou art re-
ceding from the Fire immortal, thou wilt grow
cold, wilt be corrupted. Do not recede. Re-
cede not, it will be thy corruption, it will be thy
fornication. Now he is returning, now he is re-
penting, now he is choosing repentance, now he
is saying, " my portion is God." And after what
sort is he delighted with that Same, whom he
hath chosen for his portion.
25. "Behold, they that put themselves afar
from Thee shall perish " (ver. 27). He therefore
departed from God, but not far : for " I have
become as it were a beast," he saith, and " I
am alway with Thee." 1 But they have departed
afar, because not only things earthly they have
desired, but have sought them from demons and
the Devil. " They that put themselves afar from
Thee shall perish." And what is it, to become
afar from God ? " Thou hast destroyed every
man that committeth fornication away from
Thee." To this fornication is opposed chaste
love. What is chaste love ? Now the soul doth
love her Bridegroom : what doth she require of
Him, from Her Bridegroom whom she loveth?
Perchance in like manner as women choose for
themselves men either as sons-in-law or as bride-
grooms : she perchance chooseth riches, and
loveth his gold, and estates, and silver and cattle
and horses, and household, and the like. Far
be it. He doth love Him alone, for nought he
doth love Him : because in Him he hath all
things, for " by Him were made all things." 8
26. But thou doest what? "But for me to
cleave to God is a good thing" (ver. 28). This
is whole good. Will ye have more? I grieve
at your willing. Brethren, what will ye have
more ? Than to cleave to God nothing is better,
when we shall see Him face to face.' But now
7 Ps. lxxiii. 21.
8 John*!. 3.
9 x Cor. xiii. xa.
342
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIV.
what ? For yet as a stranger I am speaking :
" to cleave," he saith, " to God is a good thing : "
but now in my sojourning (for not yet hath
come the substance), I have " to put in God my
hope." So long therefore as thou hast not yet
cloven, therein put thy hope. Thou art waver-
ing, cast forward an anchor to the land.1 Not
yet dost thou cleave by presence, cleave fast by
hope. " To put in God my hope." And by doing
what here wilt thou put in God thy hope ? What
will be thy business, but to praise Him whom
thou lovest, and to make others to be fellow-lov-
ers of Him with thee ? Lo, if thou shouldest love
a charioteer, wouldest thou not carry along other
men to love him with thee ? A lover of a char-
ioteer whithersoever he goeth doth speak of him,
in order that as well as he others also may love
him. For nought are loved abandoned men,
and from God is reward required in order that
He may be loved ? Love thou. God for nought,
grudge God to no one. . . . For what follow-
ed ? " In order that I may tell forth all Thy
praises in the courts of the daughter of Sion."
" In the courts : " for the preaching of God be-
side the Church is vain. A small thing it is to
praise God and to tell forth all His praise. In
the courts of the daughter of Sion tell thou forth.
Make for unity, do not divide the people ; but
draw them unto one, and make them one. I
have forgotten how long I have been speaking.
Now the Psalm being ended, even judging by
this closeness,2 1 suppose I have held a long dis-
course : but it doth not suffice for your zeal ; ye
are too impetuous.3 O that with this impetu-
osity ye would seize upon the kingdom of
Heaven.
PSALM LXXIV.*
i. This Psalm's Title is, "Of the Understand-
ing of Asaph." Asaph in Latin is translated
congregation, in Greek Synagogue. Let us see
what this Synagogue hath understood. But let
us understand firstly Synagogue : from thence
we shall understand what the Synagogue hath
understood. Every congregation is spoken of
under the general name of Synagogue : one
both of beasts and of men may be called a
congregation ; but here there is no congregation
of beasts when we heard " understanding." . . .
For this the Psalm's Title doth prescribe, saying,
" Of the understanding of Asaph." It is there-
fore a certain understanding congregation where-
of we are about to hear the voice. But since
properly Synagogue is said of the congregation
of the people of Israel, so that wheresoever we
may have heard Synagogue, we are no longer
1 Oxf. MSS. " Wavering, from the earth cast an anchor before
thee upward."
* Odon, lit. " imell:" one MS. ardon, "heat;" Ben. conj.
tudort. 3 [P. 34i, note 4, supra. — C.J
* Let. LXXIII. Sermon to the people.
wont to understand any but the people of the
Jews ; let us see whether perchance the voice
in this Psalm be not of that same people. But
of what sort of Jews and of what sort of people
of Israel? For they are not of the chaff, but
perchance of the grain ; 5 not of the broken
branches, but perchance of those that are
strengthened. " For not all that are of Israel
are Israelites." 6 . . . There are therefore cer-
tain Israelites, of whom was he concerning whom
was said, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom
guile is not." 7 I do not say in the same man-
ner as we are Israelites, for we also are the seed
of Abraham. For to the Gentiles the Apostle
was speaking, when he said, " Therefore the seed
of Abraham ye are, heirs according to promise." s
According to this therefore all we are Israelites,
that follow the footsteps of the faith of our
father Abraham. But let us understand here
the voice of the Israelites in the same manner
as the Apostle saith, " For I also am an Israelite,
of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benja-
min." 9 Here therefore let us understand that
whereof the Prophets have spoken, " a remnant
shall be saved." '° Of the remnant therefore
saved let us hear in this place the voice ; in
order that there may speak that Synagogue
which had received the Old Testament, and was
intent upon carnal promises ; and by this means
it came to pass that their feet were shaken. For
in another Psalm, where too the title hath
Asaph, there is said what? "How good is the
God of Israel to men right in heart. But my
feet were almost moved." " And as if we were
saying, whence were thy feet moved? "Well
nigh," he saith, " my steps were overthrown, be-
cause I was jealous in the case of sinners,
looking on the peace of sinners." " For while
according to the promises of God belonging to
the Old Testament he was looking for earthly
felicity, he observed it to abound with ungodly
men ; that they who worshipped not God were
enriched with those things which he was looking
for from God : and as though without cause he
had served God, his feet tottered. . . . But
opportunely it hath chanced not by our own but
by God's dispensation, that just now we heard
out of the Gospel, that " the Law was given by
Moses, Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ." 'I
For if we distinguish between the two Testa-
ments, Old and New, there are not the same Sac-
raments •* nor the same promises ; '5 nevertheless,
the same commandments'6 for the most part. . . .
When examined they are either all found to be
the same, or there are scarce any in the Gospel
which have not been spoken by the Prophets.
5 Matt. iii. 19.
1 Gal. iii. 29.
11 Pa. Ixxiii. 1, a.
l* Sacramtnta.
6 Rom. ix. 6.
9 Rom. xi. 1.
12 Ps. Ixxiii. 2.
*3 Promissa,
1 John i. 47.
10 Rom. ix. 27.
U John i. 17.
M Prteccpta.
Psalm LXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
343
The Commandments are the same, the Sacra-
ments are not the same, the Promises are not
the same. Let us see wherefore the command-
ments are the same ; because according to these
we ought to serve God. The Sacraments are
not the same, for some Sacraments there are
giving Salvation, others promising a Saviour.
The Sacraments of the New Testament give
Salvation, the Sacraments of the Old Testament
did promise a Saviour.1 When therefore thou
hast now the things promised, why dost thou
seek the things promising, having now the Sav-
iour? . . . God through the New Testament
hath taken out of the hands of His sons those
things which are like the playthings of boys, in
order that He might give something more useful
to them growing up, on that account must He
be supposed not to have given those former
things Himself. He gave both Himself. But
the Law itself through Moses was given, Grace
and Truth came through Jesus Christ : 2 Grace
because there is fulfilled through love that which
by the letter was being enjoined, Truth because
there is being rendered that which was prom-
ised. This thing therefore this Asaph hath
understood. In a word, all things which to the
Jews had been promised have been taken away.
Where is their kingdom ? Where the Temple ?
Where the Anointing ? Where is Priest ? Where
are now the Prophets among them ? From what
time there came He that by the Prophets was
foretold, in that nation there is now nothing of
these things ; now she hath lost things earthly,
and not yet doth seek things Heavenly.
2. Thou shouldest not therefore hold fast to
things earthly, although God doth bestow them.
. . . See ye how that in fearing to lose things
earthly, the Jews slew the King of Heaven. And
what was done to them ? They lost even those
very things earthly : and in the place where they
slew Christ, there they were slain : and when,
being unwilling to lose the land, they slew the
Giver of life, that same land being slain they
lost ; and at that very time when they slew Him,
in order that by that very time they might be
admonished of the reason wherefore they suffered
these things. For when the city of the Jews
was overthrown, they were celebrating the Pass-
over, and with many thousands of men the whole
nation itself had met together for the celebration
of that festivals In that place God (through
evil men indeed, but yet Himself good ; through
unjust men, but Himself just and justly) did so
take vengeance upon them, that there were slain
many thousands of men, and the city itself was
' [Note this i
2 John i. 17.
3 See Joseph
use of the word " Sacrament." — C]
— , book vi. c. 9, § 3, whence the whole number of
the besieged is stated at 1,197^000, of whom 1,100,000 perished. [The
coincidence of the Passover with this day of retribution is noteworthy.
On Good Friday accordingly occurs a prayer for the Jews, in the
Anglican Liturgy. — C]
overthrown. Of this thing in this Psalm " the
understanding of Asaph " doth complain, and in
the very plaint the understanding as it were doth
distinguish things earthly from things heavenly,
doth distinguish the Old Testament from the
New Testament : in order that thou mayest see
through what things thou art passing, what thou
shouldest look for, what to forsake, to what to
cleave. Thus then he beginneth.
3. " Wherefore hast Thou repelled us, O God,
unto the end?"(ver. i). "Hast repelled unto
the end," in the person of the congregation
which is properly called Synagogue. " Where-
fore hast Thou repelled us, O God, unto the
end ? " He censureth not, but inquireth " where-
fore," for what purpose, because of what hast
Thou done this ? What hast Thou done ? " Thou
hast repelled us unto the end." What is, " unto
the end " ? Perchance even unto the end of the
world. Hast Thou repelled us unto Christ, who
is the End to every one believing ?4 For, " Where-
fore hast Thou repelled us, O God, unto the
end?" "Thy spirits hath been wroth at the
sheep of Thy flock." Wherefore wast Thou
wroth at the sheep of Thy flock, but because to
things earthly we were cleaving, and the Shep-
herd we knew not?
4. " Remember Thou Thy congregation, which
Thou hast possessed from the beginning " (ver.
2). Can this by any means be the voice of the
Gentiles? Hath He possessed the Gentiles
from the beginning? Nay, but He hath pos-
sessed the seed of Abraham, the people of Israel
even according to the flesh, born of the Patri-
archs our fathers : of whom we have become
the sons, not by coming out of their flesh, but
by imitating their faith. But those, possessed
by God from the beginning, what befell them ?
" Remember Thy congregation which Thou hast
possessed from the beginning. Thou hast re-
deemed the rod of Thine inheritance." That
same congregation of Thine, being the rod of
Thine inheritance, Thou hast redeemed. This
same congregation he hath called " the rod of
the inheritance." Let us look back to the first
thing that was done, when He willed to possess
that same congregation, delivering it from Egypt,
what sign He gave to Moses, when Moses said
to Him, " What sign shall I give that they may
believe me, that Thou hast sent me ? And God
saith to him, What dost thou bear in thine hand ?
A rod. Cast it on to the ground," etc.6 What
doth it intimate ? For this was not done to no
purpose. Let us inquire of the writings of God.
To what did the serpent persuade man? To
death.' Therefore death is from the serpent.
If death is from the serpent, the rod in the ser-
* Rom. x. 4. * Animus.
6 Exod. iv. 1-3.
7 Gen. iii. x. [See A. N. F. vol. iii. p. 63, note xa. — C.J
344
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIV.
pent is Christ in death." Therefore also when
by serpents in the desert they were being bitten
and being slain, the Lord commanded Moses to
exalt a brazen serpent in the desert, and admon-
ish the people that whosoever by a serpent had
been bitten, should look thereupon and be made
whole.2 Thus also it was done : thus also men,
bitten by serpents, were made whole of the
venom by looking upon a serpent.3 To be
made whole of a serpent is a great Sacrament.
What is it to be made whole of a serpent by
looking upon a serpent? It is to be made
whole of death by believing in one dead. And
nevertheless Moses feared and fled.4 What is it
that Moses fled from that serpent? What,
brethren, save that which we know to have been
done in the Gospel? Christ died and the dis-
ciples feared, and withdrew from that hope
wherein they had been.* . . . But, at that time
some thousands of the Jews themselves, the
crucifiers of Christ, believed : and because they
had been found at hand, they so believed as
that they sold all that they had, and the price
of their goods before the feet of the Apostles
they laid.6 Because then this thing was hidden,
and the redemption of the rod of God was to
be more conspicuous in the Gentiles : he ex-
plaineth of what he saith that which he hath
said, "Thou hast redeemed the rod of Thine
inheritance." This he hath said not of the
Gentiles in whom it was evident. But of what?
" Mount Sion." Yet even Mount Sion can be
otherwise understood. " That one which 7 Thou
hast dwelled in the same." In the place where
the People was aforetime, where the Temple
was set up, where the Sacrifices were celebrated,
where at that time were all those necessary
things giving promise of Christ. A promise,
when the thing promised is bestowed is now
become superfluous. . . .
5. "Lift up Thine hand upon their pride at
the end " (ver. 3). As Thou didst repel us at
the end, so " lift up Thine hand upon the pride
of them at the end." The pride of whom?
Of those by whom Jerusalem was overthrown.
But by whom was it, but by the kings of the
Gentiles? Well was the hand of Him lifted up
upon the pride of them at the end : for they
too have now known Christ. " For the end of
the Law is Christ for righteousness to every one
believing." 8 How well doth he wish for them !
As if angry he is speaking, and he is seeming to
speak evil : » and O that there would come to
pass the evil which he speaketh : nay now in the
name of Christ that it is coming to pass let us
1 fin sin, which is death. The Lamb was made sin {i.e. a
serpent) for us. a Cor. v. 21. — C.)
2 Numb. xxi. 8; 3 John iii. 14. 4 Exod. iv. 3.
5 Luke xxiv. ai. 6 Acts iv. 34, 35.
7 Oxf. mss. i» quo for quern. e Rom. x. 4.
9 Or. " curse."
rejoice. Now they holding the sceptre are being
made subject to the Word of the Cross : now is
coming to pass that which was foretold, " there
shall adore Him all the kings of the earth, all
nations shall serve Him." IO Now on the brows
of kings more precious is the sign of the Cross,
than the jewel of a crown. " Lift up Thine
hand upon the pride of them at the end. How
great things hath the enemy of malice wrought
in Thy holy places ! " In those which were
Thy holy places, that is, in the temple, in the
priesthood, in all those sacraments which were
at that time. In good sooth the enemy at that
time wrought. For the Gentiles at that time
who did this, were worshipping false Gods, were
adoring idols, were serving demons : nevertheless
they wrought many evil things on the Saints of
God. When could they if they had not been
permitted? But when would they have been
permitted, unless those holy things, at first
promised, were no longer necessary, when
He that had promised was Himself holden?
Therefore, " how great things hath the enemy
of malice wrought in Thy holy places ! "
6. " And all they have boasted, that hate
Thee " (ver. 4) . Observe the servants of
demons, the servants of idols : such as at that
time the Gentiles were, when they overthrew the
temple and city of God, " and they boasted."
" In the midst of Thy festival." Remember what
I said, that Jerusalem was overthrown at the
time when the very festival was being cele-
brated : at which festival they crucified the
Lord. Gathered together they raged, gathered
together they perished. " They have set signs,
their own signs, and they have not known "
(ver. 5). They had signs to place there, their
standards, their eagles, their own dragons, the
Roman signs ; or even their statues which at
first in the temple they placed ; or perchance
" their signs " are the things which they heard
from the prophets of their demons. " And they
have not known." Have not known what?
How " thou shouldest have had no power against
Me, except it had been given thee from above." "
They knew not how that not on themselves honour
was conferred, to afflict, to take, or overthrow
the city, but their ungodliness was made as it
were the axe of God. They were made the
instrument of Him enraged, not so as to be the
kingdom of Him pacified. For God doth that
which a man also ofttime doth. Sometimes a
man in a rage catcheth up a rod lying in the
way, perchance any sort of stick, he smiteth
therewith his son, and then throweth the stick
into the fire and reserveth the inheritance for
his son : so sometime God through evil men
doth instruct good men, and through the tem-
10 ps. butii. 11.
11 John xix, 11.
Psalm LXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
345
poral power of them that are to be condemned
He worketh the discipline of them that are to
be saved. For why do you suppose, brethren,
that discipline was even thus inflicted upon that
nation, in order that it might perish utterly?
How many out of this nation did afterwards
believe, how many are yet to believe? Some
are chaff, others grain ; over both however
there cometh in the threshing-drag ; but un-
der one threshing-drag the one is broken up,
the other is purged. How great a good hath
God bestowed upon us by the evil of Judas the
traitor ! By the very ferocity of the Jews how
great a good was bestowed upon believing Gen-
tiles ! Christ was slain in order that there might
be on the Cross One for him to look to who
had been stung by the serpent.1 . . .
7. Now let us hasten over the verses follow-
ing after the destruction of Jerusalem, for the
reason that they are both evident, and it doth
not please me to tarry over the punishment
even of enemies. " As if in a forest of trees
with axes, they have cut down the doors thereof
at once ; with mattock and hammer they have
thrown Her down " (ver. 6). That is, conspir-
ing together, with firm determination, "with
mattock and hammer" they have thrown Her
down. " They have burned with fire Thy Sanc-
tuary, they have defiled on the ground the Tab-
ernacle of Thy name " (ver. 7).
8. "They have said in their heart (the kin-
dred of them is in one)" — Have said what?
" Come ye, let us suppress the solemnities of
the Lord from the land" (ver. 8). "Of the
Lord," hath been inserted in the person of this
man, that is, in the person of Asaph. For they
raging would not have called Him the Lord
whose temple they were overthrowing. " Come
ye, let us suppress all the solemnities of the
Lord from the land." What of Asaph ? What un-
derstanding hath Asaph in these words ? What ?
Doth he not profit even by the discipline ac-
corded? Is not the mind's crookedness made
straight? Overthrown were all things that were
at first : nowhere is there priest, nowhere Altar
of the Jews, nowhere victim, nowhere Temple.
Is there then no other thing to be acknowledged
which succeeded this departing? Or indeed
would this promissory sign have been taken
away, unless there had come that which was
being promised? Let us see therefore in this
place now the understanding of Asaph, let us
see if he profiteth by tribulation. Observe what
he saith : " Our signs we have not seen, no
longer is there prophet, and us He will not know
as yet " (ver. 9) . Behold those Jews who say
that they are not known as yet, that is, that they
are yet in captivity, that not yet they are deliv-
1 Numb. xxi. 8. Oxf. mss. " and to be healed."
ered, do yet expect Christ. Christ will 2 come,
but He will come as Judge ; the first time to
call, afterwards to sever. He will come, be-
cause He hath come,3 and that He will come is
evident; but hereafter from above He will
come. Before thee He was, O Israel. Thou
wast bruised because thou didst stumble against
Him lying down : that thou mayest not be
ground to powder, observe Him coming from
above. For thus it was foretold by the prophet :
" Whoever shall stumble upon that stone shall
be bruised, and upon whomsoever it shall have
come, it shall grind him to powder." 4 He
doth bruise when little, He shall grind to pow-
der when great. Now thy signs thou seest not,
now there is no prophet : and thou sayest, " and
us He will not know as yet : " because yourselves
know not Him as yet. " No longer is there a
prophet ; and us He will not know as yet."
9. " How long, O God, shall the enemy re-
vile?" (ver. 10). Cry out as if forsaken, as if
deserted : cry out like a sick man, who hast
chosen rather to smite the physician than to be
made whole : not as yet doth He know thee.
See what He hath done, who doth not know
thee as yet. For they to whom there hath been
no preaching of Him, shall see ; and they that
have not heard shall understand : and thou yet
criest out, " No longer is there a prophet, and
us He will not know as yet." 5 Where is thine
understanding? " The adversary doth provoke
Thy name at the end."6 For this purpose the
adversary doth provoke Thy name at the end,
that being provoked Thou mayest reprove, re-
proving Thou mayest know them at the end : or
certainly, "at the end," in the sense of even
unto the end.
10. "Wherefore dost Thou turn away Thine
hand, and Thy right hand from the midst of
Thy bosom unto the end ? " (ver. n). Again,
another sign which was given to Moses. For in
like manner as above from the rod was a sign,
so also from the right hand now. For when that
thing had been done concerning the rod, God
gave a second sign : " thrust," He saith, " thine
hand into thy bosom, and he thrust it : draw it
forth, and he drew it forth : and it was found
white," 7 that is, unclean. For whiteness on the
skin is leprosy,8 not fairness of complexion. For
the heritage of God itself, that is, His people,
being cast out became unclean. But what saith
He to him? Draw it back into thy bo_som.
He drew it back, and it was restored to its own
colour. When doest Thou this, saith this
Asaph? How long dost Thou alienate Thy
right hand from Thy bosom, so that being with-
2 Oxf, mss. " truly."
3 Oxf. mss. " He will come, that hath already come."
< Luke xx. 18; Isa. xxviii. 16. ' Ps. lxxiv. 9.
* Infintm. 1 Exod. iv. 6. 8 Lev. xiii. 2$.
346
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[P9ALM LXXIV.
out unclean it remaineth ? Draw it back, let it
return to its colour, let it acknowledge the Sav-
iour. " Wherefore dost thou turn away Thine
hand, and Thy right hand from the midst of
Thy bosom unto the end?" These words he
crieth, being blind, not understanding, and God
doeth what He doeth. For wherefore came
Christ ? " Blindness in part happened unto
Israel, in order that the fulness of the Gentiles
might enter in, and so all Israel might be
saved."1 Therefore now, O Asaph, acknowl-
edge that which hath gone before, in order that
thou mayest at least follow, if thou wast not3
able to go before. For not in vain came Christ,
or in vain was Christ slain, or in vain did the
corn fall into the ground ; but it fell that it
might rise- manifold.3 A serpent was lifted up in
the desert, in order that it might cure of the
poison him that was smitten.4 Observe what
was done. Do not think it to be a vain thing
that He came : lest He find thee evil, when He
shall have come a second time.
n. Asaph hath understood, because on the
Title of the Psalm there is, " understanding of
Asaph." And what saith he ? " But God, our
King before the worlds, hath wrought Salvation
in the midst of the earth" (ver. 12). On the
one hand we cry, " No longer is there prophet,
and us He will not know as yet : " 5 but on the
other hand, " our God, our King, who is before
the worlds " (for He is Himself in the beginning
of the Word6 by whom were made the worlds),
" hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the
earth." " God therefore, our King before the
worlds," hath done what? "hath wrought Sal-
vation in the midst of the earth : " and I am
yet crying as if forsaken ! . . . Now the Gen-
tiles are awake, and we are snoring, and as
though God hath, forsaken us, in dreams we are
delirious. " He hath wrought Salvation in the
midst of the earth."
12. Now therefore, O Asaph, amend thyself
according to thy understanding, tell us what sort
of Salvation God hath wrought in the midst of
the earth. When that earthly Salvation of yours
was overthrown, what did He do, what did He
promise ? " Thou didst confirm in Thy virtue the
sea" (ver. 13). As though the nation of the
Jews were as it were dry land severed from
the waves, the Gentiles in their bitterness were
the sea, and on all sides they washed about that
land : behold, " Thou hast confirmed in Thy vir-
tue the sea," and the land remained thirsting for
Thy rain. " Thou hast confirmed in Thy virtue
the sea, Thou hast broken in pieces the heads of
dragons in the water." Dragons' heads, that is,
demons' pride, wherewith the Gentiles were pos-
1 Rom. xi. as.
2 Oxf. mss. " wast unwilling, and wasl not."
3 John xii. 34. * Numb. xxi. 9. s Ps. Ixxiv. 9.
6 John i. x.
sessed, Thou hast broken in pieces upon the
water : for those persons whom they were pos-
sessing, Thou by Baptism hast delivered.
13. What more after the heads of dragons?
For those dragons have their chief, and he is
himself the first great dragon. And concerning
him what hath He done that hath wrought Sal-
vation in the midst of the earth ? Hear : " Thou
hast broken the head of the dragon " (ver. 14).
Of what dragon? We understand by dragons
all the demons that war under the devil : what
single dragon then, whose head was broken, but
the devil himself ought we to understand ? What
with him hath He done? "Thou hast broken
the head of the dragon." That is, the beginning
of sin. That head is the part which received
the curse, to wit that the seed of Eve should
mark the head of the serpent.? For the Church
was admonished to shun the beginning of sin.
Which is that beginning of sin, like the head of
a serpent ? The beginning of all sin is pride.8
There hath been broken therefore the head of
the dragon, hath been broken pride diabolical.
And what with him hath He done, that hath
wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth?
" Thou hast given him for a morsel to the Ethi-
opian peoples." What is this? How do I un-
derstand the Ethiopian peoples? How but by
these all nations ? And properly by black men :
for Ethiopians are black. They are themselves
called to the faith who were black ; the very
same indeed, so that there is said to them, " for
ye were sometime darkness, but now light in the
Lord." ' . . . Thence was also that calf which
the people worshipped, unbelieving, apostate,
seeking the gods of the Egyptians, forsaking Him
who had delivered them from the slavery of the
Egyptians : whence there was enacted that great
Sacrament. For when Moses was thus wroth
with them worshipping and adoring the idol,'°
and, inflamed with zeal for God, was punishing
temporally, in order that he might terrify them
to shun death everlasting ; yet the head itself of
the calf he cast into the fire, and ground to pow-
der, destroyed, strawed on the water, and gave
to the people to drink : so there was enacted a
great Sacrament. O anger prophetic, and mind
not perturbed but enlightened ! He did what?
Cast it into the fire, in order that first the form
itself may be obliterated ; piece by piece grind
it down, in order that little by little it may be
consumed : cast it into the water, give to the
people to drink ! What is this but that the wor-
shippers of the devil were become the body of
the same ? In the same manner as men confess-
ing Christ become the Body of Christ ; so that
to them is said, " but ye are the Body of Christ
1 Gen. iii. 15. " Eccles. x. 13,
1 Eph. v. 8. JSee p. 331, note 3, supra. — C]
10 Exod. xxxii. 19.
Psalm LXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
347
and the members." ■ The body of the devil was
to be consumed, and that too by Israelites was to
be consumed. For out of that people were the
Apostles, out of that people the first Church.
. . . Thus the devil is being consumed with the
loss of his members. This was figured also in
the serpent of Moses. For the magicians did
likewise, and casting down their rods they ex-
hibited serpents : but the serpent of Moses swal-
lowed up the rods of all those magicians.2 Let
there be perceived therefore even now the body
of the devil : this is what is coming to pass, he
is being devoured by the Gentiles who have be-
lieved, he hath become meat for the Ethiopian
peoples. This again, may be perceived in,
" Thou hast given him for meat to the Ethiopian
peoples," how that now all men bite him. What
is, bite him ? By reproving, blaming, accusing.
Just as hath been said, by way of prohibition in-
deed, but yet the idea expressed : " but if ye bite
and eat up one another, take heed that ye be not
consumed of one another." 3 What is, bite and
eat up one another? Ye go to law with one
another, ye detract from one another, ye heap
revilings upon one another. Observe therefore
now how that with these bitings the devil is
being consumed. What man, when angry with
his servant, even a heathen, would not say to
him, Satan ? 4 Behold the devil given for meat.
This saith Christian, this saith Jew, this saith
heathen : 4 him he worshippeth, and with him he
curseth ! . . .
14. "Thou hast cleft the fountains and tor-
rents" (ver. 15) : in order that they might flow
with the stream of wisdom, might flow with the
riches of the faith, might water the saltness of
the Gentiles, in order that they might convert
all unbelievers into the sweetness of the faith by
their watering. ... In some men the Word of
God becometh a well of water springing up unto
life eternal ; ' but others hearing the Word, and
not so keeping it as that they live well, yet not
keeping silence with tongue, they become tor-
rents. For they are properly called torrents
which are not perennial : for sometimes also in
a secondary sense torrent is used for river : as
hath been said, " with the torrent of Thy pleas-
ures Thou shalt give them to drink."6 For that
torrent shall not ever be dried up. But torrents
properly are those rivers named, which in sum-
mer fail, but with winter rains are flooded and
run. Thou seest therefore a man sound in faith,
that will persevere even unto the end, that will
not forsake God in any trial ; for the sake of the
truth, not for the sake of falsehood and error,
enduring all difficulties. Whence is this man so
vigorous, but because the Word hath become in
n
[ Cor.
Exod. vu. 12.
heathenism in <
6 Ps. xxxvi. 8.
* Gal. v. 15.
A note of the state of heathenism in our author's time. — C]
ohn iv. 14.
him a well of water springing up unto life
eternal ? 5 But the other receiveth the Word, he
preacheth, he is not silent, he runneth : but sum-
mer proveth whether he be fountain or torrent.
Nevertheless through both be the earth watered,
by Him who hath wrought Salvation in the
midst of the earth : let the fountains overflow,
let the torrents run.
15. " Thou hast dried up the rivers of Etham "
(ver. 15). . . . What is Etham? For the word
is Hebrew. What is Etham interpreted ? Strong,
stout. Who is this strong and stout one, whose
rivers God drieth up? Who but that very
dragon ? For " no one entereth into the house
of a strong man that he may spoil his vessels,
unless first he shall have bound fast the strong
man." I This is that strong man on his own virtue
relying, and forsaking God : this is that strong
man, who saith, " I will set my seat by the north,
and I will be like the Most High."8 Out of
that very cup of perverse strength he hath given
man to drink. Strong they willed to be> who
thought that they would be Gods by means of
the forbidden food. Adam became strong, over
whom was reproachfully said, " Behold, Adam
hath become like one of us." 9 ... As though
they were strong, " to the righteousness of God
they have not been made subject." IO Observe ye
that a man hath put out of the way his own
strength, and remained weak, needy, standing
afar off, not daring even to raise his eyes to
Heaven ; but smiting his breast, and saying, " O
Lord, merciful be Thou to me a sinner." " Now
he is weak, now he confesseth his weakness, he
is not strong : dry land he is, be he watered with
fountains and torrents. They are as yet strong
who rely on their own virtue. Be their rivers
dried up, let there be no advancement in the
doctrines of the Gentiles, of wizards, of astrolo-
gers, of magic arts : for dried up are the rivers
of the strong man : "Thou hast dried up the
rivers of Etham." Let there dry up that doc-
trine ; let minds be flooded with the Gospel of
truth.
16. "Thine own is the day and Thine own is
the night " (ver. 16). Who is ignorant of this,
seeing that He hath Himself made all these
things ; for by the Word were made all things? '*
To that very One Himself who hath wrought
Salvation in the midst of the earth, to Him is
said, "Thine own is the night." Something
here we ought to perceive which belongeth to
that very Salvation which He hath wrought in
the midst of the earth. " Thine own is the day."
Who are these ? The spiritual. " And Thine
own is the night." Who are these ? The car-
nal. . . . "Thou hast made perfect sun and
1 Marie xii. 29.
9 Gen. iii. 22.
11 Luke xviii. 13.
8 Isa. xiv. 13.
IO Rom. x. 3.
" John i. 3.
348
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIV.
moon : " the sun, spiritual men, the moon, car-
nal men. As yet carnal he is, may he not be
forsaken, and may he too be made perfect.
The sun, as it were a wise man : the moon, as
it were an unwise man : Thou hast not however
forsaken. For thus it is written, " A wise man
endureth as the sun, but a foolish man as the
moon is changed." ' What then ? Because the
sun endureth, that is, because the wise man en-
dureth as the sun, a foolish man is changed like
the moon, is one as yet carnal, as yet unwise, to
be forsaken? And where is that which hath
been said by the Apostle, " To the wise and un-
wise a debtor I am"?1
17. "Thou hast made all the ends of the
earth" (ver. 17). . . . Behold in what manner
He hath made the ends of the earth, that hath
wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth.
"Thou hast made all the ends of the earth.
Summer and spring Thou hast made them."
Men fervent in the Spirit are the summer. Thou,
I say, hast made men fervent in the Spirit : Thou
hast made also the novices in the Faith, they
are the " spring." " Summer and Spring Thou
hast made them." They shall not glory as if they
have not received : " Thou hast made them."
18. " Mindful be Thou of this Thy creature "
(ver. 18). Of what creature of Thine ? "The
enemy hath reviled the Lord." O Asaph, grieve
over thine old blindness in understanding : " the
enemy hath reviled the Lord." It was said to
Christ in His own nation, " a sinner is this Man :
we know not whence He is : " we know Moses,
to him spake God ; this Man is a Samaritan.3
"And the unwise people hath provoked Thy
name." The unwise people Asaph was at that
time, but not the understanding of Asaph at that
time. What is said in the former Psalm ? " As
it were a beast I have become unto Thee, and I
am alway with Thee : " 4 because He went not to
the gods and idols of the Gentiles. Although
he knew not, being like a beast, yet he knew
again as a man. For he said, " alway I am with
Thee, like a beast : " and what afterwards in
that place in the same Psalm, where Asaph is ?
" Thou hast held the hand of my right hand, in
Thy will Thou hast conducted me, and with
glory Thou hast taken me up." s In Thy will,
not in my righteousness : by Thy gift, not by
my work. Therefore here also, "the enemy
hath reviled the Lord : and the unwise people
hath provoked Thy name." Have they all then
perished ? Far be it. . . . For even the Apostle
Paul through unbelief had been broken, and
through faith unto the root he was restored. So
evidently " the unwise people provoked Thy
name," when it was said, " If Son of God He is,
let Him come down from the Cross."6
19. But what sayest thou, O Asaph, now in
understanding? "Deliver not to the beasts a
soul confessing to Thee" (ver. 19). ... To
what beasts, save to those the heads whereof
were broken in pieces upon the water? For
the same devil is called, beast, lion, and dragon.
Do not, he saith, give to the Devil and his Angels
a soul confessing to Thee. Let the serpent de-
vour, if still I mind things earthly, if for things
earthly I long, if still in the promises of the Old
Testament, after the revealing of the New, I re-
main. But forasmuch as now I have laid down
pride, and my own righteousness I will not ac-
knowledge, but Thy Grace j against me let proud
beasts have no power. " The souls of Thy
poor forget Thou not unto the end." Rich we
were, strong we were : but Thou hast dried up
the rivers of Etham : no longer we establish our
own righteousness, but we acknowledge Thy
Grace ; poor we are, hearken to Thy beggars.
Now we do not dare to lift our eyes to Heaven,
but smiting our breasts we say, " O Lord, be
Thou merciful to me a sinner."7
20. " Have regard unto Thy Testament " 8
(ver. 20). Fulfil that which Thou hast prom-
ised : the tables we have, for the inheritance we
are looking. " Have regard unto Thy Testa-
ment," not that old one : not for the sake of
the land of Canaan I ask, not for the sake of the
temporal subduing of enemies, not for the sake
of carnal fruitfulness of sons, not for the sake of
earthly riches, not for the sake of temporal wel-
fare : " Have regard unto Thy Testament,"
wherein Thou hast promised the kingdom of
Heaven. Now I acknowledge Thy Testament :
now understanding is Asaph, no beast is Asaph,
now he seeth that which was spoken of, " Be-
hold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will
accomplish with the House of Israel and of
Juda a new Testament, not after the Testament
which I ordered » with their Fathers." IO " Have
regard unto Thy Testament : for they that have
been darkened have been filled of the earth of
unrighteous houses : " because they had un-
righteous hearts. Our " houses " are our hearts :
therein gladly dwell they that are blessed with
pure heart." " Have regard," therefore, " unto
Thy Testament : " and let the remnant be
saved : ,2 for many men that give heed to earth
are darkened, and filled with earth. For there
hath entered into their eyes dust, and it hath
blinded them, and they have become dust which
the wind sweepeth from the face of the earth.'3
"They that have been darkened have been
filled of the earth of unrighteous houses." For
by giving heed to earth they have been dark-
ened, concerning whom there is said in another
1 Ecclus. xxvii. ix. 3 Rom. i
3 John ix. 24, 29; John viii. 48.
' P». lxxiii. 23. 6 Malt. 1
* Ps. lxxiii. 22.
7 Luke xviii. 13.
10 Jcr. xxxi. 31.
» P«. i. 4.
8 Or, '* Covenant.'
» Matt. v. 8.
9 Disposut.
12 Rom. ix. 27.
Psalm LXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
349
Psalm, " Let their eyes be blinded, that they
see not, and their back ever bow Thou down." ■
With earth, then, " they that have been dark-
ened have been filled, with the earth of unright-
eous houses : " because they have unrighteous
hearts. . . .
21. " Let not the humble man be turned
away confounded " (ver. 21). For them pride
hath confounded. " The needy and helpless
man shall praise Thy name." Ye see, brethren,
how sweet ought to be poverty : ye see that poor
and helpless men belong to God, but " poor in
spirit, for of them is the Kingdom of Heaven." 2
Who are the poor in spirit? The humble, men
trembling at the words of God, confessing their
sins, neither on their own merits, nor on their
own righteousness relying. Who are the poor in
spirit? They who when they do anything of
good, praise God, when anything of evil, accuse
themselves. " Upon whom shall rest My Spirit,"
saith the Prophet, " but upon the humble man,
and peaceful, and trembling at My words?" s
Now therefore Asaph hath understood, now to
the earth he adhereth not, now the earthly
promises out of the Old Testament he requireth
not. . . .
22. " Arise, O Lord, judge Thou my cause " 4
(ver. 22). . . . Because I am not able to show my
God, as if I were following an empty thing, they
revile me. And not only Heathen, or Jew, or
heretic ; but sometimes even a Catholic brother
doth make a grimace when the promises of God
are being preached, when a future resurrection
is being foretold.5 And still even he, though
already washed with the water of eternal Salva-
tion, bearing the Sacrament of Christ, perchance
saith, "and what man hath yet risen again?"
And, " I have not heard my father speaking out
of the grave, since I buried him ! " " God hath
given to His servants a law for time, to which 6
let them betake themselves : for what man Com-
eth back from beneath?" And what shall I do
with such men? Shall I show them what they
see not ? I am not able : for not for the sake
of them ought God to become visible. ... I
see not, he saith : what am I to believe ? Thy
soul is seen then, I suppose ? Fool, thy body is
seen : thy soul who doth see ? Since therefore
thy body alone is seen, why art thou not buried ?
He marvelleth that I have said, If body alone is
seen, why art thou not buried? And he an-
swereth (for he knoweth as much as this),
Because I am alive. How know I that thou
art alive, of whom I see not the soul? How
know I ? Thou wilt answer, Because I speak,
because I walk, because I work. Fool, by the
1 Ps. lxix. 23. 2 Matt. v. 3. 3 Isa. lxvi. 2.
* E. V. " Thine own cause."
5 [1 Cor. xv. 35. — C.l
6 Quod {tempus?). Oxf. mss. quam {legem).
operations of the body I know thee to be living,
by the works of creation canst thou not know
the Creator? And perchance he that saith,
when I shall be dead, afterwards I shall be
nothing ; hath both learned letters, and hath
learned this doctrine from Epicurus, who was a
sort of doting philosopher, or rather lover of
folly not of wisdom, whom even the philosophers
themselves have named the hog : who said that
the " chief good " was pleasure of body ; this
philosopher they ^ have named the hog, wallow-
ing in carnal mire. From him perchance this
lettered man hath learned to say, I shall not be,
after I have died. Dried be the rivers of
Etham ! Perish those doctrines of the Gen-
tiles, flourish the plantations of Jerusalem ! Let
them see what they can, in heart believe what
they cannot see ! Certainly all those things
which throughout the world now are seen, when
God was working Salvation in the midst of the
earth, when those things were being spoken of,
they were not then as yet : and behold at that
time they were foretold, now they are shown as
fulfilled, and still the fool saith in his heart, " there
is no God." 8 Woe to the perverse hearts : for
so will there come to pass the things which re-
main, as there have come to pass the things
which at that time were not, and were being
foretold as to come to pass. Hath God indeed
performed 9 to us all the things which He prom-
ised, and concerning the Day of Judgment alone
hath He deceived us? Christ was not on the
earth ; He promised, He hath performed : no
virgin had conceived ; He promised, He hath
performed : the precious Blood had not been
shed whereby there should be effaced the hand-
writing of our death ; He promised, He hath
performed : not yet had flesh risen again unto
life eternal ; He promised, He hath performed :
not yet had the Gentiles believed ; He promised,
He hath performed : not yet heretics armed with
the name of Christ, against Christ were warring ;
He foretold, He hath performed : not yet the
idols of the Gentiles from the earth had been
effaced ; He foretold, He hath performed : when
all these things He hath foretold and performed,
concerning the Day of Judgment alone hath He
lied ? It will come by all means as these things
came ; for even these things before they came
to pass were future, and as future were first fore-
told, and afterwards they came to pass. It will
come, my brethren. Let no one say, it will not
come : or, it will come, but far off is that which
will come. But to thyself it is near at hand to
go hence. ... If thou shalt have done that
which the devil doth suggest, and shalt have
despised that which God hath commanded ;
7 Oxf.^ mss. "philosopher." [Hor. Ep. iv. 16; and Cic. De
OJficiist iii. 33. — C.]
8 Ps. xiv. 1. 9 Exhibuit.
35°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXV.
there will come the Judgment Day, and thou
wilt find that true which God hath threatened,
and that false which the devil hath promised.
..." Remember Thy reproaches, those which
are from the imprudent man all the day long."
For still Christ is reviled : nor will there be
wanting all the day long, that is, even unto the
end of time, the vessels of wrath. Still is it
being said, "Vain things the Christians do
preach : " still is it being said, " A fond thing
is the resurrection of the dead." " Remember
Thy reproaches." But what reproaches, save
those "which are from the imprudent man all
the day long?" Doth a prudent man say this?
Nay, for a prudent man is said to be one far-
seeing. If a prudent man is one far-seeing, by
faith he seeth afar : for with eyes scarce that
before the feet is seen.
23. " Forget not the voice of them that im-
plore Thee" (ver. 23). While they groan for
and expect now that which Thou hast promised
from the New Testament, and walk by that same
Faith, " do Thou not forget the voice of them
imploring Thee." But those still say, " Where
is Thy God ? Let the pride of them that hate
Thee come up alway to Thee." Do not forget
even their pride. Nor doth He forget : no
doubt He doth either punish or amend.
PSALM LXXV.'
1. . . . The Title of this Psalm thus speaketh :
"At the end,2 corrupt not." What is, " corrupt
not?" That which Thou hast promised, per-
form. But when? "At the end." To this
then let the mind's eye be directed, " unto the
end." Let all the things which have occurred
in the way be passed over, in order that we may
attain to the end. Let proud men exult because
of present felicity, let them swell with honours,
glitter in gold, overflow with domestics, be en-
circled with the services of clients : these things
pass away, they pass away like a shadow. When
that end shall have come, when all who now
hope in the Lord are to rejoice, then to them
shall come sorrow without end. When the meek
shall have received that which the proud deride,
then the vapouring of the proud shall be turned
into mourning. Then shall there be that voice
which we know in the Book of Wisdom : for
they shall say at that time when they see the
glory of the Saints, who, when they were in
humiliation, endured them ; who, when they
were exalted, consented not — at that time then
they shall say, " These are they whom sometime
we have had in derision."3 Where they also
say, "What hath pride profited us, and the
boasting of riches hath bestowed upon us what? "
> Lat. LXXIV.
8 In finem*
Sermon to the Commonalty.
* Wud. v. 3.
All things have passed away like a shadow. Be-
cause on things corruptible they relied, their
hope shall be corrupted : but our own hope at
that time shall be substance. For in order that
the promise of God may remain whole and sure
and certain towards us, we have said out of a
heart4 of faith, "at the end corrupt not." Fear
not, therefore, lest any mighty man should cor-
rupt the promises of God. He doth not corrupt,
because He is truthful ; He hath no one more
mighty by whom His promise may be corrupted 1
let us be then sure concerning the promises of
God ; and let us sing now from the place where
the Psalm beginneth.
2. " We will confess to Thee, O Lord, we will
confess to Thee, and will invoke Thy name "
(ver. 1 ) . Do not invoke, before thou confess :
confess, and invoke. For Him whom thou art
invoking, unto thyself thou callest. For what is
it to invoke, but unto thyself to call? If He
is invoked by thee, that is, if He is called to
thee, unto whom doth He draw near? To a
proud man He draweth not near. High indeed
He is, one lifted up attaineth not unto Him.
In order that we may reach all exalted objects,
we raise ourselves, and if we are not able to
reach them, we look for some appliances or lad-
ders, in order that being exalted we may reach
exalted objects : contrariwise God is both high,
and by the lowly He is reached. It is written,
" Nigh is the Lord to them that have bruised
the heart." 5 The bruising of the heart is God-
liness, humility. He that bruiseth himself is
angry with himself. Let him make himself
angry in order that he may make Him merciful ;
let him make himself judge, in order that he
may make Him Advocate. Therefore God doth
come when invoked. Unto whom doth He
come? To the proud man He cometh not.
. . . Take heed therefore what ye do : for if He
knoweth, He is not unobservant.6 It is better
therefore that He be unobservant than known.
For what is that same being unobservant, but
not knowing? What is, not to know? Not to
animadvert. For even as the act of one aven-
ging animadversion is wont to be spoken of.
Here one praying that He be unobservant :
"Turn away Thy face from my sins."7 What
then wilt thou do if He shall have turned away
His face from thee? A grievous thing it is, and
to be feared, lest He forsake thee. Again, if
He turn not away His face, He animadverteth.
God knoweth this thing, God can do this thing,
namely, both turn away face from one sinning,
and not turn away from one confessing. . . .
Confess therefore and invoke. For by confess-
ing thou purgest the Temple, into which He may
* 4 mss. "mouth." * Ps xxxiv. 18.
6 Non ignoscit, " doth not forgive " (take no notice).
1 P». li. o.
Psalm LXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
351
come, when invoked. Confess and invoke. May
He turn away face from thy sins, not turn away
from thee : turn away face from that which thou
hast wrought," not turn away from that which
He hath Himself wrought.2 For thee, as man, He
hath Himself wrought, thy sins thou hast thyself
wrought. . . .
3. But that there is a strengthening of the
sense in repetition, by many passages of the
Scriptures we are taught. Thence is that which
the Lord saith, " Verily, Verily." 3 Thence in
certain Psalms is, " So be it, So be it." 4 To
signify the thing, one " So be it " would have
been sufficient : to signify confirmation, there
hath been added another" So "be it." . . . Count-
less passages of such sort there are throughout
all the Scriptures. With these it is sufficient
that we have commended to your notice a way
of speaking which ye may observe in all like
cases : now to the substance attend : " We will
confess to Thee," he saith, " and we will invoke."
I have said why before invocation confession
doth precede : because whom thou dost invoke,
him thou dost invite. But he willeth not to
come when invoked, if thou shalt have been
lifted up : lifted up if thou shalt have been, thou
wilt not be able to confess. And thou deniest
not any things to God that He knoweth not.
Therefore thy confession doth not teach Him,
but it purgeth thee.
4. . . . Hear ye now the words of Christ. For
these seemed not as it were to be His words,5
" We will confess to Thee, O God, we will confess
to Thee, and will invoke Thy name." Now be-
ginneth the discourse in the person of the Head.
But whether Head speaketh or whether mem-
bers speak, Christ speaketh : He speaketh in
the person of the Head, He speaketh in the
person of the Body. But what hath been said ?
There shall be two in one flesh.6 "This is a
great Sacrament : " " I," he saith, " speak in
Christ and in the Church." ? And He Himself
in the Gospel, " Therefore no longer two, but
one flesh." 8 For in order that ye may know
these in a manner to be two persons, and again
one by the bond of marriage, as one He speak-
eth in Isaiah, and saith, " As upon a Bridegroom
he hath bound upon me a mitre, and as a Bride
he hath clothed me with an ornament." "> A
Bridegroom He hath called Himself in the
Head, a Bride in the Body. He is speaking
therefore as One, let us hear Him, and in Him
let us also speak. Let us be the members of
Him, in order that this voice may possibly be
ours also. " I will tell forth," he saith, " all Thy
marvellous things." Christ is preaching Him-
1 Fecisti. * Fecit.
* Ps. lxxii. 19, Ixxxix. 53.
* Oxf. MSS. " members."
7 Eph. ». 33. » Matt. xix. 6.
3 John i. 51.
6 Gen. ii. 34.
9 Isa. lxi. 10.
self, He is preaching Himself even in His
members now existing, in order that He may
guide unto Him others, and they may draw near
that were not, and may be united with those
members of Him, through which members of
Him the Gospel hath been preached ; and there
may be made one Body under one Head, in one
Spirit, in one Life.
5. And he saith what? "When I shall have
received," he saith, " the time,10 I will judge jus-
tices" (ver. 2). When shall He judge justices?
When He shall have received the time. Not
yet is the precise time. Thanks to His mercy :
He first preacheth justices, and then He judgeth
justices. For if He willed to judge before He
willed to preach, who would be found that
should be delivered : who would meet Him
that should be absolved ? Now therefore is the
time of preaching : " I will tell," he saith, " all Thy
marvellous works." Hear Him telling, hear
Him preaching : for if thou shalt have despised
Him, " when I shall have received the time,"
He saith, " I will judge justices." I forgive, He
saith, now sins to one confessing, I will not
spare hereafter one despising. . . . He hath re-
ceived a time as Son of Man ; He doth govern
times as Son of God. Hear how as Son of
Man He hath received the time of judging. He
saith in the Gospel, " He hath given to Him
power to execute judgment, because Son of Man
He is." " According to His nature as Son of
God, He hath never received power of judging,
because He never lacked the power of judging :
according to His nature as Son of Man He hath
received a time, as of being born, and of suf-
fering, as of dying, and of rising again, and of
ascending, so of coming and of judging. In
Him His Body also saith these words, for not
without them He will judge. For He saith in
the Gospel, " Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." ,2 Therefore
whole Christ saith, that is, Head and Body in
the Saints, " when I shall have received the
time, I will judge justices."
6. But now what ? " The earth hath flowed
down" (ver. 3). If the earth hath flowed
down, whence hath it flowed down except by
sins? Therefore also they are called delinquen-
cies. To delinquish is as it were by a kind of
liquidity '3 to slip down from the stability of firm-
ness in virtue and righteousness. For it is
through desire of lower things that every man
sinneth : as he is strengthened by the love of
higher things, so he falleth down and as it were
melteth away by desire of lower things. This
flux of things by the sins of man the merciful
forgiver observing, being a merciful forgiver of
10 E. V. " the congregation." u John v. 37.
13 Matt. xix. 38.
13 De Hquido quodam. At. de loco quodam. [Qu. deliquesced
C.J
352
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXV.
sins, not yet an exactor of punishments, He ob-
serveth and saith : The earth herself indeed
hath flowed down by them that dwell in her.
That Which followeth is an exposition, not an
addition. As though thou wert saying, in what
manner hath the earth flowed down? Have the
foundations been withdrawn, and hath anything
therein been swallowed up in a sort of gulf?
What I mean by earth is all they that dwell
therein. I have found, he saith, the earth sinful.
And I have done what ? "I have strengthened
the pillars thereof." What are the pillars which
He hath strengthened? Pillars He hath called
the Apostles. So the Apostle Paul concerning
his fellow-Apostles saith, " who seemed to be
pillars." ' And what would those pillars have
been, except by Him they had been strength-
ened ? For on occasion of a sort of earthquake
even these very pillars rocked : at the Passion
of the Lord all the Apostles despaired. There-
fore those pillars which rocked at the Passion
of the Lord, by the Resurrection were strength-
ened. The Beginning of the building hath
cried out through the pillars thereof, and in all
those pillars the Architect Himself hath cried
out. For the Apostle Paul was one pillar of
them when he said, " Would ye receive a proof
of Him that speaketh in me — Christ?"2
Therefore, " I," he saith, " have strengthened
the pillars thereof: " I have risen again, I have
shown that death is not to be feared, I have
shown to them that fear, that not even the body
itself doth perish in the dying. There terrified
them wounds, there strengthened them scars.
The Lord Jesus could have risen again without
any scar : for what great matter were it for that
power, to restore the frame of .the body to such
perfect soundness, as that no trace at all of past
wound should appear? He had power whence
He might make it whole even without scar:
but He willed to have that whereby He might
strengthen the rocking pillars.
7. We have heard now, brethren, that which
day by day is not kept secret : let us hear now
what He hath cried through these pillars. . . .
He crieth what? "I have said to unjust men,
Do not unjustly" (ver. 4). . . . But already
they have done, and they are guilty : already
there hath flowed down the earth, and all they
that dwell therein. Pricked to the heart were
they that crucified Christ,3 they acknowledged
their sin, they learned something of the Apostle,
that they might not despair of the pardon of
the Preacher.4 For as Physician He had come,
and therefore had not come to the whole. " For
there is no need," He saith, " to the whole of a
physician, but to them that are sick. I have
1 Gal. ii. o. 3 a Cor. xiii. 3. 3 Acts ii. 37.
* Prttdicatoris. Some MSS. Ptccattres, " that sinners might
not despair of pardon."
not come to call righteous men, but sinners to
repentance."' Therefore, "I have said to unjust
men, Do not unjustly." They heard not. For
of old to us it was spoken : we heard not, we
fell, were made mortal, were begotten mortal :
the earth flowed down. Let them hear the
Physician even now in order that they may rise,
Him that came to the sick man, Him whom
they would not hear when whole in order that
they might not fall, let them hear when lying
down in order that they may rise. ..." I have
said to unjust men, Do not unjustly ; and to the
delinquent, Do not exalt your horn." There
shall be exalted in you the horn of Christ, if
your horn be not exalted. Your horn is of iniq-
uity, the horn of Christ is of majesty.
8. " Be not therefore lifted up : speak not
iniquity against God " (ver. 5). . . . What saith
He in another Psalm ? " These things thou
h?st done," having enumerated certain sins.
" These things thou hast done," He saith, " and
was silent."6 What is, "I was silent"? He
is never silent with commandment, but mean-
while He is silent with punishment : He is
keeping still from vengeance, He doth not pro-
nounce sentence against the condemned. But
this man saith thus, I have done such and such
things, and God hath not taken vengeance ;
behold I am whole, nought of ill hath befallen
me. " These things thou hast done, and I was
silent : thou hast suspected iniquity, that I shall
be like unto thee." What is, " that I shall be
like unto thee "? Because thou art unjust, even
Me thou hast deemed unjust; as though an
approver of thy misdeeds, and no adversary, no
avenger thereof. And what afterwards saith He
to thee? " I will convict thee, and will set thee
before thine own face " ? 6 What is this ? Be-
cause now by sinning behind thy back thou
settest thyself, seest not thyself, examinest not
thyself; I will set thee before thyself, and will
bring upon thee punishment from thyself. So
also here, " Speak not iniquity against God."
Attend. Many men speak this iniquity ; but
dare not openly, lest as blasphemers they be
abhorred by godly men : in their heart they
gnaw upon these things, within they feed upon
such impious food ; it delighteth them to speak
against God, and if they break not out with
tongue, in heart they are not silent. Whence
in another Psalm is said, " The fool hath said in
his heart, There is no God." ' The fool hath
said, but he hath feared men : he would not say
it where men might hear ; and he said it in that
place where He might Himself hear concerning
whom he said it. Therefore here also in this
Psalm (dearly beloved attend), whereas that
which He said, " Do not speak iniquity against
! Matt. ix. 12, 13.
« PS. 1. 31.
' Ps. :
Psalm LXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
353
God," this He saw many men do in heart, He
hath also added, " for neither from East, nor
from West, nor from the deserts of the moun-
tains (ver. 6), for God is Judge" (ver. 7). Of
thine iniquities God is Judge. If God He is,
everywhere He is present. Whither wilt thou
take thyself away from the eyes of God, so that
in some quarter thou mayest speak that which
He may not hear? If from the East God
judgeth, withdraw into the West, and say what
thou wilt against God : if from the West, go into
the East, and there speak : if from the deserts
of the mountains He judgeth, go into the midst
of the peoples, where thou mayest murmur to
thyself. From no place judgeth He that every-
where is secret, everywhere open ; whom it is
allowed no one to know as He is, and whom no
one is permitted not to know. Take heed what
thou doest. Thou art speaking iniquity against
God. " The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the
round world" (another Scripture saith this),
" and that which containeth all things hath
knowledge of the voice : wherefore he that speak -
eth unjust things cannot be hid." ' Do not there-
fore think God to be in places : He is with thee
such an one as thou shalt have been. What
if such an one as thou shalt have been? Good,
is, thou shalt have been good ; and evil to thee
He will seem, if evil thou shalt have been ; but a
Helper, if good thou shalt have been ; an
Avenger, if evil thou shalt have been. There
thou hast a Judge in thy secret place. Willing
to do something of evil, from the public thou
retirest into thy house, where no enemy may
see ; from those places of thine house which, are
open and before the eyes of men, thou removest
thyself into a chamber ; thou fearest even in thy
chamber some witness from some other quarter,
thou retirest into thy heart, there thou medi-
tatest : He is more inward than thy heart.
Whithersoever therefore thou shalt have fled,
there He is. From thyself whither wilt thou
flee? Wilt thou not follow thyself whithersoever
thou shalt flee? But since there is One more
inward even than thyself, there is no place
whither thou mayest flee from God angry, but
to God reconciled. There is no place at all
whither thou mayest flee. Wilt thou flee from
Him ? Flee to Him. . . . What then shall we
do now? "Let us come before His face," b>
i£o,ao\oyrjcra, come before in confession : He
shall come gentle whom thou hadst made angry.
" Neither from the deserts of the mountains,
for God is Judge : " not from the East, not from
the West, not from the deserts of the mountains.
Wherefore ? " For God is Judge." If in any
place He were, He would not be God : but
because God is Judge, not man, do not expect
> Wisd. i. 7, 8.
Him out of places. His place thou wilt be, if
thou art good, if after having confessed 2 thou
shalt have invoked Him.
9. " One He humbleth, and another He ex-
alteth " (ver. 7). Whom humbleth, whom ex-
alteth this Judge? Observe these two men in
the temple, and ye see whom He humbleih and
whom He exalteth. " They went up into the
Temple to pray," He saith, " the one a Pharisee,
' and the other a Publican. ..." Verily I say unto
I you, that Publican went down justified more
than that Pharisee : for every one that exalteth
himself shall be humbled ; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted." 3 Thus hath been ex-
plained a verse of this Psalm. God the Judge
doth what? "One He humbleth, and another
He exalteth : " He humbleth the proud, He ex-
alteth the humble.
10. " For the cup in the hand of the Lord of
pure wine is full of mixed " (ver. 8). Justly so.
"And He hath poured out of this upon this
man ; nevertheless, the dreg thereof hath not
been emptied ; there shall drink all the sinners
of earth." Let us be somewhat recruited ; there
is here some obscurity. . . . The first question
that meeteth us is this, " of pure wine it is full of
mixed." How " of pure," if " of mixed " ? But
when he saith, " the cup in the hand of the
Lord " (to men instructed in the Church of
Christ I am speaking), ye ought not indeed to
paint in your heart God as it were circumscribed
with a human form, lest, though the temples are
shut up, ye forge images in your hearts. This
cup therefore doth signify something. We will
find out this. But " in the hand of the Lord,"
is, in the power of the Lord. For the hand of
God is spoken of for the power of God. For
even in reference to men ofttimes is said, in
hand he hath it : that is, in his power he hath it,
when he chooseth he doth it. " Of pure wine
it is full of mixed." In continuation he hath
himself explained : " He hath inclined," he
saith, " from this unto this man ; nevertheless
the dreg thereof hath not been emptied." Be-
hold how it was full of mixed wine. Let it not
therefore terrify you that it is both pure and
mixed : pure because of the genuineness there-
of, mixed because of the dreg. What then in
that place is the wine, and what the dreg? And
what is, " He hath inclined from this unto this
man," in such sort that the dreg thereof was not
emptied ?
1 1 . Call ye to mind from whence he came to
this : " one He humbleth, and another He ex-
alteth."4 That which was figured to us in the
Gospel through two men, a Pharisee and a Pub-
lican,5 this let us, taking in a wider sense, under-
stand of two peoples, of Jews and of Gentiles : the
2 Oxf. mss. "being converted.'
* Ps. Ixxv. 7.
3 Luke xviii. 10, etc.
5 Luke xviii. 10.
354
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXV.
people of the Jews that Pharisee was, the people
of the Gentiles that Publican. ... As those by
being proud have withdrawn, so these by con-
fessing have drawn near. The cup therefore full
of pure wine in the hand of the Lord, as far as
the Lord giveth me to understand,' . . . the cup
of pure wine full of the mixed, seemeth to me
to be the Law, which was given to the Jews, and
all that Scripture of the Old Testament, as it is
called ; there are the weights of all manner of
sentences. For therein the New Testament lieth
concealed, as though in the dreg of corporal
Sacraments. The circumcision of the flesh is a
thing of great mystery,2 and there is understood
from thence the circumcision of the heart. The
Temple of Jerusalem is a thing of great mystery,
and there is understood from it the Body of the
Lord. The land of promise 3 is understood to
be the Kingdom of Heaven. The sacrifice of
victims and of beasts hath a great mystery : but
in all those kinds of sacrifices is understood that
one Sacrifice and only victim of the Cross, the
Lord, instead of all which sacrifices we have
one ; because even those figured these, that is,
with those these were figured. That people re-
ceived the Law, they received commandments
just and good.4 What is so just as, thou shalt
not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou
shalt not steal, thou shalt not speak false testi-
mony, honour thy father and mother, thou shalt
not covet the property of thy neighbour, one God
thou shalt adore, and Him alone thou shalt serve,5
all these things belong to the wine. But those
things carnal have as it were sunk down in order
that they might remain with them, and there
might be poured forth from thence all the spir-
itual understanding. But " the cup in the hand
of the Lord," that is, in the power of the Lord :
" of pure wine," that is, of the mere Law : " is
full of mixed," that is, is together with the dreg
of corporal Sacraments. And because the one
He humbleth, the proud Jew, and the other He
exalteth, the confessing Gentile ; " He hath in-
clined from this unto this," that is, from the
Jewish people unto the Gentile people. Hath
inclined what? The Law. There hath distilled
from thence a spiritual sense. " Nevertheless,
the dreg thereof hath not been emptied," for all
the carnal Sacraments have remained with .the
Jews. " There shall drink all the sinners of the
earth." Who shall drink ? " All the sinners of
the earth." Who are the sinners of the earth ?
1 [Merc he interpolates a noteworthy parenthesis; viz.," For there
may be some other who may give a better interpretation, because the
obscurity of the Scriptures is such that it is a difficult thing for them
to produce but one interpretation. Nevertheless, whatever interpre-
tation shall havebeen disclosed, it must needs accord with the rule
of faith: we neither envy our elders, nor, little as we are, do we
despair. What seemeth good to us I am telling Your Love, not
that 1 may stop up your ears against others, who will perchance say
something better.' — C]
2 Sacrameitti. 3 Oxf. mss. " hath a great mystery, and."
* Exod. xx. x-17. 5 Deut. vi. 4, 5, etc.
The Jews were indeed sinners, but proud : again,
the Gentiles were sinners, but humble. All sin-
ners shall drink, but see, who the dreg, who the
wine. For those by drinking the dreg have
come to nought : these by drinking the wine
have been justified. I would dare to speak of
them even as inebriated, and I shall not fear :
and O that all ye were thus inebriated. Call to
mind, " Thy cup inebriating, how passing beau-
tiful ! " 6 But why ? Do ye think, my brethren,
that all those who by confessing Christ even
willed to die, were sober? So drunk they were,
that they knew not their friends. All their kin-
dred, who strove to divert them from the hope
of Heavenly rewards by earthly allurements,
were not acknowledged, were not heard by them
drunken. Were they not drunken, whose heart
had been changed? Were they not drunken,
whose mind had been alienated from this world ?
" There shall drink," he saith, " all the sinners
of the earth." But who shall drink the wine?
Sinners shall drink, but in order that they may
not remain sinners ; in order that they may be
justified, in order that they may not be punished.
12. "But I," for all drink, but separately I,
that is, Christ with His Body, " for ever will
rejoice, I will Psalm to the God of Jacob " (ver.
9) : in that promise to be at the end, whereof is
said, " corrupt not." 7 " And all the horns of
sinners I will break, and there shall be exalted
the horns of the Just" (ver. 10). This is, the
one He humbleth, the other He exalteth. Sin-
ners would not have their horns to be broken,
which without doubt will be broken at the end.
Thou wilt not have Him then break them, do
thou to-day break them. For thou hast heard
above, do not despise it : "I have said to unjust
men, Do not unjustly, and to the delinquents,
Do not exalt the horn."8 When thou hast heard,
do not exalt the horn, thou hast despised «and
hast exalted the horn : thou shalt come to the
end, where there shall come to pass, " All the
horns of sinners I will break, and there shall be
exalted the horns of the Just." The horns of
sinners are the dignities of proud men : the
horns of the Just are the gifts of Christ. For
by horns exultations are understood. Thou
hatest on earth earthly exultation, in order that
thou mayest have the heavenly. Thou lovest
the earthly, He doth not admit thee to the
Heavenly : and unto confusion will belong thy
horn which is broken, just as unto glory it will
belong, if thy horn is exalted. Now therefore
there is time for making choice, then there will
not be. Thou wilt not say, I will be let go and
will make choice. For there have preceded the
words, " I have said to the unjust." If I have
not said, make ready an excuse, make ready a
6 Ps. xxiii. 5.
I Vid. Title.
6 Ps. lxxv. 5.
Psalm LXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
355
defence : but if I have said, seize first upon
confession, lest thou come unto damnation ; for
then confession will be too late, and there will
be no defence.
PSALM LXXVI.1
i. The Jews are wont to glory in this Psalm
which we have sung, saying, " Known in Judaea
is God, in Israel great is the name of Him : "
and to revile the Gentiles to whom God is not
known, and to say that to themselves alone God
is known ; seeing that the Prophet saith, " Known
in Judaea is God." In other places therefore
He is unknown. But God is known in very
deed in Judaea, if they understand what is
Judaea. For indeed God is not known except
in Judaea. Behold even we say this, that except
a person shall have been in Judaea, known to him
God cannot be. But what saith the Apostle ? He
that in secret is a Jew, he that is so in circumcision
of the heart, not in letter but in spirit.2 There
are therefore Jews in circumcision of the flesh,
and there are Jews in circumcision of the heart.
Many of our holy fathers 3 had both the cir-
cumcision of the flesh, for a seal of the faith,
and circumcision of the heart, for the faith itself.
From these fathers these men degenerating, who
now in the name do glory, and have lost their
deeds ; from these fathers, I say, degenerating,
they have remained Jews in flesh, in heart Hea-
thens. For these are Jews, who are out of
Abraham, from whom Isaac was born, and out
of him Jacob, and out of Jacob the twelve Pa-
triarchs, and out of the twelve Patriarchs the
whole people of the Jews.4 But they were gen-
erally called Jews for this reason, that Judah was
one of the twelve sons of Jacob, a Patriarch
among the twelve, and from his stock the Roy-
alty came among the Jews. For all this people
after the number of the twelve sons of Jacob,
had twelve tribes. What we call tribes are as it
were distinct houses and congregations of people.
That people, I say, had twelve tribes, out of
which twelve tribes one tribe was Judah, out
of which were the kings ; and there was another
tribe, Levi, out of which were the priests. But
because to the priests serving the temple no land
was allotted, s but it was necessary that among
twelve tribes all the Land of promise should be
shared : there having been therefore taken out
one tribe of higher dignity, the tribe of Levi,
which was of the priests, there would have
remained eleven, unless by the adoption of the
two sons of Joseph the number twelve were
completed.
Lat. LXXV. Sermon to the Commonalty, wherein he disputeth
against the Donatists, and treateth of vows.
2 Rom. ii. 2q.
3 [This habit of the primitive faithful, claiming the fatherhood of
Abraham and the prophets, is conspicuous in our author. — C.l
* Gen. xxi. i, xxv. 26, xxix. 32, etc. i Numb, xviil. 20.
What this is, observe. One of the twelve
sons of Jacob was Joseph. . . . This Joseph
had two sons, Ephraim and Manasse. Jacob,
dying, as though by will, received those his
grandsons into the number of sons, and said to
his son Joseph, ". The rest that are born shall be
to thee ; but these to me, and they shall divide
the land with their brethren." 6 As yet there had
not been given nor divided the land of promise,
but he was speaking in the Spirit, prophesying.
The two sons therefore of Joseph being added,
there were made up nevertheless twelve tribes,
since now there are thirteen. For instead of one
tribe of Joseph, two were added, and there were
made thirteen. There being taken out then the
tribe of Levi, that tribe of priests which did
serve the Temple, and lived by the tithes of all
the rest unto whom the land was divided, there
remain twelve. In these twelve was the tribe of
Judah, whence the kings were. For at first from
another tribe was given King Saul,7 and he was
rejected as being an evil king ; after there was
given from the tribe of Judah King David, and out
of him from the tribe of Judah were the Kings.8
But Jacob had spoken of this, when he blessed
his sons, " there shall not fail a prince out of
Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until there
come He to whom the promise hath been
made." 9 But from the tribe of Judah there came
Our Lord Jesus Christ. For He is, as the Scrip-
ture saith, and as ye have but now heard, out of
the seed of David born of Mary. IO But as regard-
eth the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein
He is equal with the Father, He is not only
before the Jews, but also before Abraham him-
self; " nor only before Abraham, but also before
Adam ; nor only before Adam, but also before
Heaven and earth and before ages : for all
things by Himself were made, and without Him
there was made nothing.12 Because therefore in
prophecy hath been said, " there shall not fail a
prince out of Judah," etc. : 9 former times are ex-
amined, and we find that the Jews always had their
kings of the tribe of Judah, and had no foreign
king before that Herod who was king when the
Lord was born. Thence began foreign kings,
from Herod.'3 Before Herod all were of the tribe
of Judah, but only until there should come He to
whom the promise had been made. Therefore
when the Lord Himself came, the kingdom of
the Jews was overthrown, and removed from the
Jews. Now they have no king ; because they
will not acknowledge the true King. See now
whether they must be called Jews. Now ye do
see that they must not be called Jews. They
have themselves with their own voice resigned
that name, so that they are not worthy to be
6 Gen. xlviii. 5.
9 Gen. xlix. 10.
12 John i. 3.
7 I Sam. ix. 1.
10 »Tim.ii. 8.
13 Luke iii. 1.
8 1 Sam. xvt. 12.
11 John viit. 58.
356
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVI.
called Jews, except only in the flesh. When did
they sever themselves from the name ? They
said, " We have no king but Caesar." ' O ye who
are called Jews and are not, if ye have no king
but Caesar, there hath failed a Prince of Judah :
there hath come then He to whom the promise
hath been made. They then are more truly
Jews, who have been made Christians out of
Jews : the rest of the Jews, who in Christ have
not believed, have deserved to lose even the very
name. The true Judsa, then, is the Church of
Christ, believing in that King, who hath come
out of the tribe of Judah through the Virgin
Mary; believing in Him of whom the Apostle
was just now speaking, in writing to Timothy,
" Be thou mindful that Jesus Christ hath risen
from the dead, of the seed of David, after my
Gospel."2 For of Judah is David, and out of
David is the Lord Jesus Christ. We believing in
Christ do belong to Judah : and we acknowledge
Christ. We, that with eyes have not seen, in faith
do keep Him. Let not therefore the Jews revile,
who are no longer Jews. They said themselves,
" We have no king but Caesar." ' For better
were it for them that their king should be Christ,
of the seed of David, of the tribe of Judah.
Nevertheless because Christ Himself is of the
seed of David after the flesh, but God above all
things blessed for ever,' He is Himself our King
and our God ; our King, inasmuch as born of
the tribe of Judah, after the flesh, was Christ the
Lord, the Saviour ; but our God, who is before
Judah, and before Heaven and earth, by whom
were made all things,4 both spiritual and corporal.
For if all things by Himself were made ; even
Mary herself, out of whom He was born, by
Himself was made. . . .
2. " Known in Judaea is God, in Israel great
is the Name of Him" (ver. i). Concerning
Israel also we ought so to take it as we have
concerning Judaea : as they were not the true
Jews, so neither was that the true Israel. For
what is Israel said to be? One seeing God.
And how have they seen God, among whom He
walked in the flesh ; and while they supposed
Him to be man, they slew Him ? . . . "In Israel
great is His Name." Wilt thou be Israel? Ob-
serve that man concerning whom the Lord saith,
" Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom guile is
not." s If a true Israelite is he in whom guile is
not, the guileful and lying are not true Israelites.
Let them not say then, that with them is God,
and great is His name in Israel. Let them
prove themselves Israelites, and I grant that " in
Israel great is His Name."
3. "And there hath been made in peace a
place for Him, and His habitation is in Sion "
(ver. 2). Again, Sion is as it were the country
■J
ohn xix. 15.
ohn i. 3.
2 a Tim. ii. 8.
5 John i. 47.
3 Rom. ix. 5.
of the Jews ; the true Sion is the Church of Chris-
tians. But the intrepretation of the Hebrew
names is thus handed down to us : Judaea is
interpreted confession, Israel, one seeing God.
After Judaea is Israel. Wilt thou see God?
First do thou confess, and then in thyself there
is made a place for God ; because " there hath
been made in peace a place for Him." So long
as then thou confessest not thy sins, in a manner
thou art quarrelling with God. For how art
thou not disputing with Him, who art praising
that which displeaseth Him ? He punisheth a
thief, thou dost praise theft : He doth punish
a drunken man, thou dost praise drunkenness.
Thou art disputing with God, thou hast not made
for Him a place in thy heart : because in peace
is His place. And how dost thou begin to have
peace with God ? Thou beginnest with Him in
confession. There is a voice of a Psalm, saying,
" Begin ye to the Lord in confession." 6 What is,
" Begin ye to the Lord in confession " ? Begin ye
to be joined to the Lord. In what manner? So
that the same thing may displease you as dis-
pleaseth Him. There displeaseth Him thy evil
life ; if it please thyself, thou art disunited from
Him ; if it displease thee, through confession to
Him thou art united. . . .
4. " There He hath broken the strength of
bows, and the shield, and the sword, and the
battle" (ver. 3). Where hath He broken? In
that eternal peace, in that perfect peace. And
now, my brethren, they that have rightly believed
see that they ought not to rely on themselves :
and all the might of their own menaces, and
whatsoever is in them whetted for mischief, this
they break in pieces ; and whatsoever they deem
of great virtue wherewith to protect themselves
temporally, and the war which they were waging
against God by defending their sins, all these
things He hath broken there.
5. " Thou enlightening marvellously from
the eternal mountains" (ver. 4). What are
the eternal mountains? Those which He hath
Himself made eternal ; which are the great
mountains, the preachers of truth. Thou dost
enlighten, but from the eternal mountains : the
great mountains are first to receive Thy light,
and from Thy light which the mountains receive,
the earth also is clothed. But those great moun-
tains the Apostles have received, the Apostles
have received as it were the first streaks of the
rising light. . . . Wherefore also, in another place,
a Psalm saith what? "I have lifted up mine
eyes unto the mountains, whence there shall
come help to me." 7 What then, in the moun-
tains is thy hope, and from thence to thee shall
there come help? Hast thou stayed at the
mountains ? Take heed what thou doest. There
6 Ps. cxlvii. 7.
1 Ps. cxxi. 1.
Psalm LXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
357
is something above the mountains : above the
mountains is He at whom the mountains tremble.
" I have lifted up," he saith, " mine eyes unto
the mountains, whence there shall come help
to me." But what followeth ? " My help," he
saith, " is from the Lord, who hath made Heaven
and earth." ' Unto the mountains indeed I have
lifted up eyes, because through the mountains to
me the Scriptures were displayed : but I have
my heart in Him that doth enlighten all moun-
tains. . . .
6. " There have been troubled all the unwise
in heart " (ver. 5). . . . How have they been
troubled? When the Gospel is preached. And
what is life eternal ? And who is He that hath
risen from the dead ? The Athenians wondered,
when the Apostle Paul spake of the resurrection of
the dead, and thought that he spake but fables.2
But because he said that there was another life
which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor
hath it gone up into the heart of man,' therefore
the unwise in heart were troubled. But what
hath befallen them? "They have slept their
sleep, and all men of riches have found nothing
in their hands." They have loved things present,
and have gone to sleep in the midst of things
present : and so these very present things have
become to them delightful : just as he that seeth
in a dream himself to have found treasure, is so
long rich as he waketh not. The dream hath
made him rich, waking hath made him poor.
Sleep perchance hath held him slumbering on
the earth, and lying on the hard ground, poor
and perchance a beggar ; in sleep he hath seen
himself to lie on an ivory or golden bed, and on
feathers heaped up ; so long as he is sleeping,
he is sleeping well, waking he hath found him-
self on the hard ground, whereon sleep had
taken him. Such men also are these too : they
have come into this life, and through temporal
desires, they have as it were slumbered here ;
and them riches, and vain pomps that fly away,
have taken, and they have passed away : they
have not understood how much of good might
be done therewith. For if they had known of
another life, there they would have laid up unto
themselves the treasure which here was doomed
to perish : like as Zacchajus, the chief of the
Publicans, saw that good4 when he received
the Lord Jesus in his house, and he saith, "The
half of my goods I give to the poor, and if to any
man I have done any wrong, fourfold I restore." 5
This man was not in the emptiness of men dream-
ing, but in the faith of men awake. . . .
7. " By Thy chiding, O God of Jacob, there
have slept all men that have mounted horses"
(ver. 6). Who are they that have mounted
horses? They that would not be numble. To
1 Ps. cxxi. a. 2 Acts xvii. i8t 32.
< Many omit " good."
3 1 Cor. ii. 9.
s Luke xix. S
sit on horseback is no sin ; but it is a sin to lift
up the neck of power against God, and to deem
one's self to be in some distinction. Because
thou art rich, thou hast mounted ; God doth
chide, and thou sleepest. Great is the anger of
Him chiding, great the anger. Let your Love
observe the terrible thing. Chiding hath noise,
the noise is wont to make men wake. So great
is the force of God chiding, that he said, " By
Thy chiding, O God of Jacob, there have slept
all men that have mounted horses." Behold
what a sleep that Pharaoh slept who mounted
horses. For he was not awake in heart, because
against chiding he had his heart hardened.6 For
hardness of heart is slumber. I ask you, my
brethren, how they sleep, who, while the Gospel
is sounding, and the Amen, and the Hallelujah,
throughout the whole world, yet will not con-
demn their old life, and wake up unto a new life.
There was the Scripture of God in Judaea only,
now throughout the whole world it is sung. In
that one nation one God who made all things
was spoken of, as to be adored and worshipped ;
now where is He unsaid? Christ hath risen
again, though derided on the Cross ; that very
Cross whereon He was derided, He hath now
imprinted on the brows of kings : and men yet
sleep. . . .
8. " Thou art terrible, and who shall with-
stand Thee at that time by Thine anger?" (ver.
7). Now they sleep, and perceive not Thee
angry ; but for cause that they should sleep, He
was angry. Now that which sleeping they per-
ceived not, at the end they shall perceive. For
there shall appear the Judge of quick and dead.
" And who shall withstand Thee at that time by
Thine anger?" For now they speak that which
they will, and they dispute against God and say,
who are the Christians? or who is Christ? or
what fools are they that believe that which they
see not, and relinquish the pleasures which they
see, and follow the faith of things which are not
displayed to their eyes ! Ye sleep and snore,7 ye
speak against God, as much as ye are able.
" How long shall sinners, O Lord, how long shall
sinners glory, they answer and will speak iniq-
uity?"8 But when doth no one answer and no
one speak, except when he turneth himself
against himself? . . .
9. " From Heaven Thou hast hurled judg-
ment : the earth hath trembled, and hath rested "
(ver. 8). She which now doth trouble herself,
she which now speaketh, hath to fear at the end
and to rest. Better had she now rested, that
at the end she might have rejoiced. Rested?
When? " When God arose unto judgment, that
He might save all the meek in heart" (ver. 9).
Who are the meek in heart? They that on
* Exod. xiv. 8. 1 Balatis.
9 Oxf. Mss. " they," " themselves."
8 Ps. xciv. 3.
358
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVI.
snorting horses have not mounted, but in their
humility have confessed their own sins. " For
the thought of a man shall confess to Thee,
and the remnants of the thought shall celebrate
solemnities to Thee" (ver. 10). The first is
the thought, the latter are the remnants of the
thought. What is the first thought ? That from
whence we begin, that good thought whence
thou wilt begin to confess. Confession uniteth
us to Christ. But now the confession itself, that
is, the first thought, doth produce in us the rem-
nants of the thought : and those very " remnants
of thought shall celebrate solemnities to Thee."
What is the thought which shall confess? That
which condemneth the former life, that where-
unto that which it was is displeasing, in order
that it may be that which it was not, is itself the
first thought. But because thus thou oughtest
to withdraw from sins, with the first thought after
having confessed to God, that it may not escape
thy memory that thou hast been a sinner ; in that
thou hast been a sinner, thou dost celebrate
solemnities to God. Furthermore it is to be
understood as followeth. The first thought hath
confession, and departure from the old life. But
if thou shalt have forgotten from what sins thou
hast been delivered, thou dost not render thanks
to the Deliverer, and dost not celebrate solem-
nities to thy God. Behold the first confessing
thought of Saul the Apostle, now Paul, who at
first was Saul, when he heard a voice from
Heaven ! . . . He put forth the first thought
of obedience : when he heard, " I am Jesus of
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest," " O Lord," he
saith, " what dost Thou bid me to do ? " ' This
is a thought confessing : now he is calling upon
the Lord, whom he persecuted. In what man-
ner the remnants of the thought shall celebrate
solemnities, in the case of Paul ye have heard,
when the Apostle himself was being read : " Be
thou mindful that Christ Jesus hath risen from
the dead, of the seed of David, after my Gospel."2
What is, be thou mindful ? Though effaced from
thy memory be the thought, whereby at first thou
hast confessed : be the remnant of the thought
in the memory. : . .
10. Even once was Christ sacrificed for3 us,
when we believed ; then was thought ; but now
there are the remnants of thought, when we re-
member Who hath come to us, and what He
hath forgiven us ; by means of those very rem-
nants of thought, that is, by means of the memory
herself, He is daily so sacrificed for us,4 as if He
were daily renewing us, that hath renewed us by
His first grace. For now the Lord hath renewed
us in Baptism, and we have become new men,
1 Acts ix. 5, 6. * i Tim. ii. 8.
' Nobii Ckriitui immolatur; the hss. have not fro, which
is in the earlier editions. — Ben.
* Nobis sic immolatur.
in hope indeed rejoicing, in order that in tribula-
tion we may be patient : 5 nevertheless, there
ought not to escape from our memory that
which hath been bestowed upon us. And if now
thy thought is not what it was, — for the first
thought was to depart from sin : but now thou dost
not depart, but at that time didst depart, — be
there remnants of thought, lest He who hath
made whole escape from memory. . . .
ii." Vow ye, and pay to the Lord our God "
(ver. 1 1 ) . Let each man vow what he is able,
and pay it. Do not vow and not pay : but let
every man vow, and pay what he can. Be ye
not slow to vow : for ye will accomplish the
vows by powers not your own. Ye will fail, if
on yourselves ye rely : but if on Him to whom
ye vow ye rely, ye will be safe to pay. "Vow
ye, and pay to the Lord our God." What ought
we all in common to vow? To believe in Him,
to hope from Him for life eternal, to live godly
according to a measure common to all. For
there is a certain measure common to all men.
To commit no theft is not a thing enjoined
merely upon one devoted to continence,6 and
not enjoined upon the married woman : to
commit no adultery is enjoined upon all men :
not to love wine-bibbing, whereby the soul is
swallowed up, and doth corrupt in herself the
Temple of God, is enjoined to all alike : not
to be proud, is enjoined to all men alike : not to
slay man, not to hate a brother, not to lay a plot
to destroy any one, is enjoined to all in common.
The whole of this we all ought to vow. There
are also vows proper for individuals : one voweth
to God conjugal chastity, that he will know no
other woman besides his wife : ? so also the
woman, that she will know no other man be-
sides her husband. Other men also vow, even
though they have used such a marriage, that
beyond this they will have no such thing, that
they will neither desire nor admit the like : and
these men have vowed a greater vow than the
former. Others vow even virginity from the
beginning of life, that they will even know no
such thing as those who having experienced
have relinquished : and these men have vowed
the greatest vow. Others vow that their house
shall be a place of entertainment for all the
Saints that may come : a great vow they vow.
Another voweth to relinquish all his goods to be
distributed to the poor, and go into a community,
into a society of the Saints : a great vow he doth
vow. "Vow ye, and pay to the Lord our God."
Let each one vow what he shall have willed to
vow ; let him give heed to this, that he pay what
he hath vowed. If any man doth look back
with regard to what he hath vowed to God, it
J Rom. xii. ii. 6 Caslimouiitli.
1 The wife being living, and supposing he may survive.
I following case would be that of one already a widower.
The
Psalm LXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
359
is an evil. Some woman or other devoted to
continence hath willed to marry : what hath
she willed? The same as any virgin. What
hath she willed ? The same as her own mother.
Hath she willed any evil thing? Evil certainly.
Why? Because already she had vowed to the
Lord her God. For what hath the apostle
Paul said concerning such? Though he saith
that young widows may marry if they will : '
nevertheless he saith in a certain passage, " but
more blessed she will be, if so she shall have
remained, after my judgment." 2 He showeth
that she is more blessed, if so she shall have
remained ; but nevertheless that she is not to
be condemned, if she shall have willed to
marry. But what saith he concerning certain
who have vowed and have not paid? " Hav-
ing," he saith, "judgment, because the first
faith they have made void." 3 What is, " the
first faith they have made void"? They have
vowed, and have not paid. Let no brother there-
fore, when placed in a monastery, say, I shall
depart from the monastery : for neither are
they only that are in a monastery to attain unto
the kingdom of Heaven, nor do those that are
not there not belong unto God. We answer
him, but they have not vowed ; thou hast
vowed, thou hast looked back. When the
Lord was threatening them with the day of
judgment, He saith what ? " Remember Lot's
wife."4 To all men He spake. For what did
Lot's wife? She was delivered from Sodom,
and being in the way she looked back. In the
place where she looked back, there she re-
mained. For she became" a statue of salt,5 in
order that by considering her men might be
seasoned, might have sense, might not be infatu-
ated, might not look back, lest by giving a bad
example they should themselves remain and
season others. For even now we are saying
this to certain of our brethren, whom perchance
we may have seen as it were weak in the good
they have purposed. And wilt thou be such an
one as he was ? We put before them certain who
have looked back. They are savourless 6 in them-
selves, but they season others, inasmuch as they
are mentioned, in order that fearing their ex-
ample they may not look back. " Vow ye,
and pay." For that wife of Lot to all doth
belong. A married woman hath had the will
to commit adultery ; from her place whither
she had arrived she looked back. A widow who
had vowed so to remain hath willed to marry,
she hath willed the thing which was lawful to
her who hath married, but to herself was not
lawful, because from her place she hath looked
back. There is a virgin devoted to continence,
already dedicated to God ; let her have 7 also
the other gifts which truly do adorn virginity
itself, and without which that virginity is un-
clean. For what if she be uncorrupt in body
and corrupt in mind ? What is it that he hath
said? What if no one hath touched the body,
but if perchance she be drunken, be proud,
be contentious, be talkative ? All these things
God doth condemn. If before she had vowed,
she had married, she would not have been
condemned : she hath chosen something better,
hath overcome that which was lawful for her ;
she is proud, and doth commit so many things
unlawful. This I say, it is lawful for her to
marry before that she voweth, to be proud is
never lawful. O thou virgin of God, thou hast
willed not to marry, which is lawful : thou dost
exalt thyself, which is not lawful. Better is n
virgin humble, than a married woman humble :
but better is a married woman humble, than a
virgin proud. But she that looked back upon
marriage is condemned, not because she hath
willed to marry ; but because she had already
gone before, and is become the wife of Lot by
looking back. Be ye not slow, that are able,
whom God doth inspire to seize upon higher
callings : for we do not say these things in order
that ye may not vow, but in order that ye may
vow and may pay. Now because we have
treated of these matters, thou perchance wast
willing to vow, and now art not willing to vow..
But observe what the Psalm hath said to thee.
It hath not said, " Vow not ; " but, "Vow and
pay." Because thou hast heard, " pay," wilt
thou not vow ? Therefore wast thou willing to
vow, and not to pay? Nay, do both. One
thing is done by thy profession, another thing
will be perfected by the aid of God. Look
to Him who doth guide thee, and thou wilt not
look back to the place whence He is leading
thee forth. He that guideth thee is walking
before thee ; the place from whence He is
guiding thee is behind thee. Love Him guid-
ing, and He doth not condemn thee looking
back.3
12. "All they that are in the circuit of Him
shall offer gifts." Who are in the circuit of
Him? . . . Whatever is common to all is in the
midst. Why is it said to be in the midsj:? Be-
cause it is at the same distance from all, and at
the same proximity to all. That which is not
in the middle, is as it were private. That which
is public is set in the middle, in order that all
they that come may use the same, may be en-
lightened. Let no one say, it is mine : lest he
should be wanting to make his own share of that
which is in the midst for all. What then is, " All
1 i Tim. v. 14.
* Luke xvii. 32.
6 Fatni.
2 1 Cor. yii. 40.
5 Gen. xix. 36.
3 1 Tim. v. 13.
» Oxf. mss. habeat.
8 [Sec A. N. F. vol. iv. p. 40, and General Index, sub voce
'Marriage." — C]
360
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVII.
they that are in the circuit of Him shall offer
gifts"? All they that understand truth to be
common to all, and who do not make it as it
were their own by being proud concerning it,
they shall offer gifts ; because they have humil-
ity : but they that make as it were their own
that which is common to all, as though it were
set in the middle, are endeavouring to lead men
astray to a party, these shall not offer gifts. . . .
" To Him terrible." Let therefore all men fear
that are in the circuit of Him. For therefore
they shall fear, and with trembling they shall
praise ; because they are in the circuit of Him,
to the end that all men may attain unto Him,
and He may openly meet all, and openly en-
lighten all. This is, to stand in awe with others.'
When thou hast made him as it were thine own,
and no longer common, thou art exalted unto
pride ; though it is written, " Serve ye the Lord
in fear, and exult unto Him with trembling."2
Therefore they shall offer gifts, who are in the
circuit of Him. For they are humble who know
truth to be common to all.
13. To whom shall they offer gifts? "To
Him terrible, and to Him that taketh away the
spirit of princes" (ver. 12). For the spirits
of princes are proud spirits. They then are
not His Spirits ; for if they know anything, their
own they will it to be, not public ; but, that
which setteth Himself forth as equal toward all
men, that setteth Himself in the midst, in order
that all men may take as much as they can,
whatever they can ; not of what is any man's,
but of what is God's, and therefore of their own
because they have become His. Therefore they
must needs be humble : they have lost their own
spirit, and they have the Spirit of God. . . .
For if thou shalt have confessed thyself dust,
God out of dust doth make3 man. All they
that are in the circuit of Him do offer gifts. All
humble men do confess to Him, and do adore
Him. " To Him terrible they offer gifts."
Whence to Him terrible exult ye with trem-
bling : " " and to Him that taketh away the spirit
of princes : " that is, that taketh away the
haughtiness of proud men. " To Him terrible
among the kings of the earth." Terrible are
the kings of the earth, but He is above all, that
doth terrify the kings of the earth. Be thou a
king of the earth, and God will be to thee ter-
rible. How, wilt thou say, shall I be a king of
the earth ? Rule the earth, and thou wilt be a
king of the earth. Do not therefore with desire
of empire set before thine eyes exceeding wide
provinces, where thou mayest spread abroad thy
kingdoms ; rule thou the earth which thou bear-
est. Hear the Apostle ruling the earth : " I do
not so fight as if beating air, but I chasten my
* Contremiseere. * Ps. ii. it.
» Or, M make thee man " (three mss ap. Ben. rV) .
body, and bring it into captivity, lest perchance
preaching to other men, I myself become a
reprobate." 4 . . .
PSALM LXXVII.5
1. This Psalm's lintel is thus inscribed :
" Unto the end, for Idithun, a Psalm to Asaph
himself." What "Unto the end " is, ye know.
Idithun is interpreted " leaping over those
men," Asaph is interpreted " a congregation."
Here therefore there is speaking " a congrega-
tion that leapeth over," in order that it may
reach the End, which is Christ Jesus.6 . . .
2. " With my voice," he saith, " to the Lord
I have cried" (ver. 1). But many men cry
unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches and
avoiding losses, for the safety of their friends,
for the security of their house, for temporal
felicity, for secular dignity, lastly, even for
mere soundness of body, which is the inherit-
ance 7 of the poor man. For such and such
like things many men do cry unto the Lord ;
scarce one for the sake of the Lord Himself.
For an easy thing it is for a man to desire any-
thing of the Lord, and not to desire the Lord
Himself; as if forsooth that which He giveth
could be sweeter than Himself that giveth.
Whosoever therefore doth cry unto the Lord for
the sake of any other thing, is not yet one that
leapeth over. . . . He doth indeed hearken to
thee at the time when thou dost seek Himself,
not when through Himself thou dost seek any
other thing. It hath been said of some men,
" They cried, and there was no one to save
them ; to the Lord, and He hearkened not unto
them."8 For why? Because the voice of them
was not unto the Lord. This the Scripture doth
express in another place, where it saith of such
men, " On the Lord they have not called." »
Unto Him they have not ceased to cry, and yet
upon the Lord they have not called. What
is, upon the Lord they have not called ? They
have not called the Lord unto themselves : IO
they have not invited the Lord to their heart, they
would not have themselves inhabited by the
Lord. And therefore what hath befallen them ?
" They have trembled with fear where fear was
not." They have trembled about the loss of
things present, for the reason that they were not
full of Him, upon whom they have not called.
They have not loved gratis, so that after the loss
of temporal things they could say, " As it hath
pleased the Lord, so hath been done, be the
name of the Lord blessed."" Therefore this
man saith, " My voice is unto the Lord, and He
* 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27.
5 Lat. LXXVI. Sermon to the Commonalty.
6 [Seep. 112, supra. — C] 7 Patrimonium.
8 Ps. xviii. 41. 9 Ps. xiv. 4.
10 In se non vocaverunt. " Job i. 21.
Psalm LXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
361
doth hearken unto me." Let him show us how
this cometh to pass.
3. " In the day of tribulation I have sought
out God" {ver. 2). Who art thou that doest
this thing? In the day of thy tribulation take
heed what thou seekest out. If a jail be the
cause of tribulation, thou seekest to get forth
from jail : if fever be the cause of tribulation,
thou seekest health : if hunger be the cause of
tribulation, thou seekest fulness : if losses be
the cause of tribulation, thou seekest gain : if
expatriation be the cause of tribulation, thou
seekest the home of thy flesh. And why should
I name all things, or when could I name all
things? Dost thou wish to be one leaping over?
In the day of thy tribulation seek out God : not
through God some other thing, but out of tribu-
lation God, that to this end God may take away
tribulation, that thou mayest without anxiety
cleave unto God. " In the day of my tribulation,
I have sought out God : " not any other thing,
but " God I have sought out." And how hast
thou sought out? " With my hands in the night
before Him." . . .
4. Tribulation must not be thought to be this
or that in particular. For every individual that
doth not yet leap over, thinketh that as yet to be
no tribulation, unless it be a thing which may
have befallen this life of some sad occasion : but
this man, that leapeth over, doth count this whole
life to be his tribulation. For so much doth he
love his supernal country, that the earthly pil-
grimage is of itself the greatest tribulation. For
how can this life be otherwise than a tribulation,
I pray you ? how can that not be a tribulation,
the whole whereof hath been called tempta-
tion ? ' Thou hast it written in the book
of Job,2 is not human life a temptation upon
earth? Hath he said, human life is tempted
upon earth? Nay, but life itself is a temp-
tation. If therefore temptation, it must surely
be a tribulation. In this tribulation therefore,
that is to say in this life, this man that leapeth
over hath sought out God. How? " With
my hands," he saith. What is, "with my hands " ?
With my works. For he was not seeking any
thing corporeal, so that he might find and handle
something which he had lost, so that he might
seek with hands coin, gold, silver, vesture, in
short everything which can be held in the hands.
Howbeit, even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
willed Himself to be sought after with hands,
when to His doubting disciple He showed the
scars.3 . . . What then, to us belongeth not the
seeking with hands? It belongeth to us, as I
have said, to seek with works. When so ? " In
the night." What is, " in the night"? In this
age. For it is night until there shine forth day
» Or, " trial."
'Job'
3 John xx. 27.
in the gforified advent of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For would ye see how it is night? Unless we
had here had a lantern, we should have remained
in darkness. For Peter saith, " We too have more
sure the prophetic discourse, whereunto ye do
well to give heed, as to a lantern shining in a
dark place, until day shine, and the day-star
arise in your hearts." 4 There is therefore to
come day after this night, meanwhile in this night
a lantern is not lacking. And this is perchance
what we are now doing : by explaining these
passages, we are bringing in a lantern, in order
that we may rejoice in this night. Which indeed
ought alway to be burning in your houses. For
to such men is said, "The Spirit quench ye
not." 5 And as though explaining what he was
saying, he continueth and saith, " Prophecy de-
spise ye not : " that is, let the lantern alway
shine in you. And even this light by compari-
son with a sort of ineffable day is called night.
For the very life of believers by comparison with
the life of unbelievers is day. . . . Night and day
— day in comparison with unbelievers, night in
comparison with the Angels. For the Angels
have a day, which we have not yet. Already we
have one that unbelievers have not : but not yet
have believers that which Angels have : but they
will have, at the time when they will be equal to
•the Angels of God, that which hath been prom-
ised to them in the Resurrection.6 In this then
which is now day and yet night ; night in com-
parison with the future day for which we yearn,
day in comparison with the past night which we
have renounced : in this night then, I say, let us
seek God with our hands. Let not works cease,
let us seek God, be there no idle yearning. If
we are in the way, let us expend our means in
order that we may be able to reach the end.
With hands let us seek God. . . . "With my
hands in the night before Him, and I have not
been deceived."
5. . . . "My soul hath refused to be com-
forted" (ver. 2). So great weariness did here
possess me, that my soul did close the door
against all comfort. Whence such weariness to
him? It may be that his vineyard hath been
hailed on, or his olive hath yielded no fruit, or
the vintage' hath been interrupted by rain.
Whence the weariness to him? Hear this out
of another Psalm. For therein is the "voice of
the same : " weariness hath bowed me down,
because of sinners forsaking Thy law." ^ He
saith then that he was overcome with so great
weariness because of this sort of evil thing ; so
as that his soul refused to be comforted. Wea-
riness had well nigh swallowed him up, and sor-
row had ingulfed him altogether beyond remedy,
he refuseth to be comforted. What then re-
* i Pet. i. 19.
1 Ps. cxix. 53.
5 i Thess. v. 19. 6 Matt. xxii. 30.
362
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVII.
mained? In the first place, see whence he is
comforted. Had he not waited for one who
might condole with him ?'..." I have been
mindful of God, and I have been delighted "
(ver. 3). My hands had not wrought in vain,
they had found a great comforter. While not
being idle, " I have been mindful of God, and I
have been delighted." God must therefore be
praised, of whom this man being mindful, hath
been delighted, and hath been comforted in
sorrowful case, and refreshed when safety was
in a manner despaired of : God must therefore
be praised. In fine, because he hath been com-
forted, in continuation he saith, " I have bab-
bled." In that same comfort being made mindful
of God, I have been delighted, and have " bab-
bled." What is, '< I have babbled " ? I have
rejoiced, I have exulted in speaking. For bab-
blers they are properly called, that by the com-
mon people are named talkative, who at the
approach of joy are neither able nor willing to
be silent. This man hath become such an one.
And again he saith what? " And my spirit hath
fainted."
6. With weariness he had pined away ; by
calling to mind God, he had been delighted,
again in babbling he had fainted : what fol-
loweth? "All mine enemies have anticipated
watches " (ver. 4). All mine enemies have kept
watch over me ; they have exceeded in keep-
ing watch over me ; in watching they have been
beforehand with me. Where do they not lay
traps? Have not mine enemies anticipated all
watches ? For who are these enemies, but they
of whom the Apostle saith, " Ye have not wres-
tling against flesh and blood." ' . . . Against the
devil and his angels we are waging hostilities.
Rulers of the world he hath called them, because
they do themselves rule the lovers of the world.
For they do not rule the world, as if they were
rulers of heaven and earth : but he is calling
sinners the world. . . . With the devil and his
angels there is no concord. They do them-
selves grudge us the kingdom of Heaven. They
cannot at all be appeased towards us : because
" all mine enemies have anticipated watches."
They have watched more to deceive than I to
guard myself. For how can they have done
otherwise than anticipate watches, that have set
everywhere scandals, everywhere traps? Wea-
riness doth invest the heart, we have to fear lest
sorrow swallow us up : in joy to fear lest the
spirit faint in babbling : " all mine enemies have
anticipated watches." In fine, in the midst of
that same babbling, whiles thou art speaking,
and art speaking without fear, how much is oft-
times found which enemies would lay hold of
and censure, whereon they would even found ac-
1 Pi . lxviii. 30.
' Eph. vi. 12.
cusation and slander — " he said so, he thought
so, he spake so ! " What should man do, save
that which followeth ? "I have been troubled,
and I spake not." Therefore when he was
troubled, lest in his babbling enemies anticipat-
ing watches should seek and find slanders, he
spake not. . . .
7. " I have thought on ancient days " (ver. 5).
Now he, as if he were one who had been beaten
out of doors, hath taken refuge within : he is
conversing in the secret place of his own heart.
And let him declare to us what he is doing
there. It is well with him. Observe what
things he is thinking of, I pray you. He is
within, in his own house he is thinking of an-
cient days. No one saith to him, thou hast
spoken ill : no one saith to him, thou hast spoken
much : no one saith to him, thou hast thought
perversely. Thus may it be well with him, may
God aid him : let him think of the ancient days,
and let him tell us what he hath done in his
very inner chamber, whereunto he hath arrived,
over what he hath leaped, where he hath abode.
" I have thought on ancient days ; and of eter-
nal years I have been mindful." What are
eternal years? It is a mighty thought. See
whether this thought requireth anything but
great silence. Apart from all noise without,
from all tumult of things human let him remain
quiet within, that would think of those eternal
years. Are the years wherein we are eternal, or
those wherein our ancestors have been, or those
wherein our posterity are to be ? Far be it that
they should be esteemed eternal. For what
part of these years doth remain? Behold we
speak and say, " in this year : " and what have
we got of this year, save the one day wherein we
are. For the former days of this year have
already gone by, and are not to be had ; but the
future days have not yet come. In one day we
are, and we say, in this year : nay rather say
thou, to-day, if thou desirest to speak of any-
thing present. For of the whole year what hast
thou got that is present? Whatsoever thereof
is past, is no longer ; whatsoever thereof is fu-
ture, is not yet : how then, "this year"? Amend
the expression : say, to-day. Thou speakest
truth, henceforth I will say, " to-day." Again
observe this too, how to-day the morning hours
have already past, the future hours have not yet
come. This too therefore amend : say, in this
hour. And of this hour what hast thou got?
Some moments thereof have already gone by,
those that are future have not yet come. Say,
in this moment. In what moment? While I
am uttering syllables, if I shall speak two sylla-
bles, the latter doth not sound until the former
hath gone by : in a word, in that same one syl-
lable, if it chance to have two letters, the latter
letter doth not sound, until the former hath
Psalm LXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
363
gone by. What then have we got of these years ?
These years are changeable : the eternal years
must be thought on, years that stand, that are
not made up of days that come and depart ;
years whereof in another place the Scripture
saith to God, " But Thou art the Self-same, and
Thy years shall not fail." ' On these years this
man that leapeth over, not in babbling without,
but in silence2 hath thought.
8. " And I have meditated in the night with
my heart" (ver. 6). No slanderous person
seeketh for snares in his words, in his heart he
hath meditated. " I babbled." Behold there is
the former babbling. Watch again, that thy
spirit faint not. I did not, he saith, I did not
so babble as if it were abroad : in another way
now. How now? "I did babble, and did
search out my spirit." If he were searching the
earth to find veins of gold, no one would say that
he was foolish ; nay, many men would call him
wise, for desiring to come at gold : how great
treasures hath a man within, and he diggeth not !
This man was examining his spirit, and was
speaking with that same his spirit, and in the
very speaking he was babbling. He was ques-
tioning himself, was examining himself, was judge
over himself. And he continueth ; " I did
search my spirit." He had to fear lest he
should stay within his own spirit : for he had
babbled without ; and because all his enemies
had anticipated watches, he found there sorrow,
and his spirit fainted. He that did babble with-
out, lo, now doth begin to babble within in
safety, where being alone in secret, he is think-
ing on eternal years. . . .
9. And thou hast found what? "God will
not repel for everlasting " (ver. 7). Weariness
he had found in this life ; in no place a trust-
worthy, in no place a fearless comfort. Unto
whatsoever men he betook himself, in them he
found scandal, or feared it. In no place there-
fore was he free from care. An evil thing it was
for him to hold his peace, lest perchance he
should keep silence from good words ; to speak
and babble without was painful to him, lest all
his enemies, anticipating watches, should seek
slanders in his words. Being exceedingly strait-
ened in this life, he thought much of another
life, where there is not this trial. And when is
he to arrive thither? For it cannot but be evi-
dent that our suffering here is the anger of God.
This thing is spoken of in Isaiah, " I will not be
an avenger unto you for everlasting, nor will I
be angry with you at all times." 3 . . . Will this
anger of God alway abide? This man hath not
found this in silence. For he saith what ? " God
will not repel for everlasting, and He will not
add any more that it should be well-pleasing to
1 Ps. cii. 27.
3 Isa. Ivii. 16.
2 Oxf. MSS. " his own silence."
Him still." That is, that it should be well-pleas-
ing to Him still to repel, and He will not add
the repelling for everlasting. He must needs re-
call to Himself His servants, He must needs
receive fugitives returning to the Lord, He must
needs hearken to the voice of them that are in
fetters. " Or unto the end will He cut off mercy
from generation to generation? " (ver. 8).
10. "Or will God forget to be merciful?"
(ver. 9). In thee, from thee unto another there
is no mercy unless God bestow it on thee : and
shall God Himself forget mercy? The stream
runneth : shall the spring itself be dried up ?
" Or shall God forget to be merciful : or shall
He keep back in anger His mercies?" That is,
shall He be so angry, as that He will not have
mercy? He will more easily keep back anger
than mercy.
11. "And I said." Now leaping over himself
he hath said what? "Now I have begun:"
(ver. 10), when I had gone out even from my-
self. Here henceforth there is no danger : for
even to remain in myself, was danger. " And I
said, Now I have begun : this is the changing of
the right hand of the Lofty One." Now the
Lofty One hath begun to change me : now I
have begun something wherein I am secure :
now I have entered a certain palace 4 of joys,
wherein no enemy is to be feared : now I have
begun to be in that region, where all mine
enemies do not anticipate watches. " Now I
have begun : this is the changing of the right
hand of the Lofty One."
12. "I have been mindful of the works of the
Lord" (ver. 11). Now behold him roaming
among the works of the Lord. For he was bab-
bling without, and being made sorrowful thereby
his spirit fainted : he babbled within with his own
heart, and with his spirit, and having searched
out that same spirit he was mindful of the eternal
years, was mindful of the mercy of the Lord, how
God will not repel him for everlasting ; and he
began now fearlessly to rejoice in His works,
fearlessly to exult in the same. Let us hear now
those. very works, and let us too exult. But let
even us leap over in our affections, and not re-
joice in things temporal. For we too have our
bed. Why do we not enter therein? Why do
we not abide in silence? Why do we not search
out our spirit? Why do we not think on the
eternal years? Why do we not rejoice in the
works of God? In such sort now let us hear,
and let us take delight in Himself speaking, in
order that when we shall have departed hence,
we may do that which we used to do while He
spake ; if only we are making the beginning of
Him whereof he spake in, " Now I have begun."
To rejoice in the works of God, is to forget even
364
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVII.
thyself, if thou canst delight in Him alone. For
what is a better thing than He ? Dost thou not
see that, when thou returnest to thyself, thou re-
turnest to a worse thing? " for I shall be mind-
ful from the beginning of Thy wonderful works.
13. "And I will meditate on all Thy works,
and on Thy affections I will babble " (ver. 12).
Behold the third babbling ! He babbled without,
when he fainted ; he babbled in his spirit within,
when he advanced ; he babbled on the works of
God, when he arrived at the place toward which
he advanced. " And on Thy affections : " not
on my affections. What man doth live without
affections? And do ye suppose, brethren, that
they who fear God, worship God, love God, have
not any affections? Wilt thou indeed suppose
and dare to suppose, that painting, the theatre,
hunting, hawking, fishing, engage the affections,
and the meditation on God doth not engage
certain interior affections of its own, while we
contemplate the universe, and place before our
eyes the spectacle of the natural world, and
therein labour to discover the Maker, and find
Him nowhere unpleasing, but pleasing above ■ all
things?
14. " O God, Thy way is in the Holy One "
(ver. 13). He is contemplating now the works
of the mercy of God around us, out of these he
is babbling, and in these affections he is exulting.
At first he is beginning from thence, " Thy way
is in the Holy One ? " What is that way of
Thine which is in the Holy One? " I am," He
saith, " the Way, the Truth, and the Life." 2 Re-
turn therefore, ye men, from your affections. . . .
"Who is a great God, like our God?" 3 Gen-
tiles have their affections regarding their gods,
they adore idols, they have eyes and they see
not ; ears they have and they hear not ; feet
they have and they walk not. Why dost thou
walk to a God that walketh not? I do not, he
saith, worship such things, and what dost thou
worship? The divinity which is there. Thou
dost then worship that whereof hath been said
elsewhere, " for the Gods of the nations are
demons." * Thou dost either worship idols, or
devils. Neither idols, nor devils, he saith. And
what dost thou worship ? The stars, sun, moon,
those things celestial. How much better Him
that hath made both things earthly and things
celestial. " Who is a great God like our God? "
15." Thou art the God that doest wonderful
things alone " (ver. 14). Thou art indeed a
great God, doing wonderful things in body, in
soul ; alone doing them. The deaf have heard,
the blind have seen, the feeble have recovered,
the dead have risen, the paralytic have been
strengthened. But these miracles were at that
time performed on bodies, let us see those
wrought on the soul. Sober are those that were
a little before drunken, believers are those that
were a little before worshippers of idols : their
goods they bestow on the poor that did rob be-
fore those of others. ..." Wonderful things
alone." Moses too did them, but not alone :
Elias too did them, even Eliseus did them, the
Apostles too did them, but no one of them alone.
That they might have power to do them, Thou
wast with them : when Thou didst them they
were not with Thee. For they were not with
Thee when Thou didst them, inasmuch as
Thou didst make even these very men. How
"alone"? Is- it perchance the Father, and not
the Son ? Or the Son, and not the Father ? Nay,
but Father and Son and Holy Ghost. For it is
not three Gods but one God that doeth wonder-
ful things alone, and even in this very leaper-
over. For even his leaping over and arriving at
these things was a miracle of God : when he
was babbling within with his own spirit, in order
that he might leap over even that same spirit of
his, and might delight in the works of God, he
then did wonderful things himself. But God
hath done what ? " Thou hast made known
unto the people Thy power." s Thence this
congregation of Asaph leaping over ; because
He hath made known in the peoples His virtue.
What virtue of His hath He made known in the
peoples? " But we preach Christ crucified, . . .
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God."6 If then the virtue of God is Christ,
He hath made known Christ in the peoples.
Do we not yet perceive so much as this ; and
are w e so unwise, are we lying so much below,
do we so leap over nothing, as that we see not
this?
16. " Thou hast redeemed in Thine arm Thy
people " (ver. 15). " With Thine arm," that is,
with Thy power. " And to whom hath the arm
of the Lord been revealed?"' "Thou hast re-
deemed in Thine arm Thy people, the sons of
Israel and of Joseph." How as if two peoples,
" the sons of Israel and of Joseph " ? Are not the
sons of Joseph among the sons of Israel ? . . .
He hath admonished us of some distinction to
be made. Let us search out our spirit, per-
chance God hath placed there something —
God whom we ought even by night to seek with
our hands, in order that we may not be deceived
— perchance we shall discover even ourselves
in this distinction of " sons of Israel and of
Joseph." By Joseph He hath willed another
people to be understood, hath willed that the
people of the Gentiles be understood. Why
the people of the Gentiles by Joseph ? Because
Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brethren.8
That Joseph whom the brethren envied, and sold
1 One ms. '
* Vz. cxiii.
through."
2 John xi
* Ps. CXX
6.
cxxxv. 15.
5 Virtus.
1 Isa. liii. 1.
' Virtue," Oxf. ed.
8 Gen. xxxvii. 38.
6 1 Cor. i. 23.
Psalm LXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
365
him into Egypt, when sold into Egypt, toiled,
was humbled ; when made known and exalted,
flourished, reigned. And by all these things he
hath signified what? What but Christ sold by
His brethren, banished from His own land, as it
were into the Egypt of the Gentiles ? There at
first humbled, when the Martyrs were suffering
persecutions : now exalted, as we see ; inas-
much as there hath been fulfilled in Him,
"There shall adore Him all kinds of the earth,
all nations shall serve Him." ' Therefore Joseph
is the people of the Gentiles, but Israel the
people of the Hebrew nation. God hath re-
deemed His people, " the sons of Israel and
of Joseph." By means of what? By means of
the corner stone,2 wherein the two walls have
been joined together.
17. And he continueth how? "The waters
have seen Thee, O God, and they have feared :
and the abysses have been troubled" (ver. 16).
What are the waters? The peoples. What are
these waters hath been asked in the Apocalypse,3
the answer was, the peoples. There we find
most clearly waters put by a figure for peoples.
But above he had said, " Thou hast made known
in the peoples Thy virtue." 4 With reason
therefore, " the waters have seen Thee, and they
have feared." They have been changed be-
cause they have feared. What are the abysses ?
The depths of waters. What man among the
peoples is not troubled, when the conscience is
smitten? Thou seekest the depth of the sea,
what is deeper than human conscience ? That
is the depth which was troubled, when God re-
deemed with His arm His people. In what
manner were the abysses troubled? When all
men poured forth their consciences in confes-
sion.
18. In praises of God, in confessions of sins,
in hymns and in songs, in prayers, " There is a
multitude of the sound of waters. The clouds
have uttered a voice" (ver. 17). Thence that
sound of waters, thence the troubling of the
abysses, because " the clouds have uttered a
voice." What clouds? The preachers of the
word of truth. What clouds? Those concern-
ing which God doth menace a certain vineyard,
which instead of grape had brought forth thorns,
and He saith, " I will command My clouds, that
they rain no rain upon it." 5 In a word, the
Apostles forsaking the Jews, went to the Gen-
tiles : in preaching Christ among all nations,
" the clouds have uttered a voice." " For Thine
arrows have gone through." Those same voices
of the clouds He hath again called arrows. For
the words of the Evangelists were arrows. For
these things are allegories. For properly neither
an arrow is rain, nor rain is an arrow : but yet
1 Ps. lxxii. 11.
* Ps. bcxvii. 14.
2 Eph. ii. ao.
5 Isa. v. 6.
i Rev. xvii. 15.
the word of God is both an arrow because it
doth smite ; and rain because it doth water.
Let no one therefore any longer wonder at the
troubling of the abysses, when " Thine arrows
have gone through." What is, " have gone
through " ? They have not stopped in the ears,
but they have pierced the heart. " The voice
of Thy thunder is in the wheel" (ver. 18).
What is this? How are we to understand it?
May the Lord give aid. When boys we were
wont to imagine, whenever we heard thunder-
ings from Heaven, that carriages were going
forth as it were from the stables. For thunder
doth make a sort of rolling like carriages. Must
we return to these boyish thoughts, in order to
understand, " the voice of Thy thunder is in the
wheel," as though God hath certain carriages in
the clouds, and the passing along of the car-
riages doth raise that sound ? Far be it. This
is boyish, vain, trifling. What is then, " The
voice of Thy thunder is in the wheel " ? Thy
voice rolleth. Not even this do I understand.
What shall we do? Let us question Idithun
himself, to see whether perchance he may him-
self explain what he hath said : " The voice,"
he saith, " of Thy thunder is in the wheel." I
do not understand. I will hear what thou say-
est : " Thy lightnings have appeared to the
round world." Say then, I had no understand-
ing. The round world is a wheel.6 For the cir-
cuit of the round world is with reason called
also an " orb : " whence also a small wheel is
called an "orbiculus." "The voice of Thy
thunder is in the wheel : " Thy " lightnings
have appeared to the round world." Those
clouds in a wheel have gone about the round
world, have gone about with thundering and
with lightning, they have shaken the abyss,
with commandments they have thundered, with
miracles they have lightened. " Unto every
land hath gone forth the sound of them, and
unto the ends of the orb the words of them." '
" The land hath been moved and made to trem-
ble : " that is, all men that dwell in the land.
But by a figure the land itself is sea. Why?
Because all nations are called by the name of
sea, inasmuch as human life is bitter, and ex-
posed to storms and tempests. Moreover if
thou observe this, how men devour one another
like fishes, how the stronger doth swallow up
the weaker — it is then a sea, unto it the Evan-
gelists went.
19. "Thy way is in the sea" (ver. 19).
But now Thy way was in the Holy One, now
"Thy way is in the sea:" because the Holy
One Himself is in the sea, and with reason
even did walk upon the waters of the sea.8
6 [No idea of a sphere, but of a plane, bounded by the encircling
horizon. — C]
7 Ps. xix. 4. 8 Matt. xiv. 25.
366
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVIII.
" Thy way is in the sea," that is, Thy Christ is
preached among the Gentiles. ..." Thy way is
in the sea, and Thy paths in many waters,"
that is, in many peoples. " And Thy footsteps
will not be known." He hath touched certain,
and wonder were it if it be not those same Jews.
Behold now the mercy of Christ hath been so
published to the Gentiles, that " Thy way is in
the sea. Thy footsteps will not be known."
How so, by whom will they not be known, save
by those who still say, Christ hath not yet come ?
Why do they say, Christ hath not yet come ? Be-
cause they do not yet recognise Him walking
on the sea.
20. " Thou hast led home Thy people like
sheep in the hand of Moses and of Aaron " (ver.
20). Why He hath added this is somewhat dif-
ficult to discover. . . . They banished Christ ;
sick as they were, they would not have Him for
their Saviour; but He began to be among the
Gentiles, and among all nations, among many
peoples. Nevertheless, a remnant of that people
hath been saved. The ungrateful multitude hath
remained without, even the halting breadth of
Jacob's thigh.' For the breadth of the thigh is
understood of the multitude of lineage, and
among the greater part of the Israelites a cer-
tain multitude became vain and foolish, so as
not to know the steps of Christ on the waters.
" Thou hast led home Thy people like sheep,"
and they have not known Thee. Though Thou
hast done such great benefits unto them, hast
divided sea, hast made them pass over dry land
between waters, hast drowned in the waves pur-
suing enemies, in the desert hast rained manna
for their hunger, leading them home " by the
hand of Moses and Aaron : " still they thrust
Thee from them, so that in the sea was Thy
Way, and Thy steps they knew not.
PSALM LXXVIII.'
1. This Psalm3 doth contain the things which
are said to have been done among the old peo-
ple : but the new and latter people is being
admonished, to beware that it be not ungrateful
regarding the blessings of God, and provoke His
anger against it, whereas it ought to receive His
grace. . . . The Title thereof doth first move
and engage our attention. For it is not without
reason inscribed, " Understanding4 of Asaph : "
but it is perchance because these words require
a reader who doth perceive not the voice which
the surface uttereth, but some inward sense.
Secondly, when about to narrate and mention
all these things, which seem to need a hearer
« Gen. xxxii. 3». » Lat. LXXVII.
' Dictated a.d 415. See Ep. 169, to Evodius. — Ben.
* \lute!lectMi,Vu\-&.; Eruditionis, Jerome; iuceotwt Ty 'Affa$,
Sept. — C]
more than an expounder : " I will open," he
saith, " in parables my mouth, I will declare
propositions from the beginning." 5 Who would
not herein be awakened out of sleep? Who
would dare to hurry over the parables and
propositions, reading them as if self-evident,
while by their very names they signify that they
ought to be sought out with deeper view ? For
a parable hath on the surface thereof the simili-
tude of something : and though it be a Greek
word, it is now used as a Latin word. And it is
observable, that in parables, those which are
called the similitudes of things are compared
with things with which we have to do. But prop-
ositions, which in Greek are called irpo/JX^ara,
are questions having something therein which is
to be solved by disputation. What man then
would read parables and propositions cursorily?
What man would not attend while hearing these
words with watchful mind, in order that by
understanding he may come by the fruit
thereof ?
2. " Hearken ye," He saith, " My people, to
My law " (ver. i). Whom may we suppose to be
here speaking, but God? For it was Himself
that gave a law to His people, whom when de-
livered out of Egypt He gathered together, the
which gathering together is properly named a
Synagogue, which the word Asaph is interpreted
to signify. Hath it then been said, " Under-
standing of Asaph," in the sense that Asaph
himself hath understood ; or must it be figura-
tively understood, in the sense that the same
Synagogue, that is, the same people, hath under-
stood, unto whom is said, " Hearken, My peo-
ple, unto My law "? Why is it then that He is
rebuking the same people by the mouth of the
Prophet, saying, " But Israel hath not known
Me, and My people hath not understood " ? 6
But, in fact, there were even in that people they
that understood, having the faith which was after-
wards revealed, not pertaining to the letter of
the law, but the grace of the Spirit. For they
cannot have been without the same faith, who
were able to foresee and foretell the revelation
thereof that should be in Christ, inasmuch as
even those old Sacraments were significants of
those that should be. Had the prophets alone
this faith, and not the people too ? Nay indeed,
but even they that faithfully heard the Prophets,
were aided by the same grace in order that they
might understand what they heard. But without
doubt the mystery * of the Kingdom of Heaven
was veiled in the Old Testament, which in the
fulness of time should be unveiled in the New.3
" For," saith the Apostle, " they did drink of the
Spiritual Rock following them, but the Rock was
5 Ps. lxxvii. 3.
6 lsa. i. 3. 7 Sacramentum.
• [Velaoatur in Vttcri, quod revelaretur in Novo. — C]
Psalm LXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
367
Christ." ■ In a mystery therefore theirs was the
same meat and drink as ours, but in signification
the same, not in form ; 2 because the same Christ
was Himself figured to them in a Rock, mani-
fested to us in the Flesh. " But," he saith, " not
in all of them God was well pleased." 3 All in-
deed ate the same spiritual meat and drank the
same spiritual drink, that is to say, signifying
something spiritual : but not in all of them was
God well pleased. When, he saith, " not in all : "
there were evidently there some in whom was
God well pleased ; and although all the Sacra-
ments were common, grace, which is the virtue
of the Sacraments, was not common to all. Just
as in our times, now that the faith hath been re-
vealed, which then was veiled, to all men that
have been baptized in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,4 the
Laver of regeneration is common ; but the very
grace whereof these same are the Sacraments,
whereby the members of the Body of Christ are
to reign s together with their Head, is not com-
mon to all. For even heretics have the same
Baptism, and false brethren too, in the commun-
ion of the Catholic name.
3. Nevertheless, neither then nor now without
profit is the voice of him, saying, " Hearken ye,
My people, to My law." Which expression is
remarkable in all the Scriptures, how he saith not,
" hearken thou," but, " hearken ye." For of
many men a people doth consist : to which many
that which followeth is spoken in the plural
number. " Incline ye your ear unto the words
of My mouth." " Hearken ye," is the same as,
" Incline your ear : " and what He saith there,
" My law," this He saith here in, " the words of
My mouth." For that man doth godly hearken
to the law of God, and the words of His mouth,
whose ear humility doth incline : not he whose
neck pride doth lift up. For whatever is poured
in is received on the concave surface of humility,
is shaken off from the convexity of swelling.
Whence in another place, " Incline," he saith,
" thine ear, and receive the words of understand-
ing."6 We have been therefore sufficiently ad-
monished to receive even this Psalm of this
understanding of Asaph,7 to receive, I say, with
inclined ear, that is, with humble piety. And it
hath not been spoken of as being of Asaph him-
self, but to Asaph himself. Which thing is evi-
dent by the Greek article, and is found in certain
Latin copies. These words therefore are of un-
derstanding, that is, of intelligence, which hath
been given to Asaph himself: which we had
better understand not as to one man, but as to
2 Specie.
* Malt, xxviii. 19.
are regenerated," which makes scarcely
1 1 Cor. x. 4.
3 1 Cor. x 5.
3 So Oxf. mss.: Ben.
an intelligible sense.
6 Prov. v. t.
7 I He subjoins as follows: " For the word on the Title is put i:
the genitive case: hujus intellects*, not hie intellectus." — C.]
the congregation of the people of God ; whence
we ought by no means to alienate ourselves.
For although properly we say " Synagogue "
of Jews, but " Church " of Christians, because a
" Congregation " 8 is wont to be understood as
rather of beasts, but a " convocation " as rather
of men : yet that too we find called a Church,
and it perhaps is more suitable for us 9 to say,
" Save us, O Lord, our God, and congregate us
from the nations, in order that we may confess to
Thy Holy Nane." '° Neither ought we to disdain
to be, nay we ought to render ineffable thanks,
for that we are, the sheep of His hands, which
He foresaw when He was saying, " I have other
sheep which are not of this fold, them too I must
lead in, that there may be one flock and one
Shepherd :"" that is to say, by joining the faithful
people of the Gentiles with the faithful people of
the Israelites, concerning whom He had before
said, " I have not been sent but to the sheep
which have strayed of the house of Israel." ,2 For
also there shall be congregated before Him all
nations, and He shall sever them as a shepherd
the sheep from the goats. '3 Thus then let us hear
that which hath been spoken. " Hearken ye,
My people, to My law, incline ye your ear unto
the words of My mouth : " not as if addressed to
Jews, but rather as if addressed to ourselves, or
at least as if these words were said as well to
ourselves (as to them '4). For when the Apostle
had said, " But not in all them was God well
pleased," thereby showing that there were those
too in whom God was well pleased : he hath
forthwith added, " For they were overthrown in
the desert : " '5 secondly he hath continued, " but
these things have been made our figures." . . . To
us therefore more particularly these words have
been sung. Whence in this Psalm among other
things there hath been said, " That another
generation may know, sons who shall be born
and shall arise." ,6 Moreover, if that death by
serpents, and that destruction by the destroyer,
and the slaying by the sword, were figures, as the
Apostle evidently doth declare, inasmuch as it is
manifest that all those things did happen : for he
saith not, in a figure they were spoken, or, in a
figure they were written, but, in a figure, he saith,
they happened to them : with how much greater
diligence of godliness must those punishments
be shunned whereof those were the figures?
For beyond a doubt as in good things there is
much more of good in that which is signified by
the figure, than in the figure itself: so also in evil
things very far worse are the things which are
8 He takes con-gregalio as the Latin for synagogue, and
expressing merely bringing together, and coyivocatio as Latin for
ecclesia, which exprest.es calling.
9 i.e., than for them. I0 Ps. cvi. 47.
11 John x. 16. I2 Matt. xv. 24. IJ Matt. xxv. 32.
14 Oxf. MSS. add qttam Judcci$.
13 1 Cor. x. ^. [He cites to verse 12, entire. — C]
16 Ps. Ixxviii. 6.
368
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVIII.
signified by the figures, while so great are the
evil things which as figures do signify. For as
the land of promise, whereunto that people was
being led, is nothing in comparison with the
Kingdom of Heaven, whereunto the Christian
people is being led : so also those punishments
which were figures, though they were so severe,
are nothing in comparison with the punishments
which they signify. But those which the Apostle
hath called figures, the same this Psalm, as far as
we are able to judge, calleth parables and propo-
sitions : not having their end in the fact of their
having happened, but in those things whereunto
they are referred by a reasonable comparison.
Let us therefore hearken unto the law of God —
us His people — and let us incline our ear unto
the words of His mouth.
4. " I will open," he saith, " in parables My
mouth, I will declare propositions from the be-
ginning" (ver. 2). From what beginning he
meaneth, is very evident in the words following.
For it is not from the beginning, what time the
Heaven and earth were made, nor what time man-
kind was created in the first man : but what time
the congregation that was led out of Egypt ; in
order that the sense may belong to Asaph, which
is interpreted a congregation. But O that He
that hath said, " I will open in parables My
mouth," would also vouchsafe to open our under-
standing unto them ! For if, as He hath opened
His mouth in parables, He would in like sort
open the parables themselves : and as He declar-
eth " propositions," He would declare in like
sort the expositions thereof, we should not be
here toiling : but now so hidden and closed are
all things, that even if we are able by His aid to
arrive at anything, whereon we may feed to our
health, still we must eat the bread in the sweat
of our face ; and pay the penalty of the ancient
sentence ■ not with the labour of the- body only,
but also with that of the heart. Let him speak
then, and let us hear the parables and proposi-
tions.
5. "How great things we have heard, and
have known them, and our fathers have told
them to us" (ver. 3). The Lord was speaking
higher Op. For of what other person could
these words be thought to be, " Hearken ye, O
My people, to My law"?2 Why is it then that
now on a sudden a man is speaking, for here we
have the words of a man, "our fathers have
told them to us." Without doubt God, now
about to speak by a man's ministry, as the
Apostle saith, " Will ye to receive proof of Him
that is speaking in me, Christ?"3 in His own
person at first willed the words to be uttered,
lest a man speaking His words should be de-
spised as a man. For it is thus with the sayings
1 Gen. iii. 19.
2 Ps. Ixxviii. x.
J 3 Cor. xiii. 3.
of God which make their way to us through our
bodily sense. The Creator moveth the subject
creature by an invisible working ; not so that
the substance is changed into anything corporal
and temporal, when by means of corporal and
temporal signs, whether belonging to the eyes
or to the ears, as far as men are able to receive
it, He would make His will to be known. For
if an angel is able to use air, mist, cloud, fire,
and any other natural substance or corporal
species ; 4 and man to use face, tongue, hand,
pen, letters, or any other significants, for the
purpose of intimating the secret things of his
own mind : in a word, if, though he is a man,
he sendeth human messengers, and he saith to
one, " Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come,
and he cometh ; and to his servant, Do this,
and he doeth it ; " 5 with how much greater and
more effectual power doth God, to whom as
Lord all things together are subject, use both
the same angel and man, in order that He may
declare whatsoever pleaseth Him? . . . For
those things were heard in the Old Testament
which are known in the New : heard when they
were being prophesied, known when they were
being fulfilled. Where a promise is performed,
hearing is not deceived. "And our fathers,"
Moses and the Prophets, "have told unto us."
6. "They have not been hidden from their
sons in another generation" (ver. 4). This is
our generation.wherein there hath been given to
us regeneration. " Telling forth the praises of
the Lord and His powers, and His wonderful
works which He hath done." The order of the
words is, " and our fathers have told unto us,
telling forth the praises of the Lord." The
Lord is praised, in order that He may be loved.
For what object can be loved more to our
health ? " And He hath raised up a testimony
in Jacob, and hath set a law in Jacob " (ver. 5).
This is the beginning whereof hath been spoken
above, " I will declare propositions from the
beginning." 6 So then the beginning is the Old
Testament, the end is the New. For fear
doth prevail in the law.7 " But the end of the
law is Christ for righteousness to every one be-
lieving ; " 3 at whose bestowing " love is shed
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit,
which hath been given to us : " 9 and love made
perfect doth cast out fear,10 inasmuch as now
without the Law the righteousness of God hath
been made manifest. But inasmuch as He
hath a testimony by the Law and the Prophets,"
therefore, " He hath raised up a testimony in
Jacob." For even that Tabernacle which was
4 [Judg. xm- 2°- This mysterious subject may be illustrated
from Holy Scripture so as to justify our author's very broadstate-
11 unit . It throws light on Gen. iii. t-16, and also a Pet. ii. 16.
Compare on verse 49 of this Psalm, infra. — C]
5 Luke vii. 8. 6 Ps. Ixxviii. 3. 7 Ps. cxi. 10.
8 Rom. x. 4. » Rom. v. 5. ,0 1 John iv. 18.
11 Rom. iii. ax.
Psalm LXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
369
set up with a work so remarkable and full of such
wondrous meanings, is named the Tabernacle of
Testimony, wherein was the veil over the Ark
of the Law, like the veil over the face of the
Minister of the Law ; ' because in that dispen-
sation there were " parables and propositions."
For those things which were being preached and
were coming to pass were hidden in veiled
meanings, and were not seen in unveiled mani-
festations. But " when thou shalt have passed
over unto Christ," saith the Apostle, " the veil
shall be taken away." 2 For " all the promises
of God in Him are yea, Amen." 3 Whosoever
therefore doth cleave to Christ, hath the whole
of the good which even in the letters of the Law
he perceiveth not : but whosoever is an alien
from Christ, doth neither perceive, nor hath.
" He hath set a law in Israel." After his usual
custom he is making a repetition. For " He hath
raised up a testimony," is the same as, " He
hath set a law," and " in Jacob," is the same as
" in Israel." For as these are two names of
one man, so law and testimony are two names
of one thing. Is there any difference, saith some
one, between " hath raised up " and " hath set " ?
Yea indeed, the same difference as there is be-
tween "Jacob " and "Israel : " not because they
were two persons, but these same two names
were bestowed upon one man for different rea-
sons ; Jacob because of supplanting, for that he
grasped the foot of his brother at his birth : 4 but
Israel because of the vision of God.5 So " raised
up " is one thing, " set " is another. For, " He
hath raised up a testimony," as far as I can
judge, hath been said because by it something
has been raised up ; " For without the Law,"
saith the Apostle, " sin was dead : but I lived
sometime without the Law : but at the coming
in of the commandment sin revived." 6 Behold
that which hath been raised up by the testimony,
which is the Law, so that what was lying hidden
might appear, as he saith a little afterwards :
" But sin, that it might appear sin, through a
good thing hath wrought in me death." 7 But
" He hath set a law," hath been said, as though
it were a yoke upon sinners, whence hath been
said, " For upon a just man law hath not been im-
posed." 8 It is a testimony then, so far forth as
it doth prove anything ; but a law so far forth
as it doth command ; though it is one and the
same thing. Wherefore just as Christ is a stone,
but to believers for the Head of the corner,
while to unbelievers a stone of offence and a
rock of scandal ; 9 so the testimony of the Law to
them that use not the Law lawfully,'°is a testimony
whereby sinners are to be convicted as deserving
1 Exod. xl. 2, 3; 2 Cor. iii. 13.
2 2 Cor. iii. 16. 3 2 Cor. i. 20. * Gen. xxv. 26.
5 Gen. xxxii. 28. 6 Rom. vii. 8, 9. 7 Rom. vii. 13.
8 1 Tim i. 9. 9 Ps. cxviii. 22; 1 Pet. ii. 8.
10 i Tim. i. 8.
of punishment ; but to them that use the same
lawfully, is a testimony whereby sinners are
shown unto whom they ought to flee in order to
be delivered. . . .
7. " How great things," he saith, " He hath
commanded our fathers, to make the same known
to their sons?" (ver. 5). " That another gener-
ation may know, sons who shall be born and shall
rise up, and they may tell to their sons " (ver.
6). " That they may put their hope in God, and
may not forget the works of God, and may seek
out His commandments" (ver. 7). "That they
may not become, like their fathers, a crooked and
embittering generation : a. generation that hath
not guided their heart, and the spirit thereof hath
not been trusted with God" (ver. 8). These
words do point out two peoples as it were, the
one belonging to the Old Testament, the other
to the New : for in that he saith, he hath implied
that they received the commandments, " to make
them known to their sons," but that they did not
know or do them : but they received them them-
selves, to the end " that another generation might
know," what the former knew not. " Sons who
shall be born and shall arise." For they that
have been born have not arisen : because they
had not their heart above, but rather on the
earth. For the arising is with Christ : whence
hath been said, " If ye have arisen with Christ,
savour ye the things which are above." " "And
they may tell them," he saith, " to their sons, in
order that they may put their hope in God."
..." And may not forget the works of God : "
that is to say, in magnifying and vaunting their
own works, as though they did them themselves ;
while " God it is that worketh," in them that
work good things, "both to will and to work
according to good will." ,a " And may search out
His commandments." . . . The commandments
which He hath commanded. How then should
they still search out, whereas they have already
learned them, save that by putting their hope in
God, they do then search out His command-
ments, in order that by them, with His aid, they
may be fulfilled? And he saith why, by imme-
diately subjoining, " and its spirit hath not been
trusted with God," that is, because it had no
faith, which doth obtain what the Law doth en-
join. For when the spirit of man doth work to-
gether with the Spirit of God working, then there
is fulfilled that which God hath commanded : and
this doth not come to pass, except by believing in
Him that doth justify an ungodly man.'3 Which
faith the generation crooked and embittering had
not : and therefore concerning the same hath
been said, " The spirit thereof hath not been
trusted with God." For this hath been said
much more exactly to point out the grace of
" Col. iii. I.
» Philip, ii. 13.
13 Rom. iv. 5.
370
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Fsai-M LXXVIII.
God, which doth work not only remission of sins,
but also doth make the spirit of man to work to-
gether therewith in the work of good deeds, as
though he were saying, his spirit hath not be-
lieved in God. For to have the spirit trusted
with God, is, not to believe that his spirit is able
to do righteousness without God, but with God.
For this is to believe in God : which is surely
more than to believe God. For ofttimes we
must believe even a man, though in him we must
not believe. To believe in God therefore is this,
in believing to cleave unto God who worketh
good works, in order to work with Him well. . . .
8. Lastly, " The sons of Ephrem bending and
shooting bows, have been turned back in the day
of war" (ver. 9). Following after the law of
righteousness, unto the law of righteousness they
have not attained.' Why? Because they were
not of faith. For they were that generation
whereof the spirit hath not been trusted with
God : but they were, so to speak, of works : be-
cause they did not, as they bended and shot their
bows (which are outward actions, as of the works
of the law), so guide their heart also, wherein the
just man doth live by faith, which worketh by
love ; whereby men cleave to God, who worketh
in man both to will and work according to good
will.2 For what else is bending the bow and
shooting, and turning back in the day of war, but
heeding and purposing in the day of hearing, and
deserting in the day of temptation ; flourishing
arms, so to speak, beforehand, and at the hour
of the action refusing to fight ? But whereas he
saith, " bending and shooting bows," when it
would seem that he ought to have said, bending
bows and shooting arrows. . . . Some Greek
copies to be sure are said to have " bending and
shooting with bows," so that without doubt we
ought to understand arrows. But whereas by
the sons of Ephrem he hath willed that there be
understood the whole of that embittering gener-
ation, it is an expression signifying the whole by
a part. And perhaps this part was chosen
whereby to signify the whole, because from these
men especially some good thing was to have been
expected. . . . Although set at the left hand by
his father as being the younger, Jacob neverthe-
less blessed with his right hand, and preferred
him before his elder brother with a benediction
of hidden meaning.3 . . . For there was being
figured how they were to be last that were first,
and first were to be they that were last,4 through
the Saviour's coming, concerning whom hath
been said, " He that is coming after me was
made before me." 5 In like manner righteous
Abel was preferred before the elder brother ; so
to Ismael Isaac ; so to Esau, though born before
him, his twin brother Jacob ; so also Phares him-
1 Rom. ix 31.
3 Gen xlvtu 14.
* Rom. i. 17; Gal. v. 6; Phil. ii. 13.
* Matt. XX. 16. * John i. 37.
self preceded even in birth his twin brother, who
had first thrust a hand out of the womb, and had
begun to be born :6 so David was preferred before
his elder brother : ' and as the reason why all these
parables and others like them preceded, not only
of words but also of deeds, in like manner to the
people of the Jews was preferred the Christian
people, for redeeming the which as Abel by Cain,8
so by the Jews was slain Christ. This thing was
prefigured even when Jacob stretching out his
hands cross-wise, with his right hand touched
Ephrem standing on the left ; and set him be-
fore Manasse standing on the right, whom he
himself touched with the left hand.3
9. But what that is which he saith, " they
have been turned back in the day of war," the
following words do teach, wherein he hath most
clearly explained this : " they have not kept,"
he saith, " the testament of God, and in His law
they would not walk " (ver. 10). Behold what
is, " they have been turned back in the day of
war : " they have not kept the testament of God.
When they were bending and shooting bows,
they did also utter the words of most forward
promise, saying, " Whatsoever things the Lord
our God hath spoken we will do, and we will
hear."9 "They have been turned back in the
day of war : " because the promise of obedience
not hearing but temptation doth prove. But he
whose spirit hath been trusted with God, keepeth
hold on God, who is faithful, and " doth not
suffer him to be tempted above that which he is
able ; but will make with the temptation a way
of escape also," '° that he may be able to endure,
and may not be turned back in the day of war.
. . . Therefore these men have been thus
branded : " a generation," he saith, " which hath
not directed their heart." " It hath not been
said, works, but heart. For when the heart is
directed, the works are right; but when the
heart is not directed, the works are not right,
even though they seem to be right. And how
the crooked generation hath not directed the
heart, hath sufficiently been shown, when he
saith, "and the spirit thereof hath not been
trusted with God." " For God is right : and
therefore by cleaving to the right, as to an im-
mutable rule, the heart of a man can be made
right, which in itself was crooked. . . .
10. "And they forgat His benefits, and the
wonderful works of Him which He showed to
them ; before their fathers the wonderful things
which He did " (ver. n). What this is, is not
a question to be negligently passed over. Con-
cerning those very fathers he was speaking a little
before, that they had been a generation crooked
and embittering. . . . What fathers, inasmuch
6 Gen. iv. 4, xxi. 12, xxxviii. 39.
8 Gen. iv. 8. 9 Exou. xix. 8.
» Ps. lxxviii. 8.
7 1 Sam. xvi. 13
•o 1 Cor. x.
Psalm LXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
37*
as these are the very fathers, whom he would not
have posterity to be like? If we shall take them
to be those out of whom the others had de-
rived their being, for example, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, by this time they had long since fallen
asleep, when God showed wonderful things in
Egypt. For there followeth, " in the land of
Egypt, in the plain of Thanis" (ver. 12):
where it is said that God showed to them won-
derful things before their fathers. Were they
perchance present in spirit? For of the same
the Lord saith in the Gospel, " for all do live to
Him." ' Or do we more suitably understand
thereby the fathers Moses and Aaron, and the
other elders who are related in the same Scrip-
ture also to have received the Spirit, of which
also Moses received, in order that they might aid
him in ruling and bearing the same people?2
For why should they not have been called fathers?
It is not in the same manner as God is the One
Father, who doth regenerate with His Spirit
those whom He doth make sons for an everlast-
ing inheritance ; but it is for the sake of honour,
because of their age and kindly carefulness : just
as Paul the elder saith, " Not to confound you I
am writing these things, but as my dearly beloved
sons I am admonishing you : " 3 though he knew
of a truth that it had been said by the Lord,
"Call ye no man your father on earth, for One
is your Father, even God." * And this was not
said in order that this term of human honour
should be erased from our usual way of speaking :
but lest the grace of God whereby we are regen-
erated unto eternal life, should be ascribed either
to the power or even sanctity of any man.
Therefore when he said, " I have begotten you ; "
he first said, " in Christ," and "through the Gos-
pel ; " lest that might be thought to be of him,
which is of God. . . . Accordingly, the land of
Egypt must be understood for a figure of this
world. " The plain of Thanis " is the smooth
surface of lowly commandment. For lowly
commandment is the interpretation of Thanis.
In this world therefore let us receive the com-
mandment of humility, in order that in another
world we may merit to receive the exaltation
which He hath promised, who for our sake here
became lowly.
n. For He that "did burst asunder the sea
and made them go through, did confine the
waters as it were in bottles" (ver. 13), in or-
der that the water might stand up first as if it
were shut in, is able by His grace to restrain the
flowing and ebbing tides of carnal desires, when
we renounce this world, so that all sins having
been thoroughly washed away, as if they were
enemies, the people of the faithful may be made
to pass through by means of the Sacrament of
1 Luke xx. 38.
* Matt, xxiii 9.
2 Numb. xi. 17.
3 1 Cor. iv. 14.
Baptism. He that " led them home in the cloud
of the day, and in the whole of the night in
the illumination of fire" (ver. 14), is able also
spiritually to direct goings if faith crieth to Him,
" Direct Thou my goings after Thy word." 5
Of Whom in another place6 is said, " For Him-
self shall make thy courses right, and shall
prolong thy goings in peace " 1 through Jesus
Christ our Lord, whose Sacrament in this world,
as it were in the day, is manifest in the flesh,
as if in a cloud ; but in the Judgment it will be
manifest like as in a terror by night ; for then
there will be a great tribulation of the world
like as it were fire, and it shall shine for the
just and shall burn for the unjust. " He that burst
asunder the rock in the desert, and gave them
water as in a great deep" (ver. 15); "and
brought out water from the rock, and brought
down waters like rivers" (ver. 16), is surely
able upon thirsty faith to pour the gift of the
Holy Spirit (the which gift the performance
of that thing did spiritually signify), to pour,
I say, from the Spiritual Rock that followed,
which is Christ : who did stand and cry, " If
any is athirst, let him come to Me : " 8 and, " he
that shall have drunk of the water which I shall
give, rivers of living water shall flow out of his
bosom." ' For this He spake, as is read in the
Gospel,10 to the Spirit, which they were to re-
ceive that believed in Him, unto whom like the
rod drew near the wood of the Passion, in order
that there might flow forth grace for believers.
12. And yet, "they," like a generation crook-
ed and embittering, " added yet to sin against
Him" (ver. 17) : that is, not to believe. For
this is the sin, whereof the Spirit doth convict
the world, as the Lord saith, " Of sin indeed
because they have not believed on Me." " " And
they exasperated the Most High in drought,"
which other copies have, " in a place without
water," which is a more exact translation from
the Greek, and doth signify no other thing than
drought. Was it in that drought of the desert,
or rather in their own? For although they had
drunk of the rock, they had not their bellies but
their minds dry, freshening with no fruitfulness
of righteousness. In that drought they ought
the more faithfully to have been suppliant unto
God, in order that He who had given fulness
unto their jaws, might give also equity to their
manners. For unto him the faithful soul doth
cry, " Let mine eyes see equity." ,2
13. "And they tempted God in their hearts,
in order that they might seek morsels for their
souls" (ver. 18). It is one thing to ask in be-
lieving, another thing in tempting. Lastly there
5 Ps. cxix. 133. 6 Prov. iv. 27, LXX.
7 These words are part of an addition in the Septuagint text.
8 John vii. 37. 9 John iv. 14. I0 John vii. 39.
11 John xvi. 9. 12 Ps. xvii. 3.
372
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVIII.
followeth, " And they slandered God, and said,
Shall God be able to prepare a table in- the
desert? " (ver. 19). " For He smote the rock,
and the waters flowed, and torrents gushed
forth : will He be able to give bread also, or to
prepare a table for His people?" (ver. 20).
Not believing therefore, they sought morsels for
their souls. Not so the Apostle James doth en-
join a morsel to be asked for the mind, but
doth admonish that it be sought by believers,
not by such as tempt and slander God. " But
if any one of you," he saith, " doth lack wis-
dom, let him ask of God, who doth give to all
men abundantly, and doth not upbraid, and it
shall be given to him : but let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering." ' This faith had not that
generation which " had not directed their heart,
and the spirit thereof had not been trusted
with God."
14. "Wherefore the Lord heard, and He de-
layed, and fire was lighted in Jacob, and wrath
went up into Israel " (ver. 21). He hath explained
what he hath called fire. He hath called anger
fire : although in strict propriety fire did also
burn up many men. What is therefore this that
he saith, "The Lord heard, and He delayed "?
Did He delay to conduct them into the land of
promise, whither they were being led : which
might have been done in the space of a few
days, but on account of sins they must needs be
wasted in the desert, where also they were wasted
during forty years? And if this be so, He did
then delay the people, not those very persons
who tempted and slandered God : for they all
perished in the desert, and their children jour-
neyed into the land of promise. Or did He
delay punishment, in order that He might first
satisfy unbelieving concupiscence, lest He might
be supposed to be angry, because they were ask-
ing of Him what He was not able to do ? " He
heard," then, " and He delayed to avenge : "
and after He had done what they supposed He
was not able to do, then " anger went up upon
Israel."
15. Lastly, when both these things have been
briefly touched, afterwards he is evidently fol-
lowing out the order of the narrative. "Be-
cause they believed not in God, nor hoped in
His saving health " (ver. 22). For when he
had told why fire was lighted in Jacob, and an-
ger went up upon Israel, that is to say, " because
they believed not in God, nor hoped in His sav-
ing health : " immediately subjoining the evident
blessings for which they were ungrateful, he saith,
" and He commanded the clouds above, and
opened the doors of Heaven " (ver. 23 ) . " And
He rained upon them manna to eat, and gave
them bread of Heaven" (ver. 24). "Bread of
' Jai. i. 5, 8.
angels man did eat : dainties He sent them in
abundance" (ver. 25). He brought over the
South Wind from Heaven, and in His virtue He
led in the South West Wind " (ver. 26). " And
He rained upon them fleshes like dust, and
winged fowls like the sand of the sea " (ver.
27). " And they fell in the midst of their camp,
around their tabernacles " (ver. 28) . " And they
ate and were filled exceedingly; and their desire
He brought to them : they were not deprived
of their desire" (ver. 29). Behold why He
had delayed. But what He had delayed let us
hear. "Yet the morsel was in their mouths,
and the anger of God came down upon them "
(ver. 30). Behold what He had delayed. For
before " He delayed : " and afterwards, " fire
was lighted in Jacob and anger went vip upon
Israel." He had delayed therefore in order
that He might first do what they had believed
that He could not do, and then might bring
upon them what they deserved to suffer. For if
they placed their hope in God, not only would
their desires of the flesh but also those of the
spirit have been fulfilled. For he that . . .
" opened the doors of Heaven, and rained upon
them manna to eat," that He might fill the
unbelieving, is not without power to give to
believers Himself the true Bread from Heaven,
which the manna did signify : which is indeed
the food of Angels, whom being incorruptible the
Word of God doth incorruptibly feed : the which
in order that man might eat, He became flesh,
and dwelled in us.2 For Himself the Bread by
means of the Evangelical clouds is being rained
over the whole world, and, the hearts of preach-
ers like heavenly doors, being opened, is being
preached not to a murmuring and tempting syn-
agogue, but to a Church believing and putting
hope in Him. He is able also to feed the
feeble faith of such as tempt not, but believe,
with the signs of words uttered by the flesh
and speeding through the air, as though it
were fowls : not however with such as come
from the north, where cold and mist do pre-
vail, that is to say, eloquence which is pleasing
to this world, but by bringing over the South
Wind from Heaven ; whither, except to the
earth? In order that they who are feeble in
faith, by hearing things earthly may be nour-
ished up to receive things heavenly. . . .
16. But as to unbelievers, being a crooked
and embittering generation, as it were, while the
morsel was yet in their mouths, " the anger of
God went up upon them, and it slew among the
most of them" (ver. 31) : that. is, the most of
them, or as some copies have it, " the fat ones
of them," which however in the Greek copies
which we had, we did not find. But if this be
* John i. 14.
Psalm LXXVIII.l
ON THE PSALMS.
373
the truer reading, what else must be understood
by " the fat ones of them," than men mighty in
pride, concerning whom is said, " their iniquity
shall come forth as if out of fat"?1 "And the elect
of Israel He fettered." Even there there were
elect, with whose faith the generation crooked
and embittering was not mixed. But they were
fettered, so that they might in no sort profit
them for whom they desired that they might
provide from a fatherly affection. For what is
conferred by human mercy, on those with whom
God is angry ? Or rather hath He willed it to
be understood, how that even the elect were fet-
tered at the same time with them, in order that
they who were diverse both in mind and in life,
might endure sufferings with them for an ex-
ample not only of righteousness, but also of
patience? For we have learned that holy men
were even led captive with sinners for no other
reason ; since in the Greek copies we read not
iviwohurtv, which is " fettered ; " but crvveTroSicrev,
which is rather " fettered together with."
17. But the generation crooked and embitter-
ing, " in all these things sinned yet more, and
they believed not in His wonderful works" (ver.
32). " And in their days failed in vanity " (ver.
33). Though they might, if they had believed,
have had days in truth without failing, with Him
to whom hath been said, " Thy years shall not
fail." 2 Therefore, " their days failed in vanity,
and their years with haste." For the whole life
of mortal men is hastening, and that which
seemeth to be longer is but a vapour of some-
what longer duration.
18. Nevertheless, "when he slew them they
sought Him : " not for the sake of eternal life,
but fearing to end the vapour too soon. There
sought Him then, not indeed those whom He
had slain, but they that were afraid of being
slain according to the example of them. But
the Scripture hath so spoken of them as if they
sought God who were slain ; because they were
one people, and it is spoken as if of one body :
" and they returned, and at dawn they came to
God " (ver. 34). " And they remembered that
God is their Helper, and the High God is their
Redeemer" (ver. 35). But all this is for the
sake of acquiring temporal good things, and for
avoiding temporal evil things. For they that
did seek God for the sake of temporal blessings,
sought not God indeed, but things. Thus with
those God is worshipped with slavish fear, not
free love. Thus then God is not worshipped,
for that thing is worshipped which is loved.
Whence because God is found to be greater and
better than all things, He must be loved more
than all things, in order that He may be wor-
shipped.
1 Ps. lxxiii. 7.
* Ps.
19. Lastly, here let us see the words follow-
ing : " And they loved Him," he saith, " in their
mouth, and in their tongue they lied unto Him "
(ver. 36). " But their heart was not right with
Him, and they were not counted faithful in His
Testament" (ver. 37). One thing on their
tongue, another thing in their heart He found,
unto whom the secret things of men are naked,
and without any impediment He saw what they
loved rather. Therefore the heart is right with
God, when it doth seek God for the sake of
God. For one thing he desired of the Lord,
the same he will require, that he may dwell
always in the House of the Lord, and may
meditate on the pleasantness of Him.3 Unto
Whom saith the heart of the faithful, I will be
filled, not with the flesh-pots of the Egyptians,
nor with melons and gourds, and garlick and
onions, which a generation crooked and embit-
tering did prefer even to bread celestial,4 nor
with visible manna, and those same winged
fowls ; but, " I will be filled, when Thy glory
shall be made manifest." 5 For this is the in-
heritance of the New Testament, wherein they
were not counted faithful ; whereof however
the faith even at that time, when it was veiled,
was in the elect, and now, when it hath already
been revealed, it is not in many that are called.
" For many have been called, but few are
elect." 6 Of such sort therefore was the gener-
ation crooked and embittering, even when they
were seeming to seek God, loving in mouth, and
in tongue lying ; but in heart not right with
God, while they loved rather those things, for
the sake of which they required the help of
God.
20. " But He is Himself merciful, and will be-
come propitious to their sins, and He will not
destroy them. And He will abound to turn
away His anger, and He will not kindle all his
anger" (ver. 38). By these words many men
promise to themselves impunity for their iniquity
from the Divine Mercy, even if they shall have
persevered in being such, as that generation is de-
scribed, " crooked and embittering ; which hath
not directed their heart, and the spirit thereof
hath not been trusted with God : " with whom it
is not profitable to agree. For if, to speak in
their words, God will perchance not destroy no
not even bad men, without doubt He will not
destroy good men. Why then do we not rather
choose that wherein there is no doubt? For
they that lie to Him in their tongue, though
their heart doth hold some other thing, do think
indeed, and will, even God to be a liar, when He
doth menace upon such men eternal punish-
ment. But whilst they do not deceive Him
with their lying, He doth not deceive them with
3 Ps. xxvii. 4.
6 Matt. xx. 16.
* Exod. xvi. 3.
5 Ps. xvii. 15, Lat.
374
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVIII.
speaking the truth. These words therefore of
divine sayings, concerning which the crooked
generation doth cajole itself, let it not make
crooked like its own heart : for even when it is
made crooked, they continue right. For at first
they may be understood according to that which
is written in the Gospel, " that ye may be like
your Father who is in the Heavens, who mak-
eth His sun to rise upon good men and evil
men, and raineth upon just men and unjust
men." ' For who could not see, how great is
the long-suffering of mercy with which He is
sparing evil men? But before the Judgment,
He spared then that nation in such sort, that He
kindled not * all His anger, utterly to root it up
and bring it to an end : which thing in His
words and in the intercession for their sins of
His servant Moses doth evidently appear, where
God saith, " Let Me blot them out, and make
thee into a great nation : " 3 he intercedeth,
being more ready to be blotted out for them
than that they should be ; knowing that he is
doing this before One Merciful, who inasmuch
as by no means He would blot out him, would
even spare them for his sake. For let us see
how greatly He spared, and doth still spare..,. . .
21. In the second place, that we may not
seem to do violence to divine words, and lest in
the place where there was said, " He will not de-
stroy them," * we should say, " But hereafter He
will destroy them : " concerning this very present
Psalm let us turn to a very common phrase of
the Scripture, whereby this question may be
more diligently and more truly solved. Speaking
of these same persons a little lower down, when
He had made mention of the things which the
Egyptians because of them had endured, He
saith, ..." And He led them unto the mount
of His sanctification, the mount which His right
hand won. And He cast out from their face the
nations, and by lot distributed to them the land
in the cord of distribution." • If any one at
these words should press a question upon us, and
should say, How doth he make mention of all
these things as having been bestowed upon them,
when the same persons were not led into the
land of promise, as were delivered from Egypt,
inasmuch as they were dead? What shall we
reply but that they were spoken of, because they
were the self-same people by means of a suc-
cession of sons ? . . .
22. " And He remembered that they are flesh,
a spirit6 going and not returning" (ver. 39).
Therefore calling them and pitying them through
His grace, He called them back Himself, because
of themselves they could not return. For how
doth flesh return, " a spirit walking and not turn-
■ Matt. v. 45.
3 F.xod. xxxii. to.
' P«. Uxviii. 54, 55.
2 Many mss. omit '
« Ps. Ixxviii. 38.
6 Or, " breath."
ing back," 7 while a weight of evil deserts doth
weigh it down unto the lowest and far places of
evil, save through the election of grace ? . . . For
thus also is solved this no unimportant question,
how it is written in the Proverbs, when the Scrip-
ture was speaking of the way of iniquity, " all
they that walk in her shall not return." 8 " For it
hath been so spoken as if all ungodly men were
to be despaired of: but the Scripture did only
commend grace ; for of himself man is able to
walk in that way, but is not able of himself to
return, except when called back by grace.
23. I say then of these crooked and embit-
tering persons, " How often they exasperated
Him in the desert, and provoked Him to wrath
in the waterless place ! " (ver. 40) . " And they
turned themselves and tempted God, and exas-
perated the Holy One of Israel " (ver. 41). He
is repeating that same unbelief of theirs, of which
He had made mention above. But the reason
of the repetition is, in order that there may be
mentioned also the plagues which He inflicted
on the Egyptians for their sakes : all which
things they certainly ought to have remembered,
and not to be ungrateful. Lastly, there followeth
what? "They remembered not His hands, in
the day when He redeemed them from the hand
of the troubler" (ver. 42). And he beginneth
to speak of what things He did to the Egyptians :
" He set in Egypt His signs, and His prodigies
in the plain of Thanis " (ver. 43) : " and He
turned their rivers into blood, and their showers
lest they should drink " (ver. 44), or rather, " the
flowings of waters," as some do better under-
stand by what is written in Greek, ra 6/j.fiprj/iaTa,
which in Latin we call scaturigines, waters bub-
bling from beneath. " He sent upon them the
dog-fly, and it ate them up ; and the frog, and
it destroyed them" (ver. 45). "And He gave
their fruit to the mildew, and their labours to the
locust" (ver. 46). "And He slew with hail
their vineyards, and their mulberry trees with
frost" (ver. 47). "And He gave over to the
hail their beasts of burden, and their possessions
to the fire " (ver. 48). "He sent upon them
the anger of His indignation, indignation and
anger and tribulation, a visitation through evil
angels" (ver. 49). He made a way to the
course of His anger, and their beasts of burden
He shut up in death" (ver. 50). "And He
smote every first-born thing in the land of
Egypt, the first-fruits of their labours in the
tabernacles of Cham " (ver. 51).
24. All these punishments of the Egyptians
may be explained by an allegorical interpretation,
according as one shall have chosen to understand
them, and to compare them to the things where-
unto they must be referred. Which we too will
7 [Transient, and not returning. — C]
8 Prov. ii. 19.
Psalm LXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
375
endeavour to do ; and shall do it the more prop-
erly, the more we shall have been divinely aided.
For to do this, those words of this Psalm do con-
strain us, wherein it was said, " I will open in
parables my mouth, I will declare propositions
from the beginning." ' For for this cause
even some things have been here spoken of,
which that they befell the Egyptians at all we
read not, although all their plagues are most
carefully related in Exodus according to their
order, so that while that which is not there men-
tioned we are sure hath not been mentioned in
the Psalm to no purpose, and we can interpret
the same only figuratively, we may at the same
time understand that even the rest of the things
which it is evident did happen, were done or
described for the sake of some figurative
meaning. For the Scripture doth so do in
many passages of the prophetic sayings. . . .
In the plagues therefore of the Egyptians, which
are in the book which is called Exodus, where
the Scripture hath been especially careful, that
those things whereby they were afflicted should
be all related in order, there is not found what
this Psalm hath, " and He gave to the mildew
their fruits." This also wherein, when he had
said, " and He gave over to the hail their
beasts," he hath added, " and their possession to
the fire : " of the beasts slain with hail is read
in Exodus ; 2 but how their possession was burned
with fire, is not read at all. Although voices
and fires do come together with hail, just as
thunderings do commonly accompany lightnings ;
nevertheless, it is not written that anything was
given over to the fire that it should be burned.
Lastly, the soft things which the hail could not
hurt, are said not to have been smitten, that is,
hurt with hard blows ; which things the locust
devoured afterwards. Also that which is here
spoken of, " and their mulberry trees with hoar-
frost," is not in Exodus. For hoar-frost doth
differ much from hail ; for in the clear winter
nights the earth is made white with hoar-frost.
25. What then those things do signify, let the
interpreter say as he can, let reader and hearer
judge as is just. The water turned into blood
seemeth to me to signify a carnal view of the
causes of things. Dog-fly, are the manners of
dogs,3 who see not even their parents when first
they are born. The frog is very talkative vanity.
Mildew doth hurt secretly, which also some have
interpreted by rust, others black mould : which
evil thing to what vice is it more appropriately
compared, than to what doth show itself least
readily, like the trusting much in one's self?
For it is a blighting air which doth work this
secretly among fruits : just like in morals, secret
pride, when a man thinketh himself to be some-
1 Ps. Ixxviii. 2. 2 F.xod. ix. 25.
3 [Oltscentijue canes. Virg. Georg. i. 470. — C.J
thing, though he is nothing.4 The locust is
malice hurting with the mouth, that is, with un-
faithful testimony. The hail is iniquity taking
away the goods of others ; whence theft, robber-
ies, and depredations do spring : but more by his
wickedness the plunderer himself is plundered.
The hoar-frost doth signify the fault wherein the
love of one's neighbour by the darkness of
foolishness, like as it were by the cold of night,
is frozen up. But the fire, if here it is not that
which is mentioned which was in the hail out of
the lightning clouds, forasmuch as he hath said
here, " He gave over their possession to the fire,"
where he implieth that a thing was burned,
which by that fire we read not to have been
done, — it seemeth to me, I say, to signify the
savageness of wrath, whereby even man- slaying
may be committed. But by the death of beasts
was figured, as far as I judge, the loss of chastity.
For concupiscence, whereby offspring do arise,
we have in common with beasts. To have this
therefore tamed and ordered, is the virtue of
chastity. The death of the first-born things, is
the putting off of the very justice whereby a man
doth associate with mankind. But whether the
figurative significations of these things be so, or
whether they are better understood in another
way, whom would it not move, that with ten
plagues the Egyptians are smitten, and with
ten commandments the tables are inscribed,5 that
thereby the people of God should be ruled?
Concerning the comparing of which one with
the other, inasmuch as we have spoken else-
where, there is no need to load the exposition
of this Psalm therewith : thus much we remind
you, that here too, though not in the same order,
yet ten plagues of the Egyptians are commemo-
rated, forasmuch as in the place of three which
are in Exodus and are not here, to wit, lice,
boils, darkness ; other three are commemorated,
which are not there, that is to say, mildew, hoar-
frost, and fire ; not of lightning, but that where-
unto their possession was given over, which is not
read of in that place.
26. But it hath been clearly enough intimated,
that by the judgment of God these things befell
them through the instrumentality of evil angels,
in this wicked world, as though it were in Egypt
and in the plain of Thanis, where we ought to be
humble, until there come that world, wherein we
may earn to be exalted out of this humiliation.
For even Egypt in the Hebrew tongue doth sig-
nify darkness or tribulations, in which tongue,
Thanis,6 as I have observed, is understood to be
humble commandment. Concerning the evil
angels therefore in this Psalm, while he was
speaking of those very plagues, there hath been
* Gal. vi. 3.
5 Vid. Sermon on the Ten Plagues and Ten Commandments.
6 Oxf. mss. Tapanis.
376
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVIII.
something inserted, which must not be passed
over cursorily : " He sent upon them," he saith,
" an infliction through evil angels." Now that
the devil and his angels are so very evil, that for
them everlasting fire is prepared, no believer is
ignorant : but that there should be sent by means
of them an infliction from the Lord God upon
certain whom He judgeth to be deserving of this
punishment, seemeth to be a hard thing to those
who are little prone to consider, how the perfect
justice of God doth use well even evil things.
For these indeed, as far as regardeth their sub-
stance, what other person but Himself hath
made ? But evil He hath not made them : yet
He doth use them, inasmuch as He is good,
well, that is, conveniently and justly : just as on
the other hand unrighteous men do use His good
creatures in evil manner. God therefore doth
use evil angels not only to punish evil men, as in
the case of all those concerning whom the Psalm
doth speak, as in the case of king Achab, whom
a spirit of lying by the will of God did beguile,
in order that he might fall in war : ' but also to
prove and make manifest good men, as He did in
the case of Job. But as far as regardeth that
corporal matter of visible elements, I suppose
that thereof angels both good and evil are able
to make use, according to the power given to
each : just as also men good and evil do use such
things, as far as they are able, according to the
measure of human infirmity. For we use both
earth and water, and air, and fire, not only in
things necessary for our support, but also in many
operations superfluous and playful, and marvel-
lously artificial. For countless things, which are
called nrj\avTjiJLaTa, are moulded out of these ele-
ments scientifically employed. But over these
things angels have a far more extended power,
both the good and the evil, though greater is that
which the good have ; 2 but only so far as is com-
manded or permitted by the will and providence
of God ; on which terms also we have it. For not
even in these cases are we able to do all that we
will. But in a book the most unerring we read that
the devil was able even to send fire from Heaven,
to burn up with wonderful and awful fierceness so
great a number of the cattle of a holy man : '
which thing no one of the faithful would dare per-
chance to ascribe to the devil, except it were read
on the authority of Holy Scripture. But that man,
being by the gift of God just and firm, and of
godly knowledge, saith not, The Lord hath given,
the devil hath taken away : but, " The Lord hath
given, the Lord hath taken away : " 4 very well
knowing that even what the devil was able to do
with these elements, he would still not have done
to a servant of God, except at his Lord's will
and permission ; he did confound the malice of
1 i Kings xxii. 30.
» Job i. 16.
3 I See p. aio, n. 8, tupra. — C.J
* Job i. ai.
the devil, forasmuch as he knew who it was that
was making use thereof to prove him. In the
sons then of unbelief like as it were in his own
slaves, he doth work,5 like men with their beasts,
and even therewith only so far as is permitted
by the just judgment of God. But it is one
thing when his power is restrained from treating
even his own as he pleases, by a greater power ;
another thing when to him power is given even
over those who are alien from him. Just as a
man with his beast, as men understand it, doeth
what he will, and yet doth not indeed, if he be
restrained by a greater power : but with another
man's beast to do something, he doth wait until
power be given from him unto whom it belongeth.
In the former case the power which there was is
restrained, in the latter that which there was not
is conceded.
27. And if such be the case, if through evil
angels God did inflict those plagues upon the
Egyptians, shall we dare to say that the water
also was turned into blood by means of those
same angels, and that frogs were created by
means of the same, the like whereunto even the
magicians of Pharaoh were able to make by their
enchantments ; 6 so as that evil angels stood
on both sides, on the one side afflicting them, on
the other side deceiving them, according to the
judgment and dispensation7 of the most just and
most omnipotent God, who doth justly make
use of even the naughtiness of unrighteous men ?
I dare not to say so. For whence was it that
the magicians of Pharaoh could by no means
make lice ? 8 Was it not because even these same
evil angels were not suffered to do this? Or, to
speak more truly, is not the cause hidden, and it
doth exceed our powers of inquiry? For if we
shall have supposed that God wrought those
things by means of evil angels, because punish-
ments were being inflicted, and not blessings
being bestowed, as though God doth inflict
punishments upon no one by means of good
angels, but by means of those executioners as it
were of the heavenly wrath ; the consequence
will be that we must believe that even Sodom
was overthrown by means of evil angels, and that
Abraham and Lot would seem to have entertained
under their roof evil angels ; 9 the which, as being
contrary to the most evident Scriptures, far be it
that we should think. It is clear then that these
things might have been done to men by means of
good and evil angels. What should be done or
when it should be done doth escape me : but Him
that doeth it, it escapeth not, and him unto whom
He shall have willed to reveal it. Nevertheless,
as far as divine Scripture doth yield to our appli-
cation thereto, on evil men that punishments are
inflicted both by means of good angels, as upon
Eph. it. 2.
Exod. viii.
6 Exod. viii. 7.
. «9-
7 Ai. " ordinance."
9 Gen. xviii a and xix.
Psalm LXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
377
the Sodomites, and by means of evil angels, as
upon the Egyptians, we read : but that just men
with corporal penances by means of good angels
are tried and proved, doth not occur to me.
28. But as far as regardeth the present pas-
sage of this Psalm, if we dare not ascribe those
things which were marvellously formed out of
creatures, to evil angels ; we have a thing which
without doubt we can ascribe to them ; the
dyings of the beasts, the dyings of the first-born,
and this especially whence all these things pro-
ceeded, namely, the hardening of heart, so that
they would not let go the people of God.1 For
when God is said to make this most iniquitous
and malignant obstinacy, He maketh it not by
suggesting and inspiring, but by forsaking, so
that they work in the sons of unbelief that
which God doth duly and justly permit.2 . . .
Moreover, those evil manners which we said
were signified by these corporal plagues, on
account of that which was said before, " I will
open in parables my mouth,"3 are most appropri-
ately believed by means of evil angels to have
been wrought in those that are made subject to
them by Divine justice. For neither when that
cometh to pass of which the apostle speaketh,
" God gave them over into the lusts of their
heart, that they should do things which are not
convenient," 4 can it be but that those evil angels
dwell and rejoice therein, as in the matter of
their own work : unto whom most justly is human
naughtiness made subject, in all save those
whom grace doth deliver. " And for these
things who is sufficient ? " 5 Whence when he
had said, " He sent unto them the anger of His
indignation, indignation and anger and tribula-
tion, an infliction through evil angels ; " for this
which he hath added, " a way He hath made
for the path of His anger "(ver. 50), whose eye,
I pray, is sufficient to penetrate, so that it may
understand and take in the sense lying hidden
in so great a profundity? For the path of the
anger of God was that whereby He punished
the ungodliness of the Egyptians with hidden
justice : but for that same path He made a way,
so that drawing them forth as it were from
secret places by means of evil angels unto mani-
fest offences, He most evidently inflicted pun-
ishment upon those that were most evidently
ungodly. From this power of evil angels noth-
ing doth deliver man but the grace of God,
whereof the Apostle speaketh, " Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son
of His love : " 5 of which things that. people did
bear the figure, when they were delivered from
the power of the Egyptians, and translated into
the kingdom of the land of promise flowing with
1 Exod. iv. 21.
4 Rom. i. 24, 28.
2 Eph. ii. 2.
3 2 Cor. ii. 16.
3 Ps. Ixxviii. 2.
6 Col. i. 13.
milk and honey, which doth signify the sweet-
ness of grace.
29. The Psalm proceedeth then after the
commemoration of the plagues of the Egyptians
(ver. 51) and saith, "And He took away like
sheep His people, and He led them through
like a flock in the desert " (ver. 52). " And He
led them down in hope, and they feared not,
and their enemies the sea covered" (ver. 53).
This cometh to pass to so much the greater
good, as it is a more inward thing, wherein being
delivered from the power of darkness, we are in
mind translated into the Kingdom of God, and
with respect to spiritual pastures we are made
to become sheep of God, walking in this world
as it were in a desert, inasmuch as to no one is
our faith observable : whence saith the Apostle,
"Your life is hidden with Christ in God." ? But
we are being led home in hope, " For by hope
we are saved." 8 Nor ought we to fear. For,
"If God be for us, who can be against us?"9
And our enemies the sea hath covered, He hath
effaced them in baptism by the remission of
sins.
30. In the next place there followeth, " And
He led them into the mountain of His sanctifi-
cation " (ver. 54). How much better into
Holy Church ! " The mountain which His right
hand hath gotten." How much higher is the
Church which Christ hath gotten, concerning
whom has been said, " And to whom has the
arm of the Lord been revealed?" IO (ver. 55).
" And He cast forth from the face of them the
nations." And" from the face of His faithful.
For nations in a manner are the evil spirits of
Gentile errors. " And by lot He divided unto
them the land in the cord of distribution." And
in us " all things one and the same Spirit doth
work, dividing severally to every one as He will-
eth." "
31. "And He made to dwell in their taber-
nacles the tribes of Israel." In the tabernacles,
he saith, of the Gentiles He made the tribes of
Israel to dwell, which I think can better be
explained spiritually, inasmuch as unto celestial
glory, whence sinning angels have been cast
forth and cast down, by Christ's grace we are
being uplifted. For that generation crooked
and embittering, inasmuch as for these corporal
blessings they put not off the coat of oldness,
" Did tempt " yet, " and provoked the high God,
and His testimonies they kept not (ver. 56) :
and they turned them away, and they kept not
the covenant, like their fathers" (ver. 57). For
under a sort of covenant and decree they said,
"All things which our Lord God hath spoken
we will do, and we will hear." '3 It is a remark-
7 Col iii. 3. 8 Rom. viii. 24. 9 Rom. viii. 31.
10 Isa. 1 iii. 1. n Oxf. mss. add, " He did cast out nations.'
12 1 Cor. xii. n. 13 Exod. xix. 8.
378
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXVIII.
able thing indeed which he saith, " like their
fathers : " while throughout the whole text of
the Psalm he was seeming to speak of the same
men as it were, yet now it appeareth that the
words did concern those who were already in
the land of promise, and that the fathers spoken
of were of those who did provoke in the desert.
"They were turned," he saith, " into a crooked,"
or, as some copies have it, " into a perverse
bow" (ver. 58). But what this is doth better
appear in that which followeth, where he saith,
" And unto wrath they provoked Him with their
hills" (ver. 59). It doth signify that they
leaped into idolatry. The bow then was per-
verted, not for the name of the Lord, but against
the name of the Lord : who said to the same
people, " Thou shalt have none other Gods but
Me." ' But by the bow He doth signify the
mind's intention. This same idea, lastly, more
clearly working out, " And in their graven idols,"
he saith, " they provoked Him to indignation."
32. " God heard, and He despised : " that is,
He gave heed and took vengeance. " And unto
nothing He brought Israel exceedingly " (ver.
60). For when God despised, what were they
who by God's help were what they were ? But
doubtless he is commemorating the doing of
that thing, when they were conquered by the
Philistines in the time of Heli the priest, and
the Ark of the Lord was taken, and with great
slaughter they were laid low.2 This it is that he
speaketh of. " And He rejected the tabernacle
of Selom, His tabernacle, where He dwelled
among men" (ver. 61). He hath elegantly ex-
plained why He rejected His tabernacle, when
he saith, " where He dwelled among men."
When therefore they were not worthy for Him
to dwell among, why should He not reject the
tabernacle, which indeed not for Himself He
had established, but for their sakes, whom now
He judged unworthy for Him to dwell among.
"And He gave over unto captivity their strength,
and their beauty unto the hands of the enemy."
The very Ark whereby they thought themselves
invincible, and whereon they plumed themselves,
he calleth their " virtue " and " beauty." Lastly,
also afterward, when they were living ill, and
boasting of the temple of the Lord, He doth
terrify them by a Prophet, saying, " See ye what
I have done to Selom, where was My taber-
nacle." 3 " And He ended with the sword His
people, and His inheritance He despised " (ver.
62). "Their young men the fire devoured:"
that is, wrath. " And their virgins mourned
not" (ver. 63). For not even for this was
there leisure, in fear of the foe. " Their priests
fell by the sword, and their widows were not
lamented" (ver. 64). For there fell by the
1 Exod. xx. 3.
1 Sam. iv. 10, etc. J Jer. vii. la.
sword the sons of Heli, of one of whom the
wife being widowed, and presently dying in
child-birth,4 because of the same confusion could
not be mourned with the distinction of a funeral.
" And the Lord was awakened as one sleeping "
(ver. 65). For He seemeth to sleep, when He
giveth His people into the hands of those whom
He hateth, when there is said to them, " Where
is thy God?" 5 " He was awakened, then, like
one sleeping, like a mighty man drunken with
wine." No one would dare to say this of God,
save His Spirit. For he hath spoken, as it
seemeth to ungodly men reviling ; as if like a
drunken man He sleepeth long, when He
succoureth not so speedily as men think.6
33. " And He smote His enemies in the hinder
parts " (ver. 66) : those, to wit, who were rejoi-
cing that they were able to take His Ark : for they
were smitten in their back-parts.7 Which seemeth
to me to be a sign of that punishment, wherewith
a man will be tortured, if he shall have looked
back upon things behind ; which, as saith the
Apostle, he ought to value as dung.8 For they
that do so receive the Testament of God, as
that they put not off from them the old vanity,
are like the hostile nations, who did place the
captured Ark of the Testament beside their own
idols. And yet those old things even though
these be unwilling do fall : for " all flesh is hay,
and the glory of man as the flower of hay.
The hay hath dried up, and the flower hath fallen
off : " « but the Ark of the Lord " abideth for
everlasting," to wit, the secret testament of the
kingdom of Heaven, where is the eternal Word
of God. But they that have loved things behind,
because of these very things most justly shall be
tormented. For " everlasting reproach He hath
given to them." (ver. 67).
34. " And He rejected," he saith, " the taber-
nacle of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim '° He
chose not" (ver. 68). "And He chose the
tribe of Judah " (ver. 69). He hath not said,
He rejected the tabernacle of Reuben, who was
the first-born son of Jacob ; " nor them that fol-
low, and precede Judah in order of birth ; so that
they being rejected and not chosen, the tribe of
Judah was chosen. For it might have been said
that they were deservedly rejected ; because even
in the blessing of Jacob wherewith he blessed
his sons, he mentioneth their sins,'2 and deeply
abhorreth them ; though among them the tribe
of Levi merited to be the priestly tribe, whence
* 1 Sam. iv. to. ' Ps. xlii. 3. 6 Al. " require."
' 1 Sam. v'. 6. » Phil. iii. 8. 9 Isa. xl. 6. 7.
«° [Jeroboam represented the house of Joseph (t Kings xi 28), and
was offended at the removal of the Tabernacle (1 Kings viii. 4) to
Jerusalem. But God overruled his rebellion in such wise, that
Ephraim (as the ten tribes were called, from the pre-eminent one)
carried away, and, not returning, did not, as tribes, share in the
rejection of the Messiah, " the Shepherd and Stone of Israel; " thus
indicated in the prophetic benediction of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 24. — C.J
11 Gen. xlix. 3.
12 Gen. xJix. 5.
Psalm LXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
379
also Moses was.' Nor hath he said, He rejected
the tabeYnacle of Benjamin, or the tribe of Ben-
jamin He chose not, out of which a king already
had begun to be ; for thence there had been
chosen Saul ; 2 whence because of the very prox-
imity of the time, when he had been rejected and
refused, and David chosen,3 this might con-
veniently have been said ; but yet was not said :
but he hath named those especially who seemed
to excel for more surpassing merits. For Joseph
fed in Egypt his father and his brethren, and
having been impiously sold, because of his piety,
chastity, wisdom, he was most justly exalted ; 4
and Ephraim by the blessing of his grandfather
Jacob was preferred before his elder brother : 5
and yet God " rejected the tabernacle of Joseph,
and the tribe of Ephraim He chose not." In
which place, by these names of renowned merit,
what else do we understand but that whole people
with old cupidity requiring of the Lord earthly
rewards, rejected and refused, but the tribe of
Judah chosen not for the sake of the merits of that
same Judah? For far greater are the merits of
Joseph, but by the tribe of Judah, inasmuch as
thence arose Christ according to the flesh, the
Scripture doth testify of the new people of Christ
preferred before that old people, the Lord open-
ing in parables His mouth. Moreover, thence
also in that which followeth, " the Mount Sion
which He chose," we do better understand the
Church of Christ, not worshipping God for the
sake of the carnal blessings of the present time,
but from afar looking for future and eternal re-
wards with the eyes of faith : for Sion too is in-
terpreted a " looking out."
35. Lastly there followeth, " and He builded
like as of unicorns His sanctification " (ver. 70) :
or, as some interpreters have made thereof a new
word, " His sanctifying." 6 The unicorns are
rightly understood to be those, whose firm hope is
uplifted unto that one thing, concerning which
another Psalm saith, " One thing I have sought
of the Lord, this I will require." ' But the sanc-
tifying of God, according to the Apostle Peter,
is understood" to be a holy people and a royal
priesthood.8 But that which followeth, " in the
land which He founded for everlasting : " which
the Greek copies have cis rov aluiva, whether it
be called by us " for everlasting," or " for an
age," is at the pleasure of the Latin translators ;
forasmuch as it doth signify either : and there-
fore the latter is found in some Latin copies, the
former in others. Some also have it in the plu-
ral, that is, "for ages: ".which in the Greek
copies which we have had we have not found.
But which of the faithful would doubt, that the
Church, even though, some going, others coming,
* Exod. ii. t.
* Gen. xli. 40.
* Ps. xxvii. 4.
2 1 Sam. ix. I.
5 Gen. xlviii. 17, 19.
* 1 Pet. ii. 9.
3 t Sam. xvi. I.
* Sanctijicium.
she doth pass out of this life in mortal manner,
is yet founded for everlasting ?
36. " And He chose David His servant "
(ver. 71). The tribe, I say, of Judah, for the
sake of David : but David for the sake of Christ :
the tribe then of Judah for the sake of Christ.
At whose passing by blind men cried out, " Have
pity on us, Son of David : " » and forthwith by
His pity they received light, because true was
the thing which they cried out. This then the
Apostle doth not cursorily speak of, but doth
needfully notice, writing to Timothy, " Be thou
mindful, that Christ Jesus hath risen from the
dead, of the seed of David," etc.'° Therefore
the Saviour Himself, made according to the flesh
of the seed of David, is figured in this passage
under the name of David, the Lord opening in
parables His mouth. And let it not move us,
that when he had said, " and He chose David,"
under which name he signified Christ, he hath
added, " His servant," not His Son. Yea even
hence we may perceive, that not the substance
of the Only-Begotten coeternal with the Father,
but the " form of a servant " was taken of the
seed of David.
37. " And He took him from the flocks of
sheep, from behind the teeming sheep He re-
ceived him : to feed Jacob His servant, and
Israel His inheritance " (ver. 72). This David
indeed, of whose seed the flesh of Christ is, from
the pastoral care of cattle was translated to
the kingdom of men : but our David, Jesus
Himself, from men to men, from Jews to Gentiles,
was yet according to the parable from sheep to
sheep taken away and translated. For there are
not now in that land " Churches of Judaea in
Christ," which belonged to them of the circum-
cision after the recent Passion and Resurrection
of our Lord, of whom saith the Apostle, " But I
was unknown by face to the Churches of Judaea,
which are in Christ," etc." Already from hence
those Churches of the circumcised people have
passed away : and thus in Judaea, which now
doth exist on 'the earth, there is not now Christ.'2
He hath been removed thence, now He doth
feed flocks of Gentiles. Truly from behind
teeming sheep He hath been taken thence. For
those former Churches were of such sort, as that
of them it is said in the Song of Songs, " Thy
teeth — are like a flock of shorn ewes going up
from the washing,'3 all of which do bear twins,
and a barren one is not among them." '4 For they
then laid aside like as it were fleeces the burdens
of the world, '5 when before the feet of the Apos-
tles they laid the prices of their sold goods,'6
going up from that Laver, concerning which the
9 Matt. xx. 30. I0 2 Tim. ii. 8.
11 Gal. i. 22, 23. 12 f A noteworthy testimony. — C]
'* Lai-acro. !* Song of Sol. iv. 2.
15 Acts ii. 45. lt> Acts iv. 34, 35.
38o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIX.
apostle Peter doth admonish them, when they
were troubled because they had shed the blood
of Christ, and he saith, " Repent ye, and let
each one of you be baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven
you." ' But twins they begat, the works, to wit,
of the two commandments of twin love, love of
God, and love of one's neighbour : whence a
barren one there was not among them. From
behind these teeming sheep our David having
been taken, doth now feed other flocks among
the Gentiles, and those too "Jacob" and
" Israel." For thus hath been said, " to feed
Jacob His servant, and Israel His inheritance." . . .
Unless perchance any one be willing to make
such a distinction as this ; viz. that in this time
Jacob serveth ; but he will be the eternal inherit-
ance of God, at that time when he shall see God
face to face, whence he hath received the name
Israel.2
38. " And He fed them," he saith, " in the in-
nocence of His heart" (ver. 73). What can
be more innocent than He, who not only had
not any sin whereby to be conquered, but even
not any to conquer? "And in the understand-
ing of His hands He led them home : " or, as
some copies have it, " in the understandings of
His hands." Any other man might suppose
that it would have been better had it been said
thus, " in innocence of hands and understanding
of heart ; " but He who knew better than others
what He spake, preferred to join with the heart
innocence, and with the hands understanding.
It is for this reason, as far as I judge ; because
many men think themselves innocent, who do
not evil things because they fear lest they should
suffer if they shall have done them ; but they
have the will to do them, if they could with
impunity. Such men may seem to have inno-
cence of hands, but yet not that of heart. And
what, I pray, or of what sort is that innocence,
if of heart it is not, where man was made after
the image of God ? 3 But in this which he saith,
"in understanding (or intelligence) of His
hands He led them home," he seemeth to me
to have spoken of that intelligence which He
doth Himself make in believers : and so " of
His hands : " for making doth belong to the
hands, but in the sense wherein the hands of
God may be understood ; for even Christ was a
Man in such sort, that He was also God. . . .
PSALM LXtflX.*
1. Over the title of this Psalm, being so
short and so simple, I think we need not tarry.
But the prophecy which here we read sent
1 Acts ii. 18. 2 Gen xxxii. 38. » Gen i. 17.
* Lat. LXXVIII. Preached after the Exposition of Psalm
lxxviii., as appears elsewheie.
before, we know to be evidently fulfilled. For
when these things were being sung in the times
of King David, nothing of such sort, by the
hostility of the Gentiles, as yet had befallen
the city Jerusalem, nor the Temple of God, which
as yet was not even builded. For that after the
death of David his son Salomon made a temple
to God, who is ignorant? That is spoken of
therefore as though past, which in the Spirit was
seen to be future.
" O God, the Gentiles have come into Thine
inheritance" (ver. i). Under which form of
expression other things which were to come to
pass, are spoken of as having been done. Nor
must this be wondered at, that these words are
being spoken to God. For they are not being
represented to Him not knowing, by whose
revelation they are foreknown ; but the soul is
speaking with God with that affection of godli-
ness, of which God knoweth.5 For even the
things which Angels proclaim to men, they pro-
claim to them that know them not ; but the
things which they proclaim to God, they proclaim
to Him knowing, when they offer our prayers,
and in ineffable manner consult the eternal
Truth respecting their actions, as an immutable
law. And therefore this man of God is saying
to God that which he is to learn of God, like a
scholar to a master, not ignorant but judging ;
and so either approving what he hath taught, or
censuring what he hath not taught : especially
because under the appearance of one praying,
the Prophet is transforming into himself those
who should be at the time when these things
were to come to pass.5 But in praying it is cus-
tomary to declare those things to God which He
hath done in taking vengeance, and for a petition
to be added, that henceforth He should pity and
spare. Jn this way here also by him the judg-
ments are spoken of by whom they are foretold,
as if they were being spoken of by those whom
they befell, and the very lamentation and prayer
is a prophecy.
2. "They have defiled Thy holy Temple,
they have made Jerusalem for a keeping of
apples." " They have made the dead bodies
of Thy servants morsels for the fowls of heaven,
the fleshes of Thy saints for the beasts of the
earth" (ver. 2). "They have poured forth
their blood like water in the circuit of Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them " (ver. 3).
If in this prophecy any one of us shall have
thought that there must be understood that
laying waste of Jerusalem, which was made by
Titus the Roman Emperor, when already the
Lord Jesus Christ, after His Resurrection and
s One Oxf. Ms. " love thou to speak with God with affection of
godliness, things of which God knoweth;" al. "For what things
doth not God sec ? "
b I Compare i Pet. i. 13, a text which floods with light the subject
of inspiration. — C]
Psalm LXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
38i
Ascension, was being preached among the Gen-
tiles, it doth not occur to me how that people
could now have been called the inheritance of
God, as not holding to Christ, whom having re-
jected and slain, that people became reprobate,
which not even after His Resurrection would
believe in Him, and even killed His Martyrs.
For out of that people Israel whosoever have
believed in Christ ; to whom the offer of Christ
was made, and in a manner the healthful and
fruitful fulfilment of the promise ; concerning
whom even the Lord Himself saith, " I am not
sent but to the sheep which have been lost of
the house of Israel," ' the same are they that out
of them are the sons of promise ; the same are
counted for a seed ; 2 the same do belong to the
inheritance of God. From hence are Joseph
that just man, and the Virgin Mary who bore
Christ : 3 hence John Baptist the friend of the
Bridegroom, and his parents Zacharias and Elisa-
beth : 4 hence Symeon the old,5 and Anna the
widow, who heard not Christ speaking by the
sense of the body ; but while yet an infant not
speaking, by the Spirit perceived Him : hence
the blessed Apostles : hence Nathanael, in
whom guile was not : 6 hence the other Joseph,
who himself too looked for the kingdom of
God : 7 hence that so great multitude who went
before and followed after His beast, saying,
" Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the
Lord : " 8 among whom was also that company
of children, in whom He declared to have been
fulfilled, " Out of the mouth of infants and
sucklings Thou hast perfected praise." ° Hence
also were those after His resurrection, of whom on
one day three and on another five thousand were
baptized,10 welded into one soul and one heart
by the fire of love ; of whom no one spoke of
anything as his own, but to them all things were
common." Hence the holy deacons, of whom
Stephen was crowned with martyrdom before the
Apostles.12 Hence so many Churches of Judaea,
which were in Christ, unto whom Paul was un-
known by face,'3 but known for an infamous
ferocity, and more known for Christ's most mer-
ciful grace. Hence even he, according to the
prophecy sent before concerning him, " a wolf
ravening, in the morning carrying off, and in the
evening dividing morsels ; " '4 that is, first as per-
secutor carrying off unto death, afterwards as a
preacher feeding unto life. These are they that
are out of that people the inheritance of God.
... So then even at this time a remnant through
election of Grace have been saved. This remnant
out of that nation doth belong to the inheritance '5
1 Matt. xv. 24. 2 Rom. ix. 8.
* Luke i. 5. s Luke ii. 25.
7 John xix. 38; Luke xxiii. 51.
9 Ps viii. 2. I0 Acts ii. 41, iv.
12 Acts vii. 59. >3 Gal. i. 22.
15 One MS. " are the inheritance."
3 Matt. i. 16.
6 John i. 47.
8 Matt. xxi. 9.
11 Acts iv. 32.
'* Gen. xhx. 27.
of God : not those concerning whom a little below
he saith, "But the rest have been blinded."
For thus he saith. " What then ? That which
Israel sought, this he hath not obtained : but
the election hath obtained it : but the rest have
been blinded." l6 This election then, this rem-
nant, that people of God, which God hath not
cast off, is called His inheritance. But in that
Israel, which hath not obtained this, in the rest
that were blinded, there was no longer an in-
heritance of God, in reference to whom it is
possible that there should be spoken, after the
glorification of Christ in the Heavens, in the
time of Titus the Emperor, " O God, there
have come the Gentiles unto Thine inherit-
ance," and the other things which in this
Psalm seem to have been foretold concerning
the destmction of both the temple and city
belonging to that people.
3. Furthermore herein we ought either to
perceive those things which were done by other
enemies, before Christ had come in the flesh :
at that time when there were even the holy
prophets, when the carrying away into Babylon
took place,'7 and that nation was grievously
afflicted, and at the time when under Antiochus
also the Maccabees, having endured horrible
sufferings, were most gloriously crowned.'8 Or
certainly if after the Resurrection and Ascen-
sion of the Lord the inheritance of God must
be understood to be here spoken of; such
things must be understood herein, as at the
hands of worshippers of idols, and enemies of
the name of Christ, His Church, in such a multi-
tude of martyrs, endured. . . . This Church then,
this inheritance of God, out of circumcision and
uncircumcision hath been congregated, that is,
out of the people of Israel, and out of the rest
of the nations, by means of the Stone which the
builders rejected, and which hath become for
the Head of the corner,'9 in which corner as it
were two walls coming from different quarters
were united. " For Himself is our peace, who
hath made both one, that He might build two
into Himself, making peace, and might unite
together 2° both in one Body unto God:"2' in
which Body we are sons of God, " crying, Abba
Father." 22 Abba, on account of their language ;
Father, on account of ours. For Abba is the
same as Father. . . .
4. But now in that which followeth, " they
have made Jerusalem for a keeping of apples ; "
even the Church herself is rightly understood
under this name, even the free Jerusalem our
mother,23 concerning whom hath been written,
" many more are the sons of the forsaken, than
16 Rom. xi. 7. t7 2 Kings xxiv. 14. I8 2 Mace. vii.
*9 Ps. cxviii. 22. 2° Coaduuaret. MSS. " might change."
21 Eph. ii 14, etc. 22 Rotn. viit. 15.
" Gal. iv. 26.
382
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIX.
of her that hath the husband." ' The expression,
"for a keeping of apples," I think must be un-
derstood of the desertion which the wasting of
persecution hath effected : that is, like a keep-
ing of apples; for the keeping of apples is
abandoned, when the apples have passed away.
And certes when through the persecuting Gen-
tiles the Church seemed to be forsaken, unto
the celestial table, like as it were many and
exceeding sweet apples from the garden of the
Lord, the spirits of the martyrs did pass away.
5. "They have made," he saith, "the dead
bodies of Thy servants morsels for the fowls of
heaven, the fleshes of Thy saints for the beasts
of the earth" (ver. 2). The expression, "dead
bodies," hath been repeated in " fleshes : " and
the expression, "of Thy servants," hath been
repeated in, " of Thy saints." This only hath
been varied, " to the fowls of heaven, and to the
beasts of the earth." Better have they inter-
preted who have written " dead," than as some
have it, " mortal." For " dead " is only said of
those that have died; but mortal is a term
applied even to living bodies. When then, as I
have said, to their Husbandman the spirits of
martyrs like apples had passed away, their dead
bodies and their fleshes they set before the fowls
of heaven and the beasts of the earth : as if any
part of them could be lost to the resurrection,
whereas out of the hidden recesses of the
natural world He will renew the whole, by
whom even our hairs have been numbered.1
6. " They have poured forth their blood like
water," that is, abundantly and wantonly, "in
the circuit of Jerusalem" (ver. 3). If we
herein understand the earthly city Jerusalem',
we perceive the shedding of their blood in the
circuit thereof, whom the enemy could find
outside the walls. But if we understand it of
that Jerusalem, concerning whom hath been
said, " many more are the sons of her that was
forsaken, than of her that hath the husband," '
the circuit thereof is throughout the universal
earth. For in that lesson of the Prophet,
wherein is written, " many more are the sons of
her that was forsaken, than of her that hath
the husband : " a little after unto the same is
said, "and He that hath delivered thee, shall
be called the God of Israel of the universal
earth." 3 The circuit then of this Jerusalem in
this Psalm must be understood as followeth : so
far as at that time the Church had been ex-
panded, bearing fruit, and growing in the univer-
sal world, when in every part thereof persecution
was raging, and was making havoc of the Martyrs,
whose blood was being shed like water, to the
great gain of the celestial treasuries. But as to
that which hath been added, "and there was
1 Isa. liv. 1.
1 Matt. x. 30.
3 Isa. liv. 5.
no one to bury : " it either ought not to seem
to be an incredible thing that there should have
been so great a panic in some places, that not
any buriers at all of holy bodies came forward :
or certes that unburied corpses in many places
might lie long time, until being by the religious
in a manner stolen 4 they were buried.
7. " We have become," he saith, "a reproach
to our neighbours " (ver. 4) . Therefore pre-
cious not in the sight of men, from whom this
reproach was, but " precious s in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His saints." 6 "A
scoffing and derision : " or, as some have inter-
preted it, " a mockery to them that are in our
circuit." It is a repetition of the former sen-
tence. For that which above hath been called,
" a reproach," the same hath been repeated in,
" a scoffing and derision : " and that which
above hath been said in, " to our neighbours,"
the same hath been repeated in, " to them that
are in our circuit." Moreover, in reference to
the earthly Jerusalem, the neighbours, and those
in the circuit of that nation, are certainly under-
stood to be other nations. But in reference to
the free Jerusalem our mother,7 there are neigh-
bours even in the circuit of her, among whom,
being her enemies, the Church dwelleth in the
circuit of the round world.
8. In the second place now giving utterance
to an evident prayer, whence it may be per-
ceived that the calling to remembrance of
former affliction is not by way of information
but prayer; "How long," he saith, "O Lord,
wilt Thou be angry, unto the end? shall Thy
jealousy burn like fire?" (ver. 5). He is
evidently asking God not to be angry unto the
end, that is, that this so great oppression and
tribulation and devastation may not continue
even unto the end ; but that He moderate His
chastening, according to that which is said in
another Psalm, "Thou shalt feed us with the
bread of tears, and Thou shalt give us to drink
of tears in measure."8 For the, "how long,
O Lord, wilt Thou be angry, unto the end ? "
hath been spoken in the same sense as if it had
been said, Be not, O Lord, angry unto the end.
And in that which followeth, " shall Thy jealousy
burn like fire?" both words must be under-
stood, both, " how long," and, " unto the
end : " just as if there had been said, how long
shall there burn like fire Thy jealousy unto the
end ? For these two words must be understood
in the same manner as that word which was
used a little higher up. namely, " they-have-
made." For while the former sentence hath,
" they have made the dead bodies of Thy
servants morsels for the fowls of heaven : " 9 this
* [" With pious sacrilege a era
5 Oxf. mss. rep. " precious.'
7 Gal. iv. 26. » Ps. Ixxx. 5.
ve I stole.
'Dr. Young. — C]
6 Ps. cxvi. 15.
9 Ps. lxxix. 2.
Psalm LXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
383
word the latter sentence hath not, wherein is
said, " the fleshes of Thy saints for the beasts of
the earth ; " but there is surely understood what
the former hath, namely, " they have made."
Moreover, the anger and jealousy of God ' are
not emotions of God ; as some do charge upon
the Scriptures which they do not understand : 2
but under the name of anger is to be understood
the avenging of iniquity ; under the name of
jealousy, the exaction of chastity ; that the soul
may not despise the law of her Lord, and perish
by departing in fornication from the Lord.
These then in their actual operation in men's
affliction are violent ; but in the disposal of God
they are calm, unto whom hath been said, " But
Thou, O Lord of virtues, with calmness dost
judge." 3 But it is clearly enough shown by
these words, that for sins these tribulations do
befall men, though they be faithful : although
hence may bloom the Martyrs' glory by occasion
of their patience, and the yoke of discipline
godly endured as the scourge of the Lord. Of
this the Maccabees amid sharp tortures,4 of this
the three men amid flames innocuous,5 of this
the holy Prophets in captivity, do testify. For
although paternal correction most bravely and
most godly they endure, yet they do not hide
the fact, that these things have befallen them for
the deservings of their sins.6 . . .
9. But that which he addeth, " Pour forth
Thine anger upon the nations which have not
known Thee, and upon the kingdoms which have
not called upon Thy name " (ver. 6) ; this too is
a prophecy, not a wish. Not in the imprecation
of malevolence are these words spoken, but fore-
seen by the Spirit they are predicted : just as in
the case of Judas the traitor, the evil things
which were to befall him have been so prophesied
as if they were wished. For in like manner as
the prophet doth not command Christ, though
in the imperative mood he giveth utterance to
what he saith, " Gird Thou Thy sword about Thy
thigh, O Most Mighty : in Thy beauty and in
Thy goodliness, both go on, and prosperously
proceed, and reign :" 1 so he doth not wish, but
doth prophesy, who saith, " Pour forth Thine
anger upon the nations which have not known
Thee." Which in his usual way he repeateth,
saying, "And upon the kingdoms which have
not called upon Thy name." For nations have
been repeated in kingdoms : and that they
have not known Him, hath been repeated in
this, that they have not called upon His name.
How then must be understood, what the Lord
saith in the Gospel 8 concerning stripes, " the
many and the few"? if greater the anger of God
1 The anfjer and jealousy of God. 2 Manichaeus.
3 Wisd. xii. 18. * 2 Mace. vii. t, 2, etc.
5 Dan. iii. 21. 6 Ps. cxviii. 18; Heb. xii. 6.
7 Ps. xlv. 3, 4. 8 Luke xii. 47, 48.
is against the nations, which have not known the
Lord? For in this which he saith, " Pour forth
Thine anger," with this word he hafh clearly
enough pointed out, how great anger he hath
willed that there should be understood. Whence
afterwards he saith, " Render to our neighbours
seven times as much." ° Is it not that there is a
great difference between servants, who, though
they know not the will of their Lord, do yet call
upon His name, and those that are aliens from
the family of so great a Master, who are so igno-
rant of God, as that they do not even call upon
God ? For in place of Him they call upon either
idols or demons, or any creature they choose ;
not the Creator, who is blessed for ever. For
those persons, concerning whom he is prophesy-
ing this, he doth not even intimate to be so igno-
rant of the will of their God, as that still they
fear the Lord Himself; but so ignorant of the
Lord Himself, that they do not even call upon
Him, and that they stand forth as enemies of
His name. There is a great difference then be-
tween servants not knowing the will of their
God, and yet living in His family and in His
house, and enemies not only setting the will
against knowing the Lord Himself, but also not
calling upon His name, and even in His servants
fighting against it.
10. Lastly, there followeth, " For they have
eaten up Jacob, and his place they have made des-
olate " (ver. 7). . . . How we should view " the
place " of Jacob, must be understood. For
rather the place of Jacob may be supposed to be
that city, wherein was also the Temple, whither-
unto the whole of that nation for the purpose of
sacrifice and worship, and to celebrate the Pass-
over, the Lord had commanded to assemble.
For if the assemblies of Christians, letted and
suppressed by persecutors, has been what the
Prophet would have to be understood, it would
seem that he should have said, places made des-
olate, not place. Still we may take the singular
number as put for the plural number ; as dress
for clothes, soldiery for soldiers, cattle for beasts :
for many words are usually spoken in this man-
ner, and not only in the mouths of vulgar speak-
ers, but even in the eloquence of the most
approved authorities. Nor to divine Scripture
herself is this form of speech foreign. For ,even
she hath put frog for frogs, locust for locusts,10
and countless expressions of the like kind. But
that which hath been said, " They have eaten up
Jacob," the same is well understood, in that
many men into their own evil-minded body, that
is, into their own society, they have constrained
to pass.
11. . . . He subjoineth, " Remember not our
iniquities of old " (ver. 8) . He saith not by-
9 Ps. lxxix. 13.
10 Ps. lxxviii. 46.
3«4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXIX.
gone, which might have even been recent ; but
" of old," that is, coming from parents. For to
such iniquities judgment, not correction, is ■ ow-
ing. " Speedily let Thy mercies anticipate us."
Anticipate, that is, at Thy judgment. For " mercy
exalteth above in judgment." 2 Now there is
"judgment without mercy," but to him that
hath not showed mercy. But whereas he addeth,
" for we have become exceeding poor : " unto
this end he willeth that the mercies of God
should be understood to anticipate us ; that our
own poverty, that is, weakness, by Him having
mercy, should be aided to do His command-
ments, that we may not come to His judgment
to be condemned.
12. Therefore there followeth, "Help us, O
God, our healing3 One " (ver. 9). By this word
which he saith, " our healing One," he doth suf-
ficiently explain what sort of poverty he hath
willed to be understood, in that which he had
said, " for we have become exceeding poor."
For it is that very sickness, to which a healer is
necessary. But while he would have us to be
aided, he is neither ungrateful to grace, nor doth
he take away free-will. For he that is aided,
doth also of himself something. He hath added
also, " for the glory of Thy Name, O Lord, deliver
us : " in order that he who glorieth, not in him-
self, but in the Lord may glory.4 " And merciful
be Thou," he saith, " to our sins for Thy Name's
sake : " not for our sake. For what else do our
sins deserve, but due and condign punishments ?
But " merciful be Thou to our sins, for Thy
Name's sake." Thus then Thou dost deliver us,
that is, dost rescue us from evil things, while
Thou dost both aid us to do justice, and art
merciful to our sins, without which in this life we
are not. For " in Thy sight shall no man living
be justified." 5 But sin is iniquity.5 And "if Thou
shalt have marked iniquities, who shall stand? " 7
13. But that which he addeth, "lest at any
time they should say among the Gentiles, Where
is their God?" (ver. 10) must be taken as rather
for the Gentiles themselves. For to a bad end
they come that have despaired of the true God,
thinking that either He is not, or doth not help
His own, and is not merciful to them. But this
which followeth, " and that there may be known
among the nations before our eyes the vengeance
of the blood of Thy servants which hath been
shed : " is either to be understood as of the
time, when they believe in the true God that
used to persecute His inheritance ; because even
that is vengeance, whereby is slain the fierce in-
iquity of them by the sword of the Word of God,
concerning which hath been said, " Gird Thou
1 Al. "would be." z Jas. ii. 13.
* 1 Cor. i. 31. * Ps. cxliii. a.
6 i.e., injustice. 1 John iii. 4 and v. 17.
? Ps. cxxx. 3.
3 Saluiarit.
Thy sword : " 8 or when obstinate enemies at the
last are punished. For the corporal ills which
they suffer in this world, they may have in com-
mon with good men. There is also another kind
of vengeance j that wherein the Church's en-
largement and fruitfulness in this world after so
great persecutions, wherein they supposed she
would utterly perish, the sinner and unbeliever
and enemy seeth, and is angry ; " with his teeth
he shall gnash, and shall pine away."' For who
would dare to deny that even this is a most
heavy punishment? But I know not whether
that which he saith, " before our eyes," is taken
with sufficient elegance, if by this sort of punish-
ment we understand that which is done in the
inmost recesses of the heart, and doth torment
even those who blandly smile at us, while by us
there cannot be seen what they suffer in the inner
man. But the fact, that whether in them believ-
ing their iniquity is slain, or whether the last
punishment is rendered to them persevering in
their naughtiness, without difficulty of doubtful-
ness is understood in the saying, " that there
may be known before our eyes vengeance
among the nations."
14. And this indeed, as we have said, is a
prophecy, not a wish. . . . And the Lord in
the Gospel IO hath set before us the widow for an
example, who longing to be avenged, did inter-
cede with the unjust judge, who at length
heard her, not as being guided by justice, but
overcome with weariness : but this the Lord
hath set before us, to show that much more the
just God will speedily make the judgment of
His elect, who cry unto Him day and night.
Thence is also that cry of the Martyrs under the
altar of God," that they may be avenged in the
judgment of God. Where then is the, " Love
your enemies, do good unto them that hate you,
and pray for them that persecute you"?"
Where is also the, " Not rendering evil for evil,
nor cursing for cursing : " '3 and, " unto no man
rendering evil for evil "?'* . . . For when the
Lord was exhorting us to love enemies, He set
before us the example of our Father, who is in
Heaven, "who maketh His sun to rise upon
good men and evil men, and raineth upon just
men and unjust men : " '5 doth He yet therefore
not chasten even by temporal correction, or not
condemn at the last the 'obstinately hardened ?
Let therefore an enemy be so loved as that the
Lord's justice whereby he is punished displease
us not, and let the justice whereby he is pun-
ished so please us, as that the joy is not at his
evil but at the good Judge. But a malevolent
soul is sorrowful, if his enemy by being cor-
rected shall have escaped punishment : and
» Ps. xlv. 4.
11 Rev. vi. o.
M Rom. xii. 17.
9 Ps. cxii. 10.
12 Matt. v. 44.
•J Matt. v. 45.
10 Luke xviii. 3.
" 1 Pel. ill. 9.
Psalm LXXIX.l
ON THE PSALMS.
385
when he seeth him punished, he is so glad that
he is avenged, that he is not delighted with the
justice of God, whom he loveth not, but with
the misery of that man whom he hateth : and
when he leaveth judgment to God, he hopeth
that God will hurt more than he could hurt :
and when he giveth food to his hungering
enemy, and drink to him thirsty, he hath an
evil-minded sense of that which is written, " For
thus doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his
head." "... In such sort then under the ap-
pearance of one asking in this Psalm, future
vengeance on the ungodly is prophesied of, as
that we are to understand that holy men of God
have loved their enemies, and have wished no
one anything but good, which is godliness in this
world, everlasting life in that to come ; but in
the punishments of evil men, they have taken
pleasure not in the ills of them, but in God's good
judgments ; and wheresoever in the holy Scrip-
tures we read of their hatreds against men, they
were the hatreds of vices, which every man must
needs hate in himself, if he loveth himself.
15. But now in that which followeth, "Let
there come in before Thy sight," or, as some
copies have it, " In Thy sight, the groans of the
fettered : " not easily doth any one discover that
the Saints were thrown into fetters by persecu-
tors ; and if this doth happen amid so great and
manifold a variety of punishments, so rarely it
doth happen, that it must not be believed that
the prophet had chosen to allude to this espe-
cially in this verse. But, in fact, the fetters are
the infirmity and the corruptibleness of the
body, which do weigh down the soul. For by
means of the frailty thereof, as a kind of mate-
rial for certain pains and troubles, the persecu-
tor might constrain her unto ungodliness. From
these fetters the Apostle was longing to be un-
bound, and to be with Christ ; 2 but to abide in
the flesh was necessary for their sakes unto
whom he was ministering the Gospel. Until
then this corruptible put on incorruption, and
this mortal put on immortality,3 like as it were
with fetters, the weak flesh doth let the willing
spirit.4 These fetters then not any do feel, but
they that in themselves do groan being bur-
thened, desiring to be clothed upon with the
tabernacle which is from Heaven ; 5 because both
death is a terror, and mortal life is sorrow. In
behalf of these men groaning the Prophet doth
redouble his groaning, that their groaning may
" come in in the sight of the Lord." They also
may be understood to be fettered, who are en-
chained with the precepts of wisdom, the which
being patiently supported are turned into orna-
ments : whence it hath been written, " Put thy
feet into her fetters." 6 " According to the
1 Rom. xii. 20.
* Matt. xxvi. 41.
2 Phil. i. 23.
J 2 Cor. v. 4.
3 1 Cor. xv. 54.
6 Ecclus. vi. 24.
greatness," he saith, " of Thy arm, receive Thou
unto adoption the sons of them that are put to
death : " 1 or, as is read in some copies, " Pos-
sess Thou sons by the death of the punished." 8
Wherein the Scripture seemeth to me to have
sufficiently shown, what hath been the groan of
the fettered, who for the name of Christ en-
dured most grievous persecutions, which in this
Psalm are most clearly prophesied. For being
beset with divers sufferings, they used to pray
for the Church, that their blood might not be
without fruit to posterity ; in order that the
Lord's harvest might more abundantly flourish
by the very means whereby enemies thought that
she would perish. For " sons of them that were
put to death " he hath called them who were
not only not terrified by the sufferings of those
that went before, but in Him for whose name
they knew them to have suffered, being inflamed
with their glory which did inspire them to the
like, in most ample hosts they believed. There-
fore he hath said, " According to the greatness
of Thine arm." For so great a wonder fol-
lowed in the case of Christian peoples, as they,
who thought they would prevail aught by perse-
cuting her, no wise believed would follow.
16. "Render," he saith, "to our neighbours
seven times so much into their bosoms " (ver.
13). Not any evil things he is wishing, but
things just he is foretelling and prophesying as
to come. But in the number seven, that is, in
sevenfold retribution, he would have the com-
pleteness of the punishment to be perceived,
for with this number fulness is wont to be signi-
fied. Whence also there is this saying for the
good, " He shall receive in this world seven
times as much : " 9 which hath been put for all.
"As if having nothing, and possessing all
things." IO Of neighbours he is speaking, be-
cause amongst them dwelleth the Church even
unto the day of severing : for not now is made
the corporal separation. " Into their bosoms,"
he saith, as being now in secret, so that the ven-
geance which is now being executed in secret in
this life, hereafter may be known among the
nations before our eyes. For when a man is
given over to a reprobate mind, in his inward
bosom he is receiving what he deserveth of fu-
ture punishments. " Their reproach wherewith
they have reproached Thee, O Lord." This do
Thou render to them sevenfold into their bosoms,
that is, in return for this reproach, most fully do
Thou rebuke them in their secret places. For
in this they have reproached Thy Name, think-
ing to efface Thee from the earth in Thy ser-
vants.
7 Mortificatorum .
8 Piittitorum, but mss. ap. Ben. and Oxf. mortificatorum .
9 Mark x. 30. On Matt. xix. 20 there is a var. reading " mani-
fold," but not • sevenfold." E. V. fl hundred-fold."
10 2 Cor. vi. 10.
386
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXX.
17. " But we Thy people " (ver. 14), must be
taken generally of all the race of godly and
true Christians. " We," then, whom they
thought they had power to destroy, " Thy peo-
ple, and the sheep of thy flock : " in order that
he that glorieth may glory in the Lord,' " will
confess to Thee for an age." But some copies
have it, " will confess to Thee for everlasting."
Out of a Greek ambiguity this diversity hath
arisen. For that which the Greek hath, tk rov
aiutva, may be interpreted both by "for everlast-
ing," and " for an age ; " but according to the
context we must understand which is the better
interpretation. The sense then of this passage
seemeth to me to show, that we ought to say
" for an age," that is, even unto the end of time.
But the following verse after the manner of the
Scriptures, and especially of the Psalms, is a
repetition of the former with the order changed,
putting that before which in the former case was
after, and that after which in the former case
was before. For whereas in the former case there
had been said, " we will confess to Thee," in-
stead of the same herein hath been said, " We
will proclaim Thy praise." And so whereas in
the former case there had been said, " for an
age," instead of the same herein hath been said,
" for generation and generation." For this repe-
tition of generation doth signify perpetuity : or,
as some understand it, it is because there are
two generations, an old and a new. . . . But in
many places of holy Scriptures we have already
made known to you that confession is also put
for praise : as in this passage it is, " These words
ye shall say in confession, ' That the works of
the Lord are very good.' " 2 And especially that
which the Saviour Himself saith, who had not
any sin at all, which by repentance to confess :
" I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to
babes." » I have said this, in order that it may
be more clearly perceived how in the expression,
"We will proclaim Thy praise," the same hath
been repeated as had been said higher up, " We
will confess to Thee."
PSALM LXXX.*
1. ... If perchance things obscure demand
the office of an interpreter, those things which
are evident ought to require of me the office of
a reader. The song here is of the Advent of the
Lord and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His
vineyard. But the singer of the song is that
Asaph, as far as doth appear, enlightened and
converted, by whose name ye know the syna-
gogue to be signified. Lastly, the title of the
1 i Cor. i. 31. * Ecclus. xxxix. 33. 3 Matt. xi. 25.
* Lat. LXXIX. A Sermon delivered to the people.
Psalm is : " For the end in behalf of them that
shall be changed ; " that is, for the better. For
Christ, the end of the Law/ hath come on pur-
pose that He should change men for the belter.
And he addeth, " a testimony to Asaph him-
self." A good testimony of truth. Lastly, this
testimony doth confess both Christ and the vine-
yard ; that is, Head and Body, King and people,
Shepherd and flock, and the entire mystery of
all Scriptures, Christ and the Church. But the
title of the Psalm doth conclude with, " for the
Assyrians." The Assyrians are interpreted,
" men guiding." Therefore it is no longer a
generation which hath not guided the heart6
thereof, but now a generation guiding. There-
fore hear we what he saith in this testimony.
2. What is, " Thou that feedest Israel, hearken,
Thou that conducteth Joseph like sheep " ? (ver.
1). He is being invoked to come, He is being
expected until He come, He is being yearned for
until He come. Therefore may He find " men
guiding : " " Thou that conductest," he saith,
" Joseph like sheep : " Joseph himself like sheep.
Joseph himself are the sheep, and Joseph him-
self is a sheep. Observe Joseph ; for although
even the interpretation of his name doth aid us
much, for it signifieth increase ; and He came
indeed in order that the grain given to death i
might arise manifold ; 8 that is, that the people
of God might be increased. ..." Thou that
sittest upon the Cherubin." Cherubin is the
seat of the glory of God, and is interpreted
the fulness of knowledge. There God sitteth
in the fulness of knowledge. Though we under-
stand the Cherubin to be the exalted powers
and virtues of the heavens : yet, if thou wilt,
thou wilt be Cherubin.9 For if Cherubin is the
seat of God, hear what saith the Scripture :
" The soul of a just man is the seat of wis-
dom." How, thou sayest, shall I be the ful-
ness of knowledge? Who shall fulfil this?
Thou hast the means of fulfilling it : " The ful-
ness of the Law is love." IO Do not run after
many things, and strain thyself. The amplitude
of the branches doth terrify thee : hold by the
root, and of the greatness of the tree think
not. Be there in thee love, and the fulness
of knowledge must needs follow. For what
doth he not know that knoweth love? Inas-
much as it hath been said, " God is love." "
" Appear." For we went astray because Thou
didst not appear. " Before Ephraim and Ben-
jamin and Manasse " (ver. 2). Appear, I
say, before the nation of the Jews, before the
people of Israel. For there is Ephraim, there
Manasses, there Benjamin. But to the interpre-
tation let us look : Ephraim is fruit-bearing,
3 Rom. x. 4. b Ps. lxxviii. 8, p. 369, lupra,
7 Morttfiintuin. B John xii. 24.
9 See St. Macarius, Horn. 1. I0 Rom. xiii 10.
» j John iv. 8.
Psalm LXXX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
387
Benjamin son of right hand, Manasses one for-
getful. Appear Thou then before one made
fruitful, before a son of the right hand : appear
Thou before one forgetful, in order that he may
be no longer forgetful, but Thou mayest come
into his mind that hast delivered him. . . . For
weak Thou wast when it was being said, " If Son
of God He is, let Him come down from the
Cross." ' Thou wast seeming to have no power :
the persecutor had power over Thee : and Thou
didst show this aforetime, for Jacob too himself
prevailed in wrestling, a man with an angel.
Would he at any time, except the angel had
been willing? And man prevailed, and the
angel was conquered : and victorious man hold-
eth the angel, and saith, " I will not let thee go,
except thou shalt have blessed me." 2 A great
sacrament ! He both standeth conquered, and
blesseth the conqueror. Conquered, because he
willed it ; in flesh weak, in majesty strong. . . .
Having been crucified of weakness, rise Thou in
power : 3 " Stir up Thy power, and come Thou,
to save us."
3. " O God, convert us." For averse we have
been from Thee, and except Thou convert us,
we shall not be converted. " And illumine Thy
face, and we shall be saved" (ver. 3). Hath
He anywise a darkened face? He hath not a
darkened face, but He placed before it a cioud
of flesh, and as it were a veil of weakness ; and
when He hung on the tree, He was not thought
the Same as He was after to be acknowledged
when He was sitting in Heaven. For thus it
hath come to pass. Christ present on the
earth, and doing miracles, Asaph knew not ; but
when He had died, after that He rose again,
and ascended into Heaven, he knew Him. He
was pricked to the heart, and he may have
spoken 4 also of Him this testimony which now
we acknowledge in this Psalm. Thou didst
cover Thy face, and we were sick : illumine
Thou the same, and we shall be whole.
4. " O Lord God of virtues, how long wilt
Thou be angry with the prayer of Thy ser-
vant?" (ver. 4). Now Thy servant. Thou
wast angry at the prayer of Thy enemy, wilt Thou
still be angry with the prayer of Thy servant?
Thou hast converted us, we know Thee, and
wilt Thou still be angry with the prayer of Thy
servant ? Thou wilt evidently be angry, in fact,
as a father correcting, not as a judge condemn-
ing. In such manner evidently Thou wilt be
angry, because it hath been written, " My son,
drawing near unto the service of God, stand
thou in righteousness and in fear, and prepare
thy soul for temptation." 5 Think not that now
the wrath of God hath passed away, because
1 Matt, xxvii. 40. * Gen. xxxii. 26.
4 Oxf. MSS. " he spoke."
3 a Cor. xiii. 4.
5 Ecclus. li. I.
thou hast been converted. The wrath of God 6
hath passed away from thee, but only so that it
condemn not for everlasting. But He scourgeth,
He spareth not : because He scourgeth every son
whom He receiveth.? If thou refusest to be
scourged, why dost thou desire to be received ?
He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
He who did not spare even His only Son,
scourgeth every one. But nevertheless, " How
long wilt Thou be angry with the prayer of Thy
servant?" No longer thine enemy : but, "Thou
wilt be angry with the prayer of Thy servant,"
how long? There followeth : "Thou wilt feed
us with the bread of tears, and wilt give us to
drink with tears in measure" (ver. 5). What
is, " in measure " ? Hear the Apostle : "Faith-
ful is God, who doth not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able to bear."8 The
measure is, according to your powers : the meas-
ure is, that thou be instructed, not that thou be
crushed.
5. "Thou hast set us for a contradiction to
our neighbours" (ver. 6). Evidently this did
come to pass : for out of Asaph were chosen
they that should go to the Gentiles and preach
Christ, and should have it said to them, " Who
is this proclaimer of new demons?"' "Thou
hast set us for a contradiction to our neigh-
bours." For they were preaching Him who
was the subject of the contradiction. Whom
did they preach? That after He was dead,
Christ rose again. Who would hear this ? Who
would know this ? It is a new thing. But signs
did follow, and to an incredible thing miracles
gave credibility. He was contradicted, but the
contradictor was conquered, and from being
a contradictor was made a believer. There,
however, was a great flame : there the martyrs
fed with the bread of tears, and given to drink
in tears, but in measure, not more than they are
able to bear ; in order that after the measure of
tears there should follow a crown of joys. " And
our enemies have sneered at us." And where
are they that sneered ? For a long while it was
said, Who are they that worship the Dead One,
that adore the Crucified? For a long while so
it was said. Where is the nose of them that
sneered? Now do not they that censure flee
into caves, that they may not be seen ? Bat ye
see what followeth : " O Lord God of virtues,
convert us, and show Thy face, and we shall be
whole" (ver. 7). "A vineyard out of Egypt
Thou hast brought over, Thou hast cast out the
nations, and hast planted her" (ver. 8). It
was done, we know. How many nations were
cast out? Amorites, Cethites, Jebusites, Ger-
gesites, and Evites : after whose expulsion and
overthrow, there was led in the people deliv-
» So Oxf. mss. ; Ben. " it."
8 1 Cor. x. 13. 9 Acts xvii. 18.
7 Heb. xii. 6.
E. V. " strange god»."
388
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXX.
ered out of Egypt, into the land of promise.
Whence the vineyard was cast out, and where
she was planted, we have heard. Let us see
what next was done, how she believed, how
much she grew, what ground she covered.
6. " A way Thou hast made in the sight of
her, and hast planted the roots of her, and she
hath filled the land " (ver. 9). Would she have
filled the land, unless a way had been made in
the sight of her? What was the way which was
made in the sight of her? "I am," He saith,
"the Way, the Truth, and the Life.'" With
reason she hath filled the land. That hath now
been said of this vineyard, which hath been ac-
complished at the last. But in the mean time
what ? " She hath covered the mountains with
her shadow, and with her branch the cedars of
God " (ver. 10). " Thou hast stretched out her
boughs even unto the sea, and even unto the river
her shoots " (ver. n). This requireth the office
of an expositor, that of a reader and praiser2
doth not suffice : aid me with attention ; for the
mention of this vineyard in this Psalm is wont
to overcloud with darkness the inattentive. . . .
But nevertheless the first Jewish nation was this
vine But the Jewish nation reigned as far as
the sea and as far as the river. As far as the
sea ; it appeareth in Scripture 3 that the sea was
in the vicinity thereof. And as far as the river
Jordan. For on the other side of Jordan some
part of the Jews was established, but within Jor-
dan was the whole nation. Therefore, " even
unto the sea and even unto the river," is the
kingdom of the Jews, the kingdom of Israel :
but not " from sea even unto sea, and from the
river even unto the ends of the round world ; " *
this is the future perfection of the vineyard, con-
cerning which in this place he hath foretold.
When, I say, he had foretold to thee the perfec-
tion, he returneth to the beginning, out of which
the perfection was made. Of the beginning wilt
thou hear? "Even unto the river." Of the
end wilt thou hear? " He shall have dominion
from sea even unto sea : " 4 that is, " she hath
filled the earth." Let us look then to the testi-
mony of Asaph, as to what was done to the first
vineyard, and what must be expected for the
second vineyard, nay to the same vineyard. . . .
What then, the vineyard before the sight where-
of a way was made, that she should fill the earth,
at first was where ? " Her shadow covered the
mountains." Who are the mountains? The
Prophets. Why did her shadow cover them?
Because darkly they spake the things which were
foretold as to come. Thou hearest from the
Prophets, Keep the Sabbath-day, on the eighth
day circumcise a child, offer sacrifice of ram, of
calf, of he-goat. Be not troubled, her shadow
1 John xiv. 6.
« P«. lxxii. 8.
* One MS. " hearer." * Numb, xxxiv. 5.
doth cover the mountains of God ; there will
come after the shadow a manifestation. " And
her shrubs the cedars of God," that is, she hath
covered the cedars of God ; very lofty, but of
God. For the cedars are types of the proud,
that must needs be overthrown. The " cedars
of Lebanon," the heights of the world, this vine-
yard did cover in growing, and the mountains of
God, all the holy Prophets and Patriarchs.
7. Then what? "Wherefore hast Thou thrown
down her enclosure?" (ver. 12). Now ye see
the overthrow of that nation of the Jews : already
out of another Psalm ye have heard, " with axe
and hammers they have thrown her down."6
When could this have been done, except her en-
closure had been thrown down. What is her
enclosure? Her defence. For she bore her-
self proudly against her planter. The servants
that were sent to her and demanded a recom-
pense, the husbandmen they scourged, beat,
slew : there came also the Only Son, they said,
" This is the Heir ; come, let us kill Him, and
our own the inheritance will be : " they killed
Him, and out of the vineyard they cast Him
forth. 7 When cast forth, He did more perfectly
possess the place whence He was cast forth.
For thus He threatens her through Isaiah, " I
will throw down her enclosure." Wherefore?
" For I looked that she should bring forth grapes,
but she brought forth thorns." 8 I looked for
fruit from thence, and I found sin. Why then
dost thou ask, O Asaph, " Why hast Thou thrown
down her enclosure?" For knowest thou not
why? I looked that she should do judgment,
and she did iniquity. Must not her enclosure
needs be thrown down? And there came the
Gentiles when the enclosure was thrown down,
the vineyard was assailed, and the kingdom of
the Jews effaced. This at first he is lamenting,
but not without hope. For of directing the
heart he is now speaking, that is, for the " As-
syrians," for " men directing," the Psalm is.
" Wherefore hast Thou thrown down her enclo-
sure : and there pluck off her grapes all men
passing along the way." What is " men passing
along the way?" Men having dominion for a
time.
8. " There hath laid her waste the boar from
the wood" (ver. 13). In the boar from the
wood what do we understand ? To the Jews a
swine is an abomination, and in a swine they
imagine as it were the uncleanness of the Gen-
tiles. But by the Gentiles was overthrown the
nation of the Jews : but that king who over-
threw, was not only an unclean swine, but was
also a boar. For what is a boar but a savage
swine, a furious swine ? "A boar from the wood
hath laid her waste." " From the wood," from
3 Fraclorio.
8 Isa. y. a.
6 Ps. lxxiv. 6.
7 Matt. xxi. 35, etc.
Psalm LXXX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
389
the Gentiles. For she was a vineyard, but the
Gentiles were woods. But when the Gentiles
believed, there was said what ? '■' Then there
shall exult all the trees of the woods." ' " The
boar from the wood hath laid her waste ; and
a singular wild beast hath devoured her." " A
singular wild beast" is what? The very boar
that laid her waste is the singular wild beast.
Singular, because proud. For thus saith every
proud one, It is I, it is I, and no other.
9. But with what profit is this? "O God
of virtues turn Thou nevertheless" (ver. 14).
Although these things have been done, "Turn
Thou nevertheless." " Look from heaven and
see, and visit this vineyard." " And perfect
Thou her whom Thy right hand hath planted "
(ver. 15). No other plant Thou, but this make
Thou perfect. For she is the very seed of Abra-
ham, she is the very seed in whom all nations
shall be blessed : 2 there is the root where is borne
the graffed wild olive. " Perfect Thou this vine-
yard which Thy right hand hath planted." But
wherein doth He perfect? "And upon the Son
of man, whom Thou hast strengthened to Thy-
self." What can be more evident? Why do ye
still expect, that we should still explain to you
in discourse, and should we not rather cry out
with you in admiration, " Perfect Thou this vine-
yard which Thy right hand hath planted, and
upon the Son of man " perfect her? What Son
of man ? Him " whom Thou hast strengthened
to Thyself." A mighty stronghold : build as
much as thou art able. " For other foundation
no one is able to lay, except that which is laid,
which is Christ Jesus." 3
10. "Things burned with fire, and dug up, by
the rebuke of Thy countenance shall perish "
(ver. 16). What are the things burned with fire
and dug up which shall perish from the rebuke
of His countenance? Let us see and perceive
what are the things burned with fire and dug up.
Christ hath rebuked what? Sins : by the rebuke
of His countenance sins have perished. Why
then are sins burned with fire and dug up ? Of
all sins, two things are the cause in man, desire
and fear.4 Think, examine, question your hearts,
sift your consciences, see whether there can be
sins, except they be either of desire, or of fear.
There is set before thee a reward to induce thee
to sin, that is, a thing which delighteth thee ;
thou doest it, because thou desirest it. But
perchance thou wilt not be allured by bribes ;
thou art terrified with menaces, thou doest it be-
cause thou fearest. A man would bribe thee, for
example, to bear false witness. Countless cases
there are, but I am setting before you the plainer
cases, whereby ye may imagine the rest. Hast
thou hearkened unto God, and hast thou said in
1 Ps. xcvi. 12. 2 Gen. xxii 18.
4 AH sins are either of desire or of fear.
3 x Cor. iit. 11.
thy heart, " What doth it profit a man, if he gain
the whole world, but of his own soul suffer loss ?"s
I am not allured by a bribe to lose my soul 5
to gain money. He turneth himself to stir up
fear within thee, he who was not able to corrupt
thee with a bribe, beginneth to threaten loss,
banishment, massacres, perchance, and death.
Therein now, if desire prevailed not, perchance
fear will prevail to make thee sin. . . . What
had evil fear done ? It had dug up, as it were.
For love doth inflame, fear doth humble : there-
fore, sins of evil love, with fire were lighted : sins
of evil fear were dug up. On the one hand, evil
fear doth humble, and good love doth light ; but
in different ways respectively. For even the hus-
bandman interceding for the tree, that it should
not be cut down, saith, " I will dig about it, and
will apply a basket of dung." ' The dug trench
doth signify the godly humility of one fearing,
and the basket of dung the profitable squalid
state of one repenting. But concerning the fire
of good love the Lord saith, " Fire I have come
to send into the world." 8 With which fire may
the fervent in spirit burn, and they too that are
inflamed with the love of God and their neigh-
bour. And thus, as all good works are wrought
by good fear and good love, so by evil fear and
evil love all sins are committed. Therefore,
"Things set alight with fire and dug up," to wit,
all sins, " by the rebuke of Thy countenance
shall perish."
11. " Let Thy hand be upon the Man of Thy
right hand, and upon the Son of Man whom Thou
hast strengthened Thyself " (ver. 17). "And we
depart not from Thee. . . . Thou wilt quicken
us, and Thy Name we will invoke" (ver. 18).
Thou shalt be sweet to us, " Thou wilt quicken
us." For aforetime we did love earth, not Thee :
but Thou hast mortified our members which are
upon the earth.' For the Old Testament, having
earthly promises, seemeth to exhort that God
should not be loved for nought, but that He
should be loved because He giveth something on
earth. What dost thou love, so as not to love
God? Tell me. Love, if thou canst, anything
which He hath not made. Look round upon the
whole creation, see whether in any place thou art
held with the birdlime of desire, and hindered
from loving the Creator, except it be by that very
thing which He hath Himself created, whom thou
despisest. But why dost thou love those things,
except because they are beautiful? Can triey be
as beautiful as He by whom they were made ?
Thou admirest these things, because thou seest
not Him : but through those things which thou
admirest, love Him whom thou seest not. Ex-
amine the creation ; if of itself it is, stay therein :
but if it is of Him, for no other reason is it pre-
3 Matt. xvi. 26.
8 Luke xii. 49.
6 Or, " life."
9 Coi. iii. 5.
7 Luke xiii. 8.
39°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXI.
judicial to a lover, than because it is preferred to
the Creator. Why have I said this ? With ref-
erence to this verse, brethren. Dead, I say, were
they that did worship God that it might be well
with them after the flesh : " For to be wise after
the flesh is death : " ■ and dead are they that do
not worship God gratis, that is, because of Him-
self He is good, not because He giveth such and
such good things, which He giveth even to men
not good. Money wilt thou have of God ? Even
a robber hath it. Wife, abundance of children,
soundness of body, the world's dignity, observe
how many evil men have. Is this all for the sake
of which thou dost worship Him ? Thy feet will
totter,2 thou wilt suppose thyself to worship with-
out cause, when thou seest those things to be
with them who do not worship Him. All these
things, I say, He giveth even to evil men, Him-
self alone He reserveth for good men. " Thou
wilt quicken us ; " for dead we were, when to
earthly things we did cleave ; dead we were,
when of the earthly man we did bear the image.
" Thou wilt quicken us ; " Thou wilt renew us,
the life of the inward man Thou wilt give us.
" And Thy Name we will invoke ; " that is, Thee
we will love. Thou to us wilt be the sweet for-
giver of our sins, Thou wilt be the entire reward
of the justified. " O Lord God of virtues, con-
vert us, and show Thy face, and we shall be
whole "(ver. 20).
PSALM LXXXI.'
1. For a Title this Psalm hath, "Unto the end
for the presses, on the fifth of the Sabbath, a
Psalm to Asaph himself." Into one title many
mysteries are heaped together, still so that the
lintel of the Psalm indicates the things within.
As we have to speak of the presses, let no one
expect that we shall speak of a vat, of a press,
of olive baskets ; 4 because neither the Psalm
hath this, and therefore it indicateth the greater
mystery. . . .
No such thing did ye hear in this when it was
reading. Therefore take the presses for the
mystery of the Church, which is now transacting.
In the presses we observe three things, pressure,
and of the pressure two things, one to be laid
up, the other to be thrown away. There takes
place then in the press a treading, a crushing, a
weight : and with these the oil strains out secret-
ly into the vat,5 the lees run openly down the
streets.
Look intently on this great spectacle. For
God cease'th not to exhibit to us that which we
may look upon with great joy, nor is the madness
of the Circus to be compared with this spectacle.
That belongeth to the lees, this to the oil. When
therefore ye hear the blasphemers babble impu-
dently and say that distresses abound in Chris-
tian times ; for ye know that they love to say
this : and it is an old proverb, yet one that
began from Christian times, " God gives no rain ;
count it to the Christians ! " 6 Although it was
those of old that said thus. But these now say
also, " That God sends rain, count it to the Chris-
tians ! God sends no rain ; we sow not. God
sends rain ; we reap not ! " And they wilfully
make that an occasion of showing pride, which
ought to make them more earnest in supplica-
tion, choosing rather to blaspheme than to pray.
When therefore they talk of such things, when
they make such boasts, when they say these
things, and say them in defiance, not with fear,
but with loftiness, let them not disturb you.
For suppose that pressures abound ; be thou oil.
Let the lees, black with the darkness of igno-
rance, be insolent ; and let it, as though cast
away in the streets, go gibing publicly : but do
thou by thyself in thy heart, where He who seeth
in secret will requite thee, strain off into the vat.
... To name some one thing about which
even they murmur who make them : How great
plur.derings, they say, are there in our times,
how great distresses of the innocent, how great
robberies of other men's goods ! Thus indeed
thou takest notice of the lees, that other men's
goods are seized ; to the oil thou givest no heed,
that to the poor are given even men's own. The
old time had no such plunderers of other men's
goods : but the old time had no such givers of
their own goods. . . .
2. Wherefore also " on the fifth of the sab-
bath "?? What is this? I^t us go back to the
first works of God, if perchance we may not there
find somewhat in which we may also understand
a mystery. For the sabbath is the seventh day,
on which " God rested from all His works," 8 in-
timating the great mystery of our future resting
from all our works. First of the sabbath then is
called that first day, which we also call the
Lord's day ; second of the sabbath, the second
day; . . . and the sabbath itself the seventh
day. See ye therefore to whom this Psalm
speaketh. For it seems to me that it speaketh
to the baptized. For on the fifth day God from
the waters created animals : on the fifth day, that
1 Rom. viti 6.
a Ps. Ixxiii. 3.
3 Lat. LXXX. A Sermon to the people of Carthage. [He
makes this preface: " We have undertaken to speak to you of the
present Psalm; let your quietness aid our voice, for it is somewhat
worn out: the attention of the hearers, and the help of Him who
bids me speak, will give it strength." — C. ]
< Fitcinit. J Gemellarium.
6 Due ad Christianos ; al. dicat Christianas, with other
variations. The Ben. editor refers to De Civ. Dei, ii. c. 3. where a
similar proverb is noticed: and Tertull. Apol. c. 40," If the Tiber
rises to the walls, if the Nile rises not upon the fields, presently the
cry is, ' The Christians to the lions! ' " and St. Cyprian to Demetri-
anus, speaking of the like complaints with respect to other calamities:
to which may De added, St Aug. De Civ. Dei, i. c. 1, of the sack of
Rome, such a complaint being the occasion of his writing the book
for its refutation. [See this series, vol. ii. p. xi., and A. N. F. vol.
iu.47' — C.]
' [Or, " week." — C] ' Gen. u. a.
Psalm LXXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
391
is, on the " fifth of the sabbath," God said, " Let
the waters bring forth creeping things of living
souls." ' See ye, therefore, ye in whom the
waters have already brought forth creeping things
of living souls. For ye belong to the presses,
and in you, whom the waters have brought
forth, one thing is strained out, another is thrown
away. For there are many that live not worthily
of the baptism which they have received. For
how many that are baptized have chosen rather
to be filling the Circus than this Basilica ! How
many that are baptized are either making booths
in the streets, or complaining that they are not
made !
But this Psalm, " For the presses," and " on
the fifth of the sabbath," is sung " unto Asaph."
Asaph was a certain man called by this name, as
Idithun, as Core, as other names that we find in
the titles of the Psalms : yet the interpretation of
this name intimates the mystery of a hidden
truth. Asaph, in fact, in Latin is interpreted
" congregation." Therefore, " For the presses,
on the fifth of the sabbath," it is sung " unto
Asaph," that is, for a distinguishing pressure, to
the baptized, born again of water, the Psalm is
sung to the Lord's congregation. We have read
the title on the lintel, and have understood what
it means by these " presses." Now if you please
let us see the very house of the composition,
that is, the interior of the press. Let us enter,
look in, rejoice, fear, desire, avoid. For all
these things ye are to find in this inward house,
that is, in the text of the Psalm itself, when we
shall have begun to read, and, with the Lord's
help, to speak what He grants us.
3. Behold yourselves, O Asaph, congregation
of the Lord. " Exult ye unto God our helper "
(ver. 1). Ye who are gathered together to-day,
ye are this day the congregation of the Lord, if
indeed unto you the Psalm is sung, " Exult ye
unto God our helper." Others exult unto the
Circus, ye unto God : others exult unto their de-
ceiver, do ye exult unto your helper : others
exult unto their god their belly, do ye exult unto
your God your helper. " Jubilate unto the God
of Jacob." Because ye also belong to Jacob:
yea, ye are Jacob, the younger people to which
the elder is servant.2 " Jubilate unto the God
of Jacob." Whatsoever ye cannot explain in
words, ye do not therefore forbear exulting : what
ye shall be able to explain, cry out : what ye can-
not, jubilate. For from the abundance of joys,
he that cannot find words sufficient, useth to
break out into jubilating; "Jubilate unto the
God of Jacob."
4. " Take the Psalm, and give the tabret "
(ver. 2). Both " take," and " give." What is,
" take " ? what, " give " ? " Take the Psalm, and
1 Gen. i. 20.
2 Gen. xxv. 23.
give the tabret." The Apostle Paul saith in a
certain place,3 reproving and grieving, that no one
had communicated with him in the matter of
giving and receiving. What is, " in the matter
of giving and receiving," but that which he hath
openly set forth in another place.4 " If we have
sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great
thing if we reap your carnal things." And it is
true that a tabret, which is made of hide, belongs
to the flesh. The Psalm, therefore, is spiritual,
the tabret, carnal. Therefore, people of God,
congregation of God, " take ye the Psalm, and
give the tabret:" take ye spiritual things, and
give carnal. This also is what at that blessed
Martyr's table s we exhorted you, that receiving
spiritual things ye should give carnal. For these
which are built for the time, are needful for
receiving the bodies either of the living or of the
dead, but in time that is passing by. Shall we
after God's judgment take up these buildings to
Heaven? Yet without these we shall not be
able to do at this time the things which belong
to the possessing of Heaven. If therefore ye are
eager in getting spiritual things, be ye devout in
expending carnal things. " Take the Psalm, and
give the tabret : " take our voice, return your
hands.
5. "The pleasant psaltery,5 with the harp."
I remember that we once intimated to your
charity the difference of psaltery and harp.'
. . . For heavenly is the preaching of the word
of God. But if we wait for heavenly things,
let us not be sluggish in working at earthly
things ; because, " the psaltery is pleasant," but,
" with the harp." The same is expressed in
another way as above, "Take the Psalm, and
give the tabret : " here for " Psalm," is put
" psaltery," for " tabret," " harp." Of this, how-
ever, we are admonished, that to the preaching
of God's word we make answer by bodily works.
6. "Sound the trumpet" (ver. 3). This is,
Loudly and boldly preach, be not affrighted !
as the Prophet says in a certain place, " Cry out,
and lift up as with a trumpet thy voice." 8 Sound
the trumpet in the beginning of the month of
the trumpet." It was ordered, that in the be-
ginning of the month there should be a sounding
of the trumpet : and this even now the Jews do
in bodily sort, after the spirit they understand
it not. For the beginning of the month, is the
new moon : the new moon, is the new hfe. What
is the new moon ? " If any, then, is in Christ,
3 Phil. iv. 15. 4 1 Cor. ix. n.
* Si. Cyprian's, who is named in § 21 , note 4 : namely, at Carthage,
on the spot of his martyrdom. " In that same place," says St. Augus-
tin, Ser. 113, " a table was constructed to God, which is called Cy-
prian's table, not because Cyprian ever ate there, but because there he
was offered up, and because by that very offering of his he prepared
that table, not to feed or be fed on, but whereon sacrifice might be
offered to God, to whom himself also was offered." — Ben.
6 Or, " The psaltery is pleasant."
7 I He repeats. See Ps. xliii 4, p. 139, supra. — C]
8 Isa. lviti. 1.
392
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXI.
he is a new creature." ' What is, " sound the
trumpet in the beginning of the month of
the trumpet " ? With all confidence preach ye
the new life, fear not the noise of the old life.
7. " Because it is a commandment for Israel,
and a judgment for the God of Jacob " (ver.
4). Where a commandment, there judgment.
For, " They that have sinned in the Law, by
the Law shall be judged." * And the very Giver
of the commandment, the Lord Christ, the Word
made flesh, saith, " For judgment I am come
into the world, that they that see not may see,
and they that see may be made blind." 3 What is,
" That they that see not may see, they that see
be made blind," but that the lowly be exalted,
the proud thrown down ? For not they that see
are to be made blind, but those who to them-
selves seem to see are to be convicted of blind-
ness. This is brought about in the mystery of
the press, that they who see may not see, and
they that see be made blind.
8. " A testimony in Joseph He made that "
(ver. 5). Look you, brethren, what is it? Jo-
seph is interpreted augmentation. Ye remem-
ber, ye know of Joseph sold into Egypt : Joseph
sold into Egypt 4 is Christ passing over to the
Gentiles. There Joseph after tribulations was
exalted, and here Christ, after the suffering of the
Martyrs, was glorified. Thenceforth to Joseph
the Gentiles rather belong, and thenceforth aug-
mentation ; because, " Many are the children
of her that was desolate, rather than of her that
hath the husband." 5 " He made it, till he should
go out of the land of Egypt." Observe that also
here the " fifth of the sabbath " is signified :
when Joseph went out from the land of Egypt,
that is, the people multiplied through Joseph,
he was caused to pass through the Red Sea.
Therefore then also the waters brought forth
creeping things of living souls.6 No other thing
was it that there in figure the passage of that
people through the sea foreshowed, than the
passing of the Faithful through Baptism ; the
apostle is witness : for " I would not have you
ignorant, brethren," he said, " that our fathers
were all under the cloud, and all passed through
the sea, and were all baptized unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea." » Nothing else then the
passing through the sea did signify, but the Sacra-
ment of the baptized ; nothing else the pursuing
Egyptians, but the multitude of past sins. Ye
see most evident mysteries. The Egyptians
press, they urge ; so then sins follow close, but
no farther than to the water. Why then dost
thou fear, who hast not yet come, to come to
the Baptism of Christ, to pass through the Red
Sea? What is "Red"? Consecrated with the
1 2 Cor. v. 17. 2 Rom. ii. la. * John ix. 39.
4 Oxf. mss. repeat the words. 5 Isa. liv. x.
* Gen. i. 20. 7 1 Cor. x. z, a.
Blood of the Lord. Why fearest thou to
come? The consciousness, perhaps, of some
huge offences goads and tortures in thee thy
mind, and says to thee that it is so great a thing
thou hast committed, that thou mayest despair
to have it remitted thee. Fear lest there remain
anything of thy sins, if there lived any one of
the Egyptians ! 8
But when thou shalt have passed the Red Sea,
when thou shalt have been led forth out of thine
offences " with a mighty hand and with a strong
arm," 9 thou wilt perceive mysteries that thou
knowest not : since Joseph himself too, " when
he came out of the land of Egypt, heard a lan-
guage which he knew not." Thou shalt hear a
language which thou knowest not : which they
that know now hear and recognise, bearing wit-
ness and knowing. Thou shalt hear where thou
oughtest to have thy heart : '° which just now
when I said many understood and answered by
acclamation, the rest stood mute, because they
have not heard the language which they knew
not. Let them hasten, then, let them pass over,
let them learn.
9. " He turned away from burdens his back "
(ver. 6). Who " turned away from burdens his
back," but He that cried, " Come unto Me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden " ? " In an-
other manner this same thing is signified. What
the pursuit of the Egyptians did, the same thing
do the burdens of sins. As if thou shouldest
say, From what burdens? " His hands in the
basket did serve." By the basket are signi-
fied servile works ; to cleanse, to manure, to
carry earth, is done with a basket,'2 such works
are servile : because " every one that doeth sin,
is the slave of sin ; " and " if the Son shall have
made you free, then will ye be free indeed." *»
Justly also are the rejected things of the world
counted as baskets, but even baskets did God
fill with morsels ; " Twelve baskets " '4 did He fill
with morsels ; because " He chose the rejected
things of this world to confound the things that
were mighty." '5 But also when with the basket
Joseph did serve, he then carried earth, because
he did make bricks. " His hands in the basket
did serve."
10. " In tribulation thou didst call on Me,
and I delivered thee " (ver. 8). Let each Chris-
tian conscience recognise itself, if it have de-
voutly passed the Red Sea,'6 if with faith in be-
lieving and observing it hath heard a strange
language which it knew not, let it recognise
itself as having been heard in its tribulation.
For that was a great tribulation, to be weighed
8 Exod. xiv. 29, 30. • Exod. xiii. 3; Deut. vi. it.
■° Malt. vi. si, and Off. Euch. » Matt. xi. 28.
12 To this day it is common in many countries to do with a basket
what we usually do with a barrow.
I3.John viii. 34-36. I4 Matt, xiv 20.
13 z Cor. i. 27. s6 Exod. xiv. 22; z Cor. x. 2.
Psalm LXXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
393
down with loads of sins. How does the con-
science, lifted from the earth, rejoice. Lo, thou
art baptized, thy conscience which was yesterday
overladen, to-day rejoiceth thee. Thou hast
been heard in tribulation, remember thy tribu-
lation. Before thou earnest to the water, what
anxiety didst thou bear on thee ! what fastings
didst thou practise ! what tribulations didst thou
carry in thy heart ! what inward, pious, devout
prayers ! Slain are thine enemies ; all thy sins
are blotted out. In tribulation thou didst call
upon Me, and I delivered thee.
ii. "I heard thee in the hidden part of the
tempest." Not in a tempest of the sea, but
in a tempest of the heart. " I proved thee in
the water of contradiction." Truly, brethren,
truly, he that was heard in the hidden part
of the tempest ought to be proved in the
water of contradiction. For when he hath
believed, when he hath been baptized, when
he hath begun to go in the way of God, when he
hath striven to be strained into the vat, and hath
drawn himself out from the lees that run in the
street, he will have many disturbers, many in-
surers, many detractors, many discouragers,
many that even threaten where they can, that
deter, that depress. This is all the " water of
contradiction." I suppose there are some here
to-day, for instance, I think it likely there are
some here whom their friends wished to hurry
away to the circus, and to I know not what
triflings of this day's festivity : perchance they
have brought those persons with them to church.
But whether they have brought those with them,
or whether they have by them not permitted
themselves to be led away to the circus, in the
" water of contradiction " have they been tried.
Do not then be ashamed to proclaim what
thou knowest, to defend even among blasphem-
ers what thou hast believed. . . . However
much the bad that are aliens may rage, O that
our own bad people would not help them !
Ye recollect what was said of Christ, that He
was thus born for " the fall of many, and the
rising again of many, and for a sign to be spoken
against." ■ We know, we see : the sign of the
Cross has been set up, and it has been spoken
against. There has been speaking against the
glory of the Cross : but there was a title over
the Cross which was not to be corrupted. For
there is a title in the Psalm,2 " For the inscrip-
tion of the title, corrupt thou not." It was a
sign to be spoken against : for the Jews said,
" Make it not, King of the Jews, but make it,
that He said I am the King of the Jews." 3
Conquered was the contradiction ; it was an-
swered, " What I have written, I have written.1'
12. All this, from the beginning of the Psalm
1 Luke ii. 34.
2 Ps. lx. Tit.
3 John xix. 31.
up to this verse, we have heard of the oil of the
press. What remains is rather for grief and
warning : for it belongs to the lees of the press,
even to the end ; perchance also not without a
meaning in the interposition of the " Diapsalma."
But even this too is profitable to hear, that he
who sees himself already of the oil may rejoice ;
he that is in danger of running among the lees
may beware. To both give heed, choose the
one, fear the other.
" Hear, O My people, and I will speak, and
will bear witness unto thee " (ver. 8). For it is
not to a strange people, not to a people that be-
longs not to the press : " Judge ye," He saith,
" between Me and My vineyard." 4
13. " Israel, if thou shalt have heard Me,
there shall not be in thee any new god " (ver.
9). A "new god" is one made for the time:
but our God is not new, but from eternity to
eternity. And our Christ is new, perchance, as
Man,s but eternal God. For what before the
beginning? And truly, "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God." 6 And our Christ Himself is
the Word made flesh, that He might dwell in
us.7 Far be it, then, that there should be in any
one a new god. A new god is either a stone or
a phantom. He is not, saith one, a stone ; I
have a silver and a gold one. Justly did he
choose to name the very costly things, who said,
"The idols of the nations are silver and gold."
Great are they, because they are of gold and
silver ; costly they are, shining they are ; but
yet, " Eyes they have, and see not ! " 8 New are
these gods. What newer than a god out of a
workshop? Yea, though those now old ones
spiders' webs have covered over, they that are not
eternal are new. So much for the Pagans.' . . .
14. For if there be error in thee, Thou wilt
not worship a strange god. ' If thou think not
of a false god, thou wilt not worship a manu-
factured god : for " there will not " be in thee
any strange god. " For I am." Why wouldest
thou adore what is not ? " For I am the Lord
thy God" (ver. 10). Because " I am I that
Am," and indeed " I Am " He saith, I that Am,
over every creature : yet to thee what good have
I afforded in time? " Who brought thee out of
the land of Egypt." Not to that people alone
is it said. For we all were brought out of the land
of Egypt, we have all passed through the Red
Sea ; our enemies pursuing us have perished in
the water. Let us not be ungrateful to our God ;
let us not forget God that abideth, and fabricate
in ourselves a new god. " I, who led thee out
of the land of Egypt," saith God. " Open wide
* Isa. v. 3.
s Recensforti Homo, sed sempiteruus Deus. Quoted by Peter
Lombard, Serttettces, book iii. dist. r2. — Ben.
6 John i. 1. 7 John i.14. 8 Ps. cxv. 4, 5.
9 [He turns to the Arians, Manichaeans, and other heretic^. — C]
394
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXI.
thy mouth, and I will fill it." Thou sufferest
straitness in thyself because of the new god set
up in thy heart ; break the vain image, cast
down from thy conscience the feigned idol :
" open wide thy mouth," in confessing, in lov-
ing : " and I will fill it," because with me is the
fountain of life.
15. " And My people obeyed not My voice "
(ver. 11). For He would not speak these
things except to His own people. For, " we
know that whatsoever things the Law saith, it
saith to them that are in the Law." ' " And
Israel did not listen to Me." Who ? To whom ?
Israel to Me. O ungrateful soul ! Through
Me the soul, by Me the soul called, by Me
brought back to hope, by Me washed from
sins ! " And Israel did not listen to Me ! " For
they are baptized and pass through the Red Sea :
but on the way they murmur, gainsay, complain,
are stirred with seditions, ungrateful to Him
who delivered them from pursuing enemies,
who leads through the dry land, through the
desert, yet with food and drink, with light by
night and shade by day.
16. "And I let them go according to the
affections of their heart " (ver. 12). Behold the
press : the orifices are open, the lees run. " And
I let them go," not according to the healthful-
ness of My commands ; but, according to the
affections of their heart : I gave them up to
themselves. The Apostle also saith, " God gave
them up to the desires of their own hearts."1
" I let them go according to the affection of
their heart, they shall go in their own affections."
There is what ye shudder at, if at least ye are
straining out into the hidden vats of the Lord,
if at least ye have conceived a hearty love for
His storehouses, there is what ye shudder at.
Some stand up for the circus, some for the
amphitheatre, some for the booths in the streets,
some for the theatres, some for this, some for
that, some finally for their " new gods ; " " they
shall go in their own affections."
1 7. " If My people would have heard Me, if
Israel would have walked in My ways " (ver.
13). For perchance that Israel saith, Behold I
sin, it is manifest, I go after the affections of my
own heart : but what can I do?' The devil
doth this. Demons do this. What is the devil ?
Who are the demons? Certainly thine enemies.
" Unto nothing all their enemies I would have
brought down ; and on them that oppress them I
would have sent forth My hand " (ver. 14). But
now what have they to do to complain of enemies ?
Themselves are become the worse enemies. For
how ? What followeth ? Of enemies ye complain,
yourselves, what are ye?
1 Rom. iii. 19,
doing
KOCH. 111. 19. « Kom. 1. 24.
? Hid facie t Perhaps, What do / do f i.l. What of it is my
18. "The enemies of God have lied unto
Him" (ver. 15). Dost thou renounce? I re-
nounce.4 And he returns to what he renounced.
In fact, what things dost thou renounce, except
bad deeds, diabolical deeds, deeds to be con-
demned of God, thefts, plunderings, perjuries,
manslayings, adulteries, sacrileges, abominable
rites, curious arts.5 . . .
19. If therefore all those works " shall not pos-
sess the kingdom of God " (yea not the works,
but " they that do such things ; " 6 for such works
there shall be none in the fire : for they shall
not, while burning in that fire, be committing
theft or adultery ; but " they that do such things
shall not possess the kingdom of God ") ; they
shall not therefore be on the right hand, with
those to whom it shall be said, " Come, ye
blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom : "
because, " they that do such things shall not
possess the kingdom of God." If therefore on
the right they shall not be, there remaineth not
but that they must be on the left. To those on
the left what shall He say ? " Go ye into eternal
fire." Because, " their time shall be for ever."
20. Explain to us, then, saith one, how those
that build wood, hay, stubble, on the foundation,
do not perish, but " are saved, yet so as by
fire"? An obscure question indeed that, but as
I am able I tell you briefly. Brethren, there are
men altogether despisers of this world, to whom
nothing is pleasant that flows in the course of
time, they cling not by love to any earthly works,
holy, chaste, continent, just, perchance even
selling all their goods and distributing to the
poor, or " possessing as though they possessed
not, and using this world as though not using
it." 1 But there are others who cling to things
allowed to infirmity with a degree of affection.
He robs not another of his estate, but so loves
his own, that if he loses it he will be disturbed.
He does not covet another's wife, but so clings
to his own, so cohabits with his own, as not
therein to keep the measure prescribed in the
laws, for the sake of begetting children. He
does not take away other men's things, but re-
claims his own, and has a law-suit with his
brother. For to such it is said, " Now indeed
there is altogether a fault among you, because ye
have law-suits with each other." 8 But these
very suits he orders to be tried in the Church,
not to be dragged into court, yet he says they
are faults. For a Christian contends for earthly
things more than becomes one to whom the
kingdom of Heaven is promised. Not the-whole
of his heart doth he raise upward, but some part
of it he draggeth on the earth. . . . Therefore
if thou lovest thy possession, yet dost not for its
* He alludes to the form of interrogatory at Baptism.
3 Curiositatibut. Sec Acts xix. 19.
6 Gal. v. 21. 7 1 Cor. vii. 30, 31. 8 x Cor. vi. 7.
Psalm LXXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
395
sake commit violence, dost not for its sake bear
false witness, dost not for its sake commit man-
slaughter, dost not for its sake swear falsely, dost
not for its sake deny Christ : in that thou wilt
not for its sake do these things, thou hast Christ
for a foundation. But yet because thou lovest
it, and art saddened if thou losest it, upon the
foundation thou hast placed, not gold, or silver,
or precious stones, but wood, hay, stubble.
Saved therefore thou wilt be, when that begins to
burn which thou hast built, yet so as by fire.
For let no one on this foundation building adul-
teries, blasphemies, sacrileges, idolatries, perjuries,
think he shall be " saved through fire," as though
they were the " wood, hay, stubble : " but he
that buildeth the love of earthly things on the
foundation of the kingdom of Heaven, that is
upon Christ, his love of temporal things shall be
burned, and himself shall be saved through the
right ' foundation.
21. . . . "And He fed them of the fat of wheat,
and from the rock with honey He satisfied them "
(ver. 1 6). In the wilderness from the rock He
brought forth water,2 not honey. " Honey " is
wisdom, holding the first place for sweetness
among the viands of the heart. How many
enemies of the Lord, then, that lie unto the
Lord, are fed not only of the fat of wheat, but
also from the rock with honey, from the wisdom
of Christ? How many are delighted with His
word, and with the knowledge of His sacraments,
with the unfolding of His parables, how many
are delighted, how many applaud with clamour !
And this honey is not from any chance person,
but " from the rock." But " the Rock was
Christ." 3 How many, then, are satisfied with that
honey, cry out, and say, It is sweet ; say, Noth-
ing better, nothing sweeter could be thought or
said ! and yet the enemies of the Lord have lied
unto Him. I like not to dwell any more on
matters of grief; although the Psalm endeth in
terror to this purpose, yet from the end of it, I
pray you, let us return to the heading : " Exult
unto God our Helper." Turned unto God.4
PSALM LXXXII.s
i. This Psalm, like others similarly named, was
so entitled either from the name of the man who
1 fdonrum. 2 Exod. xvii. 6. * I Cor. x. 4.
* Possibly alluding to the last verse of Ps. lxxx. Or it may direct
them to turn to God and repeat the Psalm. A similar incidental
addition occurs at the end of the exposition of Ps. lxii. [After this
ceremony (after the word) he adds: " Not lightly have your minds in
the name of Christ been occupied with the Divine exhibitions, and
raised to earnestness, not only for desiring some things, but also for
shunning some things. These are the exhibitions that are useful,
healthful, building up, not destroying: yea both destroying and
building up, destroying ' new gods,' building up faith in the true and
eternal God. Also for to-morrow we invite your love. To-morrow,
they have, as we have heard, a sea in the theatre: let us have a
harbour in Christ. But since the day after to-morrow, that is,
the fourth of the week, we cannot meet at the ' Table of Cypiian,'
because it is the festival of the holy Martyrs, to-morrow let us meet
at that Table." See p. 391, supra. — C]
5 Lat LXXXI. A Psalm for Asaph himself.
wrote it, or from the explanation of that same
name, so as to refer in meaning to the Syna-
gogue, which Asaph signifies ; especially as this
is intimated in the first verse. For it begins,
" God stood in the synagogue of gods " (ver. i).
Far however be it from us to understand by
these Gods the gods of the Gentiles, or idols, or
any creature in heaven or earth except men ; for
a little after this verse the same Psalm relates
and explains what Gods it means in whose syna-
gogue God stood, where it says, " I have said,
Ye are gods, and ye are all the children of the
Most High : but ye shall die like men, and fall
like one of the princes." In the synagogue of
these children of the Most High, of whom the
same Most High said by the mouth of Isaiah, " I
have begotten sons and brought them up, but
they despised Me," 6 stood God. By the syna-
gogue we understand the people of Israel, because
synagogue is the word properly used of them,
although they were also called the Church. Our
congregation, on the contrary, the Apostles never
called synagogue, but always Ecclesia ; whether
for the sake of the distinction, or because there
is some difference between a congregation
whence the synagogue has its name, and a con-
vocation whence the Church is called Ecclesia : 7
for the word congregation (or flocking together)
is used of cattle, and particularly of that kind
properly called " flocks," 8 whereas convocation
(or calling together) is more of reasonable
creatures, such as men are. ... I think then
that it is clear in what synagogue of gods God
stood.
2. The next question is, whether we should
understand the Father, or the Son, or the Holy
Spirit, or the Trinity, " to have stood among the
congregation of gods, and in the midst to distin-
guish the gods ; " because Each One is God,
and the Trinity itself is One God. It is not in-
deed easy to make this clear, because it cannot
be denied that not a bodily but a spiritual pres-
ence of God, agreeable to His nature, exists
with created things in a wonderful manner, and
one which but a few do understand, and that
imperfectly : as to God it is said, " If I shall as-
cend into heaven, Thou art there ; if I shall go
down into hell, Thou art there also." 9 Hence
it is rightly said, that God stands in the congre-
gation of men invisibly, as He fills heaven and
earth, which He asserts of Himself by the Proph-
et's mouth ; IO and He is not only said, but is,
in a way, known to stand in those things which
He hath created, as far as the human mind can
conceive, if man also stands and hears Him, and
rejoices greatly on account of His voice within.
But I think that the Psalm intimates something
that took place at a particular time, by God's
6 Isa. i. a.
9 Ps. cxxxix. 8.
7 iKKXytrta from KaAcip,
10 Jer. xxiii. 34.
Grrfes.
396
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
IPsalm LXXXII.
standing in the congregation of gods. For that
standing by which He fills heaven and earth,
neither belongs peculiarly to the synagogue, nor
varies from time to time. " God," therefore,
" stood in the congregation of gods ; " that is,
He who said of Himself, " I am not sent but to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel." ' The
cause too is mentioned ; " but in the midst, to
judge of the gods." . . .
3. " How long will ye judge unrighteously,
and accept the persons of the ungodly" (ver.
2) ; as in another place, " How long are ye heavy
in heart?"2 Until He shall come who is the
light of the heart? I have given a law, ye have
resisted stubbornly : I sent Prophets, ye treated
them unjustly, or slew them, or connived at those
who did so. But if they are not worthy to be
even spoken to, who slew the servants of God
that were sent to them, ye who were silent when
these things were doing, that is, ye who would
imitate as if they were innocent those who then
were silent, " how long will ye judge unright-
eously, and accept the persons of the ungodly? "
If the Heir comes even now, is He to be slain?
Was He not willing for your sake to become as
it Were a child under guardians ? Did not He
for your sake hunger and thirst like one in need ?
Did He not cry to you, " Learn of Me, for I am
meek and lowly of heart"?3 Did He not "be-
come poor, when He was rich, that by His poverty
we might be made rich"?4 "Give sentence,"
therefore, " for the fatherless 5 and the poor man,
justify the humble and needy" (ver. 3). Not
them who for their own sake are rich and proud,
but Him who for your sake was humble and
poor, believe ye to be righteous : proclaim Him
righteous. But they will envy Him, and will
not at all spare Him, saying, " This is the Heir,
come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall
be ours." " Deliver," then, " the poor man, and
save the needy from the hands of the ungodly "
(ver. 4). This is said that it might be known,
that in that nation where Christ was born and
put to death, those persons were not guiltless of
so great a crime, who being so numerous, that,
as the Gospel says, the Jews feared them, and
therefore dared not lay hands on Christ, after-
wards consented, and permitted Him to be slain
by the malicious and envious Jewish rulers : yet
if they had so willed, they would still have been
feared, so that the hands of the wicked would
never have prevailed against Him. For of these
it is said elsewhere, " Dumb dogs, they know
not how to bark." Of them too is that said,
" Lo, how the righteous perisheth, and no man
layeth it to heart." 6 He perished 1 as far as lay
in them who would have Him to perish ; for
■ Matt. xv. 24. ' P*. iv. a, Vulg.
* 2 Cor. viii a. 3 PitpHfo.
7 Oxf. mss. "perisheth," " lieth."
3 Matt. xi. 39.
6 Is.i. Ivi. to, Ivii. I.
how could He perish by dying, who in that way
rather was seeking again what had perished ? If
then they are justly blamed and deservedly re-
buked, who by their dissembling suffered such a
wicked deed to be committed ; how must they
be blamed, or rather not only blamed, but how
severely must they be condemned, who did this
of design and malice ?
4. .To all of them, verily, what follows is most
fitly suited : " They did not know nor under-
stand, they walk on in darkness " (ver. 5 ) . " For
if even they had known, they would never have
crucified the Lord of glory : " 8 and those others,
if they had known, would never have consented
to ask that Barabbas should be freed, and Christ
should be crucified. But as the above-men-
tioned blindness happened in part unto Israel
until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in,
this blindness of that People having caused the
crucifixion of Christ, "all the foundations of
the earth shall be moved." So have they been
moved, and shall they be moved, until the pre-
destined fulness of the Gentiles shall come in.
For at the actual death of the Lord the earth
was moved, and the rocks rent.9 And if we un-
derstand by the foundations of the earth those
who are rich in the abundance of earthly pos-
sessions, it was truly foretold that they should be
moved, either by wondering that lowliness, pov-
erty, death, should be so loved and honoured
in Christ, when it is to their mind great misery ;
or even in that themselves should love and fol-
low it, and set at nought the vain happiness of
this world. So are all the foundations of the
earth moved, while they partly admire, and
partly are even altered. For as without absurd-
ity we call foundations of heaven those on whom
the kingdom of heaven is built up in the per-
sons of saints and faithful ; whose first founda-
tion is Christ Himself, born of the Virgin, of
whom the Apostle says, " Other foundation can
no man lay than that which is laid, which is
Christ Jesus ; " '° next the Apostles and Prophets
themselves, by whose authority the heavenly
place is chosen," that by obeying them we may
be builded together with them ; whence he says
to the Ephesians, " Ye are built upon the foun-
dation of Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus
Himself being the chief corner stone." " . . .
But the kingdom of earthly happiness is pride,
to oppose which came the lowliness of Christ,
rebuking those whom He wished by lowliness to
make the children of the Most High, and
blaming them : " I said, Ye are gods, ye are
all the children of the Most High" (ver. 6).
" But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of
the princes" (ver. 7). Whether to those He
said this, " I said, Ye are gods," and to those
« J Cor. ii. 8.
11 Eligitur.
9 Matt, xxvii. 51
" Eph. ii. 20.
*° 1 Cor. iii. 11.
Psalm LXXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
397
particularly who are unpredestined to eternal life ;
and to the other, " But ye shall die like men,"
etc., "and shall fall like one of the princes,"
in this way also distinguishing the gods ; or
whether He blames all together, in order to dis-
tinguish the obedient and those who received
correction, " I said, Ye are gods, and ye are all
the children of the Most High : " that is, to all
of you I promised celestial happiness, " but ye,"
through the infirmity of your flesh, " shall die
like men," and through haughtiness of soul,
" like one of the princes," that is, the devil, shall
not be exalted, but " shall fall." As if He said :
Though the days of your life are so few, that ye
speedily die like men, this avails not to your
correction : but like the devil, whose days are
many in this world, because he dies not in the
flesh, ye are lifted up so that ye fall. For by
devilish pride it came to pass that the perverse
and blind rulers of the Jews envied the glory of
Christ : by this will it came to pass, and still
does, that the lowliness of Christ crucified unto
death is lightly esteemed in the eyes of them
who love the excellence of this world.
5. And therefore that this vice may be cured,
in the person of the Prophet himself it is said,
" Arise, O God, and judge the earth " (ver. 8) ;
for the earth swelled high when it crucified Thee :
rise from the dead, and judge the earth. " For
Thou shalt destroy among all nations." What,
but the earth? that is, destroying those who
savour of earthly things, or destroying the feel-
ing itself of earthly lust and pride in believers ;
or separating those who do not believe, as earth
to be trodden under foot and to perish. Thus
by His members, whose conversation is in
heaven, He judges the earth, and destroys it
among all nations. But I must not omit to re-
mark, that some copies have, " for Thou shalt
inherit among all nations." This too may be
understood agreeably to the sense, nor does any-
thing prevent both meanings existing at once.
His inheritance takes place by love, which in
that He cultivates by His commands and' gra-
cious mercy, He destroys earthly desires.
PSALM LXXXIII.'
1. Of this Psalm the title is, "A song of a Psalm
of Asaph." We have already often said what is
the interpretation of Asaph, that is, congregation.
That man, therefore, who was called Asaph, is
named in representation of the congregation of
God's people in the titles of many Psalms. But
in Greek, congregation is called synagogue,
which has come to be held for a kind of proper
name for the Jewish people, that it should be
called The Synagogue ; even as the Christian
' Lat. LXXXII.
people is more usually called The Church, in
that it too is congregated.
2. The people of God, then, in this Psalm
saith, "O God, who shall be like unto Thee?"
(ver. 1). Which I suppose to be more fitly
taken of Christ, because, being made in the like-
ness of men,2 He was thought by those by whom
He was despised to be comparable to other
men : for He was even " reckoned among the
unrighteous," 3 but for this purpose, that He
might be judged. But when He shall come to
judge, then shall be done what is here said, " O
God, who is like unto Thee?" For if the
Psalms did not use to speak to the Lord Christ,
that too would not be spoken which not one of
the faithful can doubt was spoken unto Christ.
"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy
kingdom." 4 To him therefore also now it is
said, "O God, who shall be like unto Thee?"
For unto many Thou didst vouchsafe to be li-
kened in Thy humiliation, even so far as to the
robbers that were crucified with Thee : but
when in glory Thou shalt come, " who shall be
like unto Thee?" . . .
3. " For lo Thine enemies have sounded, and
they that hate Thee have lifted up the head "
(ver. 2). He seems to me to signify the last
days, when these things that are now repressed
by fear are to break forth into free utterance,
but quite irrational, so that it should rather be
called a " sound," than speech or discourse.
They will not, therefore, then begin to hate, but
" they that hate Thee " will then " lift up the
head." And not " heads," but " head ; " since
they are to come even to that point, that they
shall have that head, which " is lifted up above
all that is called God, and that is worshipped ; " s
so that in him especially is to be fulfilled, " He
that exalteth himself shall be abased ; "6 and when
He to whom it is said, " Keep not silence, nor
grow mild, O God," shall "slay him with the
breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of His coming." ? " Upon Thy people
they have malignantly taken counsel " (ver. 3).
Or, as other copies have it, " They have cun-
ningly devised counsel, and have devised against
Thy saints." In scorn this is said. For how
should they be able to hurt the nation or people
of God, or His saints, who know how to say, " If
God be for us, who shall be against us? " 8
4. " They have said, Come, and let us destroy
them from a nation" (ver. 4). He has put
the singular number for the plural : as it is said,
" Whose is this cattle," even though the question
be of a flock, and the meaning " these cattle."
Lastly, other copies have " from nations," where
* Phil. ii. 7.
5 2 Thcss. ii. 4.
8 Rom. viii. 31.
3 Isa. liii. 12.
6 Luke xiv, i
< Ps. xlv. 6.
7 2 Thess. ii.
398
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIII.
the translators have rather followed the sense
than the word. " Come, and let us destroy
them from a nation." This is that sound where-
by they " sounded " rather than spake, since they
did vainly make a noise with vain sayings.
"And let it not be mentioned of the name of
Israel any more." This others have expressed
more plainly, " and let there not be remembrance
of the name of Israel any more." Since, " let it
be mentioned of the name " (niemoretur nom-
inis), is an unusual phrase in the Latin language ;
for it is rather customary to say, " let the name
be mentioned " (memoretur nomen) ; but the
sense is the same. For he who said, " let it be
mentioned of the name," translated the Greek
phrase. But Israel must here be understood in
fact of the seed of Abraham, to which the Apostle
saith, "Therefore ye are the seed of Abraham,
according to the promise heirs." ' Not Israel
according to the flesh, of which he saith, " Behold
Israel after the flesh."
5. "Since they have imagined with one con-
sent ; together against Thee have they disposed
a testament" (ver. 5) : as though they could be
the stronger. In fact, " a testament " is a name
given in the Scriptures not only to that which is
of no avail till the death of the testators, but
every convenant and decree they used to call a
testament. For Laban and Jacob made a testa-
ment,2 which was certainly to have force between
the living ; and such cases without number are
read in the words of God. Then he begins to
make mention of the enemies of Christ, under
certain proper names of nations ; the interpreta-
tion of which names sufficiently indicates what
he would have to be understood. For by such
names are most suitably figured the enemies of
the truth. " Idumsans," for instance, are inter-
preted either " men of blood," or " of earth."
" Ismaelites," are " obedient to themselves,"
and therefore not to God, but to themselves.
" Moab," " from the father ; " which in a bad
sense has no better explanation, than by con-
sidering it so connected with the actual history,
that Lot, a father, by the illicit intercourse pro-
cured by his daughter, begat him ; since it was
from that very circumstance he was so named.3
Good, however, was his father, but as " the Law
is good if one use it lawfully," 4 not impurely and
unlawfully. " Hagarens," proselytes, that is
strangers, by which name also are signified,
among the enemies of God's people, not those
who become citizens, but those who persevere in
a foreign and alien mind, and when an oppor-
tunity of doing harm occurs, show themselves.
" Gebal," " a vain valley," that is, humble in pre-
tence. "Amon," "an unquiet people," or "a
people of sadness." " Amalech," " a people
1 Gal. iii. 39.
' Gen. >U. 36, 37.
8 Gen. xxxi. 44,
4 1 Tim. i. 8.
licking ; " whence elsewhere it is said, " and his
enemies shall lick the earth." 5 The "alien race,"
though by their very name in Latin, they suffi-
ciently show themselves to be aliens, and for this
cause of course enemies, yet in the Hebrew are
called " Philistines," which is explained, " falling
from drink," as of persons made drunken by
worldly luxury. " Tyre " in Hebrew is called
Sor ; which whether it be interpreted straitness
or tribulation, must be taken in the case of these
enemies of God's people in that sense, of which
the Apostle speaks, " Tribulation and straitness
on every soul of man that doeth evil." 6 All these
are thus enumerated in the Psalms : " The taber-
nacles of the Edomites, Ishmaelites, Moab and
the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Amon, and Amalech,
and the Philistines with those who inhabit Tyre."
6. And as if to point out the cause why they
are enemies of God's people, he adds, " For
Assur came with them." Now Assur is often
used figuratively for the devil, " who works in
the children of disobedience," 7 as in his own ves-
sels, that they may assail the people of God.
"They have holpen the children of Lot," he
saith : for all enemies, by the working in them
of the devil, their prince, " have holpen the chil-
dren of Lot," who is explained to mean " one
declining." But the apostate angels are well
explained as the children of declension, for by
declining from truth they swerved to become
followers of the devil. These are they of whom
the Apostle speaks : " Ye wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers,
and the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places." 8
Those invisible 9 enemies are holpen then by un-
believing men, in whom they work in order to
assail the people of God.
7. Now let us see what the prophetic spirit
prays may fall upon them, rather foretelling than
cursing. " Do thou to them," he saith, " as unto
Madian and Sisera, as unto Jabin at the brook of
Kishon" (ver. 9). "They perished at Endor,
they became as the dung of the earth " (ver. 10).
All these, the history relates, were subdued and
conquered by Israel, which then was the people
of God : as was the case also with those whom he
next mentions : " Make their princes like Oreb
and Zeb, and Zebee and Salmana" (ver. 11). The
meaning of these names is as follows : Madian is
explained a perverted judgment : Sisera, shutting
out of joy : Jabin, wise.10 But in these enemies
conquered by God's people is to be understood
that wise man of whom the Apostle speaketh,
" Where is the wise ? where is the scribe ? where
is the disputer of this world ? " " Oreb is dryness,
Zeb, wolf, Zebee, a victim, namely of the wolf;
s Pi. Ixxii. 9.
• Eph. vi. xi.
10 Judg. iv. 7, 8.
6 Rom. ii. 9. 7 Eph. ii. a.
9 Oxf. mss. " and spiritual."
" 1 Cor. i. ao.
Psalm LXXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
399
for he too has his victims ; Salmana, shadow of
commotion. All these agree to the evils which
the people of God conquer by good. More-
over Kishon, the torrent in which they were con-
quered, is explained, their hardness. Endor,
where they perished, is explained, the Fountain
of generation, but of the carnal generation name-
ly, to which they were given up, and therefore
perished, not heeding the regeneration which
leadeth unto life, where they shall neither marry
nor be given in marriage,' for they shall die no
more. Rightly then it is said of these : " they
became as the dung of the earth," in that noth-
ing was produced of them but fruitfulness of the
earth. As then all these were in figure conquered
by the people of God, as figures, so he prays
that those other enemies may be conquered in
truth.
8. " All their princes, who said, Let us take
to ourselves the sanctuary of God in possession "
(ver. 12). This is that vain noise, with which,
as said above, Thy enemies have made a mur-
muring. But what must be understood by " the
sanctuary of God," except the temple of God?
as saith the Apostle : " For the temple of God is
holy,2 which temple ye are."3 For what else do
the enemies aim at, but to take into possession,
that is, to make subject to themselves the temple
of God, that it may give in to their ungodly wills?
9. But what follows? "My God, make them
like unto a wheel " (ver. 13). This is fitly taken
as meaning that they should be constant in noth-
ing that they think ; but I think it may also be
rightly explained, make them like unto a wheel,
because a wheel is lifted up on the part of
what is behind,4 is thrown down on the part
of what is in front ; and so it happens to all the
enemies of the people of God. For this is not
a wish, but a prophecy. He adds : " as the
stubble in the face of the wind." By face he
means presence ; for what face hath the wind,
which has no bodily features, being only a motion,
in that it is a kind of wave of air? But it is put
for temptation, by which light and vain hearts
are hurried away.
10. This levity, by which consent is easily
given to what is evil, is followed by severe tor-
ment ; therefore he proceeds : —
" Like as the fire that burneth up the wood,
and as the flame that consumeth the mountains "
(ver. 14) : "so shalt Thou persecute them with
Thy tempest, and in Thy anger shalt disturb
them " (ver. 15). Wood, he saith, for its bar-
renness, mountains for their loftiness ; for such
are the enemies of God's people, barren of
righteousness, full of pride. When he says,
" fire " and " flame," he means to repeat under
1 Luke xx. 35. 2 Sanctum. 3 I Cor. iii. 17.
* Ex his qua retrd sunt extoltitur, ex his qua ante sunt
dejicitur.
another term, the idea of God judging and pun-
ishing. But in saying, " with Thy tempest," he
means, as he goes on to explain, " Thy anger : "
and the former expression, " Thou shalt perse-
cute," answers to, " Thou shalt disturb." We
must take care, however, to understand, that the
anger of God is free from any turbulent emotion ;
for His anger is an expression for His just meth-
od of taking vengeance : as the law might be
said to be angry when its ministers are moved to
punish by its sanction.
11. "Fill their faces with shame, and they
shall seek Thy name, O Lord " (ver. 16). Good
and desirable is this which he prophesieth for
them : and he would not prophesy thus, unless
there were even in that company of the enemies
of God's people, some men of such kind that
this would be granted to them before the last
judgment : for now they are mixed together, and
this is the body of the enemies, in respect of the
envy whereby they rival the people of God. And
now, where they can, they make a noise and lift
up their head : but severally, not universally as
they will do at the end of the world, when
the last judgment is about to fall. But it is the
same body, even in those who out of this number
shall believe and pass into another body (for the
faces of these are filled with shame, that they
may seek the name of the Lord), as well as in
those others who persevere unto the end in the
same wickedness, who are made as stubble be-
fore the wind, and are consumed like a wood and
barren mountains. To these he again returns,
saying, " They shall blush and be vexed for ever
and ever " (ver. 17). For those are not vexed
for ever and ever who seek the name of the Lord,
but having respect unto the shame of their sins,
they are vexed for this purpose, that they may
seek the name of the Lord, through which they
may be no more vexed.
12. Again, he returns to these last, who in the
same company of enemies are to be made
ashamed for this purpose, that they may not be
ashamed for ever : and for this purpose to be de-
stroyed in as far as they are wicked, that being
made good they may be found alive for ever.
For having said of them, " Let them be ashamed
and perish," he instantly adds, " and let them
know that Thy name is the Lord, Thou art only
the Most Highest in all the earth" (ver. 18).
Coming to this knowledge, let them be so con-
founded as to please God : let them so perish, as
that they may abide. " Let them know," he
says, " that Thy name is the Lord : " as if who-
ever else are called lords are named so not truly
but by falsehood, for they rule but as servants,
and compared with the true Lord are not lords ;
as it is said, I Am that I Am : s as if those things
5 Exod. iii. 14.
400
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIV.
which are made are not, compared with Him by
whom they are made. He adds, " Thou only art
the Most Highest in all the earth : " or, as other
copies have it, " over all the earth ; " as it might
be said, in all the heaven, or over all the heaven :
but he used the latter word in preference, to de-
press the pride of earth. For earth ceaseth to
be proud, that is, man ceaseth, to whom it was
said, " Thou art dust ; "' and " why is earth and
ashes proud?"2 when he saith that the Lord is
the Most Highest above all the earth, that is,
that no man's thoughts avail against those " who
are called according to His purpose," and of
whom it is said, " If God is for us, who can be
against us ? " 3
PSALM LXXXIV.*
i. This Psalm is entitled," For the winepresses."
And, as you observed with me, my beloved (for
I saw that you attended most closely), nothing is
said in its text either of any press, or wine-basket,
or vat, or of any of the instruments or the build-
ing of a winepress ; nothing of this kind did we
hear read ; so that it is no easy question what
is the meaning of this title inscribed upon it, " for
the winepresses." For certainly, if after the title
it mentioned anything about such things as I
enumerated, carnal persons might have believed
that it was a song concerning those visible wine-
presses ; but as it has this title, yet says nothing
afterwards of those winepresses which we know
so well, I cannot doubt that there are other wine-
presses, which the Spirit of God intended us to
look for and to understand here. Therefore, let
us recall to mind what takes place in these visible
winepresses, and see how this takes place spirit-
ually in the Church. The grape hangs on the
vines, and the olive on its trees. For it is for
these two fruits that presses are usually made
ready ; and as long as they hang on their boughs,
they seem to enjoy free air ; and neither is the
grape wine, nor the olive oil, before they are
pressed. Thus it is with men whom God pre-
destined before the world to be conformed to
the image of His only-begotten Son,' who has
been first and especially pressed in His Passion,
as the great Cluster. Men of this kind, therefore,
before they draw near to the service of God, en-
joy in the world a kind of delicious liberty, like
hanging grapes or olives : but as it is said, " My
son, when thou drawest near to the service of
God, stand in judgment and fear, and make thy
soul ready for temptation : " 6 so each, as he draw-
eth near to the service of God, findeth that he is
come to the winepress ; he shall undergo tribu-
lation, shall be crushed, shall be pressed, not that
he may perish in this -world, but that he may flow
1 Gen. iii. 19.
4 Lat LXXXIII.
' Ecdus. x. 9.
5 Rom. viii. 39.
i Rom. viii. a8, 31.
6 Ecdus. ii. 1.
down into the storehouses of God. He hath the
coverings of carnal desires stripped off from him,
like grape-skins : for this hath taken place in
him in carnal desires, of which the Apostle
speaks, " Put ye off the old man, and put on the
new man." ^ All this is not done but by press-
ure : therefore the Churches of God of this time
are called winepresses.
2. But who are we who are placed in the wine-
presses? "Sons of Core." For this follows:
" For the winepresses, to the sons of Core."
The sons of Core has been explained, sons of the
bald : as far as those could explain it to us, who
know that language, according to their service
due to God.8 . . .
3. But being placed under pressure, we are
crushed for this purpose, that for our love by
which we were borne towards those worldly,
secular, temporal, unstable, and perishable
things, having suffered in them, in this life, tor-
ments, and tribulations of pressures, and abun-
dance of temptations, we may begin to seek
that rest which is not of this life, nor of this
earth ; and the Lord becomes, as is written, " a
refuge for the poor man." 9 What is, " for the
poor man " ? For him who is, as it were, desti-
tute, without aid, without help, without anything
on which he may rest, in earth. For to such
poor men, God is present. For though men
abound in money on earth, . . . they are filled
more with fear than with enjoyment. For what
is so uncertain as a rolling thing? It is not un-
fitly that money itself is stamped round, because
it remains not still. Such men, therefore,
though they have something, are yet poor. But
those who have none of this wealth, but only
desire it, are counted also among rich men who
will be rejected ; for God takes account not of
power, but of will. The poor then are destitute
of all this world's substance, for even though it
abounds around them, they know how fleeting
it is ; and crying unto God, having nothing in
this world with which they may delight them-
selves, and be held down, placed in abundant
pressures and temptations, as if in winepresses,
they flow down, having become oil or wine.
What are these latter but good desires? For
God remains their only object of desire ; now
they love not earth. For they love Him who
made heaven and earth ; they love Him, and
are not yet with Him. Their desire is delayed,
in order that it may increase ; it increases, in
order that it may receive. For it is not any
little thing that God will give to him who de-
sires, nor does he need to be little exercised to
be made fit to receive so great a good : not any-
thing which He hath made will God give, but
Himself who made all things. Exercise thy-
' Col. iii. 9. 10; Eph. iv. 32. ' [See pp. 132, 140,
9 Ps. ix. 9.
sufrra. — C .]
Psalm LXXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
401
self to receive God : that which thou shalt have
for ever, desire thou for a long time. . . .
4. Wherefore, most beloved, as each can, make
vows, and perform to the Lord God ' what each
can : let no one look back, no one delight him-
self with his former interests, no one turn away
from that which is before to that which is be-
hind : let him run until he arrive : for we run
not with the feet but with the desire. But let
no one in this life say that he hath arrived. For
who can be so perfect as Paul? 2 Yet he saith,
" Brethren, 1 count not myself to have at-
tained."
5. If therefore thou feelest the passions of
this world, even when thou art happy, thou un-
derstandest now that thou art in the winepress. . . .
If therefore the world smile upon thee with happi-
ness, imagine thyself in the winepress, and say, " I
found trouble and heaviness, and I did call upon
the name of the Lord." 3 He said not, I found
trouble, without meaning, of such a kind as was
hidden : for some troubles are hidden from some
in this world, who think they are happy while
they are absent from God. " For as long as we
are in the body," he saith, " we are absent from
the Lord." 4 If thou wert absent from thy father,
thou wouldest be unhappy : art thou absent from
the Lord, and happy ? There are then some who
think it is well with them. But those who un-
derstand, that in whatever abundance of wealth
and pleasures, though all things obey their beck,
though nothing troublesome creep in, nothing
adverse terrify, yet that they are in a bad case as
long as they are absent from the Lord ; with a
most keen eye these have found trouble, and
grief, and have called on the name of the Lord.
Such is he who sings in this Psalm. Who is he?
The Body of Christ. Who is that? You, if you
will : all we, if we will : for Christ's Body is
one. . . .
" How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of
Hosts " (ver. 1). He was in some tabernacles,
that is, in winepresses : but he longed for other
tabernacles, where is no pressure : in this he
sighed for them, from these, he, as it were,
flowed down into them by the channel of long-
ing desire.
6. And what follows? " My soul longeth and
faileth for the courts of the Lord " (ver. 2). It
is not enough that it " longeth and faileth : " for
what doth it fail? " For the courts of the Lord."
The grape when pressed hath failed : but for
what? So as to be changed into wine, and to
flow into the vat, and into the rest of the store-
room, to be kept there in great quiet. Here it
is longed for, there it is received : here are sighs,
there joy : here prayers, there praises : here
groans, there rejoicing. Those things which I
1 Ps. Ixxvi. II.
3 Ps. cxvi. 3, 4.
* Phil. iii. 13.
* 2 Cor. v. 6.
mentioned, let no one while here turn from
ashamed : let no one be unwilling to suffer.
There is danger, lest the grape, while it fears the
winepress, should be devoured by birds or by
wild beasts. . . .
7. Thou hast heard a groan in the winepress,
" My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of
the Lord : " hear how it holdeth out, rejoicing
in hope : " My heart and my flesh have rejoiced
in the living God." Here they have rejoiced for
that cause. Whence cometh rejoicing, but of
hope? Wherefore have they rejoiced ? " In the
living God." What has rejoiced in thee ? " My
heart and my flesh." Why have they rejoiced?
" For," saith he, " the sparrow hath found her a
house, and the turtle-dove a nest, where she may
lay her young " (ver. 3). What is this? He had
named two things, and he adds two figures of birds
which answer to them : he had said that his
heart rejoiced and his flesh, and to these two
he made the sparrow and turtle-dove to cor-
respond : the heart as the sparrow, the flesh as
the dove. The sparrow hath found herself a
home : my heart hath found itself a home. She
tries her wings in the virtues of this life, in faith,
and hope, and charity, by which she may fly unto
her home : and when she shall have come
thither, she shall remain ; and now the com-
plaining voice of the sparrow, which is here,
shall no longer be there. For it is the very
complaining sparrow of whom in another Psalm
he saith, " Like a sparrow alone on the house-
top." 5 From the housetop he flies home. Now
let him be on the housetop, treading on his car-
nal house : he shall have a heavenly house, a
perpetual home : that sparrow shall make an end
of his complaints. But to the dove he hath
given young, that is, to the flesh : " the dove
hath found a nest, where she may lay her young."
The sparrow a home, the dove a nest, and a
nest too where she may lay her young. A home
is chosen as for ever, a nest is framed for a time :
with the heart we think upon God, as if the
sparrow flew to her home : with the flesh we do
good works. For ye see how many good works
are done by the flesh of the saints ; for by this
we work the things we are commanded to work,
by which we are helped in this life. " Break thy
bread to the hungry, and bring the poor and
roofless into thy house ; and if thou see one
naked, clothe him:"6 and other such things
which are commanded us we work only through
the flesh. . . . We speak, brethren, what ye
know : how many seem to do good works with-
out the Church ? ' how many even Pagans feed
the hungry, clothe the naked, receive the
5 Ps. cii. 7. 6 Isa. Iviii. 7.
7 Ed. Ben. refers to P. Lombard, //. Sent. Dist. 41, where this
passage is quoted on the question, " Are all the works of those who
are without faith evil t " [See A. N. F. vol. ti. p. 517, note 4. — C.J
402
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIV
stranger, visit the sick, comfort the prisoner?
how many do this ? The dove seems, as it were,
to bring forth young : but finds not herself a
nest. How many works may heretics do not in
the Church ; they place not their young in a
nest. They shall be trampled on and crushed :
they shall not be kept, shall not be guarded. . . .
In that faith lay thy young : in that nest work
thy works. For what the nests are, what that
nest is, follows at once. Having said, And the
dove hath found herself a nest, where she may
lay her young ; as if thou hadst asked, What
nest ? " Thy altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King
and my God." What is, " My King and my
God? " Thou who rulest me, who hast created
me.
8. . . . " Blessed are those who dwell in Thy
house" (ver. 4). . . . If thou hast thy own house,
thou art poor ; if God's, thou art rich. In thy own
house thou wilt fear robbers ; of the house of God,
He is Himself the wall. Therefore " blessed are
those who dwell in Thy house." They possess
the heavenly Jerusalem, without constraint, with-
out pressure, without difference and division of
boundaries ; all have it, and each have all.
Great are those riches. Brother crowdeth not
brother : there is no want there. Next, what
will they do there ? For among men it is neces-
sity which is the mother of all employments. I
have already said, in brief, brethren, run in your
mind through any occupations, and see if it is
not necessity alone which produces them. Those
very eminent arts which seem so powerful in
giving help to others, the art of speaking in their
defence or of medicine in healing, for these are
the most excellent employments in this life ; take
away litigants, who is there for the advocate to
help ? take away wounds and diseases ? what is
there for the physician to cure? And all those
employments of ours which are required and
done for our daily life, arise from necessity. To
plough, to sow, to clear fallow ground, to sail ;
what is it which produces all these works, but
necessity and want? Take away hunger, thirst,
nakedness ; who has need of all these things ?
. . . For instance, the injunction, " Break thy
bread to the hungry." For whom could you
break bread, if there were nobody hungry?
"Take in the roofless poor into thy house." '
What stranger is there to take in, where all live
in their own country? What sick person to
visit, where they enjoy perpetual health ? What
litigants to reconcile, where there is everlasting
peace? What dead to bury, where there is
eternal life ? None of those honourable actions
which are common to all men will then be your
employment, nor any of these good works ; the
young swallows will then fly out of their nest.
■ Isa. lviii. 7.
What then? You have said already what we
shall have ; " Those who dwell in Thy house
are blessed." Say now what they shall do, for I
see not then any need to induce me to action.
Even what I am now saying and arguing springs
from some need. Will there be any such argu-
ment there to teach the ignorant, or remind the
forgetful ? Or will the Gospel be read in that
country where the Word of God Itself shall
be contemplated? . . . "They shall be always
praising Thee." This shall be our whole duty,
an unceasing Hallelujah. Think not, my breth-
ren, that there will be any weariness there : if
ye are not able to endure long here in saying
this, it is because 2 some want draws you away
from that enjoyment. If what is not seen gives
not so much joy here, if with so much eagerness
under the pressure and weakness of the flesh
we praise that which we believe, how shall we
praise that which we see ? " When death shall
be swallowed up in victory, when this mortal
shall have put on immortality," 3 no one will say,
" I have been standing a long time ; " no one
will say, " I have fasted a long time," " I have
watched a long time." For there shall be great
endurance, and our immortal bodies shall be
sustained in contemplation of God. And if the
word which we now dispense to you keeps your
weak flesh standing so long, what will be the
effect of that joy? how will it change us? "For
we shall be like Him, since we shall see Him as
He is." * Being made like Him, when shall we
ever faint? what shall draw us off? Brethren,
we shall never be satiated with the praise of
God, with the love of God. If love could fail,
praise could fail. But if love be eternal, as
there will there be beauty inexhaustible, fear not
lest thou be not able to praise for ever Him
whom thou shalt be able to love for ever. For
this life let us sigh.
9. But how shall we come thither? " Happy
is the man whose strength is in Thee " (ver. 5).
He knew where he was, and that by reason of
the frailty of his flesh he could not fly to that
state of blessedness : he thought upon his own
burden, as it is said elsewhere ; " For the cor-
ruptible body weighs down the soul, and the
earthly house depresses the understanding which
has many thoughts." 5 The Spirit calls upward,
the weight of the flesh calls back again down-
ward : between the double effort to raise and to
weigh down, a kind of struggle ensues : this
struggle goes toward the pressure of the wine-
press. Hear how the Apostle describes this
same struggle of the winepress, for he was him-
self afflicted there, there he was pressed. . . .
" Miserable man that I am : who shall deliver
me from the body of this death ? The grace of
2 Oxf. mss. " want keeps you not away."
3 1 Cor. xv. 54. + 1 John iii. 3.
5 Wisd. u. 15.
Psalm LXXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
403
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." ' . . . "For
I delight in the Law of God according to the
inner man." But what shall I do? how shall I
fly? how shall I arrive thither? " I see another
law in my members," etc. . . . And as in the
words of the Apostle, that difficulty and that
almost inextricable struggle is alleviated by the
addition, "The grace of God through Jesus
Christ our Lord ; " so here, when he sighed in
the ardent longing for the house of God, and
those praises of God, and when a kind of despair
arose at the feeling of the burden of the body
and the weight of the flesh, again he awoke to
hope, and said (ver. 5), "Blessed is the man
whose taking up 2 is in Thee."
10. What then does God supply by His grace
to him whom He taketh hold of to lead him
on? He goes on to say: "He hath placed
steps3 in his heart." . . . Where does it place
steps? "In his heart, in the valley of weeping"
(ver. 6). So here thou hast for a winepress the
valley of weeping, the very pious tears in tribula-
tion are the new wine of those that love. . . .
Thsy went forth " weeping," he says, " casting
their seed." 4 Therefore, by the grace of God
may upward steps be placed in thy heart. Rise
by loving. Hence the Psalm " of degrees " is
called. ..." He hath placed' steps of ascent
to the place which He hath appointed " (ver.
7). Now we lament; whence proceed our
lamentations, but from that place where the
steps of our ascent are placed ? Whence comes
our lamentation, but from that cause wherefore
the Apostle exclaimed that he was a wretched
man, because he saw another law in his mem-
bers, warring against the law in his mind? 5 And
whence does this proceed? From the penalty
of sin. And we thought that we could easily
be righteous as it were by our own strength,
before we received the command ; " but when
the command came, sin revived ; but I died," 6
saith the Apostle. For a law was given to men,
not such as could save them at once, but it was
to show them in what severe sickness they were
lying. . . . But when sin was made manifest by
the law given, sin was but increased, for it is
both sin, and against the Law ; " Sin," saith he,
" taking occasion by the command, wrought in
me all manner of concupiscence." 1 What does
he mean by "taking occasion by the law"?
Having received the command, men tried as by
their own strength to obey it; conquered by
lust, they became guilty of transgression of this
very command also. But what saith the Apostle ?
" Where sin abounded, grace hath much more
abounded ; " 8 that is, the disease increased, the
medicine became of more avail. Accordingly,
1 Rom. vii. 24, 25.
* Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6.
7 Rom. vii. 8.
2 Sitsceptio.
3 Rom. vii. 23.
8 Rom. v. 20.
3 Ascensus.
6 Rom. vii. 9.
my brethren, did those five porches of Solomon,
in the middle of which the pool lay, heal the
sick at all? The sick, says the Evangelist, lay
in the five porches.9 In the Gospel we have
and read it. Those five porches are the law in
the five books of Moses. For this cause the
sick were brought forth from their houses that
they might lie in the porches. So the law
brought the sick men forth, but did not heal
them : but by the blessing of God the water
was disturbed, as by an Angel descending into
it. At the sight of the water troubled, the one
person who was able, descended and was healed.
That water surrounded by the five porches, was
the people of the Jews shut up in their law.
The Lord came and disturbed this people, so that
He Himself was slain. For if the Lord had not
troubled the Jews by coming down to them,
would He have been crucified? So that the
troubled water signified the Passion of the Lord,
which arose from His troubling the Jewish
people. The sick man who believeth in this
Passion, like him who descended into the
troubled water, is healed thereby. He whom
the Law could not heal, that is, while he lay in
the porches, is healed by grace, by faith in the
Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . .
11. "He shall give blessing," saith he, "who
gave the law." . . . Grace shall come after the
law, grace itself is the blessing. And what has
that grace and blessing given unto us ? " They
shall go from virtue to virtue." For here by
grace many virtues are given. " For to one
is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to
another the word of knowledge according to the
same Spirit, to another faith, to another the gift
of healing, to another different kinds of tongues,
to another the interpretation of tongues, to
another prophecy." lo Many virtues, but neces-
sary for this life ; and from these virtues we go
on to " a virtue." To what " virtue " ? To
" Christ the Virtue of God and the Wisdom of
God." " He giveth different virtues in this
place, who for all the virtues which are necessary
and useful in this valley of weeping shall give one
virtue, Himself. For in Scripture and in many
writers four virtues are described useful for life :
prudence, by which we discern between good
and evil ; justice, by which we give each person
his due, " owing no man anything," ,2 but loving
all men : temperance, by which we restrain
lusts ; fortitude, by which we bear all troubles.
These virtues are now by the grace of God
given unto us in the valley of weeping : from
these virtues we mount unto that other virtue.
And what will that be, but the virtue of the con-
templation of God alone? ... It follows in
that place : " They shall go from virtue to
9 John. ▼. 3.
11 1 Cor. i. 34.
10 1 Cor. xii. 8-10.
13 Rom. xiii. 8.
404
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIV.
virtue." What virtue ? That of contemplation.
What is contemplation? "The God of Gods
shall appear in Sion." The God of Gods, Christ
of the Christians. . . . When all is finished, -
that mortality makes necessary, He shall appear
to the pure in heart, as He is, " God with
God," The Word with the Father, "by which
all things were made."
12. And again, from the thought of those
joys he returns to his own sighs. He sees what
has come before in hope, and where he is in
reality. . . . Therefore returning to the groans
proper to this place, he saith, " O Lord God
of virtues, hear my prayer : hearken, O God of
Jacob" (ver. 8) : for Jacob himself also Thou
hast made Israel out of Jacob. For God
appeared unto him, and he was called Israel, '
seeing God. Hear me therefore, O God of
Jacob, and make me Israel. When shall I
become Israel? When the God of Gods shall
appear in Sion.
13. " Behold, O God our defender. And
look on the face of Thy Christ " (ver. 9). For
when doth God not look upon the face of His
Christ ?. What is this, " Look on the face of
Thy Christ " ? By the face we are known.
What is it then, Look on the face of Thy Christ ?
Cause Thy Christ to become known to all.
Look on the face of Thy Christ : let Christ
become known to all, that we may be able to
go from strength to strength, that grace may
abound, since sin hath abounded.
14. " For one day in Thy courts is better
than a thousand " (ver. 10). Those courts they
were for which he sighed, for which he fainted.
" My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of
the Lord : " 1 one day there is better than a thou-
sand days. Men long for thousands of days,
and wish to live here long : let them despise
these thousands of days, let them long for one
day, which has neither rising nor setting : one
day, an everlasting day, to which no yesterday
yields, which no to-morrow presses. Let this
one day be longed for by us. What have we to
do with a thousand days? We go from the
thousand days to one day ; let us hasten to that
one day,' as we go from strength to strength.
15. "I have chosen to be cast away in the
house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents
of sinners" (ver. 11). For he found the val-
ley of weeping, he found humility by which he
might rise : he knoweth that if he would raise
himself he shall fall, if he humble himself he
shall be exalted : he hath chosen to be cast
away, that he may be raised up. How many
beside this tabernacle of the Lord's winepress,
that is beside the Catholic Church, wishing to
be lifted up, and loving their honours, refuse to
« Gen. xxxii. a8. ' P«. lxxxiv. a.
» Oxf. mss. add, " let us hatten," etc.
see the truth. If this verse had been in their
heart, would they not cast away honours, and
run to the valley of weeping, and hence
find in their heart the way of ascent, and hence
go from virtues to virtue, placing their hope in
Christ, not in some man or another? A good
word is this, a word to rejoice in, a word to be
chosen. He himself chose to be cast away
in the house of the Lord ; but He who invited
him to the feast, when he chose a lower place
calleth him to a higher one, and saith unto him,
" Go up higher." 4 Yet he chose not but to be
in the house of the Lord, in any part of it, so
that he were not outside the threshold.
16. Wherefore did he choose ? . . . "Because
God loveth mercy and truth" (ver. 12). The
Lord loveth mercy, by which He first came to
my help : He loveth truth, so as to give to him
that believeth what He has promised.5 Hear
in the case of the Apostle Paul, His mercy
and truth, Paul who was first Saul the perse-
cutor. He needed mercy, and he has said that
it was shown towards him : " I who was before
a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious :
but I obtained mercy, that in me Christ Jesus
might show forth all longsuffering towards those
who shall believe in Him unto life eternal." 6 So
that, when Paul received pardon of such great
crimes, no one should despair of any sins what-
ever being forgiven him. Lo ! Thou hast
Mercy. . . . Lo, we see that Paul holdeth Him
a debtor, having received mercy, demanding
truth. The Lord, he says, shall give back in
that day. What shall He give thee back, but
that which He oweth thee? How oweth He
unto thee? What hast thou given Him? "Who
hath first given unto Him, and it shall be re-
stored to him again." s The Lord Himself hath
made Himself a debtor, not by receiving, but
by promising : it is not said unto Him, Restore
what Thou hast received : but, Restore what
Thou hast promised. He hath shown mercy unto
me, he saith, that He might make me innocent :
for before I was a blasphemer and injurious :
but by His grace I have been made innocent.
But He who first showed mercy, can He deny
His debt? " He loveth mercy and truth. He
will give grace and glory." What grace, but
that of which the same one said : " By the
grace of God I am what I am "?7 What glory,
but that of which he said, " There is laid up
for me a crown of glory " ? 8
17. Therefore "the Lord will not withhold
good from those who walk in innocence " (ver.
12). Why then, O men, are ye unwilling to
keep innocence, except in order that ye may
have good things? . . . Thou seest wealth in
the hands of robbers, of the impious, the wicked,
* Luke xiv. 10.
7 1 Cor. xv. 10.
3 Rom. xi. ac
8 2 Tim. iv. i
6 1 Tim. i. 13, 16.
Psalm I.XXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
4°5
the base ; in the hands of scandalous and crim-
inal men thou seest wealth : God giveth them
these things on account of their fellowship in
the human race, for the abundant overflowing
of His goodness : who also " maketh His sun
to rise upon the good and the evil, and causeth
it to rain upon the righteous and upon the sin-
ners." ■ Giveth He so much to the wicked,
and keepeth nothing for thee? He keepeth
something : be at ease, He who had mercy on
thee when thou wast impious, doth He desert
thee when thou hast become pious? He who
gave to the sinner the free gift of His Son's
death, what keepeth He for the saved through
that death? Therefore be at ease. Hold Him
a debtor, for thou hast believed in Him prom-
ising. What then remains for us here, in
the winepress, in affliction, in hardship, in our
present dangerous life? What remains for us,
that we may arrive thither ? " O Lord God
of virtues, blessed is the man that putteth his
hope in Thee."
PSALM LXXXV.1
t. . . . Its title is, " A Psalm for the end, to the
sons of Core." 3 Let us understand no other
end than that of which the Apostle speaks :
for, " Christ is the end of the law." 4 There-
fore when at the head of the title of the
Psalm he placed the words, "for the end,"
he directed our heart to Christ. If we fix
our gaze on Him, we shall not stray : for He
is Himself the Truth unto which we are eager
to arrive, and He Himself the Way s by which
we run. . . .
2. The Prophet singeth to Him of the
future, and useth words as it were of past time :
he speaks of things future as if already done,
because with God that which is future has
already taken place. ..." Lord, Thou hast
been favourable unto Thy land " (ver. 1) ; as
if He had already done so. " Thou hast turned
away the captivity of Jacob." His ancient
people of Jacob, the people of Israel, born of
Abraham's seed, in the promise to become one
day the heir of God. That was indeed a real
people, to whom the Old Testament was given ;
but in the Old Testament the New was figured :
that was the figure, this the truth expressed. In
that figure, by a kind of foretelling of the future,
there was given to that people a certain land of
promise, in a region where the people of the
Jews abode ; where also is the city of Jerusalem,
whose name we have all heard of. When this
people had received possession of this land,
1 Matt. v. 45. * Lat. LXXXIV. A sermon to the people.
3 [He repeats the former comment on this. See pp. 132, 400,
sufra. — C.J
* Rom. x. 4. * John xiv. 6.
they suffered many troubles from their neighbour-
ing enemies who surrounded them : and when
they sinned against their God, they were given
into captivity, not for destruction, but for dis-
cipline ; their Father not condemning, but
scourging them. And after being seized on,
they were set free, and many times were both
made captives, and set free ; and they are now
in captivity, and that for a great sin, even be-
cause they crucified their Lord. What then are
we to understand them to mean by the words,
"Thou hast turned away the captivity of
Jacob " ? . . . This Psalm hath prophesied in
song. " Thou hast turned away the captivity of
Jacob." To whom did it speak? To Christ;
for it said, " for the end, for the sons of Core : "
for He hath turned away the captivity of Jacob.
Hear Paul himself confessing : " O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?" He asked who it
should be, and straightway it occurred to him,
"The grace of God through Jesus Christ our
Lord.6 Of this grace of God the Prophet
speaketh to our Lord Jesus Christ, " Thou hast
turned away the captivity of Jacob." Attend
to the captivity of Jacob, attend, and see that it
is this : Thou hast turned away our captivity, not
by setting us free from the barbarians, with whom
we had not met, but by setting us free from
bad works, from our sins, by which Satan held
sway over us. For if any one has been set free
from his sins, the prince of sinners hath not
whence he may hold sway over him.
3. For how did He turn away the captivity
of Jacob? See, how that that setting free is
spiritual, see how that it is done inwardly.
" Thou hast forgiven," he saith, " the iniquity of
Thy people : Thou hast covered all their sins "
(ver. 2). Behold how He hath turned away
their captivity, in that He hath remitted in-
iquity : iniquity held them captive ; thy iniquity
forgiven, thou art freed. Confess therefore that
thou art in captivity, that thou mayest be worthy
to be freed : for he that knoweth not of his
enemy, how can he invoke the liberator?
" Thou hast covered all their sins." What is,
" Thou hast covered " ? So as not to see them.
How didst Thou not see them? So as not to
take vengeance on them. Thou wast unwilling
to see our sins : and therefore sawest Thou them
not, because Thou wouldest not see 'them :
"Thou hast covered all their sins." "Thou
hast appeased all Thy anger : Thou hast turned
Thyself from Thy wrathful indignation " (ver.
3)-
4. And as these things are said of the future,
though the sound of the words is past, it follows :
"Turn us, O God of our salvation" (ver. 4).
6 Rom. vii. 24, 25.
406
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXV.
That which he had just related as if it were done,
how prayeth he that it may be done, except be-
cause he wished to show that he had spoken as
if of the past in prophecy? But that it was
not yet done which he had said was done he
showeth by this, that he prayeth that it may be
done : " Turn us, O God of our salvation, and
turn away Thine anger from us." Didst thou
not say before : " Thou hast appeased all Thy
anger, Thou has turned Thyself from Thy
wrathful indignation " ? How then now sayest
thou, "And turn away Thine anger from us"?
The Prophet answereth : These things I speak
of as done, because I see them about to be done :
but because they are not yet done, I pray that
they may come, which I have already seen.
5. " Be not angry with us for ever" (ver. 5).
For by the anger of God we are subject to
death, and by the anger of God we eat bread on
this earth in want, and in the sweat of our face.1
This was Adam's sentence when he sinned :
and that Adam was every one of us, for " in
Adam all die ; " 2 the sentence passed on him
hath taken effect after him on us. For we
were not yet ourselves, but we were in Adam :
therefore whatever happened to Adam himself
took effect on us also, so that we should die :
for we all were in him. ... So far as this the
sin of thy father hurts thee not, if thou hast
changed thyself, even as it would not hurt thy
father if he had changed himself. But that
which our stock hath received unto its subjec-
tion to death, it hath derived from Adam. What
hath it so derived ? That frailty of the flesh, this
torture of pains, this house of poverty, this chain
of death, and snares of temptations; all these
things we carry about in this flesh ; and this is
the anger of God, because it is the vengeance
of God. But because it was so to be, that we
should be regenerated, and by believing should
be made new, and all that mortality was to be
removed in our resurrection, and the whole man
was to be restored in newness ; " For as in Adam
all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive ; " *
seeing this the Prophet saith, "Be not angry
with us for ever, nor stretch out Thy wrath from
one generation to another." The first genera-
tion was mortal by Thy wrath : the second gen-
eration shall be immortal by Thy mercy. . . .
6. " O God, Thou shaft turn us again, and
make us alive" (ver. 6). Not as if we our-
selves of our own accord, without Thy mercy,
turn unto Thee, and then Thou shalt make us
alive : but so that not only our being made alive
is from Thee, but our very conversion, that we
may be made alive. " And Thy people shall
rejoice in Thee." To their own evil they shall
rejoice in themselves : to their own good they
1 Gen. ill. 19.
2 1 Cor. xv. 33.
shall rejoice in Thee. For when they wished to
have joy of themselves, they found in themselves
woe : but now because God is all our joy, he
that will rejoice securely, let him rejoice in Him
who cannot perish. For why, my brethren, will
ye rejoice in silver? Either thy silver perisheth,
or thou : and no one knows which first : yet this
is certain, that both shall perish ; which first, is
uncertain. For neither can man remain here
always, nor can silver remain here always : so
too gold, so garments, so houses, so money, so
broad lands, so, lastly, this light itself. Be not
thou willing then to rejoice in these : but rejoice
in that light which hath no setting : rejoice in
that dawn which no yesterday precedes, which
no to-morrow follows. What light is that? "I,"
saith He, "am the Light of the world."3 He
who saith unto thee, " I am the Light of the
world," calls thee to Himself. When He calls
thee, He converts thee : when He converts thee,
He healeth thee : when He hath healed thee,
thou shalt see thy Converter, unto whom it is
said, " Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant
us Thy salvation" (ver. 7) : Thy salvation, that
is, Thy Christ.4 Happy is he unto whom God
showeth His mercy. He it is who cannot in-
dulge in pride, unto whom God showeth His
mercy. For by showing him His salvation He
persuadeth him that whatever good man has, he
hath not but from Him who is all our good.
And when a man has seen that whatever good
he has he hath not from himself, but from his
God ; he sees that everything which is praised
in him is of the mercy of God, not of his own
deserving ; and seeing this, he is not proud ;
not being proud, he is not lifted up ; not lifting
himself up, he falleth not ; not falling, he stand-
eth ; standing, he clingeth fast ; clinging fast, he
abideth ; abiding, he enjoyeth, and rejoiceth in
the Lord his God. He who made him shall be
unto him a delight : and his delight no one
spoileth, no one interrupteth, no one taketh
away. . . . Therefore, what saith John in his
Epistle ? " Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be." s Who would not rejoice, if suddenly
while he was wandering abroad, ignorant of his
descent, suffering want, and in a state of misery
and toil, it were announced, Thou art the son of
a senator : thy father enjoys an ample patrimony
on your family estate ; I bid thee return to thy
father : how would he rejoice, if this were said to
him by some one whose promise he could trust ?
One whom we can trust, an Apostle of Christ,
hath come and said to us, Ye have a father, ye
have a country, ye have an inheritance. Who is
s John viii. 19.
* [i.e., Thy Joshua, which is inwoven with the idea of salvation
everywhere in the Old Testament (see Gen. xlix. 18) , t.U all is fixed in
Christ, the true Joshua. Matt. 1. ai. — C.j
- 1 John in. 2.
Psalm LXXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
407
that father ? " Beloved, we are the sons of
God." "... Therefore He 2 promised us to show
Himself unto us. Think, my brethren, what
His beauty is. All those beautiful things which
ye see, which ye love, He made. If these are
beautiful, what is He Himself? If these are
great, how great is He? Therefore from these
things which we love here, let us the more long
for Him : and despising these things, let us love
Him : that by that very love we may by faith
purify our hearts, and His vision, when it cometh,
may find our heart purified. The light which
shall be shown unto us ought to find us whole :
this is the work of faith now. This is what we
have spoken here : " And grant us Thy salva-
tion : " grant us Thy Christ, that we may know
Thy Christ, see Thy Christ ; not as the Jews
saw Him and crucified Him, but as the Angels
see Him, and rejoice.
7. "I will hearken" (ver. 8). The Prophet
spoke : God spoke within in him, and the world
made a noise without. Therefore, retiring for a
little from the noise of the world, and turning
himself back upon himself, and from himself
upon Him whose voice he heard within ; seal-
ing up his ears, as it were, against the tumultu-
ous disquietude of this life, and against the soul
weighed down by the corruptible body, and
against the imagination, that through the earthly
tabernacle pressing down,3 thinketh on many
things,4 he saith, " I will hearken what the Lord
God speaketh in me;" and he heard, what?
" For He shall speak peace unto His people."
The voice of Christ, then, the voice of God, is
peace : it calleth unto peace. Ho ! it saith,
whosoever are not yet in peace, love ye peace :
for what can ye find better from Me than peace?
What is peace ? Where there is no war. What
is this, where there is no war ? Where there is
no contradiction, where there is no resistance,
nothing to oppose. Consider if we are yet
there : consider if there is not now a conflict
with the devil, if all the saints and faithful ones
wrestle not with the prince of demons. And
how do they wrestle with him whom they see
not? They wrestle with their own desires, by
which he suggests unto them sins : and by not
consenting to what he suggests, though they are
not conquered, yet they fight. Therefore there
is not yet peace where there is fighting. . . .
Whatever we provide for our refreshment, there
again we find weariness. Art thou hungry? one
asks thee : thou answerest, I am. He places
food before thee for thy refreshment ; continue
thou to use it, for thou hadst need of it ; yet in
continuing that which thou needest for refresh-
ment, therein findest thou weariness. By long
sitting thou wast tired ; thou risest and refresh-
1 1 John iii. 2.
3 Oxf. mss. deprimente.
2 Oxf. mss. " Therefore if He has.'
* Wisd. ix. 15.
est thyself by walking ; continue that relief, and
by much walking thou art wearied ; again thou
wouldest sit down. Find me anything by which
thou art refreshed, wherein if thou continue thou
dost not again become weary. What peace then
is that which men have here, opposed by so
many troubles, desires, wants, wearinesses ? This
is no true, no perfect peace. What will be per-
fect peace ? " This corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on im-
mortality." 5 . . . Persevere in eating much ;
this itself will kill thee : persevere in fasting
much, by this thou wilt die : sit continually,
being resolved not to rise up, by this thou wilt
die : be always walking so as never to take rest,
by this thou wilt die ; watch continually, taking
no sleep, by this thou wilt die ; sleep contin-
ually, never watching, thus too thou wilt die.
When therefore death shall be swallowed up in
victory, these things shall no longer be : there
will be full and eternal peace. We shall be in
a City, of which, brethren, when I speak I find
it hard to leave off, especially when offences wax
common. Who would not long for that City
whence no friend goeth out, whither no enemy
entereth,6 where is no tempter, no seditious
person, no one dividing God's people, no one
wearying the Church in the service of the devil ;
since the prince himself of all such is cast into
eternal fire, and with him those who consent
unto him, and who have no will to retire from
him? There shall be peace made pure in the
sons of God, all loving one another, seeing one
another full of God, since God shall be all in all.'
We shall have God as our common object of
vision, God as our common possession, God as
our common peace. For whatever there is
which He now giveth unto us, He Himself shall
be unto us instead of His gifts ; this will be full
and perfect peace. This He speaketh unto His
people : this it was which he would hearken
unto who said, " I will hearken what the Lord
God will say unto me : for He shall speak peace
unto His people, and to His saints, and unto
those who turn their hearts unto Him." Lo,
my brethren, do ye wish that unto you should
belong that peace which God uttereth? Turn
your heart unto Him : not unto me, or unto that
one, or unto any man. For whatever man would
turn unto himself the hearts of men, he falleth
with them. Which is better, that thou fall with
him unto whom thou turnest thyself, or that
thou stand with Him with whom thou turnest
thyself? Our joy, our peace, our rest, the end
of all troubles, is none but God : blessed are
" they that turn their hearts unto Him."
5 r Cor. xv. 52 .
6 [This exquisite passage, adopted by Bishop Home in his
precious illustrations of the Psalter, reads in the original as follows:
unde amicus non exit, quo inimicus twn intrat. — C.J
7 X Cor. xv. 38.
408
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXV.
8. " Nevertheless, His salvation is nigh them
that fear Him" (ver. 9). There were some
even then who feared Him in the Jewish people.
Everywhere throughout the earth idols were
worshipped : devils were feared, not God : in
that nation God was feared. But why was He
feared? In the Old Testament He was feared,
lest He should give them up to captivity, lest He
should take away their land from them, lest
He should destroy their vines with hail, lest He
should make their wives barren, lest He should
take away their children from them. For these
carnal promises of God captivated their minds,
which as yet were of small growth, and for these
things God was feared : but He was near unto
them who even for these things feared Him.
The Pagan prayed for land to the devil : the
Jew prayed for land to God : it was the same
thing which they prayed for, but not the same to
whom they prayed. The latter, though seek-
ing what the Pagan sought, yet was distinguished
from the Pagan ; for He sought it of Him who
had made all things. And God, who was far '
from the Gentiles, was near ' unto them : yet
He had regard even to those who were afar off,
and to those who were near, as the Apostle said :
" And He came and preached peace to you who
were afar off, and to them that were near."2
Whom did He mean by those near? The Jews,
because they 3 worshipped one God. Whom by
those who were afar off? The Gentiles, because
they had left Him by whom they were made,
and worshipped things which themselves had
made. For it is not in space that any one is
far from God, but in affections. Thou lovest
God, thou art near unto Him. Thou hatest
God, thou art far off. Thou art standing in the
same place, both while thou art near and far off.
This it was, my brethren, which the Prophet had
regard to : although he saw the mercy of God
extending over all, yet he saw something espe-
cial and peculiar shown toward the Jews, and he
saith, " Nevertheless, I will hearken what the
Lord God shall say unto me : for He shall speak
peace unto His people ; " and His people shall
be, not Judaea only, but it shall be gathered to-
gether out of all nations : " For He shall speak
peace unto His Saints, and to those who turn
their hearts unto Him," and to all who shall
turn their hearts unto Him from the whole
world. "Nevertheless, His salvation shall be
nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell
in our land : " that is, in that land in which the
Prophet was born, greater glory shall dwell,
because Christ began to be preached from
thence. Thence were the Apostles, and thither
first they were sent; from thence were the
Prophets, there first was the Temple, there
» Oxf. MSS.
* Oxf. MSS.
near,
who."
» Eph. U. 17.
sacrifice was made to God, there were the
Patriarchs, there He Himself came of the seed
of Abraham, there Christ was manifested, there
Christ appeared ; for from thence was the Virgin
Mary who bore Christ. There He walked with
His feet, there He worked miracles. Thirdly,
He ascribed so great honour to that nation, that
when a certain Canaanitish woman interrupted
Him, praying for the healing of her daughter,
He said unto her, " I am not sent but unto the
lost sheep of the house of Israel." ♦ Seeing this,
the Prophet saith, " that glory may dwell in our
land."
9. " Mercy and truth have met together "
(ver. 10). " Truth in our land," in a Jewish per-
son, " mercy " in the land of the Gentiles. For
where was truth ? Where the utterances of God
were. Where was mercy? On those who had
left their God, and turned themselves unto devils.
Did He look down i also upon them ? Yea, as
if He said, Call those who are fugitives afar off,
who have departed far from Me : call them, let
them find Me who seek them, since they them-
selves would not seek Me. Therefore, " Mercy
and truth have met together : righteousness and
peace have kissed each other." Do righteous-
ness, and thou shalt have peace ; that right-
eousness and peace may kiss each other. For if
thou love not righteousness, thou shalt not have
peace ; for those two, righteousness and peace,
love one another, and kiss one another : that he
who hath done righteousness may find peace
kissing righteousness. They two are friends :
thou perhaps wiliest the one, and not the other :
for there is no one who wills not peace : but
all will not work righteousness. Ask all men,
Wiliest thou peace? With one mouth the whole
race of man answers thee, I wish, I desire, I will,
I love it. Love also righteousness : for these
two, righteousness and peace, are friends ; they
kiss one another : if thou love not the friend of
peace, peace itself will not love thee, nor come
unto thee. For what great thing is it to desire
peace? Every bad man longeth for peace.
For peace is a good thing. But do righteous-
ness, for righteousness and peace kiss one
another, they quarrel not together. . . .
10. "Truth hath sprung out of the earth, and
righteousness hath looked down from heaven "
(ver. n). "Truth hath sprung out of the
earth : " Christ is born of a woman. The Son
of God hath come forth of the flesh. What is
truth ? The Son of God. What is the earth ?
Flesh. Ask whence Christ was born, and thou
seest that "Truth is sprung out of the earth."
But the Truth which sprang out of the earth was
before the earth, and by It the heaven and the
earth were made : but in order that righteous-
4 Matt. xv. 24.
s Dtspexit ; one MS. dispexit.
Psalm LXXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
409
ness might look down from heaven, that is, in
order that men might be justified by Divine
grace, Truth was born of the Virgin Mary ; that
He might be able to offer a sacrifice to justify
them, the sacrifice of suffering, the sacrifice of
the Cross. And how could He offer a sacrifice
for our sins, except He died? How could He
die, except He received from us that wherein
He might die ; that is, unless He received from us
mortal flesh, Christ could not have died : because
the Word of God dieth not, Godhead dieth
not, the Virtue and Wisdom of God doth not die.
How should He offer a sacrifice, a healing vic-
tim, if He died not? How should He die, un-
less He clothed Himself with flesh? How
should He put on flesh, except truth sprang out
of the earth ?
11. On the same passage we may mention
another meaning. " Truth is sprung out of the
earth : " confession from man. For thou, O man,
wast a sinner. O earth, who when thou hadst
sinned didst hear the sentence, " Earth thou art,
and unto earth shalt thou return," ■ from thee let
truth spring, that righteousness may look down
from heaven. How doth truth spring from thee,
whilst thou art a sinner, whilst thou art unright-
eous ? Confess thy sins, and truth shall spring
out of thee. For if whilst thou art unrighteous,
thou callest thyself just, how can truth spring out
of thee? But if being unrighteous thou dost con-
fess thyself to be so, " truth hath sprung out of the
earth." . . . What " righteousness hath looked
down from heaven " ? It is that of God, as
though He said : Let us spare this man, for
he spareth not himself : let us pardon him, for he
himself confesseth. He is changed so as to pun-
ish his sin : I too will change, so as to set him
free.
12. " For the Lord shall give sweetness, and
our land shall give her increase" (ver. 12). . . .
He will give unto thee the sweetness of working
righteousness, so that righteousness shall begin
to delight thee, whom before unrighteousness
delighted : so that thou who at first didst delight
in drunkenness, shalt rejoice in sobriety : and
thou who didst at first rejoice in theft, so as to
take from another man what thou hadst not,
shalt seek to give to him that hath not that which
thou hast : and thou who didst take delight in
robbing, shalt delight now in giving : thou whom
shows delighted, shalt delight in prayer; thou
who didst delight in trifling and lascivious songs,
shalt now delight in singing hymns to God ; in
running to church, thou who at first didst run to
the theatre. Whence is that sweetness born to
thee, except from this, that " God giveth sweet-
ness " ? For, behold, ye see what I mean : behold,
I have spoken unto you the word of God, I have
x Gen. iii. 19.
sown seed in your devout hearts, finding your
souls furrowed, as it were, with the plough of
confession : with devout attention .ye have re-
ceived the seed ; think now upon the word
which ye have heard, like those who break up
the clouds, lest the fowls should carry away the
seed, that what is sown may be able to spring up
there : and unless God rain upon it, what profits
it that it is sown ? This is what is meant by " our
land shall give her increase." May He with His
visitations, in leisure, in business, in your house,
in your bed, at meal-time, in conversation, in
walks, visit your hearts, when we are not by.
May the rain of God come and make to sprout
what is sown there : and when we are not by,
and are resting quietly, or otherwise employed,
may God give increase to the seeds which we
have sown, that remarking afterwards your im-
proved characters, we too may rejoice for your
fruit.
13. " For righteousness shall go before him,
and he shall direct his steps in the way " (ver.
14) : that righteousness, namely, which consists
in confession of sins : for this is truth itself.
For thou oughtest to be righteous towards thy-
self, and to punish thyself: for this is the begin-
ning of man's righteousness, that thou shouldest
punish thyself, who art evil, and God should
make thee good. Therefore since this is the
beginning of man's righteousness, this becomes
a way for God, that God may come unto thee :
there make for Him a way, in confession of sins.
Therefore John too, when he was baptizing in
the water of repentance, and would have men
come to him repenting of their former deeds,
spoke thus : " Prepare the way of the Lord, make
His paths straight." 2 Thou didst please thyself
in thy sins, O man : let that which thou wast
displease thee, that thou mayest be able to be-
come what thou wast not. Prepare the way
of the Lord : let that righteousness go before, of
confession of sins : He will come and visit thee,
for now He hath where to place His steps, He
hath whereby He may come to thee. Before
thou didst confess thy sins, thou hadst shut up
the way of God : there was no way by which He
might come unto thee. Confess thy past life,
and thou openest a way ; and Christ shall come
unto thee, and " shall place His steps in the
way," that He may guide thee with His own
footsteps.
PSALM LXXXVI.3
1 . No greater gift could God have given to men
than in making His Word, by which He created
all things, their Head, and joining them to Him
as His members : that the Son of God might
2 Matt. iii. 3.
3 Lat. LXXXV. A sermon to the people at Carthage, delivered
on the vigil of a festival, perhaps of St. Cyprian.
4io
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVI.
become also the Son of man, one God with the
Father, one Man with men ; so that when we
speak to God in prayer for mercy, we do not
separate the Son from Him ; and when the Body
of the Son prays, it separates not its Head from
itself: and it is one Saviour of His Body, our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who both
prays for us, and prays in us, and is prayed to
by us. He prays for us, as our Priest ; He prays
in us, as our Head ; He is prayed to by us, as
our God. Let us therefore recognise in Him
our words, and His words in us. Nor when any-
thing is said of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially
in prophecy, implying a degree of humility be-
low the dignity of God, let us hesitate to ascribe
it to Him who did not hesitate to join Himself
unto us. . . . He is prayed to in the form of
God, in the form of a servant He prayeth ; there
the Creator, here created; assuming unchanged
the creature, that it might be changed, and
making us with Himself one Man, Head and
Body. Therefore we pray to Him, through Him,
in Him ; and we speak with Him, and He speaks
with us ; we speak in Him, He speaks in us the
prayer of this Psalm, which is entitled, " A Prayer
of David." For our Lord was, according to the
flesh, the son of David ; but according to His
divine nature, the Lord of David, and his Maker.
. . . Let no one then, when he hears these
words, say, Christ speaketh not ; nor again say,
I speak not ; nay rather, if he own himself to
be in the Body of Christ, let him say both,
Christ speaks, and I speak. Be thou unwilling
to say anything without Him, and He saith
nothing without thee. . . .
2. " Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, and hear
me " (ver. i). He speaks in the form of a ser-
vant : speak thou, O servant, in the form of thy
Lord : " Bow down Thine ear, O Lord." He
bows down His ear, if thou dost not lift up thy
neck : for unto the humble He draweth near :
from him that is exalted He removes afar off,
except whom He Himself hath exalted from
being humblf. God then bows down His ear
unto us. For He is above, we below : He in a
high place, we in a lowly one, yet not deserted.
" For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. For scarcely for a just man will one die :
yet for a good man peradventure one would
even dare to die : " ' but our Lord died for the
wicked. For no merits of ours had gone before,
for which the Son of God should die : but the
more, because there were no merits, was His
mercy great. How sure then, how firm is the
promise, by which for the righteous He keepeth
His life, who for the wicked gave His own death !
" For I am poor and in misery." To the rich
then He boweth not down His ear : unto the
» Rom. v. 8, 7.
poor and him that is in misery He boweth down
His ear, that is, unto the humble, and him that
confesseth, unto him that is in need of mercy :
not unto him that is full, who lifteth up himself
and boasteth, as if he wanted nothing, and saith,
" I thank Thee that I am not as this Publican."
For the rich Pharisee boasted of his merits : the
poor Publican confessed his sins.*
3. Yet do not take what I have said, my
brethren, in such a way, as if God does not hear
those who have gold and silver, and a household,
and farms, if they happen to be born to this
estate, or hold such a rank in the world : only
let them remember the Apostle's words : " Charge
those who are rich in this world, that they be
not highminded." 3 For those that are not high-
minded are poor in God, and to the poor and
needy and those in want He inclines His ear.
For they know that their hope is not in gold and
silver, nor in those things in which for a time
they seem to abound. It is enough that riches
ruin them not ; it is enough that they do them
no harm : for good they can do them none.
What certainly profiteth is a work of mercy, done
by a rich or by a poor man : by a rich man, with
will and deed ; by a poor man, with will alone.
When therefore he is such an one as despiseth in
himself everything which is wont to swell men with
pride, he is one of God's poor : He inclines unto
him His ear, for He knows that his heart is con-
trite. . . . Was it really for the merit of his pov-
erty that the poor man was carried away by
Angels,4 or was it for the sin of his riches that
the rich man was sent away to be tormented ?
In that poor man is signified the honour which
is paid to humility, in that rich man the condem-
nation which awaits pride. I will prove shortly
that it was not riches but pride which was tor-
mented in that rich man. It is certain that the
poor man was carried into the bosom of Abra-
ham : of Abraham himself Scripture saith that
he had here very much gold and silver, and was
rich on the earth.5 If every one that is rich is
hurried away to be tormented, how could Abra-
ham have gone before that poor man, so as to
be ready to receive him when carried to his
bosom? But Abraham in his riches was poor,
humble, reverencing all commands, and obeying
them. So true was it that he counted all those
riches for nothing, that on God's command he
was ready to sacrifice his son,6 for whom he was
keeping his riches. Learn therefore ye to be
poor and needy, whether ye have anything in
this world, or whether ye have not. . . .
4. "Preserve Thou My Soul, for I am holy"
(ver. 2). I know not whether any one could
say this, " I am holy," but He who was in the
world without sin : He by whom all sins were not
* Luke xviii. 11-13.
5 Gen. xiii. 2.
3 1 Tim. vi. 17,
6 Gen. xxii. 10.
4 Luke xvi. 19-24.
Psalm LXXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
4U
£
committed but remitted.' We own it to be His
voice saying, " Preserve Thou My Soul, for I am
holy ; " of course in that form of a servant
which He had assumed. For in that was flesh,
in that was also a Soul. For He was not, as
some 2 have said, only Flesh and the Word : but
Flesh and Soul also, and the Word, and all this,
One Son of God, One Christ, One Saviour ; in
the form of God equal to the Father, in the
form of a servant the Head of the Church.
When therefore I hear, " for I am holy," I recog-
nise His voice: yet do I exclude my own?
Surely He speaks inseparably from His body
when He speaks thus. Shall I then dare to
say, "For I am holy"? If holy as making
holy, and as needing none to sanctify, I should
be proud and false : but if holy as made holy, as
it is written, " Be ye holy, for I am holy," 3 then
the body of Christ may venture, and that one
Man " crying from the end of the earth," 4 may
venture with his Head, and under his Head, to
say, " For I am holy." For he hath received
the grace of holiness, the grace of Baptism, and
of remission of sins.5 . . . Say unto thy God, I
am holy, for Thou hast sanctified me : because
I received, not because I had : because Thou
gavest, not because I deserved. For on another
side thou art beginning to do an injury to our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For if all Christians
who are faithful and have been baptized in Him
have put Him on, as the Apostle saith, "As many
as are baptized in Christ have put on Christ : " 6
if they have been made members of His body,
and say that they are not holy, they do injury to
their Head, of whom they are members, and yet
not holy. Look thou where thou art and from
thy Head assume dignity. For thou wert in
darkness, " but now light in the Lord." ^ " Ye
were sometime darkness," he saith : but did ye
remain darkness ? Was it for this the Enlight-
ener came, that ye might still remain darkness,
or that in Him ye might become light? There-
fore, every Christian by himself, therefore also
the whole body of Christ, may say, it may cry
everywhere, while it suffers tribulations, various
temptations and offences, it may say, " Preserve
Thou my soul, for I am holy : my God, save
Thy servant, that putteth his trust in Thee."
See thou, that holy man is not proud, since he
putteth his trust in God.
5. "Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I have
cried unto Thee all day" (ver. 3). Not " one
day:" understand "all day" to mean continu-
ally : from the time that the body of Christ
groans being in afflictions, until the end of the
world, when afflictions pass away, that man
groaneth and calleth upon God : and each one
1 Nott commissor sed Himissor.
3 Lev. xix. 2. * Ps. Ixi. i.
6 Gal. iii. 2j. 7 Eph. v. 8.
2 Apollniarians.
s 1 Cor. vi. 11.
of us after his measure hath his part in that cry
in the whole body. Thou hast cried in thy days,
and thy days have passed away : another hath
come after thee, and cried in his days : and thou
here, he there, another elsewhere : the body of
Christ crieth all the day, its members departing
and succeeding one another. One Man it is
that reaches to the end of the world : the same
members of Christ cry, and some members
already rest in Him, some still cry, some when
we shall be at rest will cry, and after them others
will cry. It is the whole body of Christ whose
voice He hears, saying, " Unto Thee have I cried
all the day." Our Head on the right hand of
the Father intercedes for us : some members
He recovereth, others He scourgeth, others He
cleanseth, others He comforteth, others He is
creating, others calling, others recalling, others
correcting, others restoring.
6. " Make glad the soul of Thy servant : for
unto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul "
(ver. 4). Make it glad, for unto Ihee have I
lifted it up. For it was on earth, and from the
earth it felt bitterness : lest it should wither
away in bitterness, lest it should lose all the
sweetness of Thy grace, I lifted it up unto Thee :
make Thou it glad with Thyself. For Thou
alone art gladness : the whole world is full of
bitterness. Surely with reason He admonishes
His members to lift up their hearts. May they
hear and do it : may they lift up unto Him what
on earth is ill. There the heart decayeth not,
if it be lifted up to God. It thou hadst corn in
thy rooms below, thou wouldest take it up higher,
lest it should grow rotten. Wouldest thou remove
thy corn, and dost thou suffer thy heart to rot
on the earth? Thou wouldest take thy corn up
higher : lift up thy heart to heaven. And how
can I, dost thou say? What ropes are needed?
what machines? what ladders? Thy affections
are the steps : thy will the way. By loving thou
mountest, by neglect thou descendest. Stand-
ing on the earth thou art in heaven, if thou lovest
God. For the heart is not so raised as the
body is raised : the body to be lifted up changes
its place : the heart to be lifted up changes its
will.
7. "For Thou, Lord, art good and gracious"
(ver. 5). . . . Even prayers are often hindered
by vain thoughts, so that the heart scarcely re-
mains fixed on God : and it would hold itself
so as to be fixed, and somehow flees from itself,
and finds no frames in which it can enclose itself,
no bars by which it may keep in its flights and
wandering movements, and stand still to be
made glad by its God. Scarcely does one such
prayer occur amongst many. Each one might
say that this happened to him, but that it hap-
pened not to others, if we did not find in the
holy Scripture David praying in a certain place,
412
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVI.
and saying, " Since I have found my heart, O
Lord, so that I might pray unto Thee." ' He
said that he had found his heart, as if it were
wont to flee from him, and he to follow it like
a fugitive, and not be able to catch it, and to
cry to God, " For my heart hath deserted me."2
Therefore, my brethren, thinking over what he
saith here, I think I see what he meaneth
by " gracious." I seem to feel that for this
reason he calls God gracious, because He bears
with those failings of ours, and yet expects
prayer from us, in order to make us perfect :
and when we have given it to Him, He receives
it gratefully, and listens to it, and remembers
not those many prayers which we pour out un-
thinkingly, and accepts the one which we can
scarcely find. For what man is there, my breth-
ren, who, on being addressed by his friend, when
he wishes to answer his address, sees his friend
turn away from him and speak to another, who
is there who would bear this ? Or if you appeal
to a judge, and set him up to hear you, and all
at once, while you are speaking to him, pass
from him, and begin to converse with your
friend, who would endure this? Yet God en-
dures the hearts of so many persons who pray
and think of different things. . . . What then ?
Must we despair of mankind, and say that every
man is already condemned into whose prayers
any wandering thoughts have crept and inter-
rupted them? If we say this, my brethren, I
know not what hope remains. Therefore be-
cause there is some hope before God, because
His mercy is great, let us say unto Him, " For
unto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul."
And how have I lifted it up? As I could, as
Thou gavest me strength, as I could catch it
when it fled away. . . . From infirmity I sink :
heal Thou me, and I shall stand : strengthen
Thou me, and I shall be strong. But until Thou
do this, Thou bearest with me : " For Thou, Lord,
art good and gracious, and of great mercy."
That is', not only " of mercy," but " of great
mercy : " for as our iniquity abounds, so also
aboundeth Thy mercy. " Unto all that call
upon Thee." What is it then which Scripture
saith in many places : " They shall call, and
I will not hear them " ?' Yet surely Thou art
merciful to all that call upon Thee ; but that
some call, yet call not upon Him, of whom it
is said, "They have not called upon God."4
They call, but not on God. Thou callest upon
whatever thou lovest : thou callest upon what-
ever thou callest unto thyself, whatever thou
wishest to come unto thee. Therefore if thou
callest upon God for this reason, in order that
money may come unto thee, that an inheritance
may come unto thee, that worldly rank may
1 a Sam. vii. 27.
* Pi liii. 4.
2 Ps. xxxviii. 10.
J Prov. i. 28.
come unto thee, thou callest upon those things
which thou desirest may come unto thee : but
thou makest God the helper of thy desires, not
the listener to thy needs. God is good, if He
gives what thou wishest. What if thou wishest
ill, will He not then be more merciful by not
giving? Then, if He gives not, then is God
nothing to thee ; and thou sayest, How much I
have prayed, how often I have prayed, and have
not been heard ! Why, what didst thou ask ?
Perhaps that thy enemy might die. What if he
at the same time were praying for thy death?
He who created thee, created him also : thou
art a man, he too is a man ; but God is the
Judge : He hears both, and He grants their
prayer to neither. Thou art sad, because thou
wast not heard when praying against him ; be
glad, because his prayer was not heard against
thee. But thou sayest, I did not ask for this ; I
asked not for the death of my enemy, but for the
life of my child ; what ill did I ask ? Thou
askedst no ill, as thou didst think. What if "he
was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his
understanding." 5 But he was a sinner, thou say-
est, and therefore I wished him to live, that he
might be corrected. Thou wishedst him to live,
that he might become better ; what if God knew,
that if he lived he would become worse ? ... If,
therefore, thou callest on God as God, be confi-
dent thou shalt be heard : thou hast part in that
verse : " And of great mercy unto all that call
upon Thee." . . .
8. Think, brethren, and reflect what good
things God giveth unto sinners : and learn hence
what He keepeth for His own servants. To
sinners who blaspheme Him every day He giveth
the sky and the earth, He giveth springs, fruits,
health, children, wealth, abundance : all these
good things none giveth but God. He who
giveth such things to sinners, what thinkest thou
He keeps for His faithful ones? Is this to be
believed of Him, that He who giveth such things
to the bad, keepeth nothing for the good? Nay
verily He doth keep, not earth, but heaven for
them. Too common a thing perhaps I say when
I say heaven ; Himself rather, who made the
heaven. Fair is heaven, but fairer is the Maker
of heaven. But I see the heavens, Him I see
not. Because thou hast eyes to see the heavens :
a heart thou hast not yet to see the Maker of
heaven : therefore came He from heaven to
earth, to cleanse the heart, that He may be seen
who made heaven and earth. But wait thou with
full patience for salvation. By what treatment
to cure thee, He knoweth : by what cutting,
what burning, He knoweth. Thou hast brought
sickness on thyself by sinning : He comes not
only to nurse, but also to cut and to burn. Seest
s Wisd. iv. 11.
Psalm LXXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
413
thou not how much men suffer under the hands
of physicians, when a man promises them an
uncertain hope? Thou wilt be cured, says the
physician : thou wilt be cured, if I cut. It is a
man who speaks, and to a man that he speaks :
neither is he sure who speaks, nor he who hears,
for he who is speaking to the man hath not made
man, and knows not perfectly what is passing in
man : yet at the words of a man who knows not
what is passing in man, man sooner believeth,
submits his limbs, suffers himself to be bound,
often without being bound is cut or burned ; and
receives perhaps health for a few days, even when
just healed not knowing when he may die : per-
haps, while being healed, dies ; perhaps cannot
be healed. But to whom hath God promised
anything, and deceived him ?
9 " Fix my prayer in Thy ears, O Lord "
(ver. 6). Great earnestness of him who prays !
That is, let not my prayer go out of Thine ears,
fix it then in Thine ears. How did he travail
that he might fix his prayer in the ears of God?
Let God answer and say to us ; Wouldest thou
that I fix thy prayer in My ears? Fix My law
in thy heart ; " and attend to the voice of my
prayer."
1 o. " In the day of my trouble I have cried
unto Thee, for Thou hast heard me " (ver. 7). A
little before he had said, All the day have I cried,
all the day have I been troubled. Let no Chris-
tian then say that there is any day in which he is
not troubled. By " all the day " we have under-
stood the whole of time. What then, is there
trouble even when it is well with us? Even
so, trouble. How is there trouble ? Because " as
long as we are in the body we are absent from
the Lord." ' Let what will abound here, we are
not yet in that country whither we are hastening
to return. He to whom foreign travel is sweet,
loveth not his country : if his country is sweet,
travel is bitter ; if travel is bitter, all the day
there is trouble. When is there not trouble?
When there is joy in one's country. " At Thy
right hand are delights for evermore." 2 " Thou
shalt fill me with joy," he saith, " with Thy coun-
tenance : that I may see the delight of the
Lord." 3 There toil and groaning shall pass
away : there shall be not prayer but praise ;
there Alleluia, there Amen, the voice in concord
with Angels ; there vision without failing and
love without weariness. So long therefore as we
are not there, ye see that we are not in that
which is good. But do all things abound ? If
all things abound, see if thou art assured that all
things perish not. But I have what I had not :
more money is come to me which I had not
before. Perhaps more fear too is come, which
thou hadst not before : perhaps thou wast so much
x a Cor. v. 6.
2 Ps. xvi. 11.
3 Ps. xxvii. 4.
the more secure as thou wast the poorer. In
fine, be it that thou hast wealth, that thou hast
redundance of this world's affluence, that thou
hast assurance given thee that all this shall
not perish ; besides this, that God say unto
thee, Thou shalt remain for ever in these things,
they shall be for ever with thee, but My face
thou shalt not see. Let none ask counsel of the
flesh : ask ye counsel of the Spirit : let your
heart answer you ; let hope, faith, charity, which
has begun to be in you, answer. If then we
were to receive assurance that we should always
be in affluence of worldly goods, and if God
were to say to us, My face ye shall not see,
would ye rejoice in these goods? Some one
might perhaps choose to rejoice, and say, These
things abound unto me, it is well with me, I ask
no more. He hath not yet begun to be a lover
of God : he hath not yet begun to sigh like one
far from home. Far be it, far be it from us : let
them retire, all those seductions : let them
retire, those false blandishments : let them be
gone, those words which they say daily unto us,
"Where is thy God?" Let us pour out our
soul 4 over us,5 let us confess in tears, let us groan
in confession, let us sigh in misery. Whatever
is present with us. besides our God, is not sweet :
we would not have all things that He hath given,
if He gives not Himself who gave all things.
11. " Among the gods there is none like unto
Thee, O Lord" (ver. 8). What did he say?
" Among the gods," etc. Let the Pagans make
for themselves what gods they will ; let them
bring workmen in silver and in gold, furbishers,
sculptors ; let them make gods. What kind of
gods ? Having eyes, and seeing not ; 6 and the
other things which the Psalm mentions in what
follows. But we do not worship these, he says ;
we do not worship them, these are symbols.
What then do ye worship ? Something else that
is worse : for the gods of the gentiles are devils.
What then? Neither, say they, do we worship
devils. Ye have certainly nothing else in your
temples, nothing else inspires your prophets than
a devil. ' But what do ye say? We worship
Angels, we have Angels as gods. Ye know not
altogether what Angels are. Angels worship the
one God, and favour not men who wish to wor-
ship Angels and not God. For we find Angels
of high rank 8 forbidding men to adore them,
and commanding them to adore the true ■•God.9
But when they say Angels, suppose they mean
men, since it is said, " I have said, Ye are Gods,
and all the children of the Most Highest."10
Whatever " man thinks to the contrary, that
which was made is not like Him who made
it. Except God, whatever else there is in the
* Ps. xlii. 3, 4.
7 Ps. xcvi. 5.
10 Ps. lxxxii. 6.
5 Super tiffs.
8 Honoratos.
» Quodlibtt alittd.
6 Ps. cxv. 5.
9 Rev. xix. 10.
414
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVI.
universe was made by God. What a difference
there is between Him who made, and that
which was made, who can worthily imagine?
Therefore this man said, " there is none like
unto Thee, O Lord : there is not one that can
do as thou doest." But how much God is
unlike them he said not, because it cannot be
said. Let your Charity attend : God is ineff-
able : we more easily say what He is not than
what He is. Thou thinkest of the earth ; this is
not God : thou thinkest of the sea ; this is not
God : of all things which are in the earth, men
and animals ; this is not God : of all things
which are in the sea, which fly through the air ;
this is not God : whatever shines in the sky,
the stars, sun and moon ; this is not God :
the heaven itself; this is not God : think of the
Angels, Virtues, Powers, Archangels, Thrones,
Seats, Principalities ; this is not God. What is
He then ? I could only tell thee, what He is not.
Askest thou what He is? What " the eye hath
not seen, nor the ear heard, nor hath risen up
into the heart of man." "...
12. "All nations that Thou hast made shall
come and worship before Thee, O Lord " (ver.
9). He has announced the Church: "All na-
tions." If there is any nation which God hath
not made, it will not worship Him : but there is
no nation which God hath not made ; because
God made Adam and Eve, the source of all
nations, thence all nations sprang. All nations
therefore hath God made. When was this said ?
When before Him there worshipped none but a
few holy men in one people of the Hebrews, then
this was said : and see now what it is which was
said : " All nations that Thou hast made," etc.
When these things were spoken, they were not
seen, and they were believed : now that they are
seen, why are they denied ? " All nations that
Thou hast made shall come and worship before
Thee, O Lord, and shall glorify Thy Name."
13. " For Thou art great, and doing wondrous
things : Thou alone art the great God " (ver.
10). Let no man call himself great. Some
were to be who would call themselves great :
against these it is said, "Thou alone art the
great God." For what great thing is ascribed
to God, when it is said that He alone is the great
God? Who knows not that He is the great
God ? But because there were to be some who
would call themselves great and make God little,
against these it is said, " Thou alone art the great
God." For what Thou sayest is fulfilled, not
what those say who call themselves great. What
hath God said by His Spirit? "All nations."
What saith he, whoever he is, who calleth him-
self great ? " Far from it : God is not worshipped
in all nations : all nations have perished, Africa
1 1 Cor. ii. 9.
alone remains." This thou sayest, who callest
thyself great :2 another thing He saith who alone
is the great God. What saith He, who alone is
the great God? "All nations." I see what the
only great God hath said : let man be silent,
who is falsely great ; great only in appearance,
because he disdains to be small. Who disdains
to be small ? He who saith this. Whoever will
be great among you, said the Lord, shall be your
servant.3 If that man had wished to be the ser-
vant of his brethren, he would not have separ-
ated them from their mother : but when he
wishes to be great, and wishes not to be .small,
as would be for his welfare, God, who resisteth
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble,4 be-
cause He alone is great, fulfilleth all things which
He predicted, and contradicteth those who blas-
pheme. For such persons blaspheme against
Christ, who say that the Church has perished
from the whole world, and is left only in Africa.
If thou wert to say to him, Thou wilt lose thy
villa, he would perhaps scarcely keep from laying
his hand upon thee : and yet he says, that Christ
has lost His inheritance, redeemed by His own
Blood ! See now what a wrong he does, my
brethren. The Scripture says, " In a wide nation
is the king's honour ; but in the domination of
the people is the affliction 5 of a prince." 6 This
wrong then thou dost unto Christ, to say that
His people is diminished to that small number.
Was it for this thou wast born, for this thou
callest thyself a Christian, that thou mayest
grudge Christ His glory, whose sign thou sayest
that thou bearest on thy forehead, and hast lost
out of thy heart? In a wide nation is the king's
honour : acknowledge thy King : give Him glory,
give Him a wide nation. What wide nation shall
I give Him, dost thou say? Choose not to give
Him from thy own heart, and thou wilt give
aright. Whence am I to give? thou wilt say.
Lo, give from hence : " All nations that Thou
hast made shall come and worship before Thee,
O Lord." Say this, confess this, and thou hast
given a wide nation : for all nations in One are
one : this is very oneness. For as there is a
Church and Churches, and those are Churches
which also are a Church, so that is a nation which
was nations : formerly nations, many nations, now
one nation. Why one nation ? Because one faith,
one hope, one charity, one expectation. Lastly,
why not one nation, if one country ? Our country
is heavenly, our country is Jerusalem : whoever
is not a citizen of it, belongs not to that nation :
but whoever is a citizen of it is in that one nation
of God. And this nation, from the east to the
west, from the north and the sea, is extended
through the four quarters of the whole world.
This God saith : From the east and west, from
* The Donatist.
* Contritio,
3 Matt. xx. 26.
6 Prov. xiv. 28.
< Jas. iv. 6.
Psalm LXXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
415
the north and the sea, give glory to God. This
He foretold, this He fulfilled, who alone is great.
Let him therefore who would not be little cease
from saying this against Him who alone is great :
for there cannot be two great, God and Donatus."
14. " Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I
will walk in Thy truth" (ver. 11). Thy way,
Thy truth, Thy life, is Christ. Therefore belong-
eth the Body to Him, and the Body is of Him.
I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.2
" Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way." In what way ?
" And I will walk in Thy truth." It is one thing
to lead to the way, another to guide in the way.
Behold man everywhere poor, everywhere in
need of help. Those who are beside the way are
not Christians, or not yet Catholics : let them
be guided to the way : but when they have been
brought to the way and made Catholics in Christ,
they must be guided by Him in the way itself,
lest they fall.3 Now assuredly they walk in the
way. " Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way : " surely
I am now in Thy way, lead me there. " And I
will walk in Thy truth : " while Thou leadest
I shall not err : if Thou let me go, I shall err.
Pray then that He let thee not go, but lead thee
even to the end. How doth He lead thee ? By
always admonishing, always giving thee His hand.
And the arm of the Lord, to whom is it revealed ?4
For in giving His Christ He giveth His hand :
in giving His hand, He giveth His Christ. He
leadeth to the way, in leading to His Christ :
He leadeth in the way, by leading in His
Christ, and Christ is truth. " Lead me," there-
fore, " O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in
Thy truth : " in Him verily who said, " I am the
Way, and the Truth, and the Life." 2 For Thou
who leadest in the way and the truth, whither
leadest Thou, but unto life ? In Him then, unto
Him Thou leadest.
15. "Let my heart be made glad, so that it
may fear Thy name." There is then fear in
gladness. How can there be gladness, if fear?
Is not fear wont to be painful? There will here-
after be gladness without fear, now gladness with
fear ; for not yet is there perfect security, nor
perfect gladness. If there is no gladness, we
faint : if full security, we rejoice wrongly. There-
fore may He both sprinkle on us gladness, and
strike fear into us, that by the sweetness of glad-
ness He may lead us to the abode of security ;
by giving us fear, may cause us not to rejoice
wrongly, and to withdraw from the way. There-
fore saith the Psalm : " Serve the Lord in fear,
and rejoice unto Him with trembling : " s so also
saith the Apostle Paul ; " Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is God
1 (He made his little sect the whole Catholic Church. So now
the Roman communion claims to be the whole Catholic communion,
cutting itself off even from the Easterns. — C.l
2 John xiv. 6. 3 [See Acts xvui. 26. — C]
* Isa. hii. 1. 3 Ps. ii. 11.
that worketh in you." 6 Whatever prosperity
comes then, my brethren, is rather to be feared :
those things which ye think to be prosperous,
are rather temptations. An inheritance cometh,
there cometh wealth, there is an abundant over-
flow of some happiness : these are temptations :
take care that they corrupt you not. Whatever
prosperity also there is according to Christ, and
the true love of Christ : if perhaps thou hast
gained thy wife, who was of the party of Donatus :
if thy sons have been made believers who were
Pagans : if perhaps thou hast gained thy friend
who wished to draw thee away to the theatres,
and thou hast drawn him to the church : if some
hostile opponent of thine who was furiously mad
against thee, laying aside his fury, has become
gentle, and owned God, and now barks at thee
no more, but cries with thee against wickedness :
these things are pleasant. For what do we re-
joice for, if we do not rejoice for these things?
Or what other are our joys, but these? But
because tribulations also abound, and tempta-
tions, and dissensions, and schisms, and other
evils/ without which this world cannot be, until
iniquity pass away : let not that rejoicing make
us secure, but let our heart be so made glad, as
to fear the name of the Lord, lest it be made
glad on one side, be stricken on another. Expect
not security in journeying : if ever we wish for
it here, it will be the birdlime of the body,8 not
the safety of the man. " Let my heart be made
glad, so that it may fear Thy name."
16. "I will confess unto Thee, O Lord my
God, in my whole heart, and I will glorify Thy
name for ever" (ver. 12) : "for great is Thy
mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my
soul from the nethermost hell" (ver. 13). Do
not be angry, brethren, if I do not explain what
I have said as though I were certain. For I am
a man, and as much as is granted to me con-
cerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture
to speak : nothing of myself. Hades 9 I have
not yet seen, nor have you : and there will be
perhaps another way for us, and not through
Hades. These things are uncertain. But be-
cause Scripture, which cannot be gainsaid, says,
" Thou hast delivered my soul from the nether-
most hell," we understand that there are as it
were two hells, an upper one and a lower one :
for how can there be a lower hell, unless because
there is also an upper? The one would "not be
called lower, except by comparison with that
upper part. It appears then, my brethren, that
there is some heavenly abode of Angels : there
is there a life of ineffable joys, there immortality
and incorruption, there all tilings abiding accord-
6 Philip, ii. 12, 13. 7 Oxf. mss. "other such evils."
8 Al. *' of the heart."
9 [nfernum: used, as our word " hell " in the Apostles' Creed,
for the place of departed spirits. [Note he has no dogma on this
point, but speaks of his views as uncertain. — C.J
416
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVI.
ing to the gift and grace of God. That part of
the creation is above. If then that is above,
but this earthly part, where is flesh and blood,
where is corruptibleness, where is nativity and
mortality, departure and succession, changeable-
ness and inconstancy, where are fears, desires,
horrors, uncertain joys, frail hope, perishable
existence ; I suppose that all this part cannot
be compared with that heaven of which I was
just now speaking ; if then this part cannot be
compared with that, the one is above, the other
below. And whither do we go after death, unless
there is a depth deeper than this depth ' in which
we are in the flesh and in this mortal state ? For
" the body is dead," saith the Apostle, " because
of sin." * Therefore even here are the dead ;
that thou mayest not wonder because it is called
infernum, if it abounds with the dead. For he
saith not, the body is about to die : but, " the
body is dead." Even now surely our body hath
life : and yet compared with that body which is
to be like the bodies of Angels, the body of man
is found to be dead, although still having life.
But again, from this infernum, that is from this
part of Hades, there is another lower, whither
the dead go : from whence God would rescue
our souls, even sending thither His own Son.
For it was on account of these two hells, my
brethren, that the Son of God was sent, on all
sides setting free. To this hell he was sent by
being born, to that by dying. Therefore it is
His voice in that Psalm, not according to any
man's conjecture, but an Apostle explaining,
when he saith, " For Thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell." 3 Therefore it is here also either
His voice, " Thou hast delivered my soul from
the nethermost hell : " or our voice by the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself: for on this account He
came even unto hell, that we might not remain
in hell.
17. I will mention another opinion also. For
perhaps even in hell itself there is some lower
part where are thrust the ungodly who have
sinned most.4 For whether in hell there were
not some places where Abraham was, we cannot
define sufficiently. For not yet had the Lord
come to hell that He might rescue from thence
the souls of all the saints who had gone before,5
and yet Abraham was there in repose.6 And a
certain rich man when he was in torments in
hell, when he saw Abraham, lifted up his eyes.
He could not have seen him by lifting up his
eyes, unless the one was above, the other below.
And what did Abraham answer unto him, when
he said, " send Lazarus." " My son," he said,
" remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst
• Infernum in/trius hoc inferno. Lit. " a hell than this hell."
3 Rom. viii. 10.
1 Pi. xvi. 10. « So St. Gregory on Job 1. xii. § 14.
> St. Gregory on Job, 1. xiii. § j 48, 49. ' Luke xvi. 21.
thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things :
but now he is at rest, but thou art tormented.
And besides this," he said, " between us and you
there is a great gulf fixed, so that neither can we
go to you, nor can any one come from thence
to us." 7 Therefore between these two hells, per-
haps, in one of which the souls of the just have
gotten rest, in the other the souls of the ungodly
are tormented, one waiting and praying here,
placed here in the body of Christ, and praying
in the voice of Christ, said that God had de-
livered his soul from the nethermost hell, because
He delivered him from such sins as might have
been the means of drawing him down to the
torments of the nethermost hell. . . . Some one
having a troublesome cause was to be sent to
prison : another comes and defends him ; what
does he say when he thanks him ? Thou hast
delivered my soul out of prison. A debtor was
to be hanged up : 8 his debt is paid ; he is said
to be delivered from being hanged up. They
were not in all these evils : but because they
were in such due course towards them,9 that
unless aid had been brought, they would have
been in them, they rightly say that they are de-
livered from thence, whither they were not suf-
fered by their deliverers to be taken. Therefore,
brethren, whether it be this or that, consider me
to be herein an inquirer into the word of God,
not a rash assertor.10
18. " O God, the transgressors of the law have
arisen up against me " (ver. 14). Whom calleth
he transgressors of the law? Not the Pagans,
who have not received the law : for no one
transgresseth that which he hath not received ;
the Apostle saith clearly, " For where there is
no law, there is no prevarication." " Transgress-
ors of the law he calls " prevaricators." Whom
then do we understand, brethren? If we take
this word from our Lord Himself, the trans-
gressors of the law were the Jews. . . . They did
not keep the law, and accused Christ as if He
transgressed the law. And we know what the
Lord suffered. Thinkest thou His Body suffers
no such thing now? How can this be? "If
they called the Master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more those of his household? The
disciple is not above his master, nor the servant
above his lord." '2 The body also suffereth
transgressors of the law, and they rise up against
the Body of Christ. Who are the transgressors
of the law? Do the Jews perchance dare to
rise up against Christ ? No : for it is not they
that cause us much trouble. For they have not
7 Luke xvi. 94-26.
• Suspendendus. The word is used of the preparation for tor-
lure, as in the gesta Proconsularia in the case of Felix of Aptungis,
Opp. S. Aug t. ix Appendix, when Ingentius, the forger, was to be
threatened with torture, Proconsul dixit, Suspendatur.
9 Quia talibus meritis agebaniur.
IO TNote his caution and great humility. — C]
" Rom. iv. 15. " Matt. x. 25, 24.
Psalm LXXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
417
yet believed : they have not yet owned their
salvation. Against the Body of Christ bad
Christians rise up, from whom the Body of
Christ daily suffereth trouble. All schisms, all
heresies, all within who live wickedly and en-
graft their own character on those who live well,
and draw them over to their own side, and with
evil communications corrupt good manners ;
these persons " transgressing the law rose up
against Me." ' Let every pious soul speak, let
every Christian soul speak. That one which
suffers not this, let it not speak. But if it is
a Christian soul, it knows that it suffers evils : if
it owns in itself its own sufferings, let it own
herein its own voice ; but if it is without suffer-
ing, let it 2 also be without the voice ; but that
it may not be without suffering, let it walk along
the narrow way,' and begin to live godly in Christ :
it must of necessity suffer this persecution. For
" all," saith the Apostle, " who will live godly in
Christ, suffer persecution." 4
" And the synagogue of the powerful have
sought after My soul." The synagogue of the
powerful is the congregation of the proud. The
synagogue of the powerful rose up against
the Head, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, crying
and saying with one mouth, Crucify Him, crucify
Him : 5 of whom it is said, " The sons of men,
their teeth are spears and arrows, and their
tongue a sharp sword." 6 They did not strike,
but cried : by crying they struck, by crying they
crucified Him. The will of those who cried
was fulfilled, when the Lord was crucified : ' And
they did not place Thee before their eyes."
How did they not place Him before them?
They did not know Him God. They should
have spared him as Man : what they saw, accord-
ing to this they should have walked. Suppose
that He was not God, He was man : was He
therefore to be slain? Spare Him a man, and
own Him God.
19. "And Thou, Lord God, art One who
hast compassion and merciful, longsuffering, and
very pitiful, and true" (ver. 15). Wherefore
longsuffering and very pitiful, and One who
hast compassion? Because hanging on the
Cross He said : " Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." 7 Whom prayeth He
to? for whom doth He pray? Who prayeth?
Where prayeth He? The Son prays to the
Father, crucified for the ungodly, in the midst
of very insults, not of words but of death
inflicted, hanging on the Cross; as if for this
He had His hands stretched out, that thus He
might pray for them, that His " prayer might
be directed like incense in the sight of the
1 1 Cor. xv. 33.
3 Matt. vii. 14.
« Ps. Ivii. 4.
7 Luke xxiii 34.
2 Oxf mss. " it must needs."
* a Tim. iii. is. 5 John xix. 6.
Father, and the lifting up of His hands like an
evening sacrifice." 8
20. If therefore Thou art " true," " Look upon
me, and have mercy upon me : give power unto
Thy servant." Because Thou art " true," " give
power unto Thy servant" (ver. 16). Let the
time of patience pass away, the time of judgment
come. How, " give power " ? The Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg-
ment unto the Son.' He rising again will come
even to earth Himself to judge : He will appear
terrible who appeared despicable. He will show
His power, who showed His patience ; on the
Cross was patience ; in the judgment will be
power. For He will appear as Man judging,
but in glory : because " as ye saw Him go,"
said the Angels, " so He will come." '° His very
form shall come to judgment; therefore the
ungodly also shall see Him : for they shall not
see the form of God. For blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God." ... In the
vision of the Father there is also the vision of
the Son : and in the vision of the Son there is
also the vision of the Father. Therefore He
adds a consequence, and says : " Know ye not
that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me ?" ,J
that is, both in Me seen the Father is seen, and
in the Father seen the Son too is seen. The
vision of the Father and the Son cannot be
separated : where nature and substance is not
separated, there vision cannot be separated. For
that ye may know that the heart ought to be
made ready for that place, to see the Divinity
of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, in which
though not seen we believe, and by believing
cleanse the heart that there may be able to be
sight : the Lord Himself saith in another place,
" He that hath My commands and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth Me : and he that loveth Me
shall be loved by My Father: and I will love
him, and will manifest Myself unto him." '3 Did
they not see Him, with whom He was talking?
They both saw Him, and did not see Him? they
saw something, they believed something : they
saw Man, they believed in God. But in the
Judgment they shall see the same Lord Jesus
Christ as Man, together with the wicked : after
the Judgment, they shall see God, apart from the
wicked.
21. " And save the Son of Thine handmaid."
The Lord is the Son of the handmaid. Of what
handmaid? Her who when He was announced
as about to be born of her, answered and said,
" Behold the handmaid of the Lord : be it unto
me according to Thy word." '•* He saved the
Son of His handmaid, and His own Son : His
own Son, in the Form of God ; 's the Son of
8 Ps. cxli. a.
" Matt. v. 8.
'« Luke i. 38.
9 John v. as.
12 John xiv. 10.
" Philip, i. 6.
■° Acts i. 11.
13 John xiv. 21.
4i8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVI.
His handmaid in the form of a servant. Of the
handmaid of God, therefore, the Lord was born
in the form of a servant ; and He said, " Save
the Son of Thine handmaid." And He was
saved from death, as ye know, His flesh, which
was dead, being raised again. . . . And each
several Christian placed in the Body of Christ
may say, " Save the Son of Thine handmaid."
Perhaps he cannot say, " Give power unto Thy
servant : " because it was He, the Son, who
received power. Yet wherefore saith He not
this also ? Was it not said to servants, " Ye
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel " ? ' and the servants say, " Know
ye not that we shall judge Angels?"2 Each
one therefore of the saints receiveth also power,
and each several saint is the son of His hand-
maid. What if he is born of a pagan mother,
and has become a Christian? How can the son
of a pagan be the son of His handmaid : He is
indeed the son of a pagan mother after the flesh,
but the son of the Church after the Spirit.
22. "Show me a sign for good" (ver. 17).
What sign, but that of the Resurrection ? The
Lord says : " This wicked and provoking gen-
eration seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no
sign be given it, but the sign of the Prophet
Jonah." 3 Therefore in our Head a sign has
been shown already for good ; each one of us
also may say, " Show me a sign for good : " be-
cause at the last trumpet, at the coming of the
Lord, both " the dead shall be raised incorrupt-
ible, and we shall be changed." 4 This will be a
sign for good. " That they who hate me may
see it, and be ashamed." In the judgment they
shall be ashamed unto their destruction, who will
not now be ashamed unto their healing. Now
therefore let them be ashamed : let them accuse
their own ways, let them keep the good way :
because none of us liveth without being ashamed,
unless he first be ashamed and live anew. Now
God grants them the approach of a healthy
shame, if they despise not the medicine of con-
fession : but if they will not now be ashamed,
then they shall be ashamed, when " their iniqui-
ties shall convince them to their face." 5 How
shall they be ashamed? When they shall say,
"These are they whom we had sometimes in
derision, and a parable of reproach. We fools
counted their life madness : how are they num-
bered among the children of God ! What hath
pride profited us ? " 6 Then shall they say this :
let them say it now, and they say it to their health.
For let each one turn humbly to God, and now
say, What hath my pride profited me? and hear
from the Apostle, " For what glory had ye in
those things of which ye are now ashamed? " '
Ye see that there is even now a wholesome
shame while there is a place of penitence : but
then one which will be late, useless, fruitless. . . .
2.3. " For Thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and
comforted me." " Hast holpen me," in strug-
gle ; " and comforted me," in sorrow. For no
one seeketh comfort, but he who is in misery.
Would ye not be consoled? Say that ye are
happy, and ye hear, " My people " (now ye an-
swer, and I hear a murmur, as of persons who
remember the Scriptures.8 May God, who hath
written this in your hearts, confirm it in your
deeds. Ye see, brethren, that those who say
unto you, Ye are happy, seduce you), " O My
people, they that call you happy cause you to
err, and disturb the way of your feet." 9 So also
from the Epistle of the Apostle James : " Be
afflicted, and mourn : let your laughter be turned
to mourning." IO Ye see what ye have heard
read : when would such things be said unto us
in the land of security ? This surely is the land
of offences, and temptations, and of all evils, that
we may groan here, and deserve to rejoice there ;
here to be troubled, and there to be comforted,
and to say, " For Thou hast delivered mine eyes
from tears, my feet from falling : I will please
the Lord in the land of the living." " This is the
land of the dead. The land of the dead passeth,
the land of the living cometh. In the land of
the dead is labour, grief, fear, tribulation, temp-
tation, groaning, sighing : here are false happy
ones, true unhappy, because happiness is false,
misery is true. But he that owneth himself to
be in true misery, will also be in true happiness :
and yet now because thou art miserable, hear the
Lord saying, " Blessed are they that mourn." ,a
O blessed they that mourn ! Nothing is so akin
to misery as mourning : nothing so remote and
contrary to misery as blessedness : Thou speakest
of those who mourn, and Thou callest them
blessed ! Understand, He saith, what I say : I
call those who mourn blessed. Wherefore
blessed? In hope. Wherefore mourning? In
act. For they mourn in this death, in these
tribulations, in their wandering : and because
they own themselves to be in this misery, and
mourn, they are blessed. Wherefore do they
mourn ? The blessed Cyprian was put to sorrow
in his passion : now he is comforted with his
crown ; now though comforted, he was sad. For
our Lord Jesus Christ still intercedeth for us : all
the Martyrs who are with Him intercede for us.
Their intercessions pass not away, except when
our mourning is passed away : but when our
mourning shall have passed away, we all with
1 Matt. xix. 38. 2 1 Cor. vi. 3.
3 Matt. xii. 39 * 1 Cor* xv. 5a.
5 Wisd. iv. 20, deducent eos. LXX. «Acv{«t.
* Wild. v. 3-5. 8.
7 Rom. vi. 2i.
8 [A striking note of the manner of ancient congregations. — C]
9 Isa. iii. 12, Lat. and F.. V. margin.
10 Jaj. iv. 9. " Ps. cxvi. 8, 9. li Matt. v. 4.
Psalm LXXXVII.l
ON THE PSALMS.
419
one voice, in one people, in one country, shall
receive comfort, thousands of thousands joined
with Angels playing upon harps, with choirs of
heavenly powers living in one city. Who mourn-
eth there? Who there sigheth? Who there
toileth ? Who there needeth ? Who dieth there ?
Who there showeth mercy ? Who breaketh bread
to the hungry there, where all are satisfied with
the bread of righteousness? No one saith unto
thee, Receive a stranger ; there no one will
be a stranger to thee : all live in their own
country. No one saith unto thee, Set at one
thy friends disputing ; in everlasting peace they
enjoy the Face of God. No one saith unto
thee, Visit the sick ; health and immortality
abide for ever. No one saith unto thee,
Bury the dead ; all shall be in everlasting life.
Works of mercy stop, because misery is found
not. And what shall we do there? Shall we
perhaps sleep? If now we fight against our-
selves, although we carry about a house of sleep,
this flesh of ours, and keep watch with these lights,
and this solemn feast gives us a mind to watch ;
what wakefulness shall that day give unto us !
Therefore we shall be awake, we shall not sleep.
What shall we do ? ' There will be no works of
mercy, because there will be no misery. Per-
haps there will be these necessary works which
there are here now, of sowing, ploughing, cook-
ing, grinding, weaving ? None of these, for there
will be no want. Thus there will be no works
of mercy, because misery is past away : where
there is no want nor misery, there will be neither
works of necessity nor of mercy. What will be
there? What business shall we have? What
action? Will there be no action, because there
is rest ? Shall we sit there, and be torpid, and
do nothing? If our love grow cold, our action
will grow cold. How then will that love resting
in the face of God, for whom we now long, for
whom we sigh, how will it inflame us, when we
shall have come to Him ? He for whom while
as yet we see Him not, we so sigh, how will He
enlighten us, when we shall have come to .Him?
How will He change us? What will He make
of us ? What then shall we do, brethren ? Let
the Psalm tell us : " Blessed are they who dwell
in Thy house." Why? "They shall praise
Thee for ever and ever." 2 This will be our
employment, praise of God. Thou lovest and
praisest. Thou wilt cease to praise, if thou cease
to love. But thou wilt not cease to love, be-
cause He whom thou seest is such an One as
offends thee not by any weariness : He both
satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not. What I say
is wonderful. If I say that He satisfies thee, I
am afraid lest as though satisfied thou shouldest
wish to depart, as from a dinner or from a sup-
1 [See Ps. lxxxiv. p. 402, supra. — C] 2 Ps. lxxxiv. 4.
per. What then do I say? doth He not satisfy
thee? I am afraid again, that if I say, He doth
not satisfy thee, thou shouldest seem to be in
want : and shouldest be as it were empty, and
there should be in thee some void which ought
to be filled. What then shall I say, except what
can be said, but can hardly be thought? He
both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not : for I
find both in Scripture. For while He said,
" Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be
filled;"3 it is again said of Wisdom, "Those
who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who
drink shall thirst again." 4 Nay, but He did not
say " again," but he said, " still : " for " shall
thirst again " is as if once having been filled he
departed and digested, and returned to drink.
So it is, " Those who eat Thee shall still hunger : '
thus when they eat they hunger : and those who
drink Thee, even thus when drinking, thirst.
What is it, to thirst in drinking? Never to grow
weary. If then there shall be that ineffable and
eternal sweetness, what doth He now seek of us,
brethren, but faith unfeigned, firm hope, pure
charity? and man may walk in the way which
the Lord hath given, may bear troubles, and
receive consolations.
PSALM LXXXVII.s
1. The Psalm which has just been sung is
short, if we look to the number of its words, but
of deep interest in its thoughts.6 . . . The sub-
ject of song and praise in that Psalm is a city,
whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians :
whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal :
whither we are tending : through whose ap-
proaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and
thorns that entangle them, the Sovereign of the
city made Himself a path 1 for us to reach it.
Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we
arrive, and sighing as we long for a certain inef-
fable repose that dwells within that city, a repose
of which it is promised, that " the eye of man
hath never seen " such, "nor ear heard, nor hath
it entered into his heart to conceive;" let us
chant the song of a longing heart : for he who
truly longs, thus sings within his soul, though his
tongue be silent : he who does not, however he
may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God.
See what ardent lovers of that city were they by
whom these words were composed, by whom
they have been handed down to us ; with how
deep a feeling were they sung by those ! A feel-
ing that the love of that city created in them :
that love the Spirit of God inspired ; " the love
3 Matt. v. 6. * Ecclus. xxiv. at.
5 Lat. LXXXVI. A discourse to the people, perhaps at Car-
thage, delivered the day after that on the preceding Psalm, See § 8.
6 [For his discourse he pleads the command of a brother. — C]
Perhaps Aurelius, bishop of Carthage. — Ben.
1 St fecit viam.
420
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVII.
of God," he saith, " shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."
Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to
what is said of that city.
2. " Her foundations are upon the holy hills "
(ver. i). The Psalm had as yet said nothing
of the city : it begins thus, and says, " Her
foundations are upon the holy hills." Whose?
There can be no doubt that foundations, espe-
cially among the hills, belong to some city.
Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many
thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if
after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts
out, " Her foundations are upon the holy hills ; "
as if he had already said something concerning
it. And how could he have said nothing on a
subject, respecting which in his heart he had
never been silent? For how could " her foun-
dations " have been written, of which nothing
had been said before ? But, as I said, after long
and silent travailing in contemplation of that
city in his mind, crying to God, he bursts out
into the ears of men thus : " Her foundations are
upon the holy hills." And, supposing persons
who heard to enquire of what city he spoke
he adds, " the Lord loveth the gates of
Sion." Behold, then, a city whose foundations
are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion, whose
gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, " above all
the dwellings of Jacob." But what doth this
mean, " her foundations on the holy hills " ?
What are the holy hills upon which this city is
built ? Another citizen tells us this more expli-
citly, the Apostle Paul : of this was the Prophet
a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen : and they
spoke to exhort the other citizens. But how
are these, I mean the Prophets and Apostles,
citizens? Perhaps in this sense; that they are
themselves the hills, upon which are the founda-
tions of this city, whose gates the Lord loveth.
Let then another citizen state this clearly, that
I may not seem to guess. Speaking to the
Gentiles, and telling them how they were re-
turning, and being, as it were, framed together
into the holy structure, " built," he says, " upon
the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets : "
and because neither the Apostles nor Prophets,
upon whom the foundations of that city rest, could
stand by their own power, he adds, " Jesus Christ
Himself being the head corner stone." ' That
the Gentiles, therefore, might not think they had
no relation to Sion : for Sion was a certain
city of this world, which bore a typical re-
semblance as a shadow to that Sion of which
he presently speaketh, that Heavenly Jerusalem,
of which the Apostle saith, " which is the mother
of us all ; " 2 they might not be said to bear no
relation to Sion, on the ground that they did
1 Eph. u. 20.
■ Gal. iv. 26.
3 Eph. ii. 19, 20.
not belong to the Jewish people, he addresses
them thus : " Now therefore ye are no more
strangers arid foreigners, but fellow citizens with
the saints, and of the household of God, and
are built upon the foundation of the Apostles
and Prophets." 3 Thou seest the structure of
so great a city : yet whereon does all that edi-
fice repose, where does it rest, that it may never
fall? "Jesus Christ Himself," he saith, "being
the head corner stone."
3. . . . But that ye may know that Christ is
at once the earliest and the highest foundation,
the Apostle saith, "Other foundation can no
man lay than is laid, which is Christ Jesus." ♦
How, then, are the Prophets and Apostles foun-
dations, and yet Christ so, than whom nothing
can be higher? How, think you, save that as
He is openly styled, Saint of saints, so figura-
tively Foundation of foundations ? Thus if thou
art thinking of mysteries, Christ is the Saint of
saints : if of a subject flock, the Shepherd
of shepherds : if of a structure, the Pillar of
pillars. In material edifices, the same stone
cannot be above and below : if at the bottom,
it cannot be at the top : and vice versd : for
almost all bodies are liable to limitations in
space : nor can they be everywhere or for ever ;
but as the Godhead is in every place, from
every place symbols may be taken for It ; and
not being any of these things in external prop-
erties, It can be everything in figure. Is Christ
a door, in the same sense as the doors we see
made by carpenters ? Surely not ; and yet He
said, " I am the door." Or a shepherd, in the
same capacity as those who guard sheep ? though
He said, " I am the Shepherd." Both these
names occur in the same passage : in the Gos-
pel, He said, that the shepherd enters by the
door : the words are, " I am the good Shep-
herd ; " and in the same passage, " I am the
door : " s and who is the shepherd who enters
by the door? "I am the good Shepherd:"
and what is the door by which Thou, Good
Shepherd, enterest? How then art Thou all
things? In the sense in which everything is
through Me. To explain : when Paul enters
by the door, does not Christ ? Wherefore ? Not
because Paul is Christ : but since Christ is in
Paul : and Paul acts through Christ. The Apos-
tle says, " Do ye seek a proof of Christ speak-
ing in me?"6 When His saints and faithful
disciples enter by the door, does not Christ en-
ter by the door ? How are we to prove this ?
Since Saul, not yet called Paul, was persecut-
ing those very saints, when He called to him
from Heaven, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
Me ? " 7 Himself then is the foundation, and
corner stone : rising from the bottom : if indeed
i 1 Cor. iii. 11.
' Acts Is, 4.
* John x. 11, 9.
6 2 Cor. xiii. 3.
Psalm LXXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
421
from the bottom : for the base of this founda-
tion is the highest exaltation of the building :
and as the support of bodily fabrics rests upon
the ground, that of spiritual structures reposes
on high. Were we building up ourselves upon
the earth, we should lay our foundation on the
lowest level : but since our edifice is a heavenly
one, to Heaven our Foundation has gone be-
fore us : so that our Saviour, the corner stone,
the Apostles, and mighty Prophets, the hills
that bear the fabric of the city, constitute a
sort of living structure. This building now cries
from your hearts ; that you may be built up
into its fabric, the hand of God, as of an artif-
icer, worketh even through my tongue. Nor
was it without a meaning that Noah's ark was
made of " square beams," ' which were typical
of the form of the Church. For what is it to
be made square? Listen to the resemblance
of the squared stone : like qualities should the
Christian have : for in all his trials he never
falls : though pushed, and, as it were, turned
over, he falls not : and thus too, whichever way
a square stone is turned, it stands erect. . . .
In earthly cities, one thing is the structure of
buildings : another thing are the citizens that
dwell therein : that city is builded of its own
inmates, who are themselves the blocks that
form the city, for the very stones are living :
"Ye also," says the Apostle, "as living stones,
are built up a spiritual house,2 words that are
addressed to ourselves. Let us then pursue the
contemplation of that city.
4. " The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more
than all the dwellings of Jacob " (ver. 2). I have
made the foregoing remarks, that ye may not im-
agine the gates are one thing, the foundations
another. Why are the Apostles and Prophets
foundations? Because their authority is the
support of our weakness. Why are they gates ?
because through them we enter the kingdom
of God : for they proclaim it to us : and while
we enter by their means, we enter also through
Christ, Himself being the Gate. And twelve
gates of Jerusalem are spoken of,3 and the one
gate is Christ, and the twelve gates are Christ :
for Christ dwells in the twelve gates, hence
was twelve the number of the Apostles. There
is a deep mystery in this number of twelve :
" Ye shall sit," says our Saviour, " on twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."4
If there are twelve thrones there, there will be
no room for the judgment-seat of Paul, the
thirteenth Apostle, though he says that he shall
judge not men only, but even Angels ; which,
but the fallen Angels ? " Know ye not, that we
shall judge Angels," 5 he writes. The world
would answer, Why dost thou boast that thou
« Gen. vi. 14, LXX.
3 Rev. xxi. 12. 4 Matt. xix. 28.
* 1 Pet. ii. 5.
3 1 Cor. vi. 3.
shalt be a judge? Where will be thy throne?
Our Lord spoke of twelve thrones for the twelve
Apostles : one, Judas, fell, and his place being
supplied by Matthias, the number of twelve
thrones was made up : 6 first, then, discover room
for thy judgment-seat ; then threaten that thou
wilt judge. Let us, therefore, reflect upon the
meaning of the twelve thrones. The expression
is typical of a sort of universality, as the Church
was destined to prevail throughout the whole
world : whence this edifice is styled a building
together into Christ : and because judges come
from all quarters, the twelve thrones are spoken
of, just as the twelve gates, from the entering in
from all sides into that city. Not only therefore
have those twelve, and the Apostle Paul, a claim
to the twelve thrones, but, from the universal
signification, all who are to sit in judgment : in
the same manner as all who enter the city,
enter by one or the other of the twelve gates.
There are four quarters of the globe : East,
West, North, and South : and they are constantly
alluded to in the Scriptures. From all those
four winds ; our Lord declares in the Gospel
that He will call his sheep "from the four
winds ; " 7 therefore from all those four winds is
the Church called. And how called ? On every
side it is called in the Trinity : no otherwise is
it called than by Baptism in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost : four then
being thrice taken, twelve are found. Knock,
therefore, with all your hearts at these gates :
and let Christ cry within you : " Open me the
gates of righteousness." 8 For He went before
us the Head : He follows Himself in His
Body. . . .
5. "Very excellent things are said of thee,
thou city of God" (ver. 3). He was, as it
were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on
earth : for consider what city he alludes to, of
which certain very excellent things are spoken.
Now the earthly city has been destroyed : after
suffering the enemy's rage, it fell to the earth ;
it is no longer what it was : it exhibited the
emblem, and the shadow hath passed away.
Whence then are " very excellent things spoken
of thee, thou city of God"? Listen whence:
" I will think upon Rahab and Babylon, with
them that know Me" (ver. 4). In that city,
the Prophet, in the person of God, says, " I
will think upon Rahab and Babylon." Rahab
belongs not to the Jewish people ; » Babylon be-
longs not to the Jewish people ; as is clear from
the next verse : " For the Philistines '° also, and
Tyre, with the Ethiopians, were there." De-
servedly then, " very excellent things are spoken
of thee, thou city of God : " for not only is the
Jewish nation, born of the flesh of Abraham,
6 Acts i. 15-26. 7 Mark xiii. 27. 8 Ps. cxviii. 19.
9 Josh, ii.i, vi. 25. I0 AlienigentE, a\\6$v\ou
422
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVII.
included therein, but all nations also, some of
which are named that all may be understood.
" I will think," he says, " upon Rahab : " who
is that harlot? That harlot in Jericho, who re-
ceived the spies and conducted them out of the
city by a different road : who trusted beforehand
in the promise, who feared God, who was told
to hang out of the window a line of scarlet
thread, that is, to bear upon her forehead the
sign of the blood of Christ. She was saved
there, and thus represented the Church of the
Gentiles : whence our Lord said to the haughty
Pharisees, " Verily I say unto you, that the pub-
licans and the harlots go into the kingdom of
God before you." ' They go before, because
they do violence : they push their way by faith,
and to faith a way is made, nor can any resist,
since they who are violent take it by force. For
it is written, " The kingdom of Heaven sufTereth
violence, and the violent take it by force." *
Such was the conduct of the robber, more cour-
ageous on the cross than in the place of ambush.3
" I will think upon Rahab and Babylon." By
Babylon is meant the city of this world : as
there is one holy city, Jerusalem ; one unholy,
Babylon : all the unholy belong to Babylon, even
as all the holy to Jerusalem. But he slideth4
from Babylon to Jerusalem. How, but by Him
who justifieth the ungodly : Jerusalem is the city
of the saints ; Babylon of the wicked : but He
cometh who justifieth the ungodly : since it is
said, " I will think " not only " upon Rahab,"
but " upon Babylon," but with whom ? " with
them that know Me." . . .
6. Listen now to a deep mystery. Rahab is
there through Him, through whom also is Baby-
lon, now no longer Babylon, but beginning to be
Jerusalem. The daughter is divided against
her mother, and will be among the members of
that queen to whom is said, " Forget thine own
people, and thy father's house, so shall the king
have pleasure in thy beauty." s For how could
Babylon aspire to Jerusalem ? How could Rahab
reach those foundations ? How could the Philis-
tines, or Tyre, or the people of the Ethiopians ?
Listen to this verse, " Sion, my mother, a man
shall say." 6 There is then a man who saith this :
through whom all those I have mentioned make
their approach. Who is this man? It tells if
we hear, if we understand. It follows, as if a
question had been raised, through whose aid
Rahab, Babylon, the Philistines, Tyre, and the
Morians, gained an entrance. Behold, through
whom they come ; " Sion, my mother, a man
shall say ; and a man was born in her, and Him-
self the Most High hath founded her" (ver. 5).
What, my brethren, can be clearer? Truly, be-
cause " very excellent things are spoken of thee,
thou city of God." Lo, " Sion, O mother, a
man shall say." What man? "He who was
born in her." 7 It is then the man who was born
in her, and He Himself hath founded her. Yet
how can He be born in the city which He Him-
self founded ? It had already been founded, that
therein He might be born. Understand it thus,
if thou canst: "Mother Sion, he shall say;"
but it is " a man " that " shall say, Mother Sion ;
yea, a "man was born in her : " and yet " he hath
founded her" (not a man, but), "the Most High."
As He created a mother of whom He would be
born, so He founded a city in which He would
be born. What hope is ours, brethren ! On our
behalf the Most High, who founded the city,
addresses that city as a mother : and " He was
born in her, and the Most High hath founded
her."
7. As though it were said, How do ye know
this ? All of us have sung these Psalms : and
Christ, Man for our sake, God before us, sings
within us all. But is this much to say, " before
us," of Him who was before heaven and earth
and time ? He then, born for our sakes a man,
in that city, also founded her when He was the
Most High. Yet how are we assured of this?
" The Lord shall rehearse it when He writeth up
the people " (ver. 6), as the following verse has
it. "The Lord shall declare, when He writeth up
the people, and their princes." What princes?8
" Those who were born in her ; " those princes
who, born within her walls, became therein
princes : for before they could become princes
in her, God chose the despised things of the
world to confound the strong. Was the fisher-
man, the publican, a prince ? They were indeed
princes : but because they became such in her.
Princes of what kind were they ? Princes come
from Babylon, believing monarchs of this world,
came to the city of Rome, as to the head of
Babylon : they went not to the temple of the
Emperor, but to the tomb of the Fisherman.
Whence indeed did they rank as princes ? " God
chose the weak things of the world to confound
the strong, and the foolish things He hath
chosen, and things which are not as though they
were, that things which are may be brought to
nought." 9 This He doth who " from the ground
raises the helpless, and from the dunghill exalts
the poor." ro For what purpose ? " That He
may set him with the princes, even with the
princes of His people." " This is a mighty deed,
a deep source of pleasure and exultation. Ora-
tors came later into that city, but they could
1 Matt. Jtxi. 31. » Matt. xi. 13. ' In/auce.
* Dilabitur, which would seem to mean the writer; aU deri-
vatur,*' there is a drawing off," i.e. of citizens.
5 Ps. xlv. 10, 11.
* St. Augustin, Tertullian, and others read m>Jtijp XiW, for the
reading of the LXX., h>jti.
t Or, " He who was made man in her, " Qui homo /actus est in
ea.
* Et Principes is added in the text, but it has no equivalent in
our version.
9 1 Cor. i. 26, 37. ,0 Pi. cxiii. 7. " Ps. cxiii. 8.
Psalm LXXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
423
never have done so, had not fishermen preceded
them. These things are glorious indeed, but
where could they take place, but in that city of
God, of whom very excellent things are spoken?
8. So thus, after drawing together and min-
gling every source of joyous exultation, how doth
he conclude? "The dwelling as of all that shall
be made joyous is in Thee " (ver. 7). As if all
made joyous, all rejoicing, shall dwell in that
city. Amid our journeyings here we suffer
bruises : our last home shall be the home of joy
alone. Toil and groans shall perish : prayers
pass away, hymns of praise succeed. There
shall be the dwelling of the happy ; no longer
shall there be the groans of those that long, but
the gladness of those who enjoy. For He will
be present for whom we sigh : we shall be like
Him, as we shall see Him as He is : ' there it will
be our whole task to praise and enjoy the pres-
ence of God : and what beyond shall we ask for,
when He alone satisfies us, by whom all things
were made? We shall dwell and be dwelt in;
and shall be subject to Him, that God may be
all in all.2 " Blessed," then, " are they that
dwell in Thy house." How blessed? Blessed
in their gold, and silver, their numerous slaves,
and multiplied offspring? " Blessed are they that
dwell in Thy house : for ever and ever they will
be praising Thee." 3 Blessed in that sole labour 4
which is rest ! Let this then be the one and only
object of our desire, my brethren, when we shall
have reached this pass. Let us prepare our-
selves to rejoice in God : to praise Him. The
good works which conduct us thither, will not be
needed there. I described, as far as I could,
only yesterday,s our condition there : works of
charity there will be none, where there will be no
misery : thou shalt not find one in want, one
naked, no one will meet you tormented with
thirst, there will be no stranger, no sick to visit,
no dead to bury, no disputants to set at peace.
What then wilt thou find to do? Shall we plant
new vines, plough, traffic, make voyages, to sup-
port the necessities of the body? Deep quiet
shall be there ; all toilsome work, that necessity
demands, will cease : the necessity being dead,
its works will perish too. What then will be our
state ? As far as possible, the tongue of a man
thus told us. " As it were, the dwelling of all
who shall be made perfect is in Thee." 6 Why
does he say, " as it were ' ? Because there shall
be such joy there as we know not here. Many
pleasures do I behold here, and many rejoice in
this world, some in one thing, others in another ;
but there is nothing to compare with that delight,
but it shall be " as it were " being made joyful.
For if I say joyfulness, men at once think of such
1 : John iii. j. * i Cor. xv. 28. 3 pSi ]Xxxiv. 4.
* Otioso negotio. 5 On the former Psalm, p. 419, supra.
6 Tanquam jucundatorum omnium habitatio in te.
joyfulness as men use to have in wine, in feast-
ing, in avarice, and in the world's distinctions.
For men are elated by these things, and mad
with a kind of joy : but " there is no joy, saith
the Lord, unto the wicked." 7 There is a sort of
joyfulness which the ear of man hath not heard,
nor his eye seen, nor hath it entered into his
heart to conceive.8 " As it were, the dwelling of
all who shall be made joyful is in Thee." Let
us prepare for other delights : for a kind of
shadow is what we find here, not the reality :
that we may not expect to enjoy such things
there as here we delight in : otherwise our self-
denial will be avarice. Some persons, when in-
vited to a rich banquet, where there are many
and costly dishes yet to come on, abstain from
breaking their fast : if you ask the reason, they
tell you that they are fasting : which is indeed a
great work, a Christian work. Yet be not hasty
in praising them : examine their motives : it is
their belly, not religion, that they are consulting.
That their appetite may not be palled by ordi-
nary dishes, they abstain till more delicate food
is set before them. This fast then is for the
gullet's sake. Fasting is undoubtedly important :
it fights against the belly and the palate ; but
sometimes it fights for them. Thus, my brethren,
if ye imagine that we shall find any such pleas-
ures in that country to which the heavenly trum-
pet urges us on, and on that account abstain from
present enjoyments, that ye may receive the like
more plentifully there, ye imitate those I have
described, who fast only for greater feasting, and
abstain only for greater indulgence. Do not ye
like this : prepare yourselves for a certain in-
effable delight : cleanse your hearts from all
earthly and secular affections. We shall see
something, the sight of which will make us
blessed : and that alone will suffice for us. What
then ? Shall we not eat ? Yes : we shall eat :
but that shall be our food, which will ever re-
fresh, and never fail. " In Thee is the dwelling
of all who shall be, as it were, made joyful." He
has already told us how we shall be made joyful.
" Blessed are they that dwell in thy house : for
ever and ever they will be praising Thee." 3 Let
us praise the Lord as far as we are able, but with
mingled lamentations : for while we praise we
long for Him, and as yet have Him not. When
we have, all our sorrows will be taken from us,
and nothing will remain but praise, unmixed and
everlasting. Now let us pray.'
PSALM LXXXVIII.10
1. The Title of this eighty-seventh Psalm con-
tains a fresh subject for enquiry : the words
7 Isa. xlviii. 22. 8 1 Cor. ii. 9.
9 Conversi ad Dominum. See p. 395, note 4, supra.
10 Lat. LXXXVII. Dictated after the exposition of Ps. xlii. (see
S 14), and perhaps after that of Ps. lxviii.
424
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVIII.
occurring here, " for Melech to respond," being
nowhere else found. We have already given
our opinion on the meaning of the titles Psalmus^
Cantici and Canticum Psalmi : ' and the words,
" sons of Core," are constantly repeated, and
have often been explained : so also " to the
end ; " but what comes next in this title is pe-
culiar. For " Melech " we may translate into
Latin " for the chorus," for chorus is the sense
of the Hebrew word Melech.2 . . . The Passion
of our Lord is here prophesied. Now the Apos-
tle Peter saith, " Christ also suffered for us, leav-
ing us an example, that we should follow His
steps;"3 this is the meaning of "to respond."
The Apostle John also saith, "As Christ laid
down His life for us, so ought we also to lay
down our lives for the brethren ; " 4 this also is
to respond. But the choir signifies concord,
which consists in charity : whoever therefore in
imitation of our Lord's Passion gives up his body
to be burnt, if he have not charity, does not an-
swer in the choir, and therefore it profiteth him
nothing.5 Further, as in Latin the terms Precen-
tor and Succentor are used to denote in music
the performer who sings the first part, and him
who takes it up ; just so in this song of the
Passion, Christ going before is followed by the
choir of martyrs unto the end of gaining crowns
in Heaven. This is sung by " the sons of Core,"
that is, the imitators of Christ's Passion : as
Christ was crucified in Calvary, which is the
interpretation of the Hebrew word Core.6 This
also is " the understanding of JEman the Israel-
ite : " 7 words occurring at the end of this title.
ALman is said to mean, " his brother : " for
Christ deigns to make those His brethren, who
understand the mystery of His Cross, and not
only are not ashamed of it, but faithfully glory
in it, not praising themselves for their own merits,
but grateful for His grace : so that it may be
said to each of them, " Behold an Israelite in-
deed, in whom there is no guile," 8 just as holy
1 On Ps. xlvii. p. 160: also xlvi. p. 155, note 8.
2 [The author here adds: " What other meaning then can we
attach to the words, ' for the chorus to respond,' but this, that the
choir is to make responses with the singer ? And thus we must
suppose that not this only, but other Psalms were chanted, though
they have received different titles, probably for the sake of variety to
relieve weariness: for this Psalm was not the only one held worthy of
choral responses, since it is not the only one which relates to our
Lord's Passion. _ If indeed there is any other reason for so gieat a
variety in the titles, by which it can be shown that all the Psalms
which are distinguished in their titles are so marked, as that the title
of no one of them can be fitted to another, I must confess that I
could not discover it, though I tried long ; and whatever I have read
on the subject in the works of my predecessors has not satisfied my
hopes, or, perhaps, my slowness of apprehension. I will therefore
explain in allusion to what mystery the words, ' for the choir to
respond,' that is, that the singer should be answered by a choir, seem
to me to be used " — C]
3 1 Pet. ii. 31. 4 1 John iii. 16.
* 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
6 Matt, xxvii. 31.
7 liraclita, vulg. Etrakitte. See also the title of the next Psalm.
Ben. conjectures it may be for Zaraite, as Ethan and Heman are
called sons of Zara, 1 Chron. ii. 6, and in 1 Kings iv. 31, where Solo-
mon is said to be " wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman."
LXX. has Zariti.
• John i. 47.
Scripture says of Israel himself, that he was
without guile.9
2. " O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried
day and night before Thee" (ver. i). Let us
therefore now hear the voice of Christ singing
before us in prophecy, to whom His own choir
should respond either in imitation, or in thanks-
giving.
" O let my prayer enter into Thy presence,
incline Thine ear unto my calling" (ver. 2).
For even our Lord prayed, not in the form of
God, but in the form of a servant ; for in this
He also suffered. He prayed both in prosperous
times, that is, by " day," and in calamity, which
I imagine is meant by " night." The entrance
of prayer into God's presence is its acceptance :
the inclination of His ear is His compassionate
listening to it : for God has not such bodily
members as we have. The passage is however,
as usual, a repetition.'0
3. " For my soul is filled with evils, and my
life draweth nigh unto hell " (ver. 3). Dare we
speak of the Soul of Christ as " filled with evils,"
when the passion had strength as far as it had
any, only over the body ? . . . The soul there-
fore may feel pain without the body : but with-
out the soul the body cannot. Why therefore
should we not say that the Soul of Christ was full
of the evils of humanity, though not of human
sins? Another Prophet «ays of Him, that He
grieved for us : " and the Evangelist says, " And
He took with Him Peter and the two sons of
Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy : " and our Lord Himself saith unto them
of Himself, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death." ,a The Prophet who composed
this Psalm, foreseeing that this would happen,
introduces Him saying, " My soul is full of evils,
and My life draweth nigh unto hell." For the
very same sense is here expressed in other words,
as when He said, " My soul is sorrowful, even
unto death." The words, " My soul is sorrow-
ful," are like these, " My soul is full of evils : "
and what follows, "even unto death," like, "my
life draweth nigh unto hell." These feelings of
human infirmity our Lord took upon Him, as He
did the flesh of human infirmity, and the death
of human flesh, not by the necessity of His con-
dition, but by the free will of His mercy, that
He might transfigure into Himself His own body,
which is the Church (the head of which He
deigned to be), that is, His members in His
holy and faithful disciples : that if amid human
temptations any one among them happened to
be in sorrow and pain, he might not therefore
think that he was separated from His favour :
9 Gen. xxv. 27.
10 The words, O let my prayer enter into llvy presence," being
equivalent to, " Incline Thine ear unto my calling. '
" Isa. liii. 4. u Matt. xxvi. 37, 38.
Psalm LXXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
425
that the body, like the chorus following its leader,
might learn from its Head, that these sorrows
were not sin, but proofs of human weakness.
We read of the Apostle Paul, a chief member in
this body, and we hear him confessing that his
soul was full of such evils, when he says, that he
feels " great heaviness and continual sorrow in
heart for his brethren according to the flesh, who
are Israelites." ' And if we say that our Lord
was sorrowful for them also at the approach of
His Passion, in which they would incur the most
atrocious guilt, I think we shall not speak amiss.
Lastly, the very thihg said by our Saviour on the
Cross, " Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do," 2 is expressed in this Psalm be-
low, " I am counted as one of them that go down
into the pit " (ver. 4) : by them who knew not
what they were doing, when they imagined that
He died like other men, subjected to necessity,
and overcome by it. The word " pit " is used
for the depth of woe or of Hell. " I have been
as a man that hath no help."
4. "Free among the dead" (ver. 5). In
these words our Lord's Person is most clearly
shown : for who else is free among the dead but
He who though in the likeness of sinful flesh
is alone among sinners without sin?3 . . . He
therefore, " free among the dead," who had it
in His power to lay down His life, and again to
take it ; from whom no one could take it, but
He laid it down of His own free will ; who could
revive His own flesh, as a temple destroyed by
them, at His will ; who, when all had forsaken
Him on the eve of His Passion, remained not
alone, because, as He testifies, His Father for-
sook Him not ; * was nevertheless by His ene-
mies, for whom He prayed, who knew not what
they did, . . . counted "as one who hath no
help ; like unto them that are wounded, and lie
in the grave." But he adds, " Whom thou dost
not yet remember : " and in these words there
is to be remarked a distinction between Christ
and the rest of the dead. For though He was
wounded, and when dead laid in the tomb,5 yet
they who knew not what they were doing, or who
He was, regarded Him as like others who had
perished from their wounds, and who slept in the
tomb, who are as yet out of remembrance of
God, that is, whose hour of resurrection has not
yet arrived. For thus the Scripture speaks of
the dead as sleeping, because it wishes them to
be regarded as destined to awake, that is, to rise
again. But He, wounded and asleep in the
tomb, awoke on the third day, and became " like
a sparrow that sitteth alone on the housetop," 6
that is, on the right hand of His Father in
Heaven : and now " dieth no more, death shall
x Rom. ix. 2, 4.
* John viii. ao.
6 Ps. cii. 7.
2 Luke xxiii. 34.
* Matt, xxvii. 50, 60.
3 Rom. viii. 3.
no more have dominion over Him." ' Hence He
differs widely from those whom God hath not
yet remembered to cause their resurrection after
this manner : for what was to go before in the
Head, was kept for the Body in the end. God
is then said to remember, when He does an act :
then to forget, when He does it not : for neither
can God forget, as He never changes, nor re-
member, as He can never forget. " I am
counted " then, by those who know not what
they do, "as a man that hath no help : " while
I am "free among the dead," I am held by these
men " like unto them that are wounded, and lie
in the grave." Yet those very men, who account
thus of Me, are further said to be " cut away
from Thy hand," that is, when I was made so by
them, " they were cut away from Thy hand ; "
they who believed Me destitute of help, are de-
prived of the help of Thy hand : for they, as he
saith in another Psalm,8 have digged a pit before
me, and are fallen into the midst of it themselves.
I prefer this interpretation to that which refers
the words, " they are cut away from Thy hand,"
to those who sleep in the tomb, whom God hath
not yet remembered : since the righteous are
among the latter, of whom, even though God
hath not yet called them to the resurrection, it
is said, that their "souls are in the hands of
God," « that is, that " they dwell under the de-
fence of the Most High ; and shall abide under
the shadow of the God of Heaven." IO But it is
those who are cut away from the hand of God,
who believed that Christ was cut off from His
hand, and thus accounting Him among the
wicked, dared to slay Him.
5. " They laid Me in the lowest pit" (ver.
6), that is, the deepest pit. For so it is in the
Greek. But what is the lowest pit, but the
deepest woe, than which there is none more
deep? Whence in another Psalm it is said,
"Thou broughtest me out also of the pit of mis-
ery.
" In a place of darkness, and in the
shadow of death," whiles they knew not what
they did, they laid Him there, thus deeming of
Him ; they knew not Him " whom none of the
princes of this world knew." " By the " shadow
of death," I know not whether the death of the
body is to be understood, or that of which it is
written, " That they walked in darkness and in
the land of the shadow of death, a light is risen
on them," '3 because by belief they were brought
from out of the darkness and death of sin into
light and life. Such an one those who knew not
what they did thought our Lord, and in their
ignorance accounted Him among those whom
He came to help, that they might not be such
themselves.
7 Rom. vi. g, 8 Ps. Ivii. 7. 9 Wisd. iii. I.
10 Ps. xci. 1. [Noteworthy as the author's view of the state of
the faithful departed. — C.l
" Ps. xl. 3. " 1 Cor. ii. 8. « Isa. ix. a.
426
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVIII.
6. " Thy indignation lieth hard upon Me " (ver.
7), or, as other copies have it, " Thy anger ; " or,
as others, " Thy fury : " the Greek word dv/xb's
having undergone different interpretations. For
where the Greek copies have opyrj, no translator
hesitated to express it by the Latin ira ; but
where the word is 0v/*os, most object to render-
ing it by ira, although many of the authors of
the best Latin style, in their translations from
Greek philosophy, have thus rendered the word
in Latin. But I shall not discuss this matter
further : only if I also were to suggest another
term, I should think " indignation " more toler-
able than " fury," this word in Latin not being
applied to persons in their senses. What then
does this mean, "Thy indignation lieth hard
upon Me," except the belief of those, who
knew not the Lord of Glory ? ■ who imagined that
the anger of God was not merely roused, but
lay hard upon Him, whom they dared to bring
to death, and not only death, but that kind, which
they regarded as the most execrable of all,
namely, the death of the Cross : whence saith
the Apostle, " Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the Law, being made a curse for us :
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth
upon a tree." * On this account, wishing to praise
His obedience which He carried to the extreme
of humility, he says, " He humbled Himself, and
became obedient unto death ; " and as this
seemed little, he added, " even the death of the
Cross ; " 3 and with the same view, as far as I can
see, he says in this Psalm, " And all thy suspen-
sions," or, as some translate " waves," others
" tossings," " Thou hast brought over Me." We
also find in another Psalm, " All thy suspensions
and waves are come in upon Me," 4 or, as some
have translated better, " have passed over Me : "
for it is Sujkffov in Greek, not t'ujrj\6ov : and
where both expressions are employed, "waves"
and " suspensions," one cannot be used as equiv-
alent to the other. In that passage we explained
" suspensions " as threatenings, " waves " as the
actual sufferings : both inflicted by God's judg-
ment : but in that place it is said, " All have
passed over Me," here, "Thou hast brought all
upon Me." In the other case, that is, although
some evils took place, yet, he said, all those
which are here mentioned passed over ; but in
this case, " Thou hast brought them upon Me."
Evils pass over when they do not touch a man,
as things which hang over him, or when they do
touch him, as waves. But when he uses the
word " suspensions," he does not say they passed
over, but, " Thou hast brought them upon Me,"
meaning that all which impended had come to
pass. All things which were predicted of His
1 1 Cor. ii. 8.
s Phil. ii. 8.
9 Gal. iii. 13.
4 Pi. xlii. 7.
Passion impended, as long as they remained in
the prophecies for future fulfilment.
7. " Thou hast put Mine acquaintance far from
Me " (ver. 8). If we understand by acquaint-
ance those whom He knew, it will be all men ;
for whom knew He not? But He calls those
acquaintance, to whom He was Himself known,
as far as they could know Him at that season : at
least so far forth as they knew Him to be inno-
cent, although they considered Him only as a
man, not as likewise God. Although He might
call the righteous whom He approved, acquaint-
ance, as He calls the wicked unknown, to whom
He was to say at the end, " I know you not." s
In what follows, " and they have set Me for an
abhorrence to themselves ; " those whom He
called before " acquaintance," may be meant, as
even they felt horror at the mode of that death :
but it is better referred to those of whom He was
speaking above as His persecutors. " I was de-
livered up, and did not get forth." Is this
because His disciples were without, while He
was being tried within ? 6 Or are we to give a
deeper meaning to the words, " I cannot get
forth " as signifying, " I remained hidden in My
secret counsels, I showed not who I was, I did
not reveal Myself, was not made manifest " ?
And so it follows, —
" My eyes became weak from want " (ver. 9).
For what eyes are we to understand? If the
eyes of the flesh in which He suffered, we do not
read that His eyes became weak from want, that
is, from hunger, in His Passion, as is often the
case ; as He was betrayed after His Supper, and
crucified on the same day : if the inner eyes, how
were they weakened from want, in which there
was a light that could never fail? But He
meant by His eyes those members in the body,
of which He was Himself the head, which, as
brighter and more eminent and chief above the
rest, He loved. It was of this body that the
Apostle was speaking, when he wrote, taking his
metaphor from our own body, " If the whole
body were an eye, where were the hearing ? "
etc.7 What he wished understood by these words,
he has expressed more clearly, by adding, " Now
ye are the body of Christ, and members in partic-
ular."8 Wherefore as those eyes, that is, the
holy Apostles, to whom not flesh and blood, but
the Father which is in Heaven had revealed
Him, so that Peter said, " Thou art Christ, the
Son of the Living God," 9 when they saw Him
betrayed, and suffering such evils, saw Him not
such as they wished, as He did not come forth,
did not manifest Himself in His virtue and
power, but still hidden in His secrecy,10 endured
everything as a man overcome and enfeebled,
3 Matt. vii. 93. 6 Matt. xxvi. 56
8 1 Cor. xii 37. 9 Matt. xvi. to.
10 In suit interioribus.
' 1 Cor. xii. 17-91.
Psalm LXXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
427
they became weak for want, as if their food,
their Light, had been withdrawn from them.
8. He continues, " And I have called upon
Thee." This indeed He did most clearly, when
upon the Cross. But what follows ? " All the
day I have stretched forth My hands unto Thee,"
must be examined how it must be taken. For if
in this expression we understand the tree of the
Cross, how can we reconcile it with the " whole
day " ? Can He be said to have hung upon the
Cross during the whole day, as the night is con-
sidered a part of the day ? But if day, as op-
posed to night, was meant by this expression,
even of this day, the first and no small portion
had passed by at the time of His crucifixion.
But if we take " day " in the same sense of time
(especially as the word is used in the feminine,
a gender which is restricted to that sense in
Latin, although not so in Greek, as it is always
used in the feminine, which I suppose to be the
reason for its translation in the same gender in
our own version), the knot of the question will be
drawn tighter : for how can it mean for the whole
space of time, if He did not even for one day
stretch forth His hands on the Cross ? Further,
should we take the whole for a part, as Scripture
sometimes uses this expression, I do not remem-
ber an instance in which the whole is taken for
a part, when the word " whole " is expressly
added. For in the passage of the Gospel where
the Lord saith, " The Son of Man shall be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth," '
it is no extraordinary licence to take the whole for
the part, the expression not being for three
"whole" days and three whole nights : since the
one intermediate day was a whole one, the other
two were parts, the last being part of the first day,
the first part of the last. But if the Cross is not
meant here, but the prayer, which we find in the
Gospel that He poured forth in the form of a
servant to God the Father, where He is said to
have prayed long before His Passion, and on the
eve of His Passion, and also when on the Cross,
we do not read anywhere that He did so through-
out the whole day. Therefore by the stretched-
out hands throughout the whole day, we may un-
derstand the continuation of good works in which
He never ceased from exertion.
9. But as His good works profited only the
predestined to eternal salvation, and not all
men, nor even all those among whom they
were done, he adds, " Dost thou show wonders
among the dead?" (ver. 10). If we suppose
this relates to those whose flesh life has left,
great wonders have been wrought among the
dead, inasmuch as some of them have revived : 2
and in our Lord's descent into Hell, and His
ascent as the conqueror of death, a great wonder
1 Man. xii. 40.
2 Matt, xxvii. 52.
was wrought among the dead. He refers then
in these words, " Dost Thou show wonders
among the dead ? " to men so dead in heart,
that such great works of Christ could not rouse
them to the life of faith : for he does not say
that wonders are not shown to them because
they see them not, but because they do not
profit them. For, as he says in this passage,
" the whole day have I stretched forth My
hands to Thee : " because He ever refers all
His works to the will of His Father, constantly
declaring that He came to fulfil His Father's
will : 3 so also, as an unbelieving people saw the
same works, another Prophet saith, " I have
spread out my hands all day unto a rebellious
people, that believes not, but contradicts." 4
Those then are dead, to whom wonders have
not been shown, not because they saw them not,
but since they lived not again through them.
The following verse, " Shall physicians revive
them, and shall they praise Thee?" means,
that the dead shall not be revived by such
means, that they may praise Thee. In the
Hebrew there is said to be a different expres-
sion : giants being used where physicians are
here : but the Septuagint translators, whose au-
thority is such that they may deservedly be said
to have interpreted by the inspiration of the
Spirit of God owing to their wonderful agree-
ment, conclude, not by mistake, but taking occa-
sion from the resemblance in sound between the
Hebrew words expressing these two senses, that
the use of the word is an indication of the sense
in which the word giants is meant to be taken.
For if you suppose the proud meant by giants,
of whom the Apostle saith, " Where is the wise ?
where is the scribe? where is the disputer of
this world?" ' there is no incongruity in calling
them physicians, as if by their own unaided skill
they promised the salvation of souls : against
whom it is said, " Of the Lord is safety."6 But
if we take the word giant in a good sense, as it
is said of our Lord, " He rejoiceth as a giant to
run his course ; " ' that is Giant of giants, chief
among the greatest and strongest, who in His
Church excel in spiritual strength. Just as He
is the Mountain of mountains ; as it is written,
" And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be mani-
fested in the top of the mountains : " 8 and the
Saint of saints : there is no absurdity in styling
these same great and mighty men physicians.
Whence saith the Apostle, " if by any means I
may provoke to emulation them which are my
flesh, and might save some of them." 9 But
even such physicians, even though they cure
not by their- own power (as not even of their
3 John vi. 38.
6 Ps. iv. 8.
9 Rom. xi. 14.
* Isa. lxv. 2.
7 Ps. xix. 5.
s 1 Cor. i. 20.
8 Isa. ii. 3.
428
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXVIII.
own do those of the body), yet so far forth as
by faithful ministry they assist towards salvation,
can cure the living, but not raise the dead : of
whom it is said, " Dost Thou show wonders
among the dead?" For the grace of God, by
which men's minds in a certain manner are
brought to live a fresh life, so as to be able to
hear the lessons of salvation from any of its
ministers whatever, is most hidden and mysteri-
ous. This grace is thus spoken of in the Gos-
pel. " No man can come to Me, except the
Father which hath sent Me draw him }"* . . .
in order to show, that the very faith by which
the soul believes, and springs into fresh life
from the death of its former affections, is given us
by God. Whatever exertions, then, the best
preachers of the word,2 and persuaders of the
truth through miracles, may make with men, just
like great physicians : yet if they are dead, and
through Thy grace have not a second life, " Dost
Thou show wonders among the dead, or shall
physicians raise them? and shall they" whom
they raise " praise Thee " ? For this confession
declares that they live : not, as it is written else-
where, " Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead,
as from one that is not." 3
10. " Shall one show Thy loving-kindness in
the grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction ? "
(ver. n). The word "show" is of course
understood as if repeated, Shall any show Thy
faithfulness in destruction? Scripture loves to
connect loving-kindness and faithfulness, espe-
cially in the Psalms. " Destruction " also is a
repetition of " the grave," and signifies them
who are in the grave, styled above " the dead,"
in the verse, " Dost thou show wonders among
the dead ? " for the body is the grave of the
dead soul ; whence our Lord's words in the
Gospel, "Ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but
within are full of dead men's bones, and of
all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity." *
ii." Shall thy wondrous works be known in
the dark, and thy righteousness in the land
where all things are forgotten?" (ver. 12), the
dark answers to the land of forgetfulness : for
the unbelieving are meant by the dark, as the
Apostle saith, " For ye were sometimes dark-
ness ;" s and the land where all things are
forgotten, is the man who has forgotten God;
for the unbelieving soul can arrive at darkness
so intense, "that the fool saith in his heart,
There is no God." 6 Thus the meaning of the
whole passage may thus, be drawn out in its
connection : " Lord, I have called upon Thee,"
1 John vi. 44.
' Ben. refers to P. Lombard, 4 Sent. Dist. 18, Hie quaritur.
J k" Ins. xvii. 26. 4 Matt, xxiii. 27, 28.
5 Eph v. 8. 6 P.. xiv. 1.
amid My sufferings ; " all day I have stretched
forth my hands unto Thee " (ver. 13). I have
never ceased to stretch forth My works to
glorify. Thee. Why then do the wicked rage
against Me, unless because " Thou showest not
wonders among the dead " ? because those won-
ders move them not to faith, nor can physicians
restore them to life that they may praise Thee,
because Thy hidden grace works not in them
to draw them unto believing : because no man
cometh unto Me, but whom Thou hast drawn.
Shall then " Thy loving-kindness be showed in
the grave "? that is, the grave of the dead soul,
which lies dead beneath the body's weight : "or
Thy faithfulness in destruction " ? that is, in
such a death as cannot believe or feel any of
these things. " For how then in the darkness "
of this death, that is, in the man who in forget-
ting Thee has lost the light of his life, "shall
Thy wondrous works and Thy righteousness be
known." . . .
12. But that those prayers, the blessings of
which surpass all words, may be more fervent
and more constant, the gift that shall last unto
eternity is deferred, while transitory evils are
allowed to thicken. And so it follows : " Lord,
why hast Thou cast off my prayer?" (ver.
14), which may be compared with another
Psalm : 7 " My God, My God, look upon me ;
why hast Thou forsaken me ? " The reason is
made matter of question, not as if the wisdom
of God were blamed as doing so without a cause ;
and so here. " Lord, why hast Thou cast off
my prayer? " But if this cause be attended to
carefully, it will be found indicated above ; for
it is with the view that the prayers of the Saints
are, as it were, repelled by the delay of so great
a blessing, and by the adversity they encounter
in the troubles of life, that the flame, thus
fanned, may burst into a brighter blaze.
13. For this purpose he briefly sketches in
what follows the troubles of Christ's body. For
it is not in the Head alone that they took place,
since it is said to Saul too, " Why persecutest
thou Me?"8 and Paul himself, as if placed as
an elect member in the same body, saith, " That
I may fill up that which is behind of the afflic-
tions of Christ in my flesh." ° " Why then, Lord,
hast Thou cast off my soul? why hidest Thou
Thy face from me ? "
" I am poor, and in toils from my youth up :
and when lifted up, I was thrown down, and
troubled " (ver. 15).
" Thy wraths went over me : Thy terrors dis-
turbed me" (ver. 16).
" They came round about me all day like
water : they compassed me about together "
(ver. 17).
7 Ps. xxii. 1.
* Acts ix. 4.
9 Col. i. 24,
Psalm LXXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
429
" A friend Thou hast put far from me : and
mine acquaintance from my misery " (ver. 18).
All these evils have taken place, and are happen-
ing in the limbs of Christ's body, and God
turns away His face from their prayers, by not
hearing as to what they wish for, since they
know not that the fulfilment of their wishes
would not be good for them. The Church is
" poor," as she hungers and thirsts in her wan-
derings for that food with which she shall be
filled in her own country : she is " in toils from
her youth up," as the very Body of Christ saith
in another Psalm, " Many a time have they over-
come me from my youth." ' And for this rea-
son some of her members are lifted up even in
this world, that in them may be the greater low-
liness. Over that Body, which constitutes the
unity of the Saints and the faithful, whose Head
is Christ, go the wraths of God : yet abide not :
since it is of the unbelieving only that it is
written, that " the wrath of God abideth upon
him." 2 The terrors of God disturb the weak-
ness of the faithful, because all that can happen,
even though it actually happen not, it is prudent
to fear ; and sometimes these terrors so agitate
the reflecting soul with the evils impending
around, that they seem to flow around us on
every side like water, and to encircle us in our
fears. And as the Church while on pilgrimage
is never free from these evils, happening as they
do at one moment in one of her limbs, at an-
other in another, he adds, " all day," signifying
the continuation in time, to the end of this
world. Often too, friends and acquaintances,
their worldly interests at stake, in their terror
forsake the Saints ; of which saith the Apostle,
" all men forsook me : may it not be laid to
their charge." 3 But to what purpose is all this,
but that early in the morning, that is, after the
night of unbelief, the prayers of this holy Body
may in the light of faith prevent God, until the
coming of that salvation, which we are at present
saved by hoping for, not by having, while we
await it with patience and faithfulness. Then
the Lord will not repel our prayers, as there will
no longer be anything to be sought for, but
everything that has been rightly asked, will be
obtained : nor will He turn His face away from
us, since we shall see Him as He is : 4 nor shall
we be poor, because God will be our abundance,
all in all : 5 nor shall we suffer, as there will be
no more weakness : nor after exaltation shall
we meet with humiliation and confusion, as there
will be no adversity there : nor bear even the
transient wrath of God, as we shall abide in His
abiding love : nor will His terrors agitate us,
because His promises realized will bless us : nor
1 Ps. exxix. 1.
* l John lii. 2.
2 John iii. 36.
5 i Cor. xv. 38.
3 a Tim. iv. 16.
will our friend and acquaintance, being terrified,
be far from us, where there will be no foe to
dread.
PSALM LXXXIX.6
1. Understand, beloved, this Psalm, which I
am about to explain, by the grace of God, of
our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be of
good cheer, because He who promised, will ful-
fil all, as He has fulfilled much : for it is not our
own merit, but His mercy, that gives us confi-
dence in Him. He Himself is meant, in my
belief, by " the understanding of ^ithan the
Israelite : " 7 which has given this Psalm its title.
You see then, who is meant by ^Cthan : but the
meaning of the word is " strong." No man in
this world is strong, except in the hope of God's
promises : for as to our own deservings, we ara
weak, in His mercy we are strong. Weak then
in himself, strong in God's mercy, the Psalmist
thus begins : " I will sing of Thy mercies, O
Lord, for ever : with my mouth will I make
known Thy truth unto all generations" (ver. i).
2. Let my limbs, he saith, serve the Lord : I
speak, but it is of Thine I speak. " With my
mouth will I make known Thy truth : " if I
obey not Thee, I am not Thy servant : if I speak
on my own part, I am a liar. To speak then
from Thee,8 and in my own person, are two
things : one mine, one Thine : Truth Thine,
language mine. Let us hear then what faithful-
ness he maketh known, what mercies he singeth.
3. " For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built
up for ever" (ver. 2). It is this that I sing:
this is Thy truth, for the making known of which
my mouth serveth. In such wise Thou sayest,
I build, as not to destroy : for some Thou de-
stroyest and buildest not ; and some whom Thou
destroyest Thou dost rebuild. For unless there
were some who were destroyed to be rebuilt,
Jeremiah would not have written, " See, I have
■this day set thee to throw down and to build." '
And indeed all who formerly worshipped images
and stones could not be built up in Christ, with-
out being destroyed as to their old error. While,
unless some were destroyed not to be built up, it
would not be written, " He shall destroy them,
and not build them up." IO . . . In what follows,
he joins these two words, mercy and faithfulness ;
" For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up
for ever : Thy truth shall be established in" the
Heavens : " in which mercy and truth are re-
peated, " for all the ways of the Lord are mercy
and truth," " for truth in the fulfilment of prom-
ises could not be shown, unless mercy in the
remission of sins preceded. Next, as many
6 Lat. LXXXVIII. Delivered in the morning, on the festival of
some Martyrs.
7 See note on title of Ps. Ixxxviii.
8 Abs Te. 9 Jer. i. 10.
10 Ps. xxviii. 5. " Ps. xxv. to.
430
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIX.
things were promised in prophecy even to the
people of Israel that came according to the flesh
from the seed of Abraham, and that people was
increased that the promises of God might
be fulfilled in it ; while yet God did not close
the fountain of His goodness even to the Gen-
tiles, whom He had placed under the rule of the
Angels, while He reserved the people of Israel
as His own portion : the Apostle expressly men-
tions the Lord's mercy and truth as referring to
these two parties. For he calls Christ " a minis-
ter of the Circumcision for the truth of God,
to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." '
See how God deceived not ; see how He cast
not off His people, whom He foreknew. For
while the Apostle is treating of the fall of the
Jews, to prevent any from believing them so far
disowned 2 of God, that no wheat from that
floor's fanning could reach the granary, he saith,
" God hath not cast away His people, whom He
foreknew ; for I also am an Israelite." 3 If all
that nation are thorns, how am I who speak unto
you wheat? So that the truth of God was ful-
filled in those Israelites who believed, and one
wall from the circumcision is thus brought to
meet the corner stone. But this stone would not
form a corner, unless it received another wall
from the Gentiles : so that the former wall re-
lates in a special manner to the truth, the latter
to the mercy of God. " Now I say," says the
Apostle, " that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
Circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm
the promise made unto the fathers : and that
the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy." 4
Justly then is it added, " Thy truth shalt Thou
stablish in the Heavens : " for all those Israel-
ites who were called to be Apostles became as
Heavens which declare the glory of God : as it
is written by them, " The Heavens declare the
glory of God, and the firmament showeth His
handywork." ' . . . Since, although they were
taken up from hence before the Church filled the
whole world, yet as " their words reached to
the ends of the world," we are right in supposing
this which we have just read, " Thy truth shalt
Thou stablish in the Heavens," fulfilled in them.
4. " Thou hast said, I have made a covenant
with My chosen " (ver. 3). What covenant, but
the new, by which we are renewed to a fresh in-
heritance, in our longing desire and love of which
we sing a new song. " I have made a covenant
with My chosen," saith the Psalmist : " I have
sworn unto David My servant." How confi-
dently does he speak, who understands, whose
mouth serves truth ! I speak without fear ;
since " Thou hast said." If Thou makest me
fearless, because Thou hast said, how much
more so dost Thou make me, when Thou hast
' Rom. xv. 8.
4 Rom. xv. 8, 9.
2 Improbatot.
i IV xix. 1.
3 Rom. xi. 1, 2.
sworn ! For the oath of God is the assurance
of a promise. Man is justly forbidden to swear : 6
lest by the habit of swearing, since a man may be
deceived, he fall into perjury. God alone swears
securely, because He alone is infallible.
5. Let us see then what God hath sworn. " I
have sworn," He saith, " to David My servant ;
thy seed will I establish forever" (ver. 4). But
what is the seed of David, but that of Abraham.
And what is the seed of Abraham ? " And to
thy seed," He saith, "which is Christ." 7 But
perhaps that Christ, the Head of the Church,
the Saviour of the body,8 is the seed of Abraham,
and therefore of David ; but we are not Abra-
ham's seed ? We are assuredly ; as the Apostle
saith, " And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abra-
ham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."'
In this sense, then, let us take the words, breth-
ren, " Thy seed will I stablish for ever," not
only of that Flesh of Christ, born of the Virgin
Mary, but also of all of us who believe in Christ,
for we are limbs of that Head. This body can-
not be deprived of its Head : if the Head is in
glory for ever, so are the limbs, so that Christ
remains entire for ever. " Thy seed will I stab-
lish for ever : and set up thy throne to genera-
tion and generation." We suppose he saith,
" for ever," because it is " to generation and
generation : " since he has said above, with "my
mouth will I ever be showing Thy truth to gen-
eration and generation.'' What is " to genera-
tion and generation " ? To every generation :
for the word needed not as many repetitions, as
the coming and passing away of the several gener-
ations. The multiplication of generations is sig-
nified and set forth to notice by the repetition.
Are possibly two generations to be understood,
as ye are aware, my beloved brethren, and as I
have before explained ? for there is now a gener-
ation of flesh and blood : there will be a future
generation in the resurrection of the dead.
Christ is proclaimed here : He will be pro-
claimed IO there : here He is proclaimed, that
He may be believed in : there, He will be wel-
comed, that He may be seen. " I will set up
Thy throne from one generation to another."
Christ hath now a throne in us, His throne is
set up in us : for unless he sate enthroned within
us, He would not rule us : but if we were not
ruled by Him, we should be thrown down by
ourselves. He therefore sits within us, reigning
over us : He sits also in another generation,
which will come from the resurrection of the
dead. Christ will reign for ever over His Saints.
God has promised this ; He hath said it : if this
is not enough, God hath sworn it. As then the
promise is certain, not on account of our deserv-
* Matt. v. 34. ' Gal. iii 16.
8 F.ph. v. 23. 9 Gal. iii. 29.
10 Oxf. mss. " He is proclaimed; " and so again below.
Psalm LXXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
431
ings, but of His pity, no one ought to be afraid
in proclaiming that which he cannot doubt of.
Let that strength then inspire our hearts, whence
./Ethan received his name, " strong in heart : "
let us preach the truth of God, the utterance of
God, His promises, His oath ; and let us,
strengthened on every side by these means,
glorify God, and by bearing Him along with us,
become Heavens.
6. " O Lord, the very Heavens shall praise
Thy wondrous works " (ver. 5). The Heavens
will not praise their own merits, but Thy won-
drous works, O Lord. For in every act of mercy
on the lost, of justification of the unrighteous,
what do we praise but the wondrous works of
God? Thou praisest Him, because the dead
have risen : praise Him yet more, because the lost
are redeemed. What grace, what mercy of God !
Thou seest a man yesterday a whirlpool of drunk-
enness, to-day an ornament of sobriety : a man
yesterday the sink of luxury, to-day the beauty
of temperance : yesterday a blasphemer of God,
to-day His praiser : yesterday the slave of the
creature, to-day the worshipper of the Creator.
From all these desperate states men are thus
converted : let them not look at their own
merits : let them become Heavens, and praise
the wondrous works of Him by whom they were
made Heavens. . . .
7. " For who is he among the clouds, who
shall be compared unto Thee, Lord ! " (ver. 6).
Is this to be the praise of the Heavens, is this
to be their rain? What? are the preachers
confident, because " none among the clouds
shall be compared unto the Lord " ? Does it
appear to you, brethren, a high ground of praise,
that the clouds cannot be compared with their
Creator? If it is taken in its literal, not in its
mystical meaning, it is not so: what? are the
stars that are above the clouds to be compared
with the Lord? what? can the Sun, Moon,
Angels, Heavens, be even compared with the
Lord? Why is it then that he says, as if he
meant some high praise, " For who is he among
the clouds?" etc. We understand, my brethren,
those clouds, as the Heavens, to be the preach-
ers of truth ; Prophets, Apostles, the announcers
of the word of God. . . . If therefore the clouds
are the preachers of the truth, let us first enquire
why they are clouds. For the same men are
Heavens and clouds : Heavens from the bright-
ness of the truth, clouds from the hidden things
of the flesh : for all clouds are obscure, owing
to their mortality : and they come and go. It
is on account of these very obscurities of the
flesh, that is, of the clouds, that the Apostle
saith, " Therefore judge nothing before the time,
until the Lord come, who will bring to light the
hidden things of darkness." ' You see at this
; Cor.
moment what a man is saying : but what he has
in his heart, you cannot see : what is forced
from the cloud, you see, what is kept within the
cloud, you see not. For whose eyes pierce
the cloud? The clouds therefore are the
preachers of the truth in the flesh. The Creator
of all things Himself came in the flesh. . . . We
are called clouds on account of the flesh, and
we are preachers of the truth on account of the
showers of the clouds : but our flesh comes in
one way, His by another. We too are called
sons of God, but He is the Son of God in
another sense. His cloud comes from a Virgin,
He is the Son from eternity, co-eternal 2 with the
Father. " Who is he then among the clouds,
that shall be compared unto the Lord? and
what is he among the sons of God, that shall be
like unto the Lord?" Let the Lord Himself
say whether He can find one like unto Himself.
" Whom do men say that I the Son of Man
am ? " Because I appear, because I am seen,
because I walk among you, and perhaps at
present I am become common ; say, whom do
men say that I the Son of Man am? Surely
when they see a son of man, they see a cloud ;
but say, " Whom do men say that I am ? " In
answer they gave Him the reports of men ;
"Some say that Thou art John the Baptist:
some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the
prophets." Many clouds and sons of God are
here mentioned : for because they were righteous
and holy, as the sons of God, Jeremias, Elias,
and John are called also sons of God : in their
character of preachers of God, they are styled
clouds. Ye have said what clouds men imagine
Me to be : do ye too say, " Whom say ye that I
am?" Peter replying in behalf of all, one for
those who were one,3 answered, " Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God ; " * not like
those sons of God who are not made equal to
Thee : Thou hast come in the flesh : but not as
the clouds, who are not to be compared unto
Thee.
8. . . . " God is very greatly to be feared in
the counsel of the righteous, and to be had in
dread of all them that are round about Him "
(ver. 7). God is everywhere ; who therefore are
roundabout Him, who is everywhere? For if
He has some round about Him, He is represented
as finite on every side. Moreover, if it is truly
said to God s and of God, " of His greatness
there is no end ; " 6 who remain, who are round
about Him, except because He who is every-
where, chose to be born of the flesh on one
spot, to dwell among one nation, in one place to
be crucified, from one spot to rise again and
ascend into Heaven. Where He did this, the
Gentiles are round about Him. If He remained
2 Alottalis. 3 pro unitate unus.
s Oxf. mss. " by God."
* Matt. xvi. 13-16.
6 Ps. cxlv. 3.
432
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIX.
where He did these things, He would not be
" great, and be had in dread of all them that
are round about Him ; " but since He preached
when there in such a manner as to send preach-
ers of His own name through all nations over
the whole world ; by working miracles among
His servants, He is become " great, and to be
had in dread of all them that are round about
Him."
9. " O Lord God of Hosts, who is like unto
Thee? Thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on
every side" (ver. 8). Great is Thy power:
Thou hast made Heaven and earth, and all
things that in them are : but greater still is
thy loving-kindness, which has shown forth Thy
truth to all around Thee. For if Thou hadst
been preached only on the spot where Thou
didst deign to be born, to suffer, to rise again,
to ascend ; the truth of that promise of God
would have been fulfilled, to confirm the prom-
ises made unto the fathers : but the promise,
" that the Gentiles may glorify God for His
mercy," ' would not have been fulfilled, had not
that truth been explained, and diffused to those
around Thee from the spot where Thou didst
deign to appear. On that spot Thou didst thun-
der out of Thy own cloud : but to scatter rain
upon the Gentiles round about, Thou hast sent
other clouds. Truly in Thy power hast Thou
fulfilled what Thou hast said, " Hereafter shall
ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right
hand of power, and coming in the clouds of
Heaven." 2
10. . . . For ye have heard, like men accus-
tomed to the watering of the clouds of God,
"Thy truth" then "is in the circuit of Thee."
But when without persecutions, when without
opposition, since it is said, that " He was born
for a sign which shall be spoken against " ? '
Since then that nation, where Thou didst deign
to be born, and to dwell, was as a land separated
from the waves of the heathen, so that it appeared
dry and ready for watering with rain, while the
rest of the nations were as a sea in the bitterness
of their sterility ; what do Thy preachers who
scatter Thy truth in circuit of Thee, when the
waves of that sea rage furiously ? " Thou rulest
the power of the sea" (ver. 9). For what was
the result of the sea raging thus, but the day
which we are now keeping holy ? It slew Mar-
tyrs, scattered seeds of blood, the harvest of the
Church sprang up. Safely then let the clouds
go forth : let them diffuse Thy truth in circuit
of Thee, let them not fear the savage waves.
" Thou rulest the power of the sea." The sea
swells, buffets, and roars : but " God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond
1 Rom. xv. o.
2 Malt, xxvi. 64.
3 Luke ii. 34.
what ye are able : " * and so, " Thou stillest the
waves thereof when they rise."
11. Lastly, what hast Thou done in the sea
itself, to pacify its rage, and to weaken it?
" Thou hast humbled the proud 5 as one that is
wounded" (ver. 10). There is a certain proud
serpent in the sea, of which another passage of
Scripture speaks, " I will command the serpent,
and he shall bite him ; " 6 and again, " There is
that Leviathan, whom Thou hast made to mock
him," 7 whose head He bruises above the water.
" Thou," he says, " hast humbled the proud, as
one that is wounded." Thou hast humbled Thy-
self, and the proud was humbled : for the proud
held the proud ones through pride : but the great
One is humbled, and by believing in Him become
small. While the little one is nourished by the
example of One who from greatness descended
to humility, the devil has lost what he held : be-
cause the proud held only the proud. When
such an example of humility was displayed before
them, men learned to condemn their own pride,
and to imitate the humility of God. Thus also
the devil, by losing those whom he had in his
power, has even himself been humbled ; not
chastened, but thrown prostrate. " Thou hast
humbled the proud like one that is wounded."
Thou hast been humbled, and hast humbled
others : Thou hast been wounded, and hast
wounded others : for Thy blood, as it was shed
to blot the handwriting of sins,8 could not but
wound him. For what was the ground of his
pride, except the bond which he held against us.
This bond, this handwriting, Thou hast blotted
out with Thy blood : him therefore hast Thou
wounded, from whom Thou hast rescued so many
victims. You must understand the devil wound-
ed, not by the piercing of the flesh, which he
has not, but by the bruising of his proud heart.
"Thou hast scattered Thine enemies abroad with
Thy mighty arm."
12. "The heavens are thine, the earth also is
Thine" (ver. 11). From Thee, over Thy earth
they rain. Thine are the heavens, by whom is
preached Thy truth in circuit of Thee ; " Thine
is the earth," which has received Thy truth in
circuit of Thee ; and what has resulted from that
rain? "Thou hast laid the foundation of the
round world, and all that therein is." " Thou
hast created the north and the seas" (ver. 12).
For nothing has any power against Thee, against
its Creator. The world indeed may rage through
its own malice, and the perversity of its will ;
does it nevertheless pass over the bound laid
down by the Creator, who made all things?
Why then do I fear the north wind ? Why do I
fear the seas? In the north indeed is the devil,
who said, " I will sit in the sides of the north ; I
< 1 Cor. x. 13.
7 Ps. civ. 26.
5 E. V. Rahab.
8 Col. ii. 14.
* Amos ix. 3.
Psalm LXXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
433
will be like the Most High ; " ' but Thou hast
humbled, as one wounded, the proud one. Thus
what Thou hast done in them has more force for
Thy dominion, than their own will has for their
wickedness. " Thou hast created the north and
the seas."
13. " Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy
name." Those mountains are here understood,
but they have a meaning. " Thabor and Her-
mon shall rejoice in Thy name." Thabor, when
interpreted, signifies an approaching light. But
whence comes the light of which it is said, " Ye
are the light of the world," 2 unless from Him
concerning whom it is written, " That was the
true light, which lighteth every man coming into
the world " ? 3 The light then which is the light
of the world comes from that light which is not
kindled from any other source, so that there is
no fear lest it be extinguished. The light then
comes from Him, who is that candle which is
not set beneath the bushel, but on a candlestick,
Thabor the coming light. Hermon means his
curse. Justly the light comes and is made the
curse of him. Of whom but the devil, the
wounded one, the proud one? Our illumination
then is given from Thee ; that he is held accursed
of us, who kept us in his own error and pride, is
from Thee. " Thabor and Hermon, therefore,
shall rejoice," not in their own merits, " but in
Thy name." For they shall say, " Not unto us,
Lord, not unto us, but to Thy name give the
praise," on account of the raging sea : lest " the
heathen say, Where is now their God?"4
14. "Thou hast a mighty arm" (ver. 13).
Let no man arrogate anything to himself. " Thou
hast a mighty arm : " by Thee we were created,
by Thee we have been defended. " Thou hast
a mighty arm : strong be Thy hand, and high be
Thy right hand."
15. " Righteousness and judgment are the
preparation of Thy seat" (ver. 14). Thy right-
eousness and judgment will appear in the end :
they are now hidden. Of Thy righteousness it is
treated in another Psalm,' " on the hidden things
of the Son." There will then be a manifesta-
tion of Thy righteousness and judgment : some
will be set on the right, others on the left hand : 6
and the unbelieving will tremble, when they see
what now they mock at, and believe not : the
righteous will rejoice, when they shall see what
they now see not, yet believe. " Righteousness
and judgment are the preparation of Thy seat : "
especially in the Day of Judgment. What then
now? "mercy and truth go before Thy face."
I should fear the preparation of Thy seat, Thy
justice, and Thy coming judgment, did not mercy
and truth go before Thee : why should I at the
end fear Thy righteousness, when with Thy
1 Isa. xiv.
* Ps. cxv. :
2 Matt. v. 14.
5 Ps. ix. Tit.
3 John i. q.
6 Matt. xxv. ■
mercy going before Thee Thou blottest out my
sins, and by showing forth Thy truth fulfillest
Thy promises? "Mercy and truth go before
Thy face." For " all the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth." 7
16. In all these things shall we not rejoice?
or shall we contain our joy? or shall words suf-
fice for our gladness? or shall the tongue be
able to express our rejoicing? If therefore no
words suffice, " Blessed is the people, O Lord,
that knoweth glad shouting" (ver. 15). O
blessed people ! dost thou conceive aright, dost
thou understand, glad shouting? For except
thou understand glad shouting, thou canst not be
blessed. What do I mean by understanding glad
shouting? Whether thou knowest the source of
that rejoicing which is beyond words to express.
For this joy is not of thyself, since " he that glo-
rieth, let him glory in the Lord." 8 Rejoice not
then in thy own pride, but in God's grace. See
that that grace is such, that the tongue fails to
express its greatness, and then thou understand-
est glad shouting. . . . O Lord, " they shall walk
in the light of Thy countenance." " They shall
rejoice in Thy name all the day "(ver. 16). That
Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name :
all day shall they rejoice, if they will, in Thy name ;
but if they will rejoice in their own name, they
shall not rejoice all day : for they shall not con-
tinue in their joy, when they shall delight in them-
selves, and fall through pride. That they may
rejoice all day, therefore, " they shall rejoice in
Thy name, and in Thy righteousness shall they
be exalted." Not in their own, but in Thine :
lest they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. For some are noted by the Apos-
tle, that they have a zeal of God, but not accord-
ing to knowledge, " being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their
own," and not rejoicing in Thy light, and thus
" not submitting themselves unto the righteous-
ness of God."9 And why? because " they have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
But the people who knoweth glad shouting (for
the former err from want of knowledge, but
blessed is the people not that knoweth not, but
that knoweth glad shouting), whence ought it to
shout, whence to rejoice, but in Thy name, walk-
ing in the light of Thy countenance? And it
shall deserve to be exalted, but in Thy rightepus-
ness : let every man take away altogether his own
righteousness, and be humbled : the righteousness
of God shall come, and he shall be exalted, " and
in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted."
1 7. " For Thou art the glory of their strength :
and in Thy good pleasure Thou shalt lift up our
horns " (ver. 17) : because it has seemed good
to Thee, not because we are worthy.
» Ps.
8 1 Cor. i. 31.
9 Rom. x. 2, 3.
434
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIX.
i 8. " For of the Lord is our taking up " (ver.
1 8). For I was moved like a heap of sand,
that I might fall ; and I should have fallen, had
not the Lord taken me up. " For of the Lord
is (our1) taking up: and of the Holy One of
Israel ouf King." Himself is thy taking up,
Himself thy illumination : in His light thou art
safe, in His light thou walkest, in His righteous-
ness thou art exalted. He took thee up, He
guards thy weakness : He gives thee strength of
Himself, not of thyself.
19. "Thou spakest sometime in vision unto
Thy sons, and saidst" (ver. 19). Thou spakest
in thy vision. Thou didst reveal this to Thy
Prophets. For this reason Thou spakest in
vision, that is, in revelation : whence Prophets
were called seers. They saw something within,
which they were to speak without : and secretly
they heard what they preached openly.2 Then
" Thou spakest in vision unto Thy sons, and
saidst, I have laid help upon One that is mighty."
Ye understand Who is meant by mighty? "I
have exalted One chosen out of the people."
And Who is meant by chosen? One who, ye
rejoice, is already exalted.
20. " I have found David My servant : " that
David from David's seed : " with My holy oil
have I anointed Him " (ver. 20) : for it is said
of Him, " God, even Thy God, hath anointed
Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."3
21. "My hand shall hold Him fast, and My
arm shall strengthen Him " (ver. 21): because
there was a taking up of man ; because flesh was
assumed in the Virgin's womb,4 because by Him
who in the form of God is coequal with the
Father, the form of a servant was taken, and He
became obedient unto death, even the death of
the Cross.5
22. " The enemy shall not be able to do him
violence" (ver. 22). The enemy rages indeed :
but he shall not be able to do Him violence : he
is wont to hurt, but he shall not hurt. How
then shall he afflict Him? he will exercise Him,
but he shall not hurt Him. There shall be profit
in his raging ; for those against whom he rages
shall be crowned in their conquering. For how
is he conquered, if he rages not against us ? or
where is God our helper, if we fight not ? The
enemy therefore shall do what is in his power ;
but " he shall not be able to do Him violence :
the son of wickedness shall not come nigh to
hurt Him."
23. " I will cut in pieces His enemies before
His face" (ver. 23). They are cut in pieces
from their conspiracy, and in that they believe
they are cut in pieces ; for they believe by de-
grees ; as when the calf's head was ground small,
they will come to be the drink of God's people.
1 Oxf. mss, " our."
« Luke i. 31.
2 1 Sam. iii. 0-18. 3 Ps. xlv. 7.
5 Phil. ti. 6, 8.
For Moses ground down the calPs head, and
sprinkled it upon the water, and made the
children of Israel drink it.6 All the unbelieving
are ground : they believe by degrees ; and they
are drunk by the people of God, and pass into
Christ's body. "I will cut in pieces His foes
before His face : and put to flight them that
hate Him." . . .
24. " My truth also and My mercy is with
Him" (ver. 24). All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth. Remember, as much as ye can,
how often these two attributes are urged upon
us, that we render them back to God. For as He
showed us mercy that He might blot out our
sins, and truth in fulfilling His promises ; so also
we, walking in His path, ought to give back to
Him mercy and truth ; mercy, in pitying the
wretched ; truth, in not judging unjustly. Let
not truth rob you of mercy, nor mercy hinder
truth : for if through mercy you shall have
judged contrary to truth, or by rigorous truth
shall have forgotten mercy, you will not be walk-
ing in the path of God, where " mercy and
truth meet together." 7 " And in My name shall
His horn be exalted." Why should I say
more? Ye are Christians, recognise Christ.
25. " I will set His hand also in the sea " (ver.
25) : that is, He shall rule over the Gentiles;
" and His right hand in the floods." Rivers run
into the sea : avaricious men roll onwards into
the bitterness of this world : yet all these kinds
of men will be subject to Christ.
26. " He shall call me, Thou art My Father,
and the lifter up of My salvation" (ver. 26).
" And I will make Him my first-born ; higher
than the kings of the earth" (ver. 27). Our
Martyrs, whose birthdays we are celebrating, shed
their blood on account of these things, which
were believed though not yet seen ; how much
more brave ought we to be, as we see what they
believed? For they had not yet seen Christ raised
on high among the kings of the earth : as yet
princes were taking counsel together against the
Lord and His Anointed : what follows in the
same Psalm was not then fulfilled, " Be wise
now therefore, O ye kings : be learned, ye that
are judges of the earth."8 Now indeed Christ
has been exalted among the kings of the earth.
27. " My mercy will I keep for Him for ever :
and my Testament faithful with Him" (ver. 28).
On His account, the Testament is faithful :
in Him the Testament is mediated : He is
the Sealer, the Mediator of the Testament,
the Surety of the Testament, the Witness of the
Testament, the Heritage of the Testament, the
Coheir of the Testament.
28. " His seed will I make to endure world
without end "(ver. 29). Not only for this
6 Exod. xxxii. 30.
• Ps. it. -• to.
7 Ps. Ixxxv. JO.
Psalm LXXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
435
world, but unto the world without end : ' whither
His seed, which is His heritage, the seed of
Abraham, which is Christ, will pass.2 But if ye
are Christ's, ye are also Abraham's seed : and
if ye are destined His heirs for ever, " He will
establish His seed unto world without end : and
His throne as the days of Heaven." The thrones
of earthly kings are as the days of the earth :
different are the days of Heaven from those of
earth. The days of Heaven are those years
of which it is said, "Thou art the same, and Thy
years shall not fail." 3 The days of the earth are
soon overtaken by their successors : those which
precede are shut out from us : nor do those
which succeed remain : but they come that they
may go, and are almost gone before they are
come. Such are the days of earth. But the
days of Heaven, which are also the " One day "
of Heaven,4 and the never failing years, have
neither beginning nor end : nor is any day there
narrowed between yesterday and to-morrow : no
one there expects the future, nor loses the past :
but the days of Heaven are always present,
where His throne shall be for ever and ever.' . . .
29. This is a strong pledge of the promise of
God. The sons of this David are the chil-
dren of the Bridegroom ; all Christians there-
fore are called His sons. But it is much indeed
that God promises, that if Christians, that is,
" If his children forsake My law, and walk not in
My judgments " (ver. 30) ; " if they profane My
statutes, and keep not My commandments " (ver.
31); I will not spurn them, nor will I send
them away from Me in perdition : but what
will I do? "I will visit their offences with the
rod, and their sin with scourges " (ver. 32). It is
not the mercy of one that calls them only ; but
also that chastises and scourges them. Let
therefore thy Father's hand be upon thee, and
if thou art a good son, repel not chastening ; for
" what son is there, to whom his father giveth
not chastening?"6 Let Him chasten him, so
long as He takes not from him His mercy : let Him
beat him when obstinate, as long as He does not
disinherit him. If thou hast well understood the
promises of thy Father, fear not to be scourged,
but to be disinherited : " for whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth : and scourgeth every son
whom He receiveth." 1 Does the sinful son
spurn chastening, when he sees the only Son
without sin scourged? "I will visit their of-
fences with the rod." Thus too the Apostle
threatens: "What will ye? shall I come unto
1 In srculum seculi. 2 Gal. iii. 15, 29.
3 Ps. cii. 27. 4 Oxf. mss. add "which are," etc.
3 [Here he adds: " Let us, if you please, reserve what remains;
since the Psalm is a long one, and we have yet some farther opportu-
nity of speaking with you in Christ's name. Refresh your strength
therefore: I do not mean that of your mind, for in mind I see that
you are incapable of fatigue; but on account of the slaves of tile soul,
that your bodies may be sustained in their service, refresh yourselves
for a little, and being refreshed return to your meal." — C.T
* Heb. xii. 7. 7 Heb. xii. 6.
you with a rod ? " s Let not pious sons say, if
Thou art coming with a rod, come not at all.
For it is better to be taught with the Father's
rod, than to perish in the caresses of the robber.
30. " Nevertheless, My mercy will I not
utterly take from Him " (ver. 33). From whom?
From that David to whom I gave these prom-
ises, whom " I anointed with my holy oil of
gladness above His fellows."9 Do you recognise
Him from whom God will not utterly take away
His mercy? That no one may anxiously say,
since He speaks of Christ as Him from whom
He will not take away His mercy, What then
will become of the sinner? Did He say any-
thing like this, " I will not take My loving-kind-
ness utterly from them"? "I will visit," He
saith, " their offences with the rod, and their sin
with scourges." Thou didst expect for thy own
security, " I will not utterly take my loving-
kindness from " them. And indeed this is the
reading of some books, but not of the most
accurate : though, where they have it, it is a
reading by no means inconsistent with the real
meaning. For how can it be said that He will
not utterly take His mercy from Christ? Has
the Saviour of the body committed aught of
sin either in Heaven or in earth, " who sitteth
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession forus"?10 Yet it is from Christ:
but from His members, His body which is the
Church. For in this sense He speaks of it as
a great thing that He will not take away His
mercies from Him, supposing us not to rec-
ognise the only Son, who is in the bosom of
the Father; " for there the Man is not counted
for His Person, but the One Person is God and
Man. He therefore does not utterly take His
mercies from Him, when He takes not His
mercy from His body, His members,12 in which,
even while He was enthroned in Heaven, He
was still suffering persecutions on earth ; and
when He cried from Heaven, " Saul, Saul,"
not why persecutest thou My servants, nor why
persecutest thou My saints, nor My disciples,
but, " why persecutest thou Me?"'3 As then,
while no one persecuted Him when sitting in
Heaven, He cried out, " Why persecutest thou
Me?" when the Head recognised its limbs, and
His love allowed not the Head to separate Him-
self from the union of the body : so, when He
taketh not away His mercies from Him, it is
surely that He taketh it not from us, who are
His limbs and body. Yet ought we not on that
account to sin not without apprehension, and
perversely to assure ourselves that we shall not
8 1 Cor. iv. 21. 9 Ps. xlv. 7.
10 Rom. viii. 34. " John i. 18.
12 i.e we may consider it as not said of Him at all, for though He
is Man, yet being God also He would not, in His own Person, need
assurance; therefore it is said of Him in His members.
li Acts ix. 4.
436
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIX.
perish, be our actions what they may. For
there are certain sins and certain offences, to
define and discourse of which it is either impos-
sible for me, or if it were possible, it would be
too tedious for the time we have at present.
For no man can say that he is without sin ; for
if he says so, he will lie ; " if we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us." ' Each one therefore is needfully
scourged for his own sins ; but the mercy of God
is not taken away from him, if he be a Chris-
tian. Certainly if thou committest such offences
as to repel the hand of Him who chasteneth,
the rod of Him who scourgeth thee, and art
angry at the correction of God, and fliest from
thy Father when He chasteneth thee, and wilt
not suffer Him to be thy Father, because He
spares thee not when thou dost sin ; thou
hast estranged thyself from thy heritage, He has
not thrown thee off; for if thou wouldest abide
being scourged, thou wouldest not abide disin-
herited. " Nor will I do hurt in My truth."
For His mercy in setting free shall not be taken
away, lest His truth in taking vengeance do
harm.
31. " My covenant will I not profane, nor re-
ject the thing that is gone out of my lips " (ver.
34). Because his sons sin, I will not on this
account be found false : I have promised ; I will
do. Suppose they choose to sin even as past
hope, and so fall into sins as to offend their
Father's countenance, and deserve to be disin-
herited ; is it not still God Himself, of whom it
is said, "From these stones" He "will raise up
sons to Abraham"?2 Therefore I tell you,
brethren, many Christians sin venially,3 many are
scourged and so corrected for their sin, chas-
tened, and cured ; many turn away altogether,
striving with a stiff neck against the discipline
of the Father, even wholly refusing God as their
Father, though they have the mark of Christ,
and so fall into such sins, that it can only be
announced against them, " that they who do such
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 4
Nevertheless, Christ shall not be destitute of an
inheritance on their account : not for the chaff's
sake shall the wheat also perish : s nor on account
of bad fish shall nothing be cast into the vessels
from that net.6 " The Lord knows them that
are His."7 For He who predestined us before
we were born, promised undoubtingly : " For
whom He did predestinate, them- He also
called : and whom He called, them He also jus-
tified : and whom He justified, them He also
glorified." 8 Let desperate sinners sin as far as
they choose : let the members of Christ reply,
1 1 John i. 8. * Matt. iii. 9.
1 Toltrabiliter. [1 John v. 16, 17. — C] * Gal. v. at.
' Matt. iii. u. » Matt. xiii. 47. 1 a Tim. ii. 19.
• Rom viii. 39, 30.
"If God is with us, who shall be against us?"
God will not therefore do hurt in His truth, nor
will He " profane His Testament." His Testa-
ment remains immovable, because in His fore-
knowledge He predestined His heirs ; and " He
will not reject the thing that is gone out of His
lips."
32. Listen for thy confirmation in hope, for thy
security, if thou knowest thyself to be among the
members of Christ. " I have sworn once by
My holiness that I will not lie unto David " (ver.
35). Dost thou wait till God swear a second
time? How often is He to swear, if in one
oath He is false ? One oath He made for our
life, who sent His Only One to die for us. " I
have sworn once by My holiness, that I will not
lie unto David." " His seed shall endure for
ever" (ver. 36). His seed endures for ever;
because the Lord knows them that are His. " And
His seat is like as the sun before me : " "and as
the moon perfect for evermore : and the faithful
witness in heaven" (ver. 37). They are His
seat, in whom He sits and reigns. But if His
seat, His members also ; because even our mem-
bers are the seat of our head. See how all our
other members sustain our head : but the head
supports nothing above itself, but is itself sup-
ported by the rest of our limbs, as if the whole
body of a man were the seat of his head. His
seat, therefore, all in whom God reigns, " shall
be like as the sun before Me," He saith : be-
cause the righteous in the kingdom of My Father
" shall shine like the sun." 9 But the sun is
meant in a spiritual, not a bodily sense, as that
which shines from Heaven, which He maketh to
rise upon the just and unjust.10 Finally, that sun
is not before men's eyes only, but even those of
cattle and the smallest insects ; for which of the
vilest animals sees not that sun ? What does he
say to distinguish the sun meant here? "Like
as the sun before Me." Not before men, before
the flesh, before mortal animals, but " before
Me, and as the moon." But what moon? one
" that is perfect for evermore." For although
that moon which we know becomes perfect, the
next day she begins to wane, after her orb is
full. " He shall be as the moon perfect for
evermore," He saith. His seat shall be made
perfect as the moon, but that moon is one
which will be perfect for evermore. If as the
sun, why also as the moon? the Scriptures usu-
ally signify by the moon the mortality of this
flesh, because of its increasings and decreas-
ings, because of its transitory nature. The moon
is also interpreted as Jericho : one who was de-
scending from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among
robbers : " for he was descending from immor-
tality to mortality. Similar then is the flesh to
9 Matt. xiii. 43.
10 Matt. v. 45.
11 Luke x. 30.
Psalm LXXXIX.l
ON THE PSALMS.
437
that moon, which every month suffers increase
and decrease : but that flesh of ours will be per-
fect in the resurrection : " and a faithful witness
in heaven." Thus then, if it was our mind only
that would be perfected, he would compare us
only to the sun : if our body only, to the moon ;
but as God will perfect us in both, in respect of
the mind it is said, " like as the sun before Me,"
because God only seeth the mind : and " as the
moon," so is the flesh : which " shall be made
perfect for evermore," in the resurrection of the
dead : " and a faithful witness in Heaven," be-
cause all that was asserted of the resurrection
of the dead was true. I beseech you, hear this
again more clearly, and remember it : for I know
that some understand, while others are yet en-
quiring perhaps what I meant. There is no
article of the Christian faith which has encoun-
tered such contradiction as that of the resurrec-
tion of the flesh. Finally, He who was born for
a sign that should be spoken against,' resumed
His own flesh after death to meet the caviller ;
and He who could have so completely cured His
wounds that their scars would have entirely
vanished, retained those scars in His body, that
He might cure the wounds of doubt in the
heart. Indeed nothing has been attacked with
the same pertinacious, contentious contradic-
tion, in the Christian faith, as the resurrection
of the flesh. On the immortality of the soul
many Gentile philosophers have disputed at
great length, and in many books they have left
it written that the soul is immortal : when they
come to the resurrection of the flesh, they doubt
not indeed, but they most openly deny it,
declaring it to be absolutely impossible that this
earthly flesh can ascend to Heaven. Thus that
moon shall be perfect for evermore, and shall
be the faithful witness in heaven against all gain-
sayers.
33. These promises, so sure, so firm, so open,
so unquestioned, were made concerning Christ.
For although some are mysteriously veiled, yet
some are so clear, that ail that is obscure is
easily revealed by them. Such being the case,
see what follows : " But Thou hast approved
and brought to nothing and forsaken Thine
Anointed" (ver. 38). "Thou hast overthrown
the testament of Thy servant, and profaned His
holiness on the ground " (ver. 39). "Thou hast
broken down all His hedges, and made His
strongholds a terror" (ver. 40). . . . How is
this ? Thou hast promised all those things : and
Thou hast brought to pass their reverse. Where
are now the promises which but a little before
filled us with delight? which we so joyfully
applauded, which we so fearlessly made our
boast of? It is as if one promised, and another
1 Luke ii. 34. [A. N. F. vol. iii. p. 525. — C].
destroyed. And this is the mystery : for the
words are not " another," but " Thou," Thou who
didst promise, who didst even swear in conde-
scension to human doubt, Thou hast promised
this, and done thus ! Whence shall I get Thy
oath, where shall I find Thy promise fulfilled?
Would then God promise, or swear thus falsely?
and yet why then these promises, and these
acts ? I answer, that He acted thus in fulfilment
of those promises. But who am I, to say this?
Let us see therefore whether it is the language
of the Truth ; what I say will not then be with-
out foundation. It was David to whom the ful-
filment of these promises in his seed, that is, in
Christ, was promised : and as they were addressed
to David, men expected their completion in
David. Further, lest when any Christian as-
serted these promises to have referred to Christ,
another by applying them to David, because he
described the fulfilment of all of them in David,
might thus err ; He cancelled them in David,
thus obliging us when we see them unfulfilled in
David, to look to another quarter for their ful-
filment. Thus also in the case of Esau and
Jacob, we find the elder worshipped by the
younger, though it is written, " The elder shall
serve the younger ; " 2 so when you see it unful-
filled in those two brothers, you look for two
peoples in whom to discover the completion of
what God in His truth deigns to promise. " From
the fruit of thy body," saith the Lord unto
David, " shall I set upon thy sea." 3 He prom-
ised from his seed something for evermore : and
Solomon, born to him, became master of such
wisdom,4 that the promise of God respecting
the fruit of David's body was believed to have
been fulfilled in him ; but Solomon fell,5 and gave
room for hoping for Christ ; that since God can
neither be deceived nor deceive, He might not
make His promise to rest in one who He knew
would fall, but you might after the fall of Solo-
mon look back to God, and demand His prom-
ise. Hast Thou, O Lord, deceived? Hast
Thou failed to fulfil Thy promise ? Dost Thou
not exhibit what Thou hast sworn? Perhaps
God might reply, I swore and promised : but
Solomon would not persevere. What then?
Didst not Thou, Lord God, know beforehand
that he would not persevere? Indeed Thou
didst know. Why then didst Thou promisewme
what should be eternal in one who would not
persevere ? Hast Thou not answered ; " But if
his children forsake My law, and walk not in My
judgments ; if they keep not My statutes, and
profane My testament ; " yet My promise shall
remain, and My oath shall be fulfilled : " I have
sworn once in My Holiness," within, in a certain
mystery, in the very spring whence the Prophets
2 Gen. xxv. 23, 3 Ps. cxxxii. 11.
* Oxf. mss. " and such prudence." s x Kings xi. I, etc.
438
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIX.
drank, whence they burst forth to us of these
things, " I have sworn once " that I will not fail
David. Show forth then what Thou hast sworn,
give us what Thou hast promised. The fulfil-
ment is taken from that David, that it might not
be looked for in that David : wait therefore for
what I have promised.
34. Even David himself knew this. Consider
his words ; " Thou hast rejected and brought
him down to nothing." Where then is Thy
promise? " Thou hast put off Thine anointed."
This expression cheers us, among much that is
sorrowful : for the promise of God is still valid ;
for ' Thou hast put off Thine Anointed, not
taken Him away. See then what was the fate of
that David, in whom the ignorant hoped for the
fulfilment of the promises of God, in order that
those promises might be more firmly relied upon
for their fulfilment in another. " Thou hast
put off Thine Anointed : Thou hast overthrown
the testament of Thy servant." For where is the
Old Testament of the Jews ? where that land of
promise, in which they sinned while they dwelt
in it, on the overthrow of which they wandered
afar ? Ask you for the kingdom of the Jews ; it
exists not : you ask for the altar of the Jews ; it
is not : you ask for the sacrifice of the Jews ;
it is not: you ask for the priesthood of the
Jews ; it is not. " Thou hast overthrown the
testament of Thy servant, and profaned his holi-
ness on the earth." Thou hast shown that what
they thought holy, was earthly. " Thou hast
broken down all his hedges," with which Thou
hast entrenched him : for how could he have
been spoiled unless his hedges had been broken
down ? " Thou hast made his strongholds a
terror." Why terror? That it should be said
to the sinners, " For if God spared not the nat-
ural branches, take heed lest He also spare not
thee."1
" All they that go by the way have spoiled
him : " that is, all the heathen that go by the
way, meaning, all who pass through this life,
have spoiled Israel, have spoiled David. First
of all, see his fragments in all nations : for it is
of the Jews that it is said, " They shall be a por-
tion for foxes." 3 For the Scripture calls wicked,
crafty, and cowardly kings, whom another's vir-
tue terrifies, foxes. Thus when our Lord Him-
self was speaking of the threatening Herod, He
said, "Go ye, and tell that fox."4 The king
who fears no man, is not a fox : like that Lion of
Judah, of whom it is said, " Stooping down Thou
didst rise up, and didst sleep as a lion." ' At
Thy will Thou didst stoop down, at Thy will didst
rise ; because Thou wouldest, Thou didst sleep.
And thus in another Psalm he says, "I6 slept." ?
' Non aiilu/ijti led diilulisti.
■ Rom. xi. ji. 3 P». lxiii. 10. * Luke xiii. 3a.
* Gen. xtix. 9. -j Efo. 1 Ps. iv. 8.
Was not the sentence complete, " I slept,
and took rest, and rose up again, because the
Lord shall uphold Me " ? Why is the word
ego added? and thus with a strong emphasis
on the word I, they raged against Me, they
troubled Me : but had I not willed, / had
not slept. Those then concerning whom it was
declared that they should be a portion for foxes,
are now spoken of as follows ; " All they that
go by have spoiled him : and he is become a
reproach to his neighbours" (ver. 41). "Thou
hast set up the right hand of his enemies, and
made all his adversaries to rejoice" (ver. 42).
Look at the Jews, and see all things fulfilled that
were predicted. " Thou hast turned away the
help of his sword." How they were used to
fight few in number, and to strike down many.
" Thou hast turned away the help of his sword,
and Thou givest him not victory in the battle "
(ver. 43). Naturally8 then is he conquered,
naturally taken prisoner, naturally made an out-
cast from his kingdom, naturally scattered
abroad : for he lost that land, for which he slew
the Lord. " Thou hast loosed him from cleans-
ing " (ver. 44). What is this? Amongst all the
evils, this is a matter for great fear ; for howso-
ever God may beat, howsoever He may be
wroth, howsoever He may flog and scourge, yet
let Him scourge him bound, whom He is to
cleanse, not " loose him from cleansing." For
if He loose him from being purified, he becomes
incapable of cleansing, and must be an outcast.
From what cleansing then is the Jew loosed?
From faith ; for by faith we live : 9 and it is said
of faith, " purifying their hearts by faith : " IO and
as it is only the faith of Christ that cleanses ; by
disbelief in Christ, they are loosed from purifica-
tion. " Thou hast loosed him from cleansing,
and cast his throne down to the ground." And
so Thou hast broken it. " The days of his seat
hast Thou shortened " (ver. 45 ). They imagined
that they should reign for ever. "And covered
him with confusion." All these things happened
to the Jews, Christ yet not being taken away, but
His advent deferred.
35. Let us therefore see whether God fulfils
His promises. After these stern penalties which
have been recorded as having been inflicted
upon this people and kingdom, that God might
not be supposed to have fulfilled His promises
in it, and so not to grant another kingdom in
Christ, of which kingdom there shall be no end ;
the Prophet addresses Him in these words,
" Lord, how long wilt Thou hide Thyself unto
the end?" (ver. 46). For possibly it was not
from them and to the end ; because " blindness
in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall
» Mtrito.
9 Gal. iii. 11.
0 Acts xv y.
Psalm LXXXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
439
be saved." ■ But in the mean while " shall Thy
wrath burn like fire."
36. " O remember what my substance is " (ver.
47). That David, who was placed among the
Jews in the flesh, in Christ in hope, speaks ;
" Remember what is my substance." For not
because the Jews fell away, did my substance
fail : for from that people came the Virgin Mary,
and from her the flesh of Christ ; that Flesh sins
not, but purifies sins ; there, saith David, is my
substance. " O remember what my substance
is." For the root has not entirely perished ; the
seed shall come to whom the promise was made,
ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator.1
" For Thou hast not made all the sons of men
for nought" (ver. 47). Lo ! all the sons of
men have gone into vanity : yet Thou hast not
made them for nought. If then all went into
vanity, whom Thou hast not made for nought ;
hast Thou not reserved some instrument to pu-
rify them from vanity? This which Thou hast re-
served to Thyself to cleanse men from vanity is
Thy Holy One, in Him is my substance : for from
Him areall, whom Thou hast not made for nought,
purified from their own vanity. To them it is said,
" O ye sons of men, how long are ye heavy in
heart ? Wnerefore have ye such pleasure in vanity,
and seek after leasing? " 3 Perhaps they might
become anxious, and turn from their vanity, and
when they found themselves polluted with it,
might seek for purification from it : then help
them, make them secure. " Know this also,
that the Lord hath made wonderful His Holy
One." 4 He has made His Holy One to be ad-
mired : thence He has purified all from their
vanity : there, saith David, is my substance : O
remember it ! " For Thou hast not made all the
sons of men for nought." Thou hast therefore
reserved something to purify them : and who
is He whom Thou hast reserved ? " What man is
he that liveth, and shall not see death?" This
man then who shall live and not see death, shall
purify them from nothingness. For He made
not all men for nought, nor can He who made
them so despise His own creatures, as not to
convert and purify them.
37. " What man is he that shall live, and shall
not see death?" (ver. 48). For being raised
from the dead He dieth no more, and death
hath no more dominion over Him. 5 And as in
another Psalm it is said, " Thou shalt not leave
my soul in Hell, neither shalt Thou suffer Thy
Holy One to see corruption," 6 the Apostolic
teaching takes up this testimony, and in the Acts
of the Apostles 7 thus argues against the unbeliev-
ing ; Men and brethren, we know that the patri-
arch David is dead and buried, and his flesh
Rim. xi. 35.
O. iv. 3.
A.U .1. .'J.
2 Gal.iii. io.
3 Rom. vi. 9.
3 Ps. iv. 3.
6 Ps. xvi. 10.
hath seen corruption. Therefore it cannot be
said of him, " neither shalt Thou suffer Thy Holy
One to see corruption." Of whom then is it
said ? " What man is he that shall live, and shall
not see death? " Perhaps there is no man such.
Nay, but "who is it?" is said to make thee in-
quire, not despair. But perhaps there may be
some man " that shall live, and shall not see
death," and yet perhaps he did not speak of
Christ, who died ? There is no man " that shall
live, and shall not see death," except Him who
died for mortals. That thou mayest be assured
that it is said of Him, consider the sequel ;
" What man is he that liveth, and shall not see
death?" Did He never die then? He did.
How then shall He live, and never see death ?
" He shall deliver His own soul from the hands
of Hell." He is spoken of alone indeed, in that
He alone of all others " shall live, and shall not
see death : He shall deliver His own soul from
the hand of Hell," because although the rest of
His faithful shall rise from the dead, and shall
themselves live for evermore, without seeing
death ; yet they shall not themselves deliver
their own souls from the hands of Hell. He who
delivers His own soul from the hands of Hell,
Himself delivers those of His believers : they
cannot do so of themselves. Prove that He
delivers His own soul. " I have power to lay
down My life, and I have power to take it again.
No man taketh ' it from Me ; ' for I Myself slept,
but I lay it down of Myself, and take it again," s
because it is He Himself who delivers His own
soul from the hands of Hell.
38. But in the very faith in Christ great diffi-
culties occurred, and the heathen in their rage
long said, " When shall he die, and his name
perish ? " On account of these then who have
now long believed in Christ, but were destined
to doubt for some time, these words follow,
"Lord, where are Thy old loving-kindnesses?"
(ver. 49). We have now acknowledged Christ
our purifier, we now possess Him in whom Thy
promises were to be fulfilled ; show forth in Him
what Thou hast promised. It is He Himself
that shall live, and not see death : Himself who
delivers His own soul from the hand of Hell :
and yet we are still in suffering. Thus spoke the
Martyrs, whose birthdays we are celebrating. He
shall live, and not see death : He delivers His
soul from the hands of Hell : yet " for Thy sake
we are killed all the day long : and are counted
as sheep appointed to be slain."9 "Lord, where
are Thy old loving-kindnesses which Thou swar-
est unto David in Thy truth ? "
39. " Remember, Lord, the rebuke that Thy
servants have" (ver. 50). Even while Christ
was living, and while He was sitting on His
• John x. x8; Pi. iii. 5.
9 Pi. xliv. 33.
44Q
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm LXXXIX.
Father's right hand, reproaches were cast against
the Christians : they long were reproached with
the name of Christ. That widowed one who
brought forth, and whose children were more
than those of the married wife,' heard ill names,
heard reproaches : but the Church, multiplied
as she is, extending right and left, no longer re-
members the reproach of her widowhood. " Re-
member, Lord," in the memory of whom there
is abundant sweetness. " Remember," forget
not. Remember what? "the rebuke that Thy
servants have : and how I do bear in my bosom
the rebukes of many people." I went, saith he,
to preach of Thee, and I heard reproaches, and
bore them in my bosom, because I was fulfilling
the prophecy. " Being defamed we entreat : we
are made as the filth of the earth, and are the
offscouring of all things unto this day." 2 Long
the Christians bore reproaches in their bosom,
in their heart : nor dared resist their revilers ;
before, when it was a crime to answer a heathen :
it is now a crime to remain a heathen. Thanks
be to the Lord ! He remembered our rebukes :
He raised the horn of His Anointed on high, He
made Him the Wonderful among the kings of
the earth. Now no one insults Christians, or
if he does, it is not in public : he speaks as if he
were still more fearful of being heard, than anx-
ious to be believed. " I bear in my bosom the
rebukes of many people."
40. " Wherewith Thine enemies have blas-
phemed Thee, O Lord " (ver. 51), both Jews and
Pagans. "Wherewith they have blasphemed."
Wherewith have they blasphemed Thee ? " With
the change of Thine Anointed." 3 They ob-
jected that Christ died, and was crucified. Mad-
men, what is your reproach ? Although there is
now no one to use it : yet supposing some still
remaining that so speak, what is your reproach ?
that Christ died? He was not destroyed, but
changed. He is styled " dead " on account of
the three days. VVherewith then have thine
enemies blasphemed Thee? Not with the loss,
not with the perdition of Thine Anointed, but
with His " change." He was changed from
temporal to eternal life : He was changed from the
Jews to the Gentiles ; He was changed from
earth to heaven. Let then Thy vain ene-
mies blaspheme Thee still for the change of
Thine Anointed. Would that they may be
changed : they will not in that case blaspheme
the change of Christ, which displeases them,
since they themselves will not be changed. " For
there is no change with them, and they fear not
God." «
41. They have blasphemed the change of
Christ; but what dost thou answer? "The
blessing of 5 the Lord for evermore. Amen and
1 t%2. liv. CI Gal. iv. 37.
« P». Iv. 19.
« 1 Cor. Iv. 13. 3 Christi.
i Vxi. an. " blessed be."
Amen" (ver. 52). Thanks to His mercy,6 thanks
to His grace. We express our thanks : we do
not give them, nor return them, nor repay them :
we express our thanks in words, while in fact we
retain our sense of them. 7 He saved us for no
reward, He heeded not our impieties : He
searched us out when we searched not for Him,
He found, redeemed, emancipated us from the
bondage of the devil and the power of his wicked
angels : He drew us to Him to purify us by that
faith, from which He releases those enemies only
who believe not, and who for that reason cannot
be purified. Let those who still remain infidels
say every day what they choose ; day by day
they shall be fewer and fewer that remain ; let
them revile, mock, accuse, not the death, but the
change of Christ. Do they not see that, when
they say these things, they fail in purpose either
by believing or by dying? For their curse is
temporal : but the blessing of the Lord " for
evermore." To confirm that blessing is added,
" Amen and Amen." This is the signature of
the bond of God. Secure then of His promises,
let us believe the past, recognise the present,
hope for the future. Let not the enemy lead
us astray from the way, that He, who gathers us
like chickens under His wings, may foster us :
lest we stray from His wings, and the hawk of
the air carry us off while yet unfledged. For the
Christian ought not to hope in himself: if he
hopes to be strong, let him be reared by his
mother's warmth. This is the hen who gathers
her young together ; whence is the reproach of
our Saviour against the unbelieving Jerusalem.
" Behold, your house shall be left unto you des-
olate." 8 Hence was it said, " Thou hast made
his strongholds a terror." Since then they would
not be gathered together under the wings of this
hen, and have given as a warning to teach us to
dread the unclean spirits that fly in the air, seek-
ing daily what they may devour ; let us gather
ourselves under the wings of this hen, the divine
Wisdom, since she is weakened even unto death
of her chickens. Let us love our Lord God, let
us love His Church : Him as a Father, Her as a
Mother: Him as a Lord, Her as His Hand-
maid, as we are ourselves the Handmaid's sons.
But this marriage is held together by a bond of
great love : no man offends the one, and wins
favour of the other. Let no man say, " I go in-
deed to the idols, I consult possessed ones and
fortune-tellers : yet I abandon not God's Church ;
I am a Catholic." While thou holdest to thy
Mother, thou hast offended thy Father. Another
says, Far be it from me ; I consult no sorcerer,
I seek out no possessed one, I never ask advice
6 Oxf. MS3. add here, " what else shall I say but."
7 Oxf. mss. Rem tenemus, while we retain possession of the
(unrequited) benefit.
8 Matt, xxiii. 38.
Psalm XC]
ON THE PSALMS.
441
by sacrilegious divination, I go not to worship
idols, I bow not before stones ; though I am in
the party of Donatus. What does it profit you
not to have offended your Father, if he avenges
your offended Mother ? what does it serve you,
if you acknowledge the Lord, honour God,
preach His name, acknowledge His Son, confess
that He sitteth by His right hand ; while you
blaspheme His Church ? Does not the analogy
of human marriages convince you ? Suppose you
have some patron, whom you court every day,
whose threshold you wear with your visits, whom
you daily not only salute, but even worship, to
whom you pay the most loyal courtesy ; if you
utter one calumny against his wife, could you re-
enter his house ? Hold then, most beloved, hold
all with one mind to God the Father, and the
Church our Mother. Celebrate with temperance
the birthdays of the Saints, that we may imitate
those who have gone before us, and that they
who pray for you may rejoice over you ; that
" the blessing of the Lord may abide on you for
evermore. Amen and Amen."
PSALM XC.1
1. This Psalm is entitled, "The prayer of
Moses the man of God," through whom, His
man, God gave the law to His people, through
whom He freed them from the house of slavery,
and led them forty years through the wilderness.
Moses was therefore the Minister of the Old,
and the Prophet of the New Testament. For
"all these things," saith the Apostle, "happened
unto them for ensamples : and they are written
for our admonition, unto whom the ends of the
world come." 2 In accordance therefore with
this dispensation which was vouchsafed to
Moses, this Psalm is to be examined, as it has
received its title from his prayer.
2. "Lord," he saith, "Thou hast been our
refuge from one generation to another " (ver.
1 ) : either in every generation, or in two gener-
ations, the old and new : because, as I said, he
was the Minister of the Testament that related
to the old generation, and the Prophet of the
Testament which appertained to the new.
Jesus Himself, the Surety of that covenant, and
the Bridegroom in the marriage which He
entered into in that generation, saith, " Had ye
believed Moses, ye would have believed Me :
for he wrote of Me."3 Now it is not to be be-
lieved that this Psalm was entirely the compo-
sition of that Moses, as it is not distinguished
by any of those of his expressions 4 which are
used in his songs : but the name of the great
servant of God is used for the sake of some in-
timation, which should direct the attention of
' T.M. I.XXXIX. * 1 Cor. x. 11 3 John v. 46.
* LiUris. [liut see Delilzscli (cd. Clark), vol. ili. p. 48. — C]
the reader or listener. " Lord," he saith, " Thou
hast been our refuge from one generation to the
other."
3. He adds, how He became our refuge, since
He began to be that, viz. a refuge, to us which
He had not been before, not that He had not
existed before He became our refuge : " Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever the
earth and the world were made : and from age
even unto age Thou art" (ver. 2). Thou
therefore who art for ever, and before we were,
and before the world was, hast become our ref-
uge ever since we turned to Thee. But the ex-
pression, " before the mountains," etc., seems to
me to contain a particular meaning ; for moun-
tains are the higher parts of the earth, and if
God was before even the earth were formed (or,
as some books have it, from the same Greek
word, " framed " 5), since it was by Him that it
was formed, what is the need of saying that
He was before the mountains, or any certain parts
of it, since God was not only 'before the earth,
but before heaven and earth, and even the whole
bodily and spiritual creation ? But it may cer-
tainly be that the whole rational creation is
marked by this distinction ; that while the lofti-
ness of Angels is signified by the mountains, the
lowliness of man is meant by the earth. And
for this reason, although all the works of cre-
ation are not improperly said to be either made
or formed ; nevertheless, if there is any propri-
ety in these words, the Angels are " made ; " for
as they are enumerated among His heavenly
works, the enumeration itself is thus concluded :
" He spake the word, and they were made ; He
commanded, and they were created ; " 6 but the
earth was " formed," that man might thence be
created in the body. For the Scripture uses
this word, where we read, God made, or " God
formed man out of the dust of the ground." ?
Before then the noblest parts of the creation
(for what is higher than the rational part of the
Heavenly creation) were made : before the earth
was made, that Thou mightest have worshippers
upon the earth ; and even this is little, as all
these had a beginning either in or with time ;
but " from age to age Thou art." It would have
been better, from everlasting to everlasting : for
God, who is before the ages, exists not from a
certain age, nor to a certain age, which has an
end, since He is without end. But it often
happens in the Scripture, that the equivocal
Greek word causes the Latin translator to put
age for eternity and eternity for age. But he
very rightly does not say, Thou wast from ages,
and unto ages Thou shalt be : but puts the verb
in the present, intimating that the substance of
God is altogether immutable. It is not, He
5 Fingeretur.
6 Ps. cxlviii. 5.
? Gen. ii. 7.
442
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XC.
was, and Shall be, but only Is. Whence the ex-
pression, I am that I am ; and, I am " hath
sent me unto you ; " ' and, " Thou shalt change
them, and they shall be changed : but Thou art
the same, and Thy years shall not fail." 2 Be-
hold then the eternity that is our refuge, that we
may fly thither from the mutability of time,
there to remain for evermore.
4. But as our life here is exposed to numerous
and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest
we may be turned aside by them from that ref-
uge, let us see what in consequence of this the
prayer of the man of God seeks for. "Turn
not Thou man to lowness " (ver. 3) : that is,
let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and
sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of
earthly things. This prayer is what God has
Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, " Lead us
not into temptation," > He adds, "Again Thou
sayest, Come again, ye children of men." As
if he said, I ask of Thee what Thou hast com-
manded me to ask : giving glory to His grace,
that " he that glorieth, in the Lord he may
glory : " * without whose help we cannot by an
exertion of our own will overcome the tempta-
tions of this life. " Turn not Thou man to low-
ness : again thou sayest, Turn again, ye children
of men." But grant what Thou has enjoined,
by hearing the prayer s of him who can at least
pray, and aiding the faith of the willing soul.
5. " For a thousand years in Thy sight are
but as yesterday, which is past by" (ver. 4) :
hence we ought to turn to Thy refuge, where
Thou art without any change, from the fleeting
scenes around us ; since however long a time
may be wished for for this life, "a thousand
years in Thy sight are but as yesterday : " not
as to-morrow, which is to come : for all limited
periods of time are reckoned as having already
passed. Hence the Apostle's choice is rather to
aim at what is before,6 that is, to desire things
eternal, and to forget things behind, by which
temporal matters should be understood. But
that no one may imagine a thousand years are
reckoned by God as one day, as if with God
days were so long, when this is only said in con-
tempt of the extent of time : he adds, " and as
a watch in the night : " which only lasts three
hours. Nevertheless men have ventured to as-
sert their knowledge of times, to the pretenders
to which our Lord said, " It is not for you to
know the times or seasons, which the Father
hath put in His own power : " i and they allege
that this period may be defined six thousand
years, as of six days. Nor have they heeded
the words, " are but as one day which is past
by : " for, when this was uttered, not a thousand
1 Exod. in. 14. 2 Pi. cii. a6, 37. 3 Matt. vi. 13.
* 1 Cor. i. 31. 5 Precem petentis exaudietido.
6 Phil. iii. 13. 7 Actti. 7.
years only had passed, and the expression, " as a
watch in the night," ought to have warned them
that they might not be deceived by the uncer-
tainty of the seasons : for even if the six first
days in which God finished His works seemed
to give some plausibility to their opinion, six
watches, which amount to eighteen hours, will
not consist with that opinion.
6. Next, the man of God, or rather the Pro-
phetic spirit, seems to be reciting some law
written in the secret wisdom of God, in which
He has fixed a limit to the sinful life of mor-
tals, and determined the troubles of mortality,
in the following words : " Their years are as
things which are nothing worth : in the morning
let it fade away like the grass" (ver. 5). The
happiness therefore of the heirs of the old cov-
enant, which they asked of the Lord their God
as a great boon, attained to receive this Law
in His mysterious Providence. Moses seems to
be reciting it: "Their years shall be things
which are esteemed as nothing." Such are
those things which are not before they are come :
and when come, shall soon not be : for they
do not come to be here, but to be gone. " In
the morning," that is, before they come, " as a
heat8 let it pass by;" but "in the evening," it
means after they come, "let it fall, and be dried
up, and withered " (ver. 6). It is " to fall " in
death, be "dried up " in the corpse, "withered "
in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein is
the accursed lust of fleshly things? " For all
flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as
the flower of the field ; the grass withereth, the
flower fadeth : but the word of the Lord abideth
for ever." »
7. Making no secret that this fate is a penalty
inflicted for sin, he adds at once, " For we
consume away in Thy displeasure, and are trou-
bled at Thy wrathful indignation " (ver. 7) : we
consume away in our weakness, and are troubled
from the fear of death ; for we are become
weak, and yet fearful to end that weakness.
" Another," saith He, " shall gird thee, and carry
thee whither thou wouldest not : " IO although not
to be punished, but to be crowned, by martyr-
dom ; and the soul of our Lord, transforming
us into Himself, was sorrowful even unto death :
for " the Lord's going out " is no other than
in " death."
8. " Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee "
(ver. 8) : that is, Thou hast not dissembled
Thine anger : " and our age in the light of
Thy countenance." " The light of Thy counte-
nance " answers to " before Thee," and to " our
misdeeds," as above.
9. " For all our days are failed, and in Thine
anger we have failed" (ver. 9). These words
{Al. " as an herb." — C.J
sa. xl. 6, 8.
10 John xxi. 18.
Psalm XC]
ON THE PSALMS.
443
sufficiently prove that our subjection to death
is a punishment. He speaks of our days fail-
ing, either because men fail in them from loving
things that pass away, or because they are re-
duced to so small a number ; which he asserts
in the following lines : " our years are spent in
thought like a spider." ' " The days of our age
are threescore years and ten ; and though men
be so strong that they come to fourscore years,
yet is more of them but labour and sorrow "
(ver. 10). These words appear to express the
shortness and misery of this life : since those
who have reached their seventieth year are
styled old men. Up to eighty, however, they
appear to have some strength ; but if they live
beyond this, their existence is laborious through
multiplied sorrows. Yet many even below the
age of seventy experience an old age the most
infirm and wretched : and old men have often
been found to be wonderfully vigorous even
beyond eighty years. It is therefore better to
search for some spiritual meaning in these num-
bers. For the anger of God is not greater on
the sins of Adam (through whom alone " sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men"),2 because they
live a much shorter time than the men of old ;
since even the length of their days is ridiculed
in the comparison of a thousand years to yes-
terday that is past, and to three hours : espe-
cially since at the very time when they provoked
the anger of God to send the deluge in which
they perished, their life was at its longest span.
10. Moreover, seventy and eighty years equal
a hundred and fifty ; a number which the Psalms
clearly insinuate to be a sacred one. One hun-
dred and fifty have the same relative signifi-
cation as fifteen, the latter number being com-
posed of seven and eight together : the first of
which points to the Old Testament through
the observation of the Sabbath ; the latter to the
New, referring to the resurrection of our Lord.
Hence the fifteen steps in the Temple. Hence
in the Psalms, fifteen " songs of degrees." Hence
the waters of the deluge overtopped the high-
est mountains by fifteen cubits : 3 and many
other instances of the same nature. " Our
years are passed in thought like a spider." We
were labouring in things corruptible, corruptible
works were we weaving together : which, as the
Prophet Isaiah saith, by no means covered us.4
" The days of our years are in themselves,"
etc. A distinction is here made between
themselves and their strength : 5 "in them-
selves," that is, in the years or days themselves,
may mean in temporal things, which are prom-
ised in the Old Testament, signified by the
number seventy; "but if" not in themselves,
but " in their strength," refers not to temporal
things, but to things eternal, " fourscore years,"
as the New Testament contains the hope of a
new life and resurrection for evermore : and
what is added, that if they pass this latter pe-
riod,6 " their strength is labour and sorrow,"
intimates that such shall be the fate of him who
goes beyond this faith, and seeks for more. It
may also be understood thus : because although
we are established in the New Testament, which
the number eighty signifies, yet still our life is
one of labour and sorrow, while " we groan
within ourselves, awaiting the adoption, to wit,
the redemption of our body ; for we are saved
by hope ; and if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it." 7 This
relates to the mercy of God, of which he pro-
ceeds to say, " Since thy mercy cometh over us,8
and we shall be chastened : " for " the Lord
chasteneth whom He loveth, and scourgeth
every son whom He receiveth," ° and to some
mighty ones He giveth a thorn in the flesh, to
buffet them, that they may not be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revela-
tions, so that strength be made perfect in
weakness.10 Some copies read, we shall be
" taught," instead of " chastened," which is
equally expressive of the Divine Mercy ; for no
man can be taught without labour and sorrow ;
since strength is made perfect in weakness.
n. "For who knoweth the power of Thy
wrath : and for the fear of Thee to number
Thine anger?" (ver. n). It belongs to very
few men, he saith, to know the power of Thy
wrath ; for when Thou dost spare, Thy anger
is so far heavier against most men ; that we may
know that labour and sorrow belong not to
wrath, but rather to Thy mercy, when Thou
chastenest and teachest those whom Thou lov-
est, to save them from the torments of eternal
punishment: as it is said in another Psalm,"
" The sinner hath provoked the Lord : He will
not require it of him according to the greatness
of His wrath." With this also is understood,
" Who knoweth ? " Such is the difficulty of find-
ing any one who knoweth how to number Thine
anger by Thy fear, that he adds this, meaning
that it is to the purpose that Thou appearest to
spare some, with whom Thou art more angry,
that the sinner may be prospered in his path,
and receive a heavier doom at the last. For
when the power of human wrath hath killed the
body, it hath nothing more to do : but God hath
1 Sicut arnnea meditabantitr.
3 Gen. vii 20.
■* uen. vu 20. '
* Aliud est in ipsis, aliud in potentatibus.
Rom. v. la.
* tsa. lix. 6.
6 St. Augustin seems to refer the word atnplius to a period
beyond the eighty years. In the English version it clearly applies to
the attainment ol that age.
7 Rom. viti. 23-25.
8 Qitoniam superrenit super tios mansnetndo, et corripiemnr:
the equivalent in the Prayer Book is, " so soon passeth it away, and
we are gone."
9 Heb. xit. 6. IO s Cor. xii. 7,9. ri Ps. x. 3, Lat.
444
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XC.
power both to punish here, and after the death
of the body to send into Hell, and by the few
who are thus taught, the vain and seductive
prosperity of the wicked is judged to be greater
wrath of God.' . . .
12. "Make Thy right hand so well known"
(ver. 12). This is the reading of most of the
Greek copies : not of some in Latin, which is
thus, " Make Thy right hand well known to me."
What is, "Thy right hand," but Thy Christ,
of whom it is said, And to whom is the
Arm of the Lord revealed?2 Make Him
so well known, that Thy faithful may learn
in Him to ask and to hope for those things
rather of Thee as rewards of their faith, which
do not appear in the Old Testament, but are re-
vealed in the New : that they may not imagine
that the happiness derived from earthly and
temporal blessings is to be highly esteemed, de-
sired, or loved, and thus their feet slip,3 when
they see it in men who honour Thee not : that
their steps may not give way, while they know
not how to number Thine anger. Finally, in
accordance with this prayer of the Man that
is His,4 He has made His Christ so well known
as to show by His sufferings that not these re-
wards which seem so highly prized in the Old
Testament, where they are shadows of things to
come, but things eternal, are to be desired. The
right hand of God may also be understood in
this sense, as that by which He will separate
His saints from the wicked : because that hand
becomes well known, when it scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth, and suffers him not, in
greater anger, to prosper in his sins, but in His
mercy scourgeth him with the left,5 that He
may place him purified on His right hand.6 The
reading of most copies, " make Thy right hand
well known to me," may be referred either to
Christ, or to eternal happiness : for God has
not a right hand in bodily shape, as He has
not that anger which is aroused into violent
passion.
1 3. But what he addeth/ " and those fettered
in heart in wisdom ; " other copies read, " in-
structed," not " fettered : " the Greek verb, ex-
pressing both senses, only differing by a single
syllable.8 But since these also, as it is said, put
their "feet in the fetters" of wisdom, are taught
wisdom (he means the feet of the heart, not of
the body), and bound by its golden chains9 de-
part not from the path of God, and become not
runaways from him ; whichever reading we adopt,
the truth in the meaning is safe. Them thus
fettered, or instructed in heart in wisdom, God
makes so well known in the New Testament,
1 Matt, x 28; Ps. lxxiii. 2, 3, 17.
2 Isa. liii. 1. 3 Ps. lxxiii. 2. 4 Hominis sui.
5 At. " on the left." *> Matt xxv. 33.
7 Et compeditoi corde in sapientid.
8 ntnatOivntvovs, n<nt6rj^Ltyovi. 9 Ecclus. vi. 24.
that they despised all things for the Faith which
the impiety of Jews and Gentiles abhorred ; and
allowed themselves to be deprived of those things
which in the Old Testament are thought high
promises by those who judge after the flesh.
14. And as when they became so well known,
as to despise these things, and by setting their
affections on things eternal, gave a testimony
through their sufferings (whence they are called
witnesses or martyrs in the Greek), they endured
for a long while many bitter temporal afflictions.
This man of God giveth heed to this, and the
prophetic spirit under the name of Moses con-
tinues thus, " Return, O Lord, how long ? and be
softened concerning Thy servants" (ver. 13).
These are the words of those, who, enduring
many evils in that persecuting age, become
known because their hearts are bound in the
chain of wisdom so firmly, that not even such
hardships can induce them to fly from their Lord
to the good things of this world. " How long
wilt Thou hide Thy face from me, O Lord?" '°
occurs in another Psalm, in unison with this sen-
tence, " Return, O Lord, how long? " And that
they who, in a most carnal spirit, ascribe to God
the form of a human body, may know that the
" turning away " and " turning again " of His
countenance is not like those motions of our own
frame, let them recollect these words from above
in the same Psalm, " Thou hast set our misdeeds
before Thee, and our secret sins in the light of
Thy countenance." How then does he say in
this passage, " Return," that God may be favour-
able, as if He had turned away His face in anger ;
when as in the former he speaks of God's anger
in such a manner, as to insinuate that He had
not turned away His countenance from the mis-
deeds and the course of life of those He was
angry with, but rather had set them before Him,
and in the light of His countenance ? The word,
" How long," belongs to righteousness beseech-
ing, not indignant impatience. " Be softened,"
some have rendered by a verb, " soften." But
" be softened " avoids an ambiguity ; since to
soften is a common verb : for he may be said
to soften who pours out prayers, and he to whom
they are poured out : for we say, I soften thee,
and I soften toward thee."
15. Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of
which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says,
" We are satisfied with Thy mercy in the
morning" (ver. 14). Prophecy has thus been
kindled for us, in the midst of these toils and
sorrows of the night, like a lamp in the darkness,
until day dawn, and the Day-star arise in our
hearts.'2 For blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God : then shall the righteous be
filled with that blessing for which they hunger
10 Ps. xiii. 1.
12 2 Pet. i. 19.
11 Deprecor te, et deprecor a te.
Psalm XC]
ON THE PSALMS.
445
and thirst now,' while, walking in faith, they are
absent from the Lord.2 Hence are the words,
" In Thy presence is fulness of joy : "3 and,
" Early in the morning they shall stand by, and
shall look up : "4 and as other translators have said
it, " We shall be satisfied with Thy mercy in the
morning ; " then they shall be satisfied. As he
says elsewhere, " I shall be satisfied, when Thy
glory shall be revealed." 5 So it is said, " Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us : " and
our Lord Himself answereth, " I will manifest My-
self to Zion ; "b and until this promise is fulfilled,
no blessing satisfies us, or ought to do so, lest
our longings should be arrested in their course,
when they ought to be increased until they gain
their objects. " And we rejoiced and were glad
all the days of our life." Those days are days
without end : they all exist together : it is thus
they satisfy us : for they give not way to days
succeeding : since there is nothing there which
exists not yet because it has not reached us, or
ceases to exist because it has passed ; all are
together : because there is one day only, which
remains and passes not away : this is eternity
itself. These are the days respecting which it is
written, " What man is he that lusteth to live,
and would fain see good days ? " 7 These days in
another passage are styled years : where unto
God it is said, " But Thou art the same, and Thy
years shall not fail : " s for these are not years that
are accounted for nothing, or days that perish
like a shadow : but they are days which have a
real existence, the number of which he who thus
spoke, " Lord, let me know mine end " (that is,
after reaching what term I shall remain un-
changed, and have no further blessing to crave),
" and the number of my days, what it is " (what
is, not what is not) : prayed to know. He dis-
tinguishes them from the days of this life, of
which he speaks as follows, " Behold, Thou hast
made my days as it were a span long,"9 which are
not, because they stand not, remain not, but
change in quick succession : nor is there a single
hour in them in which our being is not such, but
that one part of it has already passed, another is
about to come, and none remains as it is. But
those years and days, in which we too shall never
fail, but evermore be refreshed, will never fail.
Let our souls long earnestly for those days, let
them thirst ardently for them, that there we may
be filled, be satisfied, and say what we now say
in anticipation, " We have been satisfied," etc.
" We have been comforted again now, after the
time that Thou hast brought us low, and for
the years wherein we have seen evil" (ver. 15).
16. But now in days that are as yet evil, let
us speak as follows. " Look upon Thy servants,
1 Matt. v. 8,
< Ps. v. 3.
7 Ps. xxxiv.
2 2 Cor. v. 6.
5 Ps. xvii. 15.
8 Ps. cii. 27.
3 Ps xvi. 11.
6 John xiv. 8, 21.
9 Ps. xxxix. 4, 5.
and upon Thy works " (ver. 16). For Thy ser-
vants themselves are Thy works, not only inas-
much as they are men, but as Thy servants, that
is, obedient to Thy commands. For we are His
workmanship, created not merely in Adam, but
in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in
them : '° " for it is God which worketh in us both
to will and to do of His good pleasure." ' ' " And
direct their sons : " that they may be right in
heart, for to such God is bountiful ; for " God is
bountiful to Israel, to those that are right in
heart.". . .
1 7. " And let the brightness of the Lord our
God be upon us " (ver. 17) ; whence the words,
" O Lord, the light of Thy countenance is marked
upon us." I2 And, " Make Thou straight the works
of our hands upon us : " that we may do them not
for hope of earthly reward : for then they are not
straight, but crooked. In many copies the Psalm
goes thus far, but in some there is found an addi-
tional verse at the end, as follows, " And make
straight the work of our hands." To these words
the learned have prefixed a star, called an asterisk,
to show that they are found in the Hebrew, or in
some other Greek translations, but not in the
Septuagint. The meaning of this verse, if we
are to expound it, appears to me this, that all
our good works are one work of love : for love is
the fulfilling of the Law.'3 For as in the former
verse he had said, " And the works of our hands
make Thou straight upon us," here he says
" work," not works, as if anxious to show, in the
last verse, that all our works are one, that is, are
directed with a view to one work. For then
are works righteous, when they are directed to this
one end : " for the end of the commandment is
charity out of a pure heart, and of a good con-
science, and of faith unfeigned." M There is
therefore one work, in which are all, " faith which
worketh by love : " '5 whence our Lord's words in
the Gospel, " This is the work of God, that ye
believe in Him whom He hath sent." '6 Since,
therefore, in this Psalm, both old and new life,
life both mortal and everlasting, years that are
counted for nought, and years that have the ful-
ness of loving-kindness and of true joy, that is,
the penalty of the first and the reign of the Second
Man, are marked so very clearly ; I imagine, that
the name of Moses, the man of God, became, the
title of the Psalm, that pious and right-minded
readers of the Scriptures might gain an intima-
tion that the Mosaic laws, in which God appears
to promise only, or nearly only, earthly rewards
for good works, without doubt contains under a
veil some such hopes as this Psalm displays.
But when any one has passed over to Christ, the
>*> Eph. ii. 10.
*3 Rom. xiii. 10
16 John vi. 29.
■' Philip, ii. 13.
l* i Tim. i. 5.
>3 Ps iv. 6
» Gal. v. 6.
446
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCL
veil will be taken away : ■ and his eyes will be
unveiled, that he may consider the wonderful
things in the law of God, by the gift of Him, to
whom we pray, " Open Thou mine eyes, and I
shall see the wondrous things of Thy law.*
PSALM XCI.3
1. This Psalm is that from which the Devil
dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ : let us
therefore attend to it, that thus armed, we may be
enabled to resist the tempter, not presuming in
ourselves, but in Him who before us was tempted,
that we might not be overcome when tempted.
Temptation to Him was not necessary : the temp-
tation of Christ is our learning, but if we listen to
His answers to the devil, in order that, when our-
selves are tempted, we may answer in like manner,
we are then entering through the gate, as ye have
heard it read in the Gospel. For what is to enter
by the gate? To enter by Christ, who Himself
said, " I am the door : " 4 and to enter through
Christ, is to imitate His ways. . . . He urges us
to imitate Him in those works which He could
not have done had He not been made Man ; for
how could He endure sufferings, unless He had
become a Man ? How could He otherwise have
died, been crucified, been humbled ? Thus then
do thou, when thou sufferest the troubles of this
world, which the devil, openly by men, or secretly,
as in Job's case, inflicts ; be courageous, be of
long suffering ; " thou shalt dwell under the de-
fence of the Most High," as this Psalm expresses
it : for if thou depart from the help of the Most
High, without strength to aid thyself, thou wilt
fall.
2. For many men are brave, when they are
enduring persecution from men, and see them
openly rage against themselves : imagining they
are then imitating the sufferings of Christ, in case
men openly persecute them ; but if assailed by
the hidden attack of the devil, they believe they
are not being crowned by Christ. Never fear
when thou dost imitate Christ. For when the
devil tempted our Lord, there was no man in
the wilderness ; he tempted Him secretly ; but he
was conquered, and conquered too when openly
attacking Him. This do thou, if thou wishest
to enter by the door, when the enemy secretly
assails thee, when he asks for a man that he may
do him some hurt by bodily troubles, by fever,
by sickness, or any other bodily sufferings, like
those of Job. He saw not the devil, yet he ac-
knowledged the power of God. He knew that
the devil had no power against him, unless from
the Almighty Ruler of all things he received that
power : the whole glory he gave to God, power
to the devil he gave not. . . .
1 2 Cor iii. 15.
» Lat. XC.
» P*. cxix. 18.
* John x. 7.
3. He then who so imitates Christ as to en-
dure all the troubles of this world, with his hopes
set upon God, that he falls into no snare, is
broken down by no panic fears, he it is " who
dwelleth under the defence of the Most High,
who shall abide under the protection of God "
(ver. 1 ), in the words with which the Psalm, which
you have heard and sung, begins. You will
recognise the words, so well known, in which the
devil tempted our Lord, when we come to them.
" He shall say unto the Lord, Thou art my taker
up, and my refuge: my God " (ver. 2). Who
speaks thus to the Lord ? " He who dwelleth
under the defence of the Most High : " not under
his own defence. Who is this? He dwelleth under
the defence of the Most High, who is not proud,
like those who ate, that they might become as
Gods, and lost the immortality in which they were
made. For they chose to dwell under a defence
of their own, not under that of the Most High :
thus they listened to the suggestions of the ser-
pent,* and despised the precept of God : and
discovered at last that what God threatened,
not what the devil promised, had come to pass
in them.
4. Thus then do thou say also, " In Him will
I trust. For He Himself shall deliver me "
(ver. 3), not I myself. Observe whether he
teaches anything but this, that all our trust be in
God, none in man. Whence shall he deliver
thee? " From the snare of the hunter, and from
a harsh word." Deliverance from the hunter's
net is indeed a great blessing : but how is deliv-
erance from a harsh word so ? Many have fallen
into the hunter's net through a harsh word.
What is it that I say? The devil and his angels
spread their snares, as hunters do : and those
who walk in Christ tread afar from those snares :
for he dares not spread his net in Christ : he
sets it on the verge of the way, not in the way.
Let then thy way be Christ, and thou shalt not
fall into the snares of the devil. . . .
But what is, " from a harsh word " ? The
devil has entrapped many by a harsh word :
for instance, those who profess Christianity
among Pagans suffer insult from the heathen :
they blush when they hear reproach, and shrink-
ing out of their path in consequence, fall into the
hunter's snares. And yet what will a harsh word
do to you? Nothing. Can the snares with
which the enemy entraps you by means of re-
proaches, do nothing to you ? Nets are usually
spread for birds at the end of a hedge, and stones
are thrown into the hedge : those stones will not
harm the birds. When did any one ever hit a
bird by throwing a stone into a hedge ? But the
bird, frightened at the harmless noise, falls into
the nets ; and thus men who fear the vain re-
5 Gen. iii. 5.
Psalm XCI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
447
proaches of their calumniators, and who blush at
unprovoked insults, fall into the snares of the
hunters, and are taken captive by the devil. . . .
Just as among the heathen, the Christian who
fears their reproaches falls into the snare of the
hunter : so among the Christians, those who en-
deavour to be more diligent and better than the
rest, are doomed to bear insults from Christians
themselves. What then doth it profit, my
brother, if thou occasionally find a city in which
there is no heathen ? No one there insults a man
because he is a Christian, for this reason, that
there is no Pagan therein : but there are many
Christians who lead a bad life, among whom
those who are resolved to live righteously, and to
be sober among the drunken, and chaste among
the unchaste, and amid the consulters of astrol-
ogers sincerely to worship God, and to ask after
no such things, and among spectators of frivo-
lous shows will go only to church, suffer from
those very Christians reproaches, and harsh
words, when they address such a one, " Thou
art the mighty, the righteous, thou art Elias,
thou art Peter : thou hast come from heaven."
They insult him : whichever way he turns, he
hears harsh sayings on each side : and if lie fears,
and abandons the way of Christ, he falls into the
snares of the hunters. But what is it, when he
hears such words, not to swerve from the way?
On hearing them, what comfort has he, which
prevents his heeding them, and enables him to
enter by the door ? Let him say ; What words
am I called, who am a servant and a sinner?
To my Lord Jesus they said, " Thou hast a
devil." ' You have just heard the harsh words
spoken against our Lord : it was not necessary
for our Lord to suffer this, but in doing so He
has warned thee against harsh words, lest thou
fall into the snares of the hunters.
5. "He shall defend thee between His shoul-
ders, and thou shalt hope under His wings "
(ver. 4). He says this, that thy protection may
not be to thee from thyself, that thou mayest not
imagine that thou canst defend thyself; He will
defend thee, to deliver thee from the hunter's
snare, and from an harsh word. The expression,
"between His shoulders," may be understood
both in front and behind : for the shoulders are
about the head ; but in the words, " thou shalt
hope under His wings," it is clear that the pro-
tection of the wings of God expanded places
thee between His shoulders, so that God's wings
on this side and that have thee in the midst,
where thou shalt not fear lest any one hurt thee :
only be thou careful never to leave that spot,
where no foe dares approach. If the hen de-
fends her chickens beneath her wings ; how
much more shalt thou be safe beneath the wings
1 John viii. 48.
of God, even against the devil and his angels,
the powers who fly about in mid air like hawks,
to carry off the weak young one ? For the com-
parison of the hen to the very Wisdom of God
is not without grcund; for Christ Himself, our
I^ord and Saviour, speaks of Himself as likened
to a hen ; " how often would I have gathered
thy children," etc.2 That Jerusalem would not :
let us be willing. ... If you consider other
birds, brethren, you will find many that hatch
their eggs, and keep their young warm : but
none that weakens herself in sympathy with her
chickens, as the hen does. We see swallows,
sparrows, and storks outside their nests, without
being able to decide whether they have young or
no : but we know the hen to be a mother by the
weakness of her voice, and the loosening of her
feathers : she changes altogether from love for
her chickens : she weakens herself because they
are weak. Thus since we were weak, the Wisdom
of God made Itself weak, when the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt in us,3 that we might hope
under His wings.
6. " His truth shall surround thee with a
shield" (ver. 5). What are "the wings," the
same is " the shield : " since there are neither
wings nor shield. If- either were literally, how
could the one be the same as the other? can
wings be a shield or a shield wings? But all
these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used
through likenesses. If Christ were really a Stone,4
He could not be a Lion ; if a Lion,5 He could not
be a Lamb : but He is called both Lion, and
I^amb,6 and Stone, and Calf, and anything else
of the sort, metaphorically, because He is
neither Stone, nor Lion, nor Lamb, nor Calf, but
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all of us, for these
are likenesses, not literal names. " His truth
shall be thy shield," it is said : a shield to as-
sure us that He will not confound those whose
trust is in themselves with those who hope in
God. One is a sinner, and the other a sinner :
but suppose one that presumes upon himself is
a despiser, confesses not his sins, and he will say,
if my sins displeased God, He would not suffer
me to live. But another dared not even raise
his eyes, but beat upon his breast, saying, " God
be merciful to me a sinner." 7 Both this was a
sinner, and that : but the one mocked, the other
mourned : the one was a despiser, the other a
confessor, of his sins. But the truth of God,
which respects not persons, discerns the peni-
tent from him who denies his sin, the humble
from the proud, him who presumes upon him-
self from him who presumes on God. "Thou
shalt not be afraid for any terror by night."
7. " Nor for the arrow that flieth by day, for
37-
2 Matt, xxiii
3 Rev. v. 5.
7 Luke xviii. 13
3 John i. 14.
6 John i. 29.
4 Acts iv. 10, ii.
448
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCI.
the matter' that walketh in darkness, nor for
the ruin and the devil that is in the noon-
day" (ver. 6). These two clauses above cor-
respond to the two below ; " Thou shalt not
fear " for •' the terror by night, from the arrow
that flieth by day : " both because of " the ter-
ror by night," from " the matter that walketh in
darkness : " and because of " the arrow that
flieth by day," from " the ruin of the devil of
the noon-day." What ought to be feared by
night, and what by day? When any man sins
in ignorance, he sins, as it were, by night : when
he sins in full knowledge, by day. The two
former sins then are the lighter : the second are
much heavier ; but this is obscure, and will re-
pay your attention, if, by God's blessing, I can
explain it so that you may understand it. He
calls the light temptation, which the ignorant
yield to, " terror by night : " the light tempta-
tion, which assails men who well know, " the
arrow that flieth by day." What are light temp-
tations? Those which do not press upon us so
urgently, as to overcome us, but may pass by
quickly if declined. Suppose these, again, heavy
ones. If the persecutor threatens, and frightens
the ignorant grievously, I mean those whose faith
is as yet unstable, and know not that they are
Christians that they may hope for a life to come ;
as soon as they are alarmed with temporal ills,
they imagine that Christ has forsaken them, and
that they are Christians to no purpose ; they are
not aware that they are Christians for this reason,
that they may conquer the present, and hope for
the future : the matter that walketh in darkness
has found and seized them. But some there are
who know that they are called to a future hope ;
that what God has promised is not of this life,
or this earth ; that all these temptations must be
endured, that we may receive what God hath
promised us for evermore ; all this they know :
when however the persecutor urges them more
strenuously, and plies them with threats, penal-
ties, tortures, at length they yield, and although
they are well aware of their sin, yet they fall as
it were by day.
8. But why does he say, "at noon-day"?
The persecution is very hot ; and thus the noon
signifies the excessive heat. . . . The demon
that is " in the noon-day," represents the heat of
a furious persecution : for these are our Lord's
words, " The sun was up ; and because they had
no root, they withered away : " and when ex-
plaining it, He applies it to those who are of-
fended when persecution ariseth, " Because they
have not root in themselves." We are therefore
right in understanding by the demon that de-
stroyeth in the noon-day, a violent persecution.
Listen, beloved, while I describe the persecution,
Ncgvtium.
from which the Lord hath rescued His Church.
At first, when the emperors and kings of the
world imagined that they could extirpate from
the earth the Christian name by persecution,
they proclaimed, that any one who confessed
himself a Christian, should be smitten. He who
did not choose to be smitten, denied that he was
a Christian, knowing the sin he was committing :
the arrow that flieth by day reached him. But
whoever regarded not the present life, but had
a sure trust in a future one, avoided the arrow,
by confessing himself a Christian ; smitten in
the flesh, he was liberated in the spirit : resting
with God, he began peacefully to await the re-
demption of his body in the resurrection of the
dead : he escaped from that temptation, from
the arrow that flieth by day. "Whoever pro-
fesses himself a Christian, let him be beheaded ; "
was as the arrow that flieth by day. The " devil
that is in the noon-day " was not yet abroad,
burning with a terrible persecution, and afflicting
with great heat even the strong. For hear what
followed ; when the enemy saw that many were
hastening to martyrdom, and that the number
of fresh converts increased in proportion to that
of the sufferers, they said among themselves,
We shall annihilate the human race, so many
thousands are there who believe in His Name ;
if we kill all of them, there will hardly be a sur-
vivor on earth. The sun then began to blaze,
and to glow with a terrible heat. Their first
edict had been, Whoever shall confess himself a
Christian, let him be smitten. Their second edict
was, Whoever shall have confessed himself a
Christian, let him be tortured, and tortured even
until he deny himself a Christian. . . . Many
therefore who denied not,2 failed amid the tor-
tures ; for they were tortured until they denied.
But to those who persevered in professing Christ,
what could the sword do, by killing the body at
one stroke, and sending the soul to God? This
was the result of protracted tortures also : yet
who could be found able to resist such cruel and
continued torments ? Many failed : those, I be-
lieve, who presumed upon themselves, who dwelt
not under the defence of the Most High, and
under the shadow of the God of Heaven ; who
said not to the Lord, " Thou art my lifter up : "
who trusted not beneath the shadow of His
wings, but reposed much confidence in their own
strength. They are thrown down by God, to
show them that it is He that protects them, He
overrules their temptations, He allows so much
only to befall them, as each person can sustain.
9. Many then fell before the demon of the
noon-day. Would ye know how many? He
goes on, and says, " A thousand shall fall beside
thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; but it
' [Under the first edict. — C]
Psalm XCI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
449
shall not come nigh thee " (ver. 7). To whom,
brethren, but to Christ Jesus, is this said ? . . .
For the members, the body, and the head, are
not separate from one another : the body and the
head are the Church and her Saviour. How then
is it said, " A thousand shall fall beside thee, and
ten thousand by thy right hand"? Because
they shall fall before the devil, that destroyeth at
noon. It is a terrible thing, my brethren, to
fall from beside Christ, from His right hand ;
but how shall they fall from beside Him ? Why
the one beside Him, the other at His right
hand ? Why a thousand beside Him, ten thou-
sand at His right hand ? Why a thousand beside
Him? Because a thousand are fewer than the
ten thousand who shall fall at His right hand.
Who these are will soon be clear in Christ's
name ; for to some He promised that they
should judge with Him, namely, to the Apostles,
who left all things, and followed Him. . . .
Those judges then are the heads of the Church,
the perfect. To such He said, " If thou wilt be
perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to
the poor." ' What means the expression, " if
thou wilt be perfect " ? it means, if thou wilt
judge with Me, and not be judged. . . . Many
such at that period, who had distributed their
all to the poor, and already promised themselves
a seat beside Christ in judgment of the nations,
failed amid their torments under the blazing fire
of persecution, as before the demon of the noon-
day, and denied Christ. These are they who have
fallen " beside " Him : when about to sit with
Christ for the judgment of the world, they fell.
10. I will now explain who are they who fall
on the right hand of Christ. . . . And because
many have fallen from that hope of being judges,
but yet many, many more from that of being on
His right hand, the Psalmist thus addresses
Christ, " A thousand shall fall beside Thee, and
ten thousand at Thy right hand." And since
there shall be many, who regarded not all these
things, with whom, as it were with His own
limbs, Christ is one, he adds, " But it shall not
come nigh Thee." Were these words addressed
to the Head alone? Surely not; surely neither
(doth it come nigh) to Paul, nor Peter, nor all
the Apostles, nor all the Martyrs, who failed not
in their torments. What then do the words, " it
shall not come nigh," mean? Why were they
thus tortured ? The torture came nigh the flesh,
but it did not reach the region of faith. Their
faith then was far beyond the reach of the terrors
threatened by their torturers. Let them torture,
terror will not come nigh ; let them torture, but
they will mock the torture, putting their trust
in Him who conquered before them, that the rest
might conquer. And who conquer, except they
1 Matt, xix 21.
who trust not in themselves? . . . Who will not
fear? He who trusts not in himself, but in
Christ. But those who trust in themselves, al-
though they even hope to judge at the side of
Christ, although they hoped they should be at
His right hand, as if He said to them, " Come,
ye blessed of My Father," etc. ; yet the devil
that is at noon overtook them, the raging heat
of persecution, terrifying with violence ; and
many fell from the hope of the seat of judgment,
of whom it is said, " A thousand shall fall beside
thee ; " many too fell from the hope of reward
for their duties,2 of whom it was said, " And ten
thousand at thy right hand." But this downfall
and devil that is at noon-day " shall not come
nigh thee," that is, the Head and the body ; for
the Lord knows who are His.3
11. " Nevertheless, with thine eyes shalt thou
behold, and see the reward of the ungodly "
(ver. 8) . What is this ? Why " nevertheless " ?
Because the wicked were allowed to tyrannize
over Thy servants, and to persecute them. Will
they then have been allowed to persecute Thy
servants with impunity? Not with impunity, for
although Thou hast permitted them, and Thine
own have thence received a brighter crown,
" nevertheless," etc. For the evil which they
willed, not the good they unconsciously were the
agents of, will be recompensed them. All that
is wanting is the eye of faith, by which we may
see that they are raised for a time only, while
they shall mourn for evermore ; and to those
into whose hands is given temporal power over
the servants of God, it shall be said, " Depart
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels." 4 But if every man have but eyes in
the sense in which it is said, " With thine eyes
shalt thou behold," it is no unimportant thing to
look upon the wicked flourishing in this life, and
to have an eye to him, to consider what will
become of him in the end, if he fail to reform
his ways : for those who now would thunder
upon others, will afterwards feel the thunderbolt
themselves.
12. "For Thou, Lord, art my hope" (ver.
9). He has now come to the power which
rescues him from falling by the " downfall and
the devil of the noon-day." " For Thou, Lord,
art my hope : Thou hast set Thy house of de-
fence very high." What do the words " very
high" mean? For many make their house of
defence in God a mere refuge from temporal
persecution ; but the defence of God is on high,
and very secret, whither thou mayest fly from
the wrath to come. Within "Thou hast set
thine house of defence very high. There shall
no evil happen unto Thee : neither shall any
plague come nigh Thy dwelling" (ver. 10).
2 Obsequiorum.
3 2 Tira. ii. 19. * Matt. xxv. 41.
45°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCI.
13. The Holy City is not the Church of this
country only, but of the whole world as well : not
that of this age only, but from Abel himself down
to those who shall to the end be born and believe
in Christ, the whole assembly of the Saints, be-
longing to one city : which city is Christ's body,
of which Christ is the Head. There, too, dwell
the Angels, who are our fellow-citizens : we toil,
because we are as yet pilgrims : while they
within that city are awaiting our arrival. Letters
have reached us too from that city, apart from
which we are wandering : those letters are the
Scriptures, which exhort us to live well. Why do
I speak of letters only ? The King himself de-
scended, and became a path to us in our wan-
derings : that walking in Him, we may neither
stray, nor faint nor fall among robbers, nor be
caught in the snares that are set near our path.
This character, then, we recognise in the whole
Person of Christ, together with the Church. . . .
He Himself is our Head, He is God, co-equal
with the Father, the Word of God, by whom
all things were made : ' but God to create, Man
to renew ; God to make, Man to restore. Look-
ing upon Him, then, let us hear the Psalm.
Listen, beloved. This is the teaching and doc-
trine of this school, which may enable you to
understand, not this Psalm only, but many, if ye
keep in mind this rule. Sometimes a Psalm,
and all prophecy as well, in speaking of Christ,
praises the Head alone, and sometimes from
the Head goes to the Body, that is, the Church,
and without apparently changing the Person
spoken of : because the Head is not separate
from the Body, and both are spoken of as
one . . .
14. What then, my brethren, what is said of
our Head ? " For Thou, Lord, art my hope,"
etc. Of this we have spoken, " for He hath
given His angels charge over Thee, to keep
Thee in all Thy ways " (ver. 11). You heard
these words but now, when the Gospel was being
read ; attend therefore. Our Lord, after He was
baptized, fasted. Why was He baptized? That
we might not scorn to be baptized. For when
John said to our Lord, " Comest Thou to me to
be baptized ? I ought to be baptized by Thee ; "
and our Lord replied, " Suffer it to be so now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteous-
ness ;."* He wished to fulfil all humility, so that
He should be washed, who had no defilement.
. . . Our Lord, then, was baptized, and after
baptism He was tempted ; He fasted forty days, a
number which has, as I have often mentioned,
a deep meaning. All things cannot be explained
at once, lest needful time be too much taken up.
After forty days He was an hungred. He could
have fasted without ever feeling hunger ; but then
1 Johni. 3.
' Matt. Ui. 14, if.
how could He be tempted? or had He not
overcome the tempter, how couldest thou learn to
struggle with him ? He was hungry ; and then
the tempter said, " If Thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread."
Was it a great thing for our Lord Jesus Christ to
make bread out of stones, when He satisfied so
many thousands with five loaves? He made
bread out of nothing. For whence came that
quantity of food, which could satisfy so many
thousands? The sources of that bread are in
the Lord's hands. This is nothing wonderful ;
for He Himself made out of five loaves bread
enough for so many thousands,3 who also every
day out of a few seeds raises up on earth im-
mense harvests. These are the miracles of our
Lord : but from their constant operation they are
disregarded. What then, my brethren, was it
impossible for the Lord to create bread out of
stones? He made men even out of stones, in
the words of John the Baptist himself, " God is
able of these stones to raise up children urtfo
Abraham."4 Why then did He not so? That
he might teach thee how to answer the tempter, so
that if thou wast reduced to any straits and the
tempter suggested, if thou wast a Christian and
belongedst to Christ, would He desert thee now ?
. . . Listen to our Lord : " Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that pro-
ceedeth out of the mouth of God." Dost thou
think the word of God bread? If the Word of
God, through which all things were made, was
not bread, He would not say, " I am the bread
which came down from heaven." 5 Thou hast
therefore learnt to answer the tempter, when
pressed with hunger.
15. What if he tempt thee in these words : If
thou wast a Christian, thou wouldest do miracles,
as many Christians have done ? Thou, deceived
by a wicked suggestion, wouldest tempt the
Lord thy God, so as to say to Him, If I am a
Christian, and am before Thine eyes, and Thou
dost account me at all in the number of Thine
own, let me also do something like the many
works which Thy Saints have done. Thou hast
tempted God, as if thou wert not a Christian,
unless thou didst this. Many who desired such
things have fallen. For that Simon the sorcerer
desired such gifts of the Apostles, when he
wished to buy the Holy Spirit for money.6 He
loved the power of working miracles, but loved not
the imitation of humility. . . . What then, if he
tempt thee thus, " work miracles " ? that thou
mayest not tempt God, what shouldest thou
answer? What our Lord answered. The devil
said to Him, " Cast Thyself down ; for it is
written, He shall give His Angels charge concern-
ing Thee," etc. If Thou shalt cast Thyself down,
3 Matt. xiv. 17, 21.
5 John vi. 41.
* Matt. hi. 9.
6 Acts viii. x8.
Psalm XCI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
451
Angels shall receive Thee. And it might indeed,
my brethren, happen, if our Lord had cast
Himself down, the attending Angels would re-
ceive our Lord's flesh ; but what does He say to
him ? " It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God." ' Thou thinkest Me a man.
For the devil came to Him with this view, that
he might try whether He were the Son of God.
He saw His Flesh ; but His might appeared in
His works : the Angels had borne witness. He
saw that He was mortal, so that he might tempt
Him, that by Christ's temptation the Christian
might be taught. What then is written?
" Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Let
us not then tempt the Lord, so as to say, If we
belong to Thee, let us work a miracle.
16. Let us return to the words of the Psalm.
" They shall bear Thee in their hands, lest at
any time Thou hurt Thy foot against a stone "
(ver. 12). Christ was raised up in the hands
of Angels, when He was taken up into heaven :
not that, if Angels had not sustained Him, He
would have fallen : but because they were
attending on their King. Say not, Those who
sustained Him are better than He who was
sustained. Are then cattle better than men,
because they sustain the weakness of men?
And 'we ought not to speak thus either ; for if
the cattle withdraw their support, their riders
fall. But how ought we to speak of it? For
it is said even of God, " Heaven is My throne." 2
Because then heaven supports Him, and God
sits thereon, is therefore heaven the better?
Thus also in this Psalm we may understand it
of the service of the Angels : it does not pertain
to any infirmity in our Lord, but to the honour
they pay, and to their service. . . . What the
finger of God is, the Gospel explaineth to us ;
for the finger of God is the Holy Ghost. How
do we prove this? Our Lord, when answering
those who accused Him of casting out devils in
the name of Beelzebub, saith, " If I cast Cut
devils by the Spirit of God ; " 3 and another
Evangelist, in relating the same saying, saith,
" If I with the finger of God cast out devils." 4
What therefore is in one stated clearly, is darkly
expressed in another. Thou didst not know
what was the finger of God, but another Evan-
gelist explains it by terming it the Spirit of God.
The Law then written by the finger of God was
given on the fiftieth day after the slaughter of
the lamb, and the Holy Ghost descended on
the fiftieth day after the Passion of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lamb was slain, the Passover
was celebrated, the fifty days were completed,
and the Law was given. But that Law was to
cause fear, not love : but that fear might be
changed into love, He who was truly righteous
1 Dent. vi. ifi.
3 Matt. xii. 28.
2 Isa. Ixvi. t ; Acts vii. 49.
* Luke xi. 20.
was slain : of whom that lamb whom the Jews
were slaying was the type. He arose from the
dead : and from the day of our Lord's Passover,
as from that of the slaying of the Paschal lamb,
fifty days are counted ; and the Holy Ghost
descended, now in the fulness of love, not in
the punishment of fear.5 Why have I said this?
For this then our Lord arose, and was glorified,
that He might send His Holy Spirit. And I
said long ago that this was so, because His head
is in heaven, His feet on earth. If His head is
in heaven, His feet on earth ; what means our
Lord's feet on earth? Our Lord's saints on
earth. Who are our Lord's feet? The Apostles
sent throughout the whole world. Who are our
Lord's feet? All the Evangelists, in whom our
Lord travelleth over all nations. . . . We need
not therefore wonder that our Lord was raised
up to heaven by the hands of Angels, that His
foot might not dash against a stone : lest those
who on earth toiled in His body, while they were
travelling over the whole world might become
guilty of the Law, He took from them fear, and
filled them with love. Through fear Peter thrice
denied Him,6 for he had not yet received the
Holy Ghost : afterwards, when he had received
the Holy Spirit, he began to preach with confi-
dence. . . . Our Lord so dealt with him, as if
He said, thrice thou hast denied Me through
fear : thrice confess Me through love. With
that love and that charity He filled His disciples.
Why? Because He hath set His house of
defence very high : because when glorified He
sent the Holy Ghost, He released the faithful
from the guilt of the Law, that His feet might
not dash against a stone.
17. "Thou7 shalt go upon the asp and the
basilisk ; the lion and the dragon shalt thou
tread under thy feet" (ver. 13). Ye know who
the serpent is, and how the Church treadeth
upon him, as she is not conquered, because she
is on her guard against his cunning. And after
what manner he is a lion and a dragon, I believe
you know also, beloved. The lion openly rages,
the dragon lies secretly in covert : the devil
hath each of these forces and powers. When
the Martyrs were being slain, it was the raging
lion : when heretics are plotting, it is the dragon
creeping beneath us. Thou hast conquered the
lion ; conquer also the dragon : the lion hath
not crushed8 thee, let not the dragon deceive
thee. ... A few women in the Church have
bodily virginity : but the virginity of the heart
all the faithful have. In the very matter of faith
he feared that the heart's virginity would be
corrupted by the devil : and those who have
lost it, are uselessly virgins in their bodies.
3 Acts ii. 1-4.
6 Matt. xxvi. 65-75. 7 On this verse, see on Vs. x!. i
8 At. " let not the lion crush." [Note what follows. — C]
452
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCII.
What does a woman who is corrupt in heart
preserve in her body ? Thus a Catholic married
woman is before a virgin heretic. For the first
is not indeed a virgin in her body, but the
second has become married in her heart ; and
married not unto God as her husband, but unto
the dragon. But what shall the Church do?
The basilisk is the king of serpents, as the devil
is the king of wicked spirits.
1 8. These are the words of God to the Church.
" Because he hath set his love in me, therefore
will I deliver him" (ver. 14). Not only there-
fore the Head, which now sits in heaven, because
He hath set His house of defence very high, to
which no evil shall happen, neither shall any
plague come nigh His dwelling ; but we also,
who are toiling on earth, and are still living in
temptations, whose steps are feared for, lest
they fall into snares, may hear the voice of the
Lord our God consoling us, and saying to us,
" Because he hath set his love upon me, there-
fore will I deliver him : I will set him up,
because he hath known my name."
19. " He shall call upon me, and I will hear
him : yea, I am with him in trouble " (ver. 15).
Fear not when thou art in trouble, as if the
Lord were not with thee. Let faith be with thee,
and God is with thee in thy trouble. There are
waves on the sea, and thou art tossed in thy
bark, because Christ sleepeth. Christ slept in
the ship, while the men were perishing.' If thy
faith sleep in thy heart, Christ is as it were
sleeping in thy ship : because Christ dwelleth in
thee through faith, when thou beginnest to be
tossed, awake Christ sleeping : rouse up thy
faith, and thou shalt be assured that He deserts
thee not. But thou thinkest thou art forsaken,
because He rescueth thee not when thou thyself
dost wish. He delivered the Three Children
from the fire ? 2 Did He, who did this, desert
the Maccabees ? 3 God forbid! He delivered
both of these : the first bodily, that the faith-
less might be confounded ; the last spiritually,
that the faithful might imitate them. " I will
deliver him, and bring him to honour."
20. " With length of days will I satisfy him "
(ver. 16). What is length of days? Eternal
life. Brethren, imagine not that length of days
is spoken of in the same sense as days are said
to be long in summer, short in winter. Hath he
such days to give us? That length is one that
hath no end, eternal life, that is promised us in
long days. And truly, since this sufficeth, with
reason he saith, " will I satisfy him." What is
long in time, if it hath an end, satisfieth us not :
for that reason it should not be even called long.
And if we are covetous, we ought to be covet-
ous of eternal life : long for such a life, as hath
1 Matt. viii. 24, 25, a Dan. lii. 29, 30. 3 2 Mace. vii.
no end. Lo, a line in which our covetousness
may be extended. Dost thou wish money with-
out limit? Long for eternal life without limit.
Dost thou wish that thy possession may have no
end? Seek for eternal life. "I will show him
my salvation." Nor is this, my brethren, to be
briefly passed over. " I will show him my sal-
vation : " He means, I will show him Christ
Himself. Why? Was He not seen on earth?
What great thing hath He to show us? But He
did not appear such as we shall see Him. He
appeared in that shape in which those who saw
Him crucified Him : behold, those who saw Him,
crucified Him : we have not seen Him, yet
we have believed. They had eyes, have not
we ? yea, we too have the eyes of the heart :
but, as yet we see through faith, not by sight.
When will it be sight? When shall we, as the
Apostle saith, see Him "face to face "?4 which
God promiseth us as the high reward of all our
toils. Whatever thou toilest in, thou toilest for
this purpose, that thou mayest see Him. Some
great thing it is we are to see, since all our re-
ward is seeing ; and our Lord Jesus Christ is
that very great sight. He who appeared hum-
ble, will Himself appear great, and will rejoice
us, as He is even now seen of His Angels. . . .
Let us love and imitate Him : let us run after
his ointments, as is said in the Song of Solo-
mon : " Because of the savour of thy good oint-
ments, we will run after thee." 5 For He came,
and gave forth a savour that filled the world.
Whence was that fragrance? From heaven.
Follow then towards heaven, if thou do not
answer6 falsely when it is said, "Lift up your
hearts," lift up your thoughts, your love, your
hope : that it may not rot upon the earth. . . .
" For wherever thy treasure is, there will be thy
heart also." 7
PSALM XCII.8
i . . . . We are not Christians, except on ac-
count of a future life : let no one hope for present
blessings, let no one promise himself the hap-
piness of the world, because he is a Christian :
but let him use the happiness he hath, as he
may, in what manner he may, when he may, as
far as he may. When it is present, let him give
thanks for the consolation of God : when it is
wanting, let him give thanks to the Divine jus-
tice. Let him always be grateful, never un-
grateful : let him be grateful to his Father, who
soothes and caresses him : and grateful to his
Father when He chasteneth him with the
scourge, and teacheth him : for He ever loveth,
whether He caress or threaten : and let him say
* I Cor. xiii 12. 5 Song of Sol. i. 3.
6 [The response to the Sursum Corda. See A. N. F. vol. vii. p.
543, nole7.— C]
' Matt. vi. 21.
8 Lat. XCI. A sermon to the people, preached on Saturday.
Psalm XCII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
453
what ye have heard in the Psalm : " It is a good
thing to give thanks unto the Lord ; and to sing
praises unto Thy Name, Thou Most Highest "
(ver. i).
2. This Psalm is entitled, a Psalm to be sung
on the Sabbath day. Lo, this day is the Sab-
bath, which the Jews at this period observe by a
kind of bodily rest, languid and luxurious. They
abstain from labours, and give themselves up to
trifles ; and though God ordained the Sabbath,
they spend it in actions which God forbids.
Our rest is from evil works, theirs from good ;
for it is better to plough than to dance. They
abstain from good, but not from trifling, works.
God proclaims to us a Sabbath. What sort of
Sabbath ? First consider, where it is. It is in
the heart, within us ; for many are idle with
their limbs, while they are disturbed in con-
science. . . . That very joy in the tranquillity of
our hope, is our Sabbath. This is the subject
of praise and of song in this Psalm, how a
Christian man is in the Sabbath of his own heart,
that is, in the quiet, tranquillity, and serenity of
hrs conscience, undisturbed ; hence he tells us
here, whence men are wont to be disturbed, and
he teaches thee to keep Sabbath in thine own
heart.
3. . . . Accuse thyself, and thou receivest
indulgence. Besides, many do not accuse Satan,
but their fate. My fate led me, saith one :
when you ask him, why did you do it ? why did
you sin? he replies, by my evil fate. Lest he
should say, I did it ; he points to God as the
source of his sin : with his tongue he blasphemes.
He saith not this indeed openly as yet, but listen,
and see that he saith this. You ask of him,
what is fate : and he replies, evil stars. You
ask, who made, who appointed the stars ; he can
only answer, God. It follows, then, that whether
he doth so directly or indirectly,' still he accus-
eth God, and when God punisheth sins, he
maketh God the author of his own sins. It
cannot be that God punishes what He hath
wrought : He punisheth what thou doest, that
He may set free what He hath wrought. But
sometimes, setting aside everything else, they
attack God directly : and when they sin, they
say, God willed this ; if God had not willed it,
I should not have sinned. Does He warn thee
for this, that not only He may not be listened
to, to keep thee from sin, but even be accused
because thou dost sin? What then doth this
Psalm teach us? "It is a good thing to con-
fess 2 unto the Lord." What is to confess unto
the Lord ? In both cases : both in thy sins,
because thou hast done them ; and in thy good
works, confess unto the Lord, because He hath
1 Sive per transennam sive per cannam longam, sive per
proxitnum.
' Confilen
done them. Then shalt thou " sing unto the
Name of God, the Most Highest : " seeking
the glory of God, not thine own ; His Name, not
thine. For if thou seekest the Name of God,
He also seeketh thy name ; but if thou hast
neglected the Name of God, He also doth blot
out thine. . . .
4. " To tell of Thy mercy early in the morn-
ing, and of Thy truth in the night season "
(ver. 2). What is the meaning of this; that
the mercy of God is to be told us in the morn-
ing, and in the night the truth of God? The
morning is, when it is well with us ; the night,
the sadness of tribulation. What then did he
say in brief? When thou art prosperous, re-
joice in God, for it is His mercy. Now, perhaps
thou wouldest say, If I rejoice in God, when I
am prosperous, because it is His mercy ; what
am I to do when I am in sorrow, in tribulation ?
It is His mercy, when I am prosperous ; is it
then His cruelty, when I am in adversity? If I
praise His mercy when it is well with me, am
I then to exclaim against His cruelty when it is
ill? No. But when it is well, praise His mercy :
when ill, praise His truth : because He scourgeth
sins, He is not unjust. . . . During the night
Daniel confessed the truth of God : he said in
his prayer, "We have sinned, and committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly. O Lord,
righteousness belongeth unto Thee : but unto
us confusion of face."3 He told of the truth of
God during the night-season. What is it to tell
of the truth of God in the night-season? Not
to accuse God, because thou sufferest aught of
evil : but to attribute it to thy sins, His correc-
tion : to tell of His loving-kindness early in the
•morning, and of His truth in the night-season.
When thou doest this, thou dost always praise
God, always confess to God, and sing unto His
Name.
5. "Upon a psaltery of ten strings, with a
song, and upon the harp" (ver. 3). Ye have
not heard of the psaltery of ten strings for the
first time : it signifies the ten commandments
of the Law. But we must sing upon that psal-
tery, and not carry it only. For even the Jews
have the Law : but they carry it : they sing
not. ..." And upon the harp." This means,
in word and deed ; " with a song," in word ;
" upon the harp," in work. If thou speakest
words alone, thou hast, as it were, the song only,
and not the harp : if thou workest, and speak-
est not, thou hast the harp only. On this
account both speak well and do well, if thou
wouldest have the song together with the harp.
6. " For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad
through Thy works ; and I will rejoice in giving
praise for the operations of Thy hands " (ver. 4).
» Dan. ix. 5, 7.
454
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCII.
Ye see what he saith. Thou hast made me
living well, Thou hast formed me : if by chance
I do aught of good, I will rejoice in the work
of Thy hands : as the Apostle saith, " For
we are His workmanship, created unto good
works." ' For unless He formed thee to good
works, thou wouldest not know any works but
evil. . . . Because thou canst not have truth
from thy own self, it remains that thou drink
it thence, whence it floweth : as if thou hast
gone back from the light, thou art in darkness :
as a stone glows not with its own heat, but either
from the sun or fire, and if thou withdraw it
from the heat, it cools : there it appears, that
the heat was not its own ; for it became heated
either by the sun or by fire : thus thou also,
if thou withdraw from God, wilt become cold ; if
thou approach God, thou wilt warm : as the
Apostle saith " fervent in spirit." 2 Also what
saith he of the light? If thou approach Him,
thou wilt be in light ; therefore saith the Psalm,
" Look upon Him, and be lightened ; and your
faces shall not be ashamed." 3 Because there-
fore thou canst do no good, unless lightened by
the light of God, and warmed by the spirit of
God ; when thou shalt see thyself working well,
confess unto God, and say what the Apostle saith ;
say unto thyself, that thou be not puffed up,
" For what hast thou that thou didst not re-
ceive?" 4 . . .
7. That wretched man who doeth good, and
suffereth evils, seeth him, becometh disturbed,
and saith, O God, the wicked, I imagine, please
Thee, and Thou hatest the good, and lovest
those who work iniquity. . . . The Sabbath
being now lost in the inner man, and the
tranquillity of his heart being shut out, and"
good thoughts repelled, he now beginneth to
imitate him whom he seeth flourishing amid
his evil deeds ; and turneth himself also to evil
works. But God is long-suffering, because He
is eternal,* and he knoweth the day of His own
judgment, where He weigheth all things.
8. Teaching us this, what saith he? "O
Lord, how glorious are Thy works : Thy
thoughts are made very deep" (ver. 5).
Verily, my brethren, there is no sea so deep
as these thoughts of God, who maketh the
wicked flourish, and the good suffer : nothing
so profound, nothing so deep : therein every
unbelieving soul is wrecked, in that depth, in
that profundity. Dost thou wish to cross this
depth? Remove not from the wood of Christ's
Cross : thou shalt not sink : hold thyself fast
to Christ. What do I mean by this, hold fast to
Christ? It was for this reason that He chose
1 Eph. ii. 10. » Rom. xii. It.
* Ps. xxxiv. 5, Bible Version. * i Cor. iv. 7.
• [Dent nut tin pattens est quia aternus est. One of those
felicitous maxims in which our author abounds. — C]
to suffer on earth Himself. Ye have heard, while
the prophet was being read, how He " did not
turn away His back from the smiters, and His
face from the spittings of men," how " He
turned not His cheek from their hands ; '^where-
fore chose He to suffer all these things, but that
He might console the suffering? He could have
raised His flesh at the last day : but then thou
wouldest not have had thy ground of hope, since
thou hadst not seen Him. He deferred not His
resurrection, that thou mightest not still be in
doubt. Suffer then tribulation in the world with
the same end as that which thou hast observed
in Christ : and let not those who do evil, and
flourish in this life, move thee. " Thy thoughts
are very deep." Where is the thought of God?
Rejoice not as the fish who is exulting in his
bait : the fisherman hath not drawn his hook :
the fish hath as yet the hook in his jaws. And
what seemeth to thee long, is short ; all these
things pass over quickly. What is the long life
of man to the eternity of God ? Dost thou wish
to be of long-suffering? Consider the eternity
of God. For thou regardest thy few days, and
in thy few days thou dost wish all things to
be fulfilled. What things? The condemnation
of all the wicked : and the crowning of all the
good : dost thou wish these things to be fulfilled
in thy days? God fulfilleth them in His own
time. Why dost thou suffer weariness ? He is
eternal: He waiteth; He is of long-suffering:
but thou sayest, I am not of long-suffering, be-
cause I am mortal. But thou hast it in thy
power to become so : join thy heart to the
eternity of God, and with Him thou shalt be
eternal. . . .
9. For this reason, after saying, " Thy thoughts
are very deep," he at once subjoins : " An un-
wise man doth not well consider this, and a fool
doth not understand it" (ver. 6). What are
the things which an unwise man doth not well
consider, and which a fool doth not understand?
" When the ungodly are green as the grass."
What is, " as the grass " ? They flourish when it
is winter, but they will wither in the summer.
Thou observest the flower of the grass ? What
more quickly passeth by? What is brighter?
What is greener? Let not its verdure delight
thee, but fear its withering. Thou hast heard
of the ungodly being green as the grass : hear
also of the righteous : " For lo." In the mean
while, consider the ungodly ; they flourish as the
grass ; but who are they who understand it not?
The foolish and unwise. " When the ungodly are
green as the grass, and all men look upon the
workers of iniquity " (ver. 7). All who in their
heart think not aright of God, look upon the
ungodly when they are as green as grass, that
' Isa. 1. 6.
Psalm XCII]
ON THE PSALMS.
455
is, when they flourish for a time. Why do they
look upon them ? " That they may be destroyed
for ever." For they regard their momentary
bloom, they imitate them, and wishing to flourish
with them for a time, perish for evermore : this
is, " That they may be destroyed for ever."
10. "But Thou, Lord, art the Most Highest
for evermore " (ver. 8). Waiting above in Thy
eternity until the season of the wicked be past,
and that of the just come. " For lo." Listen,
brethren. Already he who speaketh (for he
speaketh in our person, in the person of Christ's
body, for Christ speaketh in His own body, that
is, in His Church), hath joined himself unto the
eternity of God : as I a little before was saying
unto you, God is long-suffering and patient, and
alloweth all those evil deeds which He seeth to
be done by wicked men. Wherefore ? because
He is eternal, and seeth what He keepeth for
them. Dost thou also wish to be long-suffering
and patient ? Join thyself to the eternity of God :
together with Him wait for those things which
are beneath thee : for when thy heart shall have
cleaved unto the Most Highest, all mortal things
will be beneath thee : say then what follows,
" For lo, thine enemies shall perish." Those
who now flourish, shall afterwards perish. Who
are the enemies of God? Brethren, perhaps ye
think those only enemies of God who blaspheme ?
They indeed are so, and those wicked men who
neither in tongue nor in thought cease to injure
God. And what do they do to the eternal, most
high God? If thou strike with thy fist upon a
pillar, thou art hurt : and thinkest thou that
where thou strikest God with thy blasphemy, thou
art not thyself broken? for thou doest nothing to
God. But the enemies of God are openly blas-
phemers, and daily they are found hidden. Be-
ware of such enmities of God. For the Scripture
revealeth some such secret enemies of God :
that because thou knowest them not in thy heart,
thou mayest know in God's Scriptures, and beware
of being found with them. James saith openly in
his Epistle, " Know ye not that the friendship of
the world is enmity with God?"' Thou hast
heard. Dost thou wish not to be an enemy of
God ? Be not a friend of this world : for if thou art
a friend of this world, thou wilt be an enemy of
God. For as a wife cannot be an adulteress, un-
less she be an enemy to her own husband : so a
soul which is an adulteress through its love of
worldly things, cannot but be an enemy to God.
It feareth, but loveth not : it feareth punishment,
but is not delighted with righteousness. All lovers
of the world, therefore, are enemies of God, all
the curious after trifles, all consulters of diviners,
astrologers, and evil spirits. Let them enter, or
not enter, Churches : they are enemies of God.
They may flourish for a season like grass, but
1 Jas. iv. 4.
they will perish, when He beginneth to visit
them, and pronounce His sentence upon all flesh.
Join thyself to the Scripture of God, and say
with this Psalm, " For lo, thine enemies shall per-
ish " (ver. 9). Be not found there, where they
shall perish. " And all the workers of iniquity
shall be destroyed."
11. . . . "But mine horn shall be exalted like
the horn of an unicorn " (ver. 10). Why did He
say, "like the horn of an unicorn "? Sometimes
an unicorn signifies pride, sometimes it means the
lifting up of unity ; because unity is lifted up, all
heresies shall perish with the enemies of God.
And " mine horn shall be exalted like an unicorn."
When will it be so? "And mine old age shall
be in the fatness of mercy."2 Why did he say,
" my old age " ? He means, my last days ; as
our old age is the last season in our lives, so the
whole of what the body of Christ at present
suffereth in labours, in cares, in watchings, in
hunger, in thirst, in stumbling-blocks, in wicked-
nesses, in tribulations, is its youth : its old age,
that is, its last days, will be in joy. And beware,
beloved, that ye think not death meant also, in
that he hath spoken of old age : for man groweth
old in the flesh for this reason, that he may die.
The old age of the Church will be white with
good works, but it shall not decay through
death. What the head of the old man is, that
our works will be. Ye see how the head groweth
old, and whiteneth, as fast as old age approach-
eth.' Thou sometimes dost seek in the head of
one who groweth old duly in his own course a
black hair, yet thou findest it not : thus when
our life shall have been such, that the blackness
of sins may be sought, and none found, that old
age is youthful, is green, and ever will be green.
Ye have heard of the grass of sinners, hear ye of
the old age of the righteous : " My old age shall
be in the fatness of mercy."
12. "And Mine eye hath beheld on mine
enemies" (ver. 11). Whom doth he call his
enemies? All the workers of iniquity. Do not
observe whether thy friend be wicked : let an
occasion come, and then thou provest him.
Thou beginnest to go contrary to his iniquity,
and then thou shalt see that when he was flatter-
ing thee, he was thy enemy ; but thou hadst
not yet knocked, not to raise in his heart what
was not there, but that what was there might
break out. " Mine eye also hath looked upon
mine enemies : and mine ear shall hear his de-
sire of the wicked that rise up against me."
When? In my old age. What is, in old age?
In the last times. And what shall our ear hear?
Standing on the right hand, we shall hear what
shall be said to them that are on the left.3
* So LXX.
3 [The words "my desire" are not in the Hebrew: what the
Hebrew implies is the patient expectation of a just judgment, by
which truth shall at last be vindicated. See Rev. vi. 10. — C.J
456
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIII.
13. The grass withereth, the flower of sinners
dieth away : what of the righteous ? " The
rightepus shall flourish like a palm tree " (ver.
12). The ungodly are green as grass; "The
righteous shall flourish like a palm tree." By the
palm tree he signifieth height. Possibly he had
also this meaning in the palm, that in its ex-
tremities it is beautiful : so that thou mayest
trace its beginning from the earth, its end in its
topmost branches, wherein its whole beauty
dwelleth. The rough root appeareth in the
earth, the beautiful foliage toward the sky. Thy
beauty too, then, shall be in the end. Thy root
is fixed fast : but our root is upward. For our
root is Christ, who hath ascended into heaven.
Humbled, he shall be exalted ; " he shall spread
abroad like a cedar in Libanus." See what trees
he spoke of: the righteous shall flourish like a
palm-tree : and shall spread abroad like a cedar
in Libanus. When the sun hath gone forth,
doth the palm-tree wither? Doth the cedar die ?
But when the sun hath been glowing for some
hours, the grass drieth up. The judgment, there-
fore, shall come, that sinners may wither, and
the faithful flourish.
14. " Such as are planted in the house of the
Lord, shall flourish in the courts of the house of
our God " (ver. 12). "They shall be yet more
increased in fruitful old age, and shall b.e quiet,
that they may show it forth" (ver. 13). Such
is the Sabbath, which but a little while ago I
commended unto you, whence the Psalm hath
its title. "They shall be quiet, that they may
show it forth." Wherefore are they quiet that
show it forth? The grass of sinners moveth
them not : the cedar and palm-tree not even in
tempests are bent. They are therefore quiet,
that they may show it forth : and with reason,
since at present they must show it forth even
unto men who mock at it. O wretched men,
who are lovers of the world ! Those who are
planted in the house of the Lord, show it to you :
those who praise the Lord with song and lute,
in word and deed, show it forth to you, and tell
you. Be not seduced by the prosperity of the
wicked, admire not the flower of grass : admire
not those who are happy only for a season, but
miserable unto eternity. ... If ye wish to flour-
ish like a palm-tree, and to spread abroad like a
cedar in Libanus, and not to wither like grass
when the sun is hot ; as those who appear to
flourish when the sun is absent. If then ye wish
not to be as grass, but as the palm-tree and the
cedar, what will ye show forth ? " How true
the Lord my strength is : and that there is no un-
righteousness in Him." How is it there is no
unrighteousness? A man committeth so great
crimes ; he is well, he hath sons, a plentiful
house, he is full of pride, is exalted by his hon-
ours, is revenged on his enemies, and doeth
every evil deed ; another man, innocent, attend-
ing to his own affairs, not robbing another's
goods, doing nothing against any one, suffereth
in chains, in prison, tosseth and sigheth in pov-
erty. How is it that there is no unrighteousness
in Him? Be quiet, and thou shalt know: for
thou art disturbed, and in thy chamber thou dost
darken thy light. The eternal God doth wish to
shine upon thee : do not then make thee cloudy
weather from thy own disturbed mind. Be quiet
within thyself, and see what I say unto thee.
Because God is eternal, because for the present
He spareth the bad, bringing them to repent-
ance : He scourgeth the good, instructing them
in the way unto the kingdom of heaven : " There
is no unrighteousness in Him : " fear not. . . .
What, if He leaveth this man unpunished now,
because he is doomed to hear, " Depart into
everlasting fire." But when? when thou shalt
be placed at the right hand, then shall it be said
to those placed on the left, " Depart into the
everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil
and his angels." Let not therefore those things
move thee : Be quiet, keep Sabbath, and show
" how true the Lord my strength is : and that
there is no unrighteousness in Him."
PSALM XCIII.'
1. ... It is entitled, "The Song of praise of
David himself, on the day before the Sabbath,
when the earth was founded." Remembering
then what God did through all those days, when
He made and ordained all things, from the first
up to the sixth day (for the seventh He sancti-
fied, because He rested on that day after all the
works, which He made very good), we find that
He created on the sixth day (which day is here
mentioned, in that he saith, "before the Sab-
bath") all animals on the earth; lastly, He on
that very day created man in His own likeness
and image. For these days were not without
reason ordained in such order, but for that ages
also were to run in a like course, before we rest
in God.2 But then we rest if we do good works.
As a type of this, it is written of God, " God
rested on the seventh day," when He had made
all His works very good.3 For He was not
wearied, so as to need rest, nor hath He now
left off" to work, for our Lord Christ saith openly,-
" My Father worketh hitherto." 4 For He saith
this unto the Jews, who thought carnally of God,
and understood not that God worketh in quiet,
and always worketh, and is always in quiet. We
also, then, whom God willed then to figure in
Himself, shall have rest after all good works.
. . . And because these good works are doomed
1 I.at. XCII. A sermon to the people
2 [Compare p 103, supra. — C.J
3 Gen. 1. and ii. 1-3.
* John v. 17.
Psalm XCIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
457
to pass away, that sixth day also, when those
very good works are perfected, hath an evening ;
but in the Sabbath we find no evening, because
our rest shall have no end : for evening is put
for end. As therefore God made man in His
own image on the sixth day : thus we find that
our Lord Jesus Christ came into the sixth age,
that man might be formed anew after the image
of God. For the first period, as the first day,
was from Adam until Noah : the second, as the
second day, from Noah unto Abraham : the third,
as the third day, from Abraham unto David : the
fourth, as the fourth day, from David unto
the removal to Babylon : the fifth period, as the
fifth day, from the removal to Babylon unto
the preaching of John. The sixth day beginneth
from the preaching of John, and lasteth unto the
end : and after the end of the sixth day, we
reach our rest. The sixth day, therefore, is even
now passing.' And it is now the sixth day, see
what the title hath ; " On the day before the
Sabbath, when the earth was founded." Let us
now listen to the Psalm itself: let us enquire of
it, how the earth was made, whether perhaps the
earth was then made : and we do not read so
in Genesis. When, therefore, was the earth
founded? when, unless when that which hath
been but now read in the Apostle taketh place :
" If," he saith, '•' ye are stedfast, immovable." 2
When all who believe throughout all the earth
are stedfast in faith, the earth is founded : then
man is made in the image of God. That sixth
day in Genesis signifieth this. . . .
2. " The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with
beauty ; the Lord is clothed with strength, and
is girded" (ver. i). We see that He hath
clothed Himself with two things : beauty and
strength. But why ? That He might found
the earth. So it followeth, " He hath made the
round world so sure, that it cannot be moved."
Whence hath He made it so sure? Because He
hath clothed Himself in beauty. He would not
make it so sure, if He put on beauty only, and
not strength also. Why therefore beauty, why
strength? For He hath said both. Ye know,
brethren, that when our Lord had come in the
flesh, of those to whom He preached the Gos-
pel, He pleased some, and displeased others.
For the tongues of the Jews were divided against
one another : " Some said, He is a good Man ;
others said, Nay, but He deceiveth the people."'
Some then spoke well, others detracted from
Him, tore Him, bit and insulted Him. Towards
those therefore whom He pleased, " He put on
beauty ; " towards those whom He displeased,
" He put on strength." Imitate then thy Lord,
that thou mayest become His garment : be
with beauty towards those whom thy good
1 [See Barnabas, A. N. F. vol. i. p. 146. — C]
2 1 Cor. xv. 58. 3 John vii. 12.
works please : show thy strength against de-
tractors. . . .
3. Perhaps we should enquire respecting this
word also, why he said, " He is girded." Gird-
ing signifieth work : for every man then girdeth
himself, when he is about to work. But where-
fore did he use the word prcecincius, instead
of cinctus ? For he saith in another Psalm,4
" Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O
Thou most mighty : the people shall fall under
Thee : " using the word accingere, not cingere, nor
prcecingere : this word being applied to the act of
attaching anything to the side by girding it. The
sword of the Lord, wherewith He conquered the
round world by killing iniquity, is the Spirit of God
in the truth of the word of God. Wherefore is He
said to bind His sword around His thigh? In
another place, on another Psalm we have spoken
in another manner of girding : but nevertheless,
since it hath been mentioned, it ought not to be
passed over. What is the girding on of the
sword around the thigh ? He meaneth the flesh
by the thigh. For the Lord would not otherwise
conquer the round world, unless the sword of
truth came into the flesh. Why therefore is He
here said to be girded in front (prcecinctus') ?
He who girdeth himself before, placeth some-
thing before himself, wherewith he is girded ;
whence it is said, He girded Himself before with
a towel, and began to wash the disciples' feet.
Because He was humble when He girded Him-
self with a towel. He washed the feet of His
own disciples. But all strength is in humility :
because all pride is fragile : therefore when He was
speaking of strength, he added, " He is girded : "
that thou mayest remember how thy God was
girded in humility, when He washed His disci-
ples' feet.5 . . . After He had washed their feet,
again He sat down ; He said unto them, " Ye
call me Lord and Master : and ye say well ;
for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet ; how ought ye also to do
to one another's feet?" If therefore strength
is in humility, fear not the proud. The humble
are like a rock : the rock seems to lie down-
wards : but nevertheless it is firm. What are
the proud ? Like smoke : although they are
lofty, they vanish. We ought therefore to as-
cribe our Lord's being girded to His humility,
according to the mention of the Gospel, that
He was girded, that He might wash His disci-
ples' feet.
4. . . . " For He hath made the round world
sure, which cannot be moved." . . . What then
is the round world, "which cannot be moved"?
This He would not mention specially, if there
were not also a round world that can be moved.
There is a round world that shall not be moved.
* Ps. xlv. 3.
3 John xiii. 4-15.
458
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIII.
There is a round world that shall be moved. For
the good who are stedfast in the faith are the
round world : that no man may say,1 they are
only in part of it ; while the wicked who abide
not in faith, when they have felt any tribulation,
are throughout the whole world. There is there-
fore a round world movable : there is a world
immovable : of which the Apostle speaketh.
Behold, the round world movable. 1 ask thee,
of whom speaketh the Apostle in these words,
" Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus ; who
concerning the truth have erred, saying that the
resurrection is past already : and overthrow the
faith of some ? " 2 Did these belong to the round
world, that shall not be moved ? But they were
chaff: and as he saith, " they overthrow the faith
of some." ..." Nevertheless, the foundation of
God standeth sure ; having his seal," — what
seal hath it as its sure foundation ? — " The
Lord knoweth them that are His." This is the
round world that shall not be moved ; " The Lord
knoweth them that are His." And what seal
hath it ? " And let every one that nameth the
name of Christ depart from unrighteousness."
Let him depart from unrighteousness : for he can-
not depart from the unrighteous, for the chaff
is mixed with the wheat until it is fanned. . . .
5. " Thy throne is established from thence, O
Lord " (ver. 2). What is, "from thence"?
From that time. As if he said, What is the
throne of God? Where doth God sit? In His
Saints. Dost thou wish to be the throne of
God ? Prepare a place in thy heart where He
may sit. What is the throne of God, except
where God dwelleth ? Where doth God dwell,
except in His temple? What is His temple? Is
it surrounded with walls? Far from it. Perhaps
this world is His temple, because it is very great,
and a thing worthy to contain God. It contains
not Him by whom it was made. And wherein
is He contained? In the quiet soul, in the
righteous soul : that is it that containeth Him.
. . . He who said, " Before Abraham was, I am : "'
not before Abraham only, but before Adam : not
only before Adam, but before all the angels,
before heaven and earth ; since all things were
made through Him : he added, lest thou, at-
tending to the day of our Lord's nativity, might-
est think He commenced from that time, " Thy
throne is established, O God." But what God ?
" Thou art from everlasting : " for which he uses
dir' auSras, in the Greek version ; that word
being sometimes used for an age, sometimes for
everlasting. Therefore, O Thou who seemest
to be born " from thence," Thou art from ever-
lasting ! But let not human birth be thought of,
but Divine eternity. He began then from the
time of His birth ; He grew : * ye have heard
1 As the Donatists.
3 John vui. 58.
2 2 Tim ii. 17-19.
* Luke it. 40, 5a.
the Gospel. He chose disciples, He replenished
them, His disciples began to preach. Perhaps
this is what he speaketh of in the following
verse.
6. "The floods lift up their voices" (ver. 3).
What are these floods, which have lift up their
voices? We heard them not : neither when our
Lord was born, did we hear rivers speak, nor
when He was baptized, nor when He suffered ;
we heard not that rivers did speak. Read the
Gospel, ye find not that rivers spoke. It is not
enough that they spoke : " They have lift up
their voice : " they have not only spoken, but
bravely, mightily, in a lofty voice. What are
those rivers which have spoken? . . . The Spirit
itself was a mighty river, whence many rivers were
filled. Of that river the Psalmist saith in an-
other passage, "The rivers of the flood thereof
shall make glad the city of God." s Rivers then
were made to flow from the belly of the disciples,
when they received the Holy Spirit : themselves
were rivers, when they had received that Holy
Spirit. Whence did those rivers lift their voices?
wherefore did they lift them up ? Because at first
they feared. Peter was not yet a river, when at
the question of the maid-servant he thrice denied
Christ : " I do not know the man." 6 Here he
lieth through fear : he lifteth not his voice as yet :
he is not yet the river. But when they were filled
with the Holy Spirit, the Jews sent for them, and
enjoined them not to preach at all, nor to teach
in the name of Jesus. . . . For when the
Apostles had been dismissed from the council of
the Jews, they came to their own friends, and
told them what the priests and elders said unto
them : but they on hearing lifted up their voices
with one accord unto the Lord, and said, " Lord,
it is Thou who hast made heaven and earth,
and the sea, and all that in them is ; " 7 and the
rest which floods lifting up their voices might
say, " Wonderful are the hangings of the sea "
(ver. 4). For when the disciples had lifted up
their voices unto Him, many believed, and many
received the Holy Spirit, and many rivers instead
of few began to lift up their voice. Hence there
followeth, " from the voices of many waters,
wonderful are the hangings of the sea ; " that
is, the waves of the world. When Christ had
begun to be preached by so powerful voices, the
sea became enraged, persecutions began to
thicken. When therefore the rivers had lift up
their voice, " from the voices of many waters,
wonderful " were " the hangings of the sea."
To be hung aloft is to be lifted up ; when the
sea rages, the waves are hung as from above. Let
the waves hang over as they choose ; let the sea
roar as it chooseth ; the hangings of the sea in-
deed are mighty, mighty are the threatenings,
3 Ps. xlvi. 4.
6 Matt. xxvi. 69-74.
7 Acts iv. 24.
Psalm XCIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
459
mighty the persecutions ; but see what followeth :
" but yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is
mightier." Let therefore the sea restrain itself,
and sometime become calmed ; let peace be
granted by Christians. The sea was disturbed,
the vessel was tossed ; the vessel is the Church :
the sea, the world. The Lord came, He walked
over the sea, and calmed the waves. How did
the Lord walk over the sea? Above the heads
of those mighty foaming waves. Principalities
and kings believed ; they were subdued unto
Christ. Let us not therefore be frightened ; be-
cause " the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is
mightier."
7. " Thy testimonies, O Lord, are very surely
believed " (ver. 5). The Lord, who dwelleth
on high, is mightier than the mighty overhang-
ings of the sea. " Thy testimonies are very
surely believed." "Thy testimonies," because
He had said beforehand, " These things I have
spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation."
. . . He added, " but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world." ' If then He saith, " I
have overcome the world," cling unto Him who
overcame the world, who overcame the sea.
Rejoice in Him, because the Lord, who dwelleth
on high, is mightier, and, " Thy testimonies are
very surely believed." And what is the end of
all these ? " Holiness becometh Thine house, O
Lord ! " Thine house, the whole of Thine house,
not here and there : but the whole of Thine
house, throughout the whole world. Why
throughout the whole of the round world? " Be-
cause He hath set aright the round world, which
cannot be moved."2 The Lord's house will be
strong : it will prevail throughout the whole
worl'd : many shall fall : but that house standeth ;
many shall be disturbed, but that house shall not
be moved. Holiness becometh Thine house, O
Lord!" For a short time only? No. "Unto
length of days."
PSALM XCIV.3
1. As we listened with much attention, while the
Psalm was in reading, so let us listen attentively,
while the Lord revealeth the mysteries which
He hath deigned to obscure in this passage.
For some mysteries in the Scriptures are shut up
for this reason, not that they may be denied, but
that they may be opened unto those who knock.
If therefore ye knock with affection of piety, and
sincere heartfelt love, He, who seeth from what
motives ye knock, will open unto you.'1 It is
known unto all of us (and I wish we may not be
among their number), that may murmur against
1 John xvi. 33. 2 Ps. xcvi. to.
3 I.at. XCI1I. Delivered in another's diocese, at the request of
an assembly of bishops, as appears from the conclusion.
< Matt. vii. 7.
God's long-suffering, and grieve either that im-
pious and wicked men live in this world, or that
they have great power ; and what is more, that
the bad generally have great power against the
good, and that the bad often oppress the good ;
that the wicked exult, while the good suffer ;
the evil are proud, while the good are humbled.
Observing such things in the human race (for
they abound), impatient and weak minds are per-
verted, as if they were good in vain ; since God
averteth, or seemeth to avert, His eyes from the
good works of the pious and faithful, and to pro-
mote the wicked in those pleasures which they
love. Weak men, therefore, imagining that they
live well in vain, are induced either to imitate the
wickedness of those whom they see flourishing :
or if either through bodily or mental weakness
they are deterred from doing wrong by a fear of
the penal laws of the world ; not because they
love justice, but, to speak more openly, fearing
the condemnation of men among men, they re-
frain indeed from wicked deeds, but refrain not
from wicked thoughts. And among their wicked
thoughts, the chief is the wickedness which
leadeth them impiously to imagine that God is
neglectful, and regardless of human affairs : and
that He either holdeth in equal estimation the
good and the wicked : or even, and this is a still
more pernicious notion, that He persecuteth the
good, and favoureth the wicked. He who think-
eth thus, although he doth no harm to any man,
doth the greatest to himself, and is impious
against himself, and by his wickedness hurteth
not God, but slayeth himself. . . .
2. The Psalm hath this title, that is, this in-
scription : " A Psalm of David himself, on the
fourth day of the week." This Psalm is about
to teach patience in the sufferings of the right-
eous : it enjoineth patience against the prosper-
ity of the wicked, and buildeth up patience.
This is the drift of the whole of it, from begin-
ning to end. Wherefore then hath it such a
title, " on the fourth of the week " ? The first of
the week is the Lord's day : the second, is the
second week-day, which people of the world
call the Moon's day : the third, is the third week-
day, which they term Mars' day. The fourth of
the Sabbaths therefore is the fourth week-day,
which by Pagans is styled Mercury's day, and
also by many Christians ; but I would not Call it
so : and I wish they would change for the better,
and cease to do so ; for they have a phrase of
their own, which they may use. For these
terms are not of universal use : many nations
have severally different names for them : so that
the mode of speech used by the Church better
beseemeth the mouth of a Christian.' Yet if
custom hath induced any person to utter that
5 [" The first day of the week," etc. — C.l
460
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIV.
with his tongue which his heart doth disapprove,
let him remember, that all those whose names
the stars bear were men, and that the stars did
not commence their existence in the sky, when
those men began theirs, but were there long be-
fore ; but on account of some mortal services
rendered unto mortals, those men in their own
times, because they had great power, and were
eminent in this life, since they were beloved by
men, not on account of eternal life, but of tem-
poral services, received divine honours. For
then men of the old world, in being deceived
and wishing to deceive, pointed to the stars in
heaven, to flatter those who had done them any
good service in their affection for this life, say-
ing, that that was the star of such a man, this of
another ; while the man who had not beheld
them before, so as to see that those stars were
there before the birth of the man, were deceived
into a belief: and thus this vain opinion was
conceived. This erroneous opinion the devil
strengthened, Christ overthrew. According to
our mode of speech, then, the fourth of the
week is taken for the fourth day from the Lord's
day. Attend, therefore, beloved, to what this
title meaneth. Here is a great mystery, and a
truly hidden one. . . . Let us therefore recall
from the holy Scripture in Genesis, what was
created on the first day ; we find light : what
was created on the second day ; we find the
firmament, which God called heaven : what was
created on the third day ; we find the form of
earth and sea, and their separation, that all the
gathering together of the waters was called sea,
and all that was dry, the earth. On the fourth
day, the Lord made the lights in heaven : * " The
sun to rule the day : the moon and stars to gov-
ern the night : " 2 this was the work of the
fourth day. What then is the reason that the
Psalm hath taken its title from the fourth day :
the Psalm in which patience is enjoined against
the prosperity of the wicked, and the sufferings
of the good. Thou findest the Apostle Paul
speaking. " Do all things without murmurings
and disputings : that ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life." 3 . . .
3. Let us now attend to the Psalm. "The
Lord is the God of vengeance ; the God of ven-
gence hath dealt confidently" (ver. 1). Dost
thou think that He doth not punish? "The
God of vengeance " punisheth. What is, "The
God of vengeance " ? The God of punishments.
Thou murmurest surely because the bad are not
punished : yet do not murmur, lest thou be
1 Gen. i. 3-19.
3 Philip, ii. 14-16.
2 Ps. exxxvi. 8, 9.
among those who are punished. That man hath
committed a theft, and liveth : thou murmurest
against God, because he who committed a theft
on thee dieth not. . . . Therefore, if thou
wouldest have another correct his hand, do
thou first correct thy tongue : thou wouldest
have him correct his heart towards man, correct
thy heart towards God ; lest perchance, when
thou desirest the vengeance of God, if it come,
it find thee first. For He will come : He will
come, and will judge those who continue in their
wickedness, ungrateful for the prolongation of
His mercy, for His long-suffering, treasuring up
unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath,
and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God, who will render to every man according to
his deeds : 4 because, " The Lord is the God of
vengeance," therefore hath He " dealt confi-
dently." . . . Our safety is our Saviour : in Him
He would place the hope of all the needy and
poor. And what saith He? "I will deal confi-
dently in Him." What meaneth this? He will
not fear, will not spare the lusts and vices of
men. Truly, as a faithful physician, with the
healing knife of preaching in His hand, He hath
cut away all our wounded parts. Therefore such
as He was prophesied and preached beforehand,
such was He found. . . . How great things
then did He, of whom it is said, " He taught
them as one having authority," say unto them?
" Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
crites ! " 5 What great things did He say unto
them, before their face? He feared no one.
Why? Because He is the God of vengeance.
For this reason He spared them not in words,
that they might remain for Him after to spare
them in judgment ; because if they were un-
willing to accept the healing of His word, they
would afterwards incur their Judge's doom.
Wherefore? Because He hath said, " The Lord
is the God of vengeance, the God of vengeance
hath dealt confidently ; " that is, He hath spared
no man in word. He who spared not in word
when about to suffer, will He spare in judgment
when about to judge? He who in His humility
feared no man, will He fear any man in His
glory? From His dealing thus confidently in
time past, imagine how He will deal at the end
of time. Murmur not then against God, who
seemeth to spare the wicked ; but be thou good,
and perhaps for a season He may not spare thee
the rod, that He may in the end spare thee in
judgment. . . .
4. And what followed, because He dealt confi-
dently ? " Be exalted, Thou Judge of the world "
(ver. 2). Because they imprisoned Him when
humble, thinkest thou they will imprison Him
when exalted? Because they judged Him when
* Rom. ii. 4-6.
5 Matt, xxiii. 13, 16.
tsalm xciv.]
ON THE PSALMS.
461
mortal, will they not be judged by Him when
immortal ? What then saith He ? "Be exalted,"
Thou, who hast dealt confidently, the confidence
of whose word the wicked bore not, but thought
they did a glorious deed, when they seized and
crucified Thee ; they who ought to have seized
on Thee with faith, seized Thee with persecu-
tion. Thou then who hast among the wicked
dealt confidently, and hast feared no man,
because Thou hast suffered, " be exalted ; " that
is, arise again, depart into heaven. Let the
Church also bear with long-suffering what the
Church's Head hath borne with long-suffering.
" Be exalted, Thou Judge of the world : and
reward the proud after their deserving." He
will reward them, brethren. For what is this,
" Be exalted, Thou Judge of the world : and
reward the proud after their deserving " ? This
is the prophecy of one who doth predict, not
the boldness of one who commandeth. Not
because the Prophet said, " Be exalted, Thou
Judge of the world," did Christ obey the Prophet,
in arising from the dead, and ascending into
heaven ; but because Christ was to do this, the
Prophet predicted it. He seeth Christ abased
in the spirit, abased he seeth Him : fearing no
man, in speech sparing no man, and he saith,
" He hath dealt confidently." He seeth how
confidently He hath dealt, he seeth Him arrested,
crucified, humbled, he seeth Him rising from
the dead, and ascending into heaven, and from
thence to come in judgment of those, among
whose hands He had suffered every evil : " Be
exalted," he saith, " Thou Judge of the world,
and reward the proud after their deserving."
The proud He will thus reward, not the humble.
Who are the proud ? Those to whom it is little
to do evil : but they even defend their own sins.
For on some of those who crucified Christ,
miracles were afterwards performed, when out of
the number of the Jews themselves there were
found believers, and the blood of Christ was
given unto them. Their hands were impious,
and red with the blood of Christ. He whose
blood they had shed, Himself washed them.
They who had persecuted His mortal body
which they had seen, became part of His very
body, that is, the Church. They shed their own
ransom, that they might drink their own ransom.
For afterwards more were converted. . . .
5. " Lord, how long shall the ungodly, how
long shall the ungodly triumph?" (ver. 3),
" They answer, and will speak wickedness, they
all will speak that work unrighteousness " (ver.
4). What is their saying, but against God,
when they say : What profiteth it us that we live
thus ? What wilt thou reply ? Doth God truly
regard our deeds ? For because they live, they
imagine that God knoweth not their actions.
Behold, what evil happeneth unto them ! If
the officers ■ knew where they were, they would
arrest them ; and they therefore avoid the offi-
cer's eyes, that they may escape instant appre-
hension ; but no one can escape the eye of
God, since He not only seeth within the closet,
but within the recesses of the heart. Even they
themselves believe that nothing can escape
God : and because they do evil, and are con-
scious of what they have done, and see that
they live while God knoweth, though they would
not live if the officer discovered them ; they say
unto themselves, These things please God : and,
in truth, if they displeased Him, as they dis-
please kings, as they displease judges, as they
displease governors, as they displease recorders,2
yet could we escape the eye of God, as we do
escape the eyes of those authorities? Therefore
these things please God. . . . Some righteous
man cometh, and saith, Do not commit iniquity.
Wherefore? That thou mayest not die. Behold,
iniquity I have committed: why do I not die?
That man wrought righteousness : and he is
dead: why is he dead? I have wrought iniq-
uity: why hath not God carried me off? Be-
hold, that man did righteously : and why hath
He thus visited him? why suffereth He thus?
They answer ; this is the meaning of the word
" answer : " for they have a reply to make ;
because they are spared, from the long-suffering
of God, they discover an argument for their
reply. He spareth them for one reason, they
answer for another, because they still live. For
the Apostle telleth us wherefore He spareth,
he expoundeth the grounds of the long-suffering
of God : " And thinkest thou this, O man, that
judgest them which do such things, and doest
J the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment
I of God ? Or despisest thou the riches of His
! goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering ;
; not knowing that the long-suffering of God
leadeth thee to repentance ? " " But thou," that
• is, he who answereth and saith, If I displeased
! God, He would not spare me, hear what he
\ worketh for himself; hear the Apostle; ''but
j after thy hardness and impenitent heart treas-
urest up into thyself wrath against the day of
wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God ; who will render to every man accord-
ing to his deeds." 3 He therefore increaseth His
long-suffering, thou increasest thine iniquity.
His treasure will consist in eternal mercy towards
those who have not despised His mercy ; but
thy treasure will be discovered in wrath, and
1 StaiionaHus. Soldiers, and officers of the governors, stationed
in certain places through the provinces and cities, who gave informa-
tion to the magistrates of notorious offences Ex I I, c Df Curios,
et Siatiottar. libro 13, et ex 1. 31. Pe Episc. et Cler. in C. Theod.
Ben. Cod. Theod. Oothof \. vi. Tit. 29.
3 Commentariensi/nts, masters of prisons, and notaries, whose
duty it was to keep records of imprisonments and offenders, and to
receive indictments. — Ben,
i Rom. ii- s, 6.
462
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIV.
what thou daily layest up by little and little, thou
wilt find in the accumulated mass ; thou layest
up by the grain, but thou wilt find the whole
heap. Omit not to watch thy slightest daily sins :
rivers are filled from the smallest drops.
6. . . . " They have humbled Thy people,
O Lord ; and have troubled Thine heritage "
(ver. 5). "They have murdered the widow,
and the fatherless : and slain the proselyte "
(ver. 6) ; that is, the traveller, the pilgrim : the
comer from far, as the Psalmist calleth himself.
Each of these expressions is too clear in mean-
ing to make it worth while to dwell upon them.
7. " And they have said, The Lord shall not
see" (ver. 7): He observeth not, regardeth
not these things : He careth for other matters,
He understandeth not. These are the two as-
sertions of the wicked : one which I have just
quoted, " These things hast thou done, and I
held my tongue, and thou thoughtest unright-
eousness, that I will be like thyself." What
meaneth, " that I will be like thyself "? Thou
thinkest that I see thy deeds, and that they are
pleasing unto Me, because I do not punish them.
There is another assertion of the wicked : be-
cause God neither regardeth these things, nor
observeth that He may know how I live, God
heedeth me not. Doth then God make any
reckoning of me? or doth He even take ac-
count of me ? or of men in general ? Unhappy
man ! He cared for thee, that thou mightest
exist : doth He not care that thou live well ?
Such then are the words of these last ; " and yet
they have said, The Lord shall not see : neither
shall the God of Jacob regard it."
8. " Take heed now, ye that are unwise
among the people : O ye fools, some time under-
stand ! " (ver. 8). He teacheth His people
whose feet might slip : any one among them
seeth the prosperity of the wicked, himself liv-
ing well among the Saints of God, that is, among
the number of the sons of the Church : he
seeth that the wicked flourish, and work iniquity,
he envieth, and is led to follow them in their
actions ; because he seeth that apparently it
profiteth him nothing that he liveth well in
humility, hoping for his reward here. For if
he hopeth for it in future, he loseth it not ;
because the time is not yet come for him to
receive it. Thou art working in a vineyard :
execute thy task, and thou shalt receive thy pay.
Thou wouldest not exact it from thy employer,
before thy work was finished, and yet dost thou
exact it from God before thou dost work? This
patience is part of thy work, and thy pay
dependeth upon thy work : thou who dost not
choose to be patient, choosest to work less
upon the vineyard : since this act of patience
belongeth to thy labouring itself, which is to gain
thy pay. But if thou art treacherous, take care,
lest thou shouldest not only not receive thy pay,
but also suffer punishment, because thou hast
chosen to be a treacherous labourer. When
such a labourer beginneth to do ill, he watcheth
his employer's eyes, who hired him for his vine-
yard, that he may loiter when his eye is turned
away ; but the moment his eyes are turned
towards him, he worketh diligently. But God,
who hired thee, averteth not His eyes : thou
canst not work treacherously : the eyes of thy
Master are ever upon thee : seek an opportunity
to deceive Him, and loiter if thou canst. If
then any of you had any such ideas, when ye
saw the wicked flourishing, and if such thoughts
caused your feet to slip in the path of God ; to
you this Psalm speaketh : but if perchance none
of you be such, through you it doth address
others, in these words, " Take heed now ; " since
they had said, " The Lord shall not see : neither
shall the God of Jacob regard it." " Take heed,"
it saith, " now, ye that are unwise among the
people : and ye fools, some time understand ! " '
9. " He that planted the ear, shall He not
hear? or He that made the eye, doth He not
consider?" (ver. 9) "or He that instructeth
the nations, shall He not reprove?" (ver. 10).
This is what God is at present doing : He is in-
structing the nations : for this reason he sent His
word to man throughout the world : He sent it
by Angels, by Patriarchs, by Prophets, by ser-
vants, through so many heralds going before the
Judge. He sent also His own Word Himself,
He sent His own Son in Person : He sent the
servants of His Son, and in these very, servants
His own Son. Throughout the world is every-
where preached the word of God. Where is it
not said unto men, Abandon your former wicked-
ness, and turn yourselves to right paths? He
spareth, that ye may correct yourselves : He
punished not yesterday, in order that to-day
ye may live well. He teacheth the heathen,
shall He not therefore reprove ? will He not hear
those whom He teacheth? will He not judge
those to whom He hath beforehand sent and
sown lessons of warning? If thou wast in a
school, wouldest thou receive a task, and not
repeat it ? When therefore thou receivest it from
thy master, thou art being taught : the Master
giveth thy task into thy hands, and shall He not
exact it from thee when thou comest to repeat
it? or when thou hast begun to repeat it, shalt
thou not be in fear of stripes ? At present then we
are receiving our work : afterwards we are placed
before the Master, that we may give up to Him
all our past tasks, that is, that we may give an
account of all those things which are now being
bestowed upon us. Hear the Apostle's words :
" We must all appear before the judgment-seat
1 [On Plutarch's " Delays of the Divine Justice," see the valu-
able translation of De Maistre, with that of Amyot. Paris, 1853. — C.J
Psalm XCIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
463
of Christ," etc' " It is He that teacheth man
knowledge." Doth He not know, who maketh
thee to know ?
10. "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man,
that they are but vain " (ver. 11). For although
thou knowest not the thoughts of God, that they
are righteous ; " He knoweth the thoughts of
man, that they are but vain." Even men have
known the thoughts of God : but those to whom
He hath become a friend, it is to them He
showeth His counsel. Do not, brethren, de-
spise yourselves : if ye approach the Lord with
faith, ye hear the thoughts of God ; these ye are
now learning, this is told you, and for this reason
ye are taught, why God spareth the wicked in this
life, that ye may not murmur against God, who
teacheth man knowledge. " The Lord knoweth
the thoughts of man, that they are but vain."
Abandon therefore the thoughts of man, which are
vain : that ye may take hold on the thoughts of
God, which are wise. But who is he who taketh
hold on the thoughts of God ? He who is placed
in the firmament of heaven. We have already
chanted that Psalm, and have expounded this
expression therein.
11." Blessed is the man whom Thou chasten-
est, O Lord : and teachest him from Thy law "
(ver. 12). Behold, thou hast the counsel of
God, wherefore He spareth the wicked : the pit
is being digged for the sinner. Thou wishest to
bury him at once : the pit is as yet being dug
for him : do not be in haste to bury him. What
mean the words, " until the pit be digged up for
the sinner "? or whom doth He mean by sinner?
One man? No. Whom then? The whole
race of such that are sinners? No ; them that
are proud ; for he had said before, " Reward the
proud after their deserving." For that publican,
who would not so much as lift up his eyes to
heaven, but " smote upon his breast, saying, God
be merciful to me a sinner," 2 was a sinner ; but
since he was not proud, and since God will ren-
der a recompense to the proud ; the pit is being
dug not for him, but for them that are such,
until He render a recompense to the proud. In
the words then, "until the pit be digged up
for the ungodly," understand the proud. Who is
the proud ? He who doth not by confession
of his sins do penance, that he may be healed
through his humility. Who is the proud? He
who chooseth to arrogate to himself those few
good things which he seemeth to possess, and
who doth detract from the mercy of God. Who
is the proud ? He who although he doth ascribe
unto God his good works, yet insulteth those
who do not those good works, and raiseth him-
self above them. . . . This then is the Christian
doctrine : no man doeth anything well except
by His grace. A man's bad acts are his own :
his good he doth of God's bounty. When he
hath begun to do well, let not him ascribe it unto
himself: when he hath not attributed it to him-
self, let him give thanks to Him from whom he
hath received it. But when he doeth well, let
him not insult him who doth not as he doth
nor exalt himself above him : for the grace of,
God is not stayed at him, so that it cannot reach
another.
12. "That Thou mayest give him patience in
days of malice : until the pit be digged up for
the ungodly" (ver. 13). Have patience there-
fore every one, if thou art a Christian, in time of
malice. Days of malice are those in which the
ungodly appear to flourish, and the righteous to
suffer ; but the suffering of the righteous is
the rod of the Father, and the prosperity of the
ungodly is their own snare. For because God
giveth you patience in time of adversity, until the
pit be digged up for the ungodly, do not think
that the Angels are standing in some place with
mattocks, and are digging that great pit which
shall be able to contain the whole race of the
ungodly ; and because ye see that the wicked
are many, and say unto yourselves carnally :
Truly what pit can contain so great a multitude
of the wicked, such a crowd of sinners? where is
a pit of such dimensions, as to contain all, dug?
when finished? therefore God spareth them.
This is not so : their very prosperity is the pit of
the wicked : for into that shall they fall, as it were
into a pitfall. Attend, brethren, for it is a great
thing to know that prosperity is called a pitfall :
" until the pit be digged up for the ungodly."
For God spareth him whom He knoweth to be
ungodly and impious, in His own hidden justice :
j and this very sparing of God, causeth him to be
puffed up through his impunity. . . . The proud
man raiseth himself up against God : God sink-
eth him : and he sinketh by the very act of
raising himself up against God. For in another
Psalm 3 he thus saith, " Thou hast cast them
down, while they were being exalted." He
said not, Thou hast cast them down, because
they were exalted ; or, Thou hast cast them
down, after they were exalted ; so that the period
of their exaltation be one, of their casting down
another : but in the very act of their exaltation
were they cast down. For in proportion as -the
heart of man is proud, so doth it recede from
God ; and if it recede from God, it sinketh down
into the deep. On the other hand, the humble
heart bringeth God unto it from heaven, so that
He becometh very near unto it. Surely God is
lofty, God is above all the heavens, He surpasseth
all the Angels : how high must these be raised,
to reach that exalted One ? Do not burst thy-
1 2 Cor. v. 10 and Rom. xiv 10.
2 Luke xviii. 13.
' Ps. lxxii 18
464
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIV.
self by enlarging thyself; I give thee other advice,
lest perchance in enlarging thyself thou burst,
through pride : surely God is lofty : do thou
humble thyself, and He will descend unto thee.
13. . . . Do thou rejoice beneath the scourge :
because the heritage is kept for thee, " for the
Lord will not cast off His people" (ver. 14).
He chasteneth for a season, He condemneth not
for ever : the others He spareth for a season, and
will condemn them for evermore. Make thy
choice : dost thou wish temporary suffering, or
eternal punishment? temporal happiness, or
eternal life? What doth God threaten ? Eternal
punishment. What doth He promise? Eternal
rest. His scourging the good, is temporary : His
sparing the wicked, is also temporary. " Neither
will He forsake His inheritance."
14. " Until righteousness," he saith, " turn
again unto judgment, and all they that have it
are right in heart " (ver. 15). Listen now, and
gain righteousness : for judgment thou canst not
yet have. Thou shouldest gain righteousness first ;
but that very righteousness of thine shall turn
unto judgment. The Apostles had righteousness
here on earth, and bore with the wicked. But
what is said unto them? " Ye shall sit on twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." '
Their righteousness therefore shall turn unto
judgment. For whoever is righteous in this life,
is so for this reason, that he may endure evils
with patience : let him suffer patiently the period
of suffering, and the day of judging cometh. But
why do I speak of the servants of God? The
Lord Himself, who is the Judge of all living and
dead, first chose to be judged, and then to judge.
Those who have righteousness at present, are not
yet judges. For the first thing is to have right-
eousness, and afterwards to judge : He first en-
dureth the wicked, and afterwards judgeth them.
Let there be righteousness now : afterwards it
shall turn again unto judgment. And so long
He endureth wicked men, as God doth will, as
long as God's Church shall endure them, that she
may be taught through their wickedness. Never-
theless, God will not cast off His people, " all
such as have it are right in heart." Who are
those who are right in heart ? Those whose will
is the will of God. He spareth sinners : thou
dost wish Him at once to destroy sinners. Thy
heart is crooked and thy will perverted, when thy
will is one way and the will of God another.
God wisheth to spare sinners : thou dost not wish
sinners spared. God is of long-suffering to sin-
ners : thou dost not wish to endure sinners. . . .
Wish not to bend the will of God to thy will, but
rather correct thy will to His. The will of God
is like a rule : behold, suppose, thou hast twisted
the rule : whence canst thou be set straight ?
But the rule itself continueth straight : for it is
> Matt. xix. 38.
immutable. As long as the rule is straight, thou
hast whither to turn thyself, and straighten thy
perversity ; thou hast a means of correcting what
is crooked in thee. But what do men will ? It
is not enough that their own will is crooked ;
they even wish to make the will of God crooked
according to their own heart, that God may do
what they themselves will, when they ought to
do that which God willeth. . . .
15. "Who will rise up for me against the
wicked? or who will take my part against the
evildoers?" (ver. 16). Many persuade us to
divers evils : the serpent ceaseth not to whisper
to thee to work iniquity : whichever way thou
shalt turn, if perchance thou hast done well,
thou seekest to live well with some one, and
thou hardly findest any one ; many wicked men
surround thee, for there are few grains of wheat,
and much chaff. This floor hath its grains ot
corn, but as yet they suffer. Therefore the
whole mass of the wheat, when separated from
the chaff, will be great : the grains are few, but
when compared with the chaff, still many in
themselves. When therefore the wicked cry out
on every side, and say, Why livest thou thus?
Art thou the only Christian? Why dost thou
not do what others also do ? Why dost thou not
frequent the theatres, as others do? Why dost
thou not use charms and amulets ? Why dost thou
not consult astrologers and soothsayers, even
as others do? And thou crossest2 thyself,
and sayest, I" am a Christian, that thou mayest
repel them, whosoever they are ; but the enemy
presses on, urges his attacks ; what is worse, by
the example of Christians he choketh Christians.
They toil on, in the midst of heat : the Christian
soul suffereth tribulation : yet it hath power to
conquer: hath it such power of itself? For this
reason remark what he saith. For he answereth,
What doth it profit me that I now find charms for
myself, and gain a few days ? I depart hence from
this life, and repair unto my Lord, who shall
send me into the flames ; because I have pre-
ferred a few days to life eternal, He shall send
me into hell. What hell ? That of the eternal
judgment of God. Is it really so (the enemy
answereth), unless indeed thou really believest
that God careth how men live ? And perhaps it
is not an acquaintance who speaketh thus to
thee in the street, but thy wife at home, or pos-
sibly the husband to the faithful and holy wife,
her deceiver. If it be the woman to her hus-
band, she is as Eve unto him ; if as the husband
unto the wife, he is as the devil unto her : either
she is herself as Eve unto thee, or thou art a
serpent unto her. Sometimes the father would
incline his thoughts to his son, and findeth him
wicked, utterly depraved : he is in a fever of
misery, he wavers, he seeketh how to subdue
2 Et tu stptat U,
Psalm XCIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
465
him, he is almost drawn in, and consenteth : but
may God be ' near him. . . .
16. " If the Lord," he saith, " had not helped
me : within a little my soul had dwelt in hell "
(ver. 17). I had almost plunged into that pit
which is preparing for sinners : that is, my soul
had dwelt in hell. Because he already began to
waver, and nearly to consent, he looked back
unto the Lord. Suppose, for example's sake, he
was insulted to tempt him to iniquity. For
sometimes the wicked flock together, and insult
the good ; especially if they are more in number,
and if they have taken him alone, as there is
often much chaff about one grain of wheat
(though there will not be when the heap hath
been fanned) ; he is then taken among many
wicked ones, is insulted, and surrounded ; they
wish to place themselves over him, they torment
him and insult him for his very righteousness.
A great Apostle ! say they ; Thou hast flown
into heaven, as Elias did ! Men do these things,
so that sometime, when he listeneth to the
tongue of men, he is ashamed to be good among
the wicked. Let him therefore resist the evil ;
but not of his own strength, lest he become
proud, and when he wishes to escape the proud,
himself increase their number. . . .
17. "If I said, My foot hath slipt ; Thy
mercy, O Lord, held me up" (ver. 18). See
how God loveth confession. Thy foot hath slipt,
and thou sayest not, my foot hath slipt ; but
thou sayest thou art firm, when thou art slipping.
The moment thou beginnest to slip or waver,
confess thou that slip, that thou mayest not be-
wail thy total fall ; that He may help, so that thy
soul be not in hell. God loveth confession,
loveth humility. Thou hast slipped, as a man ;
God helpeth thee, nevertheless : yet say, " My
foot hath slipt." Why dost thou slip, and yet
sayest, I am firm? "When I said, My foot
hath slipt, Thy mercy, O Lord, hath held me
up." Just as Peter presumed, but not in
strength of his own. The Lord was seen to
walk upon the sea, trampling on the heads of
all the proud in this life. In walking upon the
foaming waves, He figured His own course when
He trampleth on the heads of the proud.
The Church too doth trample upon them :
for Peter is the Church Herself. Neverthe-
less, Peter dared not by himself walk upon
the waters ; but what said he? " Lord, if it be
Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water."
He in His own power, Peter by His order ;
"bid me," he saith, "come unto Thee." He
answered, " Come." For the Church also tram-
pleth on the heads of the proud ; but since it is
the Church, and hath human weakness, that
these words might be fulfilled, " If I said, My
» Al. " God is."
2 Matt. xiv. 28.
foot hath slipt," Peter tottered on the sea, and
cried out, " Lord, save me ! " 3 and so what is
here put, " If I said, My foot hath slipt," is put
there, " Lord, I perish." And what is here,
" Thy mercy, O Lord, hath held me up," is
there put, " And immediately Jesus stretched
forth His hand, saying, O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt? " * It is wonderful
how God proveth men : our very dangers render
Him who rescueth us sweeter unto us. For see
what followeth : because he said, " If I said, My
foot hath slipt, Thy mercy, O Lord, hath held
me up." The Lord hath become especially
sweet unto him, in rescuing him from danger ;
and thus speaking of this very sweetness of the
Lord, he exclaimeth and saith, " O Lord, in the
multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart,
Thy comforts have refreshed niysoul" (ver. 19).
Many sorrows, but many consolations : bitter
wounds, and sweet remedies.
18. "Wilt Thou have anything to do with the
stool of iniquity, who makest sorrow in learn-
ing? " (ver. 20). He hath said this, No wicked
man sitteth with Thee, nor shalt Thou have any-
thing to do with the stool of iniquity. And he
giveth an account whereof he understandeth
this, " For Thou makest sorrow in learning."
For from this, because Thou hast not spared us,
do I understand that Thou hast nothing to do
with the stool of iniquity. Thou hast this in
the Epistle of the Apostle Peter, and for this
reason he hath adduced a testimony from the
Scripture : " for the time is come," he saith,
" that judgment must begin at the house of
God ; " that is, the time is come for the judg-
ment of those who belong to the house of God.
If sons are scourged, what must the most wicked
slaves expect ? For which reason he added :
" And if it first begin at us, what shall the end
be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?"
To which he added this testimony : " For if the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the un-
godly and sinner appear?" s How then shall
the wicked be with Thee, if Thou dost not even
spare Thy faithful, in order that Thou mayest
exercise and teach them?6 But as He spareth
them not, for this reason, that He may teach
them : he saith, " For Thou makest sorrow in
learning." " Makest," that is, formest : from
whence comes the word figulits (from Jingo),
and a potter's vessel is called fictile : not in the
meaning of fiction, as a falsehood, but of form-
ing so as to give anything being and some sort
of form ; as before he said, " He that fabricated
(finxit) the eye, shall He not see?"7 Is that,
"fabricated the eye" a falsehood? Nay, it is
understood He fashioned the eye, made the eye.
And is He not a potter when He makes men
3 Matt. xiv. 30.
b Prov. xi. 31.
* Matt. xiv. 31.
7 Ps. xciv. 9.
' 1 Py. iv. 17, 18.
466
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIV.
frail, weak, earthly ? Hear the Apostle : " We
have this treasure in earthen vessels." "...
Behold our Lord Himself, how He showeth
Himself a potter.1 Because He had made man
of clay, He anointed him with clay, for whom
He had not made eyes in the womb. And so
when he saith, " Hast Thou anything to do," etc.,
he saith, out of grief makest learning for us, so
that grief itself becomes our instruction. How
is sorrow our learning? When He scourgeth
thee who died for thee, and who doth not prom-
ise bliss in this life, and who cannot deceive, and
when He giveth not here what thou seekest.
What will He give? when will He give? how
much will He give, who giveth not here, who
here teacheth, who maketh sorrow in learning?
Thy labour is here, and rest is promised thee.
Thou takest thought that thou hast toil here :
but take thought what sort of rest He promiseth.
Canst thou conceive it? If thou couldest, thou
wouldest see that thy toil here is nothing toward
an equivalent. . . .
19. Attend, brethren; it is for sale.3 What I
have is for sale, saith God unto thee, buy it.
What hath He for sale ? I have rest for sale ;
buy it by thy toil. Attend, that we may be in
Christ's name brave Christians : the remainder
of the Psalm is but a little, let us not be weary.
For how can he be strong in doing, who faileth
in hearing? The Lord will help us to expound
unto you the remainder. Attend then : God
hath, as it were, proclaimed the kingdom of
heaven for sale. Thou sayest unto Him, What
is its value? The price is toil: if He were to
say, its price is gold, it would not suffice to say
this only, but thou wouldest seek to know how
much gold ; for there is a mass of gold, and half
an ounce, and a pound, and the like. He said
" price," that thou mightest not be at pains to
inquire, how long thou shouldest find it. The
price of the commodity is toil : how much toil
is it? Now seek how much thou shouldest
toil for it. Thou art not as yet told how great
that toil is doomed to be, or how much toil is re-
quired of thee : God saith this unto thee, I show
thee how great that rest will be ; do thou judge
with what measure of toil it should be bought.
20. . . . He promised rest : suffer trouble. He
threateneth eternal fire ; despise temporal pains :
and while Christ doth watch, let thy heart be
calmed, that thou also mayest reach the harbour.
For He would not fail to prepare a harbour, who
provided a vessel. " Hast Thou anything to do
with the stool of iniquity, Thou who makest sor-
row in learning? " He trieth us with the wicked,
and by their persecution He teacheth us. By
means of the malice of the wicked the good is
scourged, through the slave the son is chastened :
1 2 Cor. iv. 7. 2 Rom. iv. 20, 21.
* [He imitates the cries of one who sells. Sub hasta. — C]
thus is learning taught by sorrow. What God
alloweth them power to do, that do wicked men,
whom He spareth for a season, do.
2 1 . For what followeth ? " They will be
captious against the soul of the righteous " (ver.
21). Why will they be captious? Because they
can find no true ground of accusation. For how
were they captious against our Lord? They
made up false accusations,4 because they could
not find true ones. " And will condemn the
innocent blood." Why all this taketh place, he
will show in the sequel.
22. "And the Lord is become my refuge"
(ver. 22), he saith. Thou wouldest not seek
such a refuge, if thou wert not in danger : but
thou hast therefore been in danger, that thou
mightest seek for it: for He teacheth us by sor-
row. He causeth me tribulation from the malice
of the wicked : pricked with that tribulation, 1
begin to seek a refuge which I had ceased to
seek for in that worldly prosperity. For who,
that is always prosperous, and rejoiceth in present
hopes, findeth it easy to remember God? Let
the hope of this life give way, and the hope of
God advance ; that thou mayest say, " And the
Lord is become my refuge : " may I sorrow for
this end that the Lord may become my refuge !
" And my God the help of my hope." For as
yet the Lord is our hope, since as long as we are
here, we are in hope, and not in possession.
But lest we fail in hope, there is near us a pro-
vision to encourage us, and to mitigate those very
evils which we suffer. For it is not said in vain,
" God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able : but will with
the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it : " 5 who will so put us
into that furnace of tribulation, that the vessel
may be hardened, but not broken. " And the
Lord is become my refuge : and my God the
help of my hope." Why then did He seem to
thee to be as it were unjust, in that He spareth
the evil? See then how the Psalm is now set
right, and be thou set right together with the
Psalm : for, for this reason the Psalm contained
thy words. What words ? " Lord, how long
shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly
triumph?"6 The Psalm just now used thy
words : use therefore thyself the Psalm's words
in thy turn.
23. " And the Lord shall recompense them
according to their works, and after their own
malice ; the Lord our God shall destroy
them " (ver. 23). The words, "after their own
malice," are not said without meaning. I am
benefited through them : and yet it is said to
be their malice, and not their benefits. For
assuredly He trieth us, scourgeth us, by means
of the wicked. To prepare us for what doth
* Matt. xxvi. 59. 5 1 Cor. x. 13.
6 Ps. xciv. 3.
Psalm XCV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
467
He scourge us? Confessedly for the kingdom
of heaven. " For He scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth ; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not?" ' and when God doth
this, He is teaching us in order to an eternal
heritage : and this learning He often giveth us
by means of wicked men, through whom He
trieth and perfecteth our love, which He doth
will to be extended even to our enemies.2 . . .
Thus also they who persecuted the Martyrs, by
persecuting them on earth, sent them into
heaven : knowingly they caused them the loss
of the present life, while unconsciously they were
bestowing uppn them the gain of a future life :
but, nevertheless, unto all who persevered in
their wicked hatred of the righteous, will God
recompense after their own iniquities, and in
their own malice will He destroy them. For as
the goodness of the righteous is hurtful unto the
wicked, so is the iniquity of the wicked bene-
ficial unto the righteous. . . .
24. Let therefore the righteous bear with
the ungodly ; let the temporal suffering of the
righteous bear with the temporal impunity of
the wicked ; for " the just shall live by faith." 3
For there is no righteousness of man in this
life except to live by faith, " which worketh by
love." 4 But if he liveth by faith, let him be-
lieve both that he will himself inherit rest after
his present toil, and that they will suffer eternal
torments after their present exultation. And if
faith worketh by love, let him love his enemies
also, and, as far as in him lies, have the will to
profit them ; for thus he will prevent their in-
juring him when they have the will. And when-
ever perchance they have received power to
hurt and tyrannize ; let him lift his heart above,
where no man hurteth him, well taught and
chastened in the law of God, that he may " have
patience given him in the days of adversity,
until the pit be digged up for the ungodly." . . .
25. This I say, brethren, that ye may profit
from what ye have heard, and ruminate within
yourselves : permit not yourselves to forget, not
only by thinking over again upon these subjects,
and discoursing upon them, but also by so liv-
ing. For a good life which is led after God's
commands, is like a pen, because it is heard
writing in our hearts. If it were written on
wax, it would easily be blotted out : write it in
your hearts, in your character, and it shall never
be blotted out.
PSALM XCV.s
1. I could wish, brethren, that we were rather
listening to our father : but even this is a good
1 Heb xii. 7 2 Matt. v. 44. [See p. 455, § 12, supra. — C]
3 Rom. i. 17. * Gal v. 6.
5 Lat. XC1V. A discourse delivered at the bidding ofAurelius
bishop of Carthage, or perhaps of Valerius bishop of Hippo, and
consequently either before or shortly after St. Augustin was conse-
crated bishop.
thing, to obey our father. Since therefore he
who deigneth to pray for us, hath ordered us,
I will speak unto you, beloved, what from the
present Psalm Jesus Christ our common Lord
shall deign to give us. Now the title of the
Psalm is " David's Song of praise." The " Song
of praise " signifieth both cheerfulness, in that
it is a song ; and devotion, for it is praise. For
what ought a man to praise more than that
which pleaseth him so, that it is impossible
that it can displease him? In the praising of
God therefore we praise with security. There
he who praiseth is safe, where he feareth not
lest he be ashamed for the object of his praise.
I^et us therefore both praise and sing ; that is,
let us praise with cheerfulness and joy. But
what we are about to praise, this Psalm in the
following verses showeth us.
2. " O come, let us sing unto the Lord "
(ver. 1). He calleth us to a great banquet of
joy, not one of this world, but in the Lord.
For if there were not in this life a wicked joy
which is to be distinguished from a righteous
joy, it would be enough to say, " Come, let us
rejoice ; " but he has briefly distinguished it.
What is it to rejoice aright ? To rejoice in the
Ixird. Thou shouldest piously joy in the Lord,
if thou dost wish safely to trample upon the
world. But what is the word, " Come " ? Whence
doth He call them to come, with whom he
wisheth to rejoice in the Lord ; except that,
while they are afar, they may by coming draw
nearer, by drawing nearer they may approach,
and by approaching rejoice? But whence are
they afar? Can a man be locally distant from
Him who is everywhere? ... It is not by
place, but by being unlike Him, that a man is
afar from God. What is to be unlike Him?
it meaneth, a bad life, bad habits ; for if
by good habits we approach God, by bad habits
we recede from God. ... If therefore by un-
likeness we recede from God, by likeness we
approach unto God. What likeness? That
after which we were created, which by sinning
we had corrupted in ourselves, which we have
received again through the remission of sins,
which is renewed in us in the mind within,
that it may be engraved a second time as if on
coin, that is, the image of our God upon our soul,
and that we may return to His treasures. . . .
3. " Let us make a joyful 6 noise unto Gocf, our
salvation.". . . Consider, beloved, those who
make a joyful noise in any ordinary songs, as in
a sort of competition of worldly joy ; and ye see
them while reciting the written lines bursting
forth with a joy, that the tongue sufficeth not to
express the measure of; how they shout, indica-
ting by that utterance the feeling of the mind,
6 Jubilemus.
468
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCV.
which cannot in words express what is conceived
in the heart. If they then in earthly joy make a
joyful noise ; might we not do so from heavenly
joy, which truly we cannot express in words ?
4. " Let us prevent His face by confession"
(ver. 2). Confession hath a double meaning in
Scripture. There is a confession of him who
praiseth, there is that of him who groaneth. The
confession of praise pertaineth to the honour of
Him who is praised : the confession of groaning
to the repentance of him who confesseth. For
men confess when they praise God : they con-
fess when they accuse themselves ; and the
tongue hath no more worthy use. Truly, I be-
lieve these to be the very vows, of which he
speaketh in another Psalm : " I will pay Thee
my vows, which I distinguished with my lips." '
Nothing is more elevated than that distinguish-
ing, nothing is so necessary both to understand
and to do. How then dost thou distinguish the
vows which thou payest unto God ? By praising
Him, by accusing thyself; because it is His
mercy, to forgive us our sins. For if He chose
to deal with us after our deserts, He would find
cause only to condemn. " O come," he said
therefore, that we may at last go back from our
sins, and that He may not cast up with us our
accounts for the past ; but that as it were a new
account may be commenced, all the bonds of
our debts having been burnt. . . . The more
therefore thou despairedst of thyself on account
of thy iniquities, do thou confess thy sins ; for so
much greater is the praise of Him who forgiveth,
as is the fulness of the penitent's confession
more abundant. Let us not therefore imagine
that we have receded from the song of praise, in
understanding here that confession by which we
acknowledge our transgressions : this is even a
part of the song of praise ; for when we confess
our sins, we praise the glory of God.
5. " And make a joyful2 noise unto Him with
Psalms." We have already said what it is " to
make a joyful noise : " the word is repeated,
that it may be confirmed by the act : the very
repetition is an exhortation. For we have not
forgotten, so as to wish to be again admonished,
what was said above, that we should make a joy-
ful noise : but usually in passages of strong feel-
ing a well-known word is repeated, not to make
it more familiar, but that the very repetition may
strengthen the impression made : for it is repeated
that we may understand the feeling of the
speaker. . . . Hear now : " For the Lord is a great
God, and a great Kin^ above all gods " (ver. 3).
" For the Lord will noi cast off His people." 3
Praise be unto Him, and shouts of joy be unto
Him ! What people shall He not cast off? we
have no right to make our own explanation here :
• P». Ixvi. 13, 14. 2 yuiiltmus.
» P». xcir. 14. In the Sept. these nine words are added.
for the Apostle hath prescribed this unto us, he
hath explained whereof it is said. For this was
the Jewish people, the people where were the
prophets, the people where were the patriarchs,
the people begotten according to the flesh from
the seed of Abraham ; the people in which all the
mysteries which promised our Saviour pre-
ceded us ; the people among whom was insti-
tuted the temple, the anointing, the Priest for a
figure, that when all these shadows were past,
the Light itself might come ; this therefore was
the people of God ; to it were the prophets
sent, in it those who were sent were born ; to it
were delivered and entrusted the revelations of
God. What then ? is the whole of that people
condemned? far be it. It is called the good
olive-tree by the Apostle, for it commenced
with the patriarchs. . . . This then is the tree
itself: though some of its boughs have been
broken, yet all have not. For if all the boughs
were broken, whence is Pete/? whence John?
whence Thomas? whence Matthew? whence
Andrew? whence are all those Apostles? whence
that very Apostle Paul who was speaking to us
but now, and by his own fruit bearing witness to
the good olive ? Were not all these of that peo -
pie? Whence also those five hundred brethren
to whom our Lord appeared after His resurrec-
tion?4 Whence were so many thousands at the
words of Peter (when the Apostles, filled with
the Holy Spirit, spoke with the tongues of all
nations5) converted with such zeal for the honour
of God and their own accusation, that they who
first shed the Lord's blood in their rage, learnt
how to drink it now that they believed ? And all
these five thousand were so converted that they
sold their own property, and laid the price of it
at the Apostles' feet.6 That which one rich man
did not do, when he heard from the Lord's
mouth, and sorrowfully departed from Him,7 this
so many thousands of those men by whose hands
Christ had been crucified, did on a sudden. In
proportion as the wound was deeper in their own
hearts, with the greater eagerness did they seek
for a physician. Since therefore all these were
from thence, the Psalm saith of them, " For the
Lord will not cast off His people." . . .
6. What doth the Psalm add? In His hand
are all the corners of the earth " (ver. 4) : we
recognise the corner stone : the corner stone is
Christ. There cannot be a corner, unless it hath
united in itself two walls : they come from dif-
ferent sides to one corner, but they are not
opposed to each other in the corner. The cir-
cumcision cometh from one side . the uncircum-
cision from the other ; in Christ both peoples
have met together : because He hath become
the stone, of which it is written, " The stone
* t Cor. xv. 6.
7 Matt. xix. 21, 22.
5 Acts it. 4.
6 Acts iv. 4, ii. 44.
Psalm XCV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
469
which the builders rejected, hath become the
head of the corner." ' . . .
7. " For the sea is His and He made it " (ver.
5 ) . For the sea is this world, but God made
also the sea : nor can the waves rage save only
so far as to the shore, where He hath marked
theii bounds. There is therefore no temptation,
that hath not received its measure. ..." And
His hands prepared the dry land." Be thou the
dry land : thirst for the grace of God : that as a
sweet shower it may come upon thee, may find
in thee fruit. He alloweth not the waves to
cover what He hath sown. " And His hands
prepared the dry land." Hence also therefore
let us shout unto the Lord.
8. " O come, let us worship, and fall down to
Him ; and mourn before the Lord our Maker "
(ver. 6). . . . Perhaps thou art burning with the
consciousness of a fault ; blot out with tears the
flame of thy sin : mourn before the Lord : fear-
lessly mourn before the Lord, who made thee ;
for He despiseth not the work of His own
hands in thee. Think not thou canst be re-
stored by thyself. By thyself thou mayest fall
off, thou canst not restore thyself: He who
made thee restoreth thee. " Let us mourn before
the Lord our Maker : " weep before Him, con-
fess unto Him, prevent His face in confession.
For who art thou who mournest before Him, and
confessest unto Him, but one whom He created?
The thing created hath no slight confidence in
Him who created it, and that in no indifferent
fashion, but according to His own image and
likeness.
9. "For He is the Lord our God" (ver. 7).
But that we may without fear fall down and
kneel before Him, what are we? "We are the
people of His pasture, and the sheep of His
hand." See how elegantly he hath transposed
the order of the words, and as it were not given
its own attribute to each word ; that we may
understand these very same to be the sheep, who
are also the people. He said not, the sheep of
His pasture, and the people of His hand ; which
might be thought more congruous, since the
sheep belong to the pasture ; but He said, " the
people of His pasture." The people are there-
fore sheep, since he saith, " the people of His
pasture : " the people themselves are sheep. . . .
He praiseth these sheep also in the Song of
Solomon, speaking of some perfect ones as the
teeth of His Spouse the Holy Church: "Thy
teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even
shorn, which come up from the washing ; where-
of every one beareth twins, and there is none
barren."2 What meaneth, " Thy teeth " ? These
by whom thou speakest : for the teeth of the
Church are those through whom she speaketh.
Ps cxviit. 22.
2 Song of Sol. iv. a, vi. 5.
Of what sort are thy teeth ? " Like a flock of
sheep that are shorn." Why, " that are shorn " ?
Because they have laid aside the burdens of the
world. Were not those sheep, of which I was a
little before speaking, shorn, whom the bidding
of God had shorn, when He saith, " Go and
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor; and
thou shalt find treasure in heaven : and come
and follow Me " ?3 They performed this bidding :
shorn they came. And because those who
believe in Christ are baptized, what is there said ?
" which come up from the washing ; " that is,
come up from the cleansing. " Whereof every
one beareth twins." What twins? Those two
commandments, wherefrom hang all the Law and
the Prophets.4
10. Therefore, "To-day if ye will hear His
voice, harden not your hearts " (ver. 8). O my
people, the people of God ! God addresses His
people : not only the people of His which He
shall not cast off, but also all His people. For
He speaketh in the corner stone 5 to each wall :
that is, prophecy speaketh in Christ, both to the
people of the Jews, and the people of the Gen-
tiles. For some time ye heard His voice through
Moses, and hardened your hearts. He then,
when you hardened your hearts, spoke through
a herald ; He now speaketh by Himself, let
your hearts soften. He who used to send
heralds before Him, hath now deigned to come
Himself; He here speaketh by His own mouth,
He who used to speak by the mouths of the
Prophets.
ii. "As in the provocation, and in the day of
temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers
proved Me" (ver. 9). Let such be no more
your fathers : imitate them not. They were
your fathers, but if ye do not imitate them,
they shall not be your fathers : yet as ye were
born of them, they were your fathers. And if
the heathen who came from the ends of the
earth, in the words of Jeremias, "The Gen-
tiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the
earth, and shall say, Surely our forefathers have
inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is
no profit : " 6 if the heathen forsook their idols,
to come to the God of Israel ; ought Israel whom
their own God led from Egypt through the Red
Sea,7 wherein He overwhelmed their pursuing
foes ; whom He led out into the wilderness, -fed
with manna,8 never took His rod from correcting
them, never deprived them of the blessings of
His mercy ; ought they to desert their own God,
when the heathen have come unto Him ? " When
your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw
My works. .• . .
12. " Forty years long was I very near unto
this generation, and said, It is a people that do
3 Matt. xix. 21.
6 Jer. xvi. 19.
* Matt. xxii. 40.
7 Exod. xiv. 21, 22.
5 Eph. ii. 20.
8 Exod. xvi. 13-3^
47Q
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVI.
always err in their hearts ; for they have not
known My ways" (ver. 10). The forty years
have the same meaning as the word " always."
For that number forty indicates the fulness of
ages, as if the ages were perfected in this number.
Hence our Lord fasted forty days, forty days
He was tempted in the desert,1 and forty days He
was with His disciples after His resurrection.2
On the first forty days He showed us temptation,
on the latter forty days consolation : since be-
yond doubt when we are tempted we are con-
soled. For His body, that is, the Church,
must needs suffer temptations in this world : but
that Comforter, who said, " Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world," 3 is not
wanting. For this was I with them forty years,
to show such a race of men, which alway pro-
voketh Me, even unto the end of the world :
because by those forty years He meant to signify
the whole of this world's duration.
13. . . . We began with exulting joy : but this
Psalm hath ended with great fear : " Unto whom
I sware in My wrath, that they should not enter
into My rest" (ver. 11). It is a great thing for God
to speak : how much greater for Him to swear ?
Thou shouldest fear a man when he sweareth,
lest he do somewhat on account of his oath
against his will : how much more shouldest thou
fear God, when He sweareth, seeing He can
swear nought rashly? He chose the act of
swearing for a confirmation. And by whom
doth God swear? By Himself: for He hath no
greater by whom to swear.4 By Himself He
confirmeth His promises : by Himself He con-
firmeth His threats. Let no man say in his
heart, His promise is true ; His threat is false :
as His promise is true, so is His threat sure.
Thou oughtest to be equally assured of rest, of
happiness, of eternity, of immortality, if thou
hast executed His commandments ; as of de-
struction, of the burning of eternal fire, of dam-
nation with the devil, if thou hast despised His
commandments. . . .
PSALM XCVI.'
1. My lord and brother Severus 6 still defers the
pleasure we shall feel in his discourse, which he
oweth us ; for he acknowledgeth, that he is held
a debtor. For all the Churches through which
he hath passed, by his tongue the I^ord hath
gladdened : much more therefore ought that
Church to be rejoiced, out of which the Lord
hath propagated his preaching among the rest.
But what shall we do, but obey his will? I said,
• Matt, iv i-it. » Acts i. 3.
' Matt, xxviii. ?o. * Heb. vi. 13.
I Lit. XCV. Delivered perhaps in the year 405, when the
Donatists prevailed through the violence of the Circumceltiones.
* Buhop of Milevis, mentioned in the discourse of a preceding
day on Pi. exxxii. — Bin.
however, brethren, that he deferred, not that he
defrauded us. Therefore let us keep him as a
debtor bound, and release him not until he hath
paid. Attend therefore, beloved : as far as the
Lord alloweth, let us say somewhat of this Psalm,
which indeed you already know ; for the fresh
mention of truth is sweet. Possibly when its
title was pronounced, some heard it with wonder.
For the Psalm is inscribed : " When the house
was being built after the Captivity." This title
having been prefixed, ye were perhaps expecting
in the text of the Psalm to hear what stones
were hewn from the mountains, what masses
were drawn to the spot, what foundations were
laid, what beams were placed on high, what
columns raised. Its song is of nothing of this
kind. ... It is no such house that is in build-
ing ; for behold where it is built, not in one spot,
not in any particular region. For thus he be-
ginneth : —
2. " O sing unto the Lord a new song ; sing
unto the Lord, all the earth"' (ver. i). If all
the earth singeth a new song, it is thus building
while it singeth : the very act of singing is build-
ing : but only, if it singeth not the old song.
The lust of the flesh singeth the old song : the
love of God singeth the new. . . . Hear why it
is a new song : the Lord saith, " A new com-
mandment I give unto you, that ye love one
another." 8 The whole earth then singeth a new
song : there the house of God is built. All the
earth is the house of God. If all the earth is
the house of God,' he who clingeth not to all
the earth, is a ruin, not a house ; that old ruin
whose shadow that ancient temple represented.
For there what was old was destroyed, that what
was new might be built up. . . . The Apostle
bindeth us together into this very structure, and
fasteneth us when bound together in that unity,
saying, " Forbearing one another in love ; en-
deavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace." IO Where there is this unity of
Spirit, there is one stone ; but one stone formed
out of many. How one formed out of many ?
By forbearing one another in love. Therefore
the house of the Lord our God is in building ;
it is this that is being wrought, for this are these
words, for this these readings, for this the preach-
ing of the Gospel over the whole world ; as yet
it is in building. This house hath increased
greatly, and filled many nations : nevertheless,
it hath not yet prevailed through all nations : by
its increase it hath held many, and will prevail
over all : and it is gainsaid by those who boast
of their being of its household, and who say, it
hath already lost ground. It still increaseth,
still all those nations which have not yet believed
are destined to believe ; that no man may say,
7 1 Chron. xvi. 23, etc
9 Donatists.
8 John xv 12.
10 Eph. iv. 2, 3.
TSALM XCVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
47i
will that tongue believe ? will the barbarians be-
lieve? what is the meaning of the Holy Spirit
having appeared in the fiery tongues,' except
that there is no tongue so hard that it cannot be
softened by that fire ? For we know that many
barbarous nations have already believed in
Christ : Christ already possesseth regions where
the Roman empire hath never yet reached ;
what is as yet closed to those who fight with the
sword, is not closed to Him who fighteth with
wood. For " the Lord hath reigned from the
wood."2 Who is it who fighteth with wood?
Christ. With His cross He hath vanquished
kings, and fixed upon their forehead, when van-
quished, that very cross ; and they glory in it,
for in it is their salvation. This is the work
which is being wrought, thus the house in-
creaseth, thus it is building : and that ye may
know, hear the following verses of the Psalm :
see them labouring upon, and constructing the
house. " O sing unto the Lord all the earth."
3. "Sing unto the Lord, bless His Name : be
telling good tidings of His salvation from day to
day" (ver. 2). How doth the building in-
crease? "Be telling," he saith, "good tidings
of His salvation from day to day." I,et it be
preached from day to day ; from day to day, he
saith, let it be built ; let My house, saith God,
increase. And as if it were said by the work-
men, Where dost Thou command it to be built ?
Where dost Thou will Thy house to increase?
Choose for us some level, spacious spot, if Thou
wish an ample house built Thee. Where dost
Thou bid us be telling good tidings from day to
day ? He showeth the place : " Declare His
honour unto the heathen : " His honour, not
yours. O ye builders, " Declare His honour
unto the heathen." Should ye choose to de-
clare your own honour, ye shall fall : if His, ye
shall be built up, while ye are building. There-
fore they who choose to declare their own hon-
our, have refused to dwell in that house ; and
therefore they sing not a new song with all the
earth.3 For they do not share it with the whole
round world ; and hence they are not building
in the house, but have erected a whited wall.
How sternly doth God threaten the whited
wall ? * There are innumerable testimonies of the
Prophets, whence He curseth the whited wall.
What is the whited wall, save hypocrisy, that is,
pretence? Without it is bright, within it is dirt.
... A certain person,* speaking of this whited
wall, said thus : " as, if in a wall which standeth
alone, and is not connected with any other walls,
1 Acts ii. 3
2 Ps. xcvi. 11. Quoted as from this Psalm by Justin Martyr,
Apol. i. 41. In Dial, cum Tryph. § 73, he accuses the Jews of
expunging the words airit rov £</Aou. [See A. N. F. vol. i. p. 176,
note 4, and vol. iii p. 166, note 7. — C.J
3 Donalists. * Ezek. xiii. 10.
5 St. Optatus of Milevis on Don. Schism, b. iii. c. 10, p. 67
(quoted in aubatancc).
you make a door, whoever enters, is out of
doors ; so in that part which hath refused to
sing the new song together with the house, but
hath chosen to build a wall, and that a whited
one, and not solid, what availeth it that it hath
a door? " If thou enterest, thou art found to be
without. For because they themselves did not
enter by the door, their door also doth not ad-
mit them within. For the Lord saith, " 1 am
the door : by Me they enter in." 6 . . . " De-
clare His honour unto the heathen." What is,
unto the heathen? Perhaps by nations but a
few are meant : and that part which hath raised
the whited wall hath still somewhat to say : why
are not Getulia, Numidia, Mauritania, Byzacium,
nations? Provinces are nations. Let the word
of God take the word from hypocrisy, from
the whited wall, building up the house over the
whole world. It is not enough to say, " Declare
His honour unto the heathen ; " that thou mayest
not think any nations excepted, he addeth, " and
His wonders unto all people."
4. " For the Lord is great, and cannot worthily
be praised " (ver. 4). What Lord, except Jesus
Christ, " is great, and cannot worthily be
praised"? Ye know surely that He appeared
as a Man : ye know surely that He was con-
ceived in a woman's womb, ye know that He
was born from the womb, that He was suckled,
that He was carried in arms, circumcised, that
a victim was offered for Him, that He grew ;
lastly, ye know that He was buffeted, spit upon,
crowned with thorns, was crucified, died, was
pierced with a spear ; ye know that He suffered
all these things : " He is great, and cannot
worthily be praised." Despise not what is little,
understand what is great. He became little, be-
cause ye were such : let Him be acknowledged
great, and in Him ye shall be great. . . . For
what can a small tongue say towards the praise
of the Great One ? By saying, Beyond praise/
he hath spoken, and hath given to imagination
what it may conceive : as if saying, What I can-
not utter, do thou reflect on ; and when thou
shalt have reflected, it will not be enough. What
no man's thought uttereth, doth any man's
tongue utter? "The Lord is great, and cannot
worthily be praised." Let Him be praised, and
preached : His honour declared, and His house
built.
5. . . . For the spot where he wished to build
the house, is itself woody, where it was said yes-
terday, " we found it in the wood." 8 For he
was seeking that very house, when he said, " in
the wood." And why is that spot woody? Men
used to worship images : it is not wonderful that
they fed hogs. For that son who left his father,
6 John x. 9. J Laudabilis nimis._
8 Ps. exx:
exxxii. 6. Hence it appears that Ps. exxxii. had been
expounded the day before.
472
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVI.
and spent his all on harlots, living as a prodigal,
used to feed hogs,1 that is, to worship devils ; and
by this very superstition of the heathen, all the
earth became a wood. But he who buildeth a
house, rooteth up the wood ; and for this reason
it was said, " While the house was being built,
after the captivity." 2 For men were held cap-
tive under the devil, and served devils ; but they
were redeemed from captivity. They could sell,
hut they could not redeem themselves. The
Redeemer came, and gave a price ; He poured
forth His Blood, and bought the whole world.
Ye ask what He bought ? Ye see what He hath
given ; find out then what He bought. The
Blood of Christ was the price. What is equal
to this? What, but the whole world? What,
but all nations? They are very ungrateful for
their price, or very proud, who say that the price
is so small that it bought the Africans only ; or
that they are so great, as that it was given for
them alone. Let them not then exult, let them
not be proud : He gave what He gave for the
whole world. He knew what He bought, be-
cause He knew at what price He bought it.
Thus because we are redeemed, the house is
built after the captivity. And who are they who
held us in captivity? Because they to whom it
is said, " Declare His honour," are the clearers
of the wood : that they may root out the wood,
free the earth from captivity, and build, and raise
up, by declaring the greatness of the Lord's
house. How is the wood of devils cleared away,
unless He who is above them all be preached ?
All nations then had devils for their gods : those
whom they called gods, were devils, as the
Apostle more openly saith, " The things which
the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto devils,
and not to God." 3 Since therefore they were in
captivity, because they sacrificed to devils, and
on that account the whole earth had remained
woody ; He is declared to be great, and above
all worldly praise.
6. . . . For when he had said, " He is
more to be feared than all gods : " he added,
" As for all the gods of the heathen, they are
devils." . . . Because "all the gods of the
heathen are devils." And is this all the praise
of Him who cannot worthily be praised, that He
is above all the gods of the heathen, which are
devils ? Wait, and hear what followeth : " It is
the Lord that made the heavens." Not above
all gods only therefore, but above all the heavens
which He made, is the Lord. If he were to say,
" above all gods, for the gods of the heathen are
devils," and if the praise of our Lord stopped
here, he had said less than we are accustomed
to think of Christ ; but when he said, " But it is
the Lord that made the heavens ; " see what dif-
1 Luke iv. ia-15. » Title of Psalm. ' i Cor. x. 30.
ference there is between the heavens and devils :
and what between the heavens and Him who
made the heavens ; behold how exalted is the
Lord. He said not, But the Lord sitteth above
the heavens ; for perhaps some one else might
be imagined to have made them, upon which
He was enthroned : but, " It is the Lord that
made the heavens." If He made the heavens,
He made the Angels also : Himself made the
Angels, Himself made the Apostles. The devils
yielded to the Apostles : but the Apostles them-
selves were heavens, who bore the Lord. . . .
O heavens, which He made, declare His honour
unto the heathen ! Let His house be built
throughout the earth, let all the earth sing a new
song.
7. " Confession and beauty are before Him"
(ver. 6) . Dost thou love beauty ? Wishest thou
to be beautiful? Confess! He said not, beauty
and confession, but confession and beauty. Thou
wast foul ; confess, that thou mayest be fair :
thou wast a sinner ; confess, that thou mayest be
righteous. Thou couldest deform thyself: thou
canst not make thyself beautiful. But of what
sort is our Betrothed, who hath loved one de-
formed, that he might make her fair? How,
saith some one, loved He one deformed ? "I
came not," said He, " to call the righteous, but
sinners."4 Whom callest Thou? sinners, that
they may remain sinners ? No, saith He. And
by what means will they cease to be sinners?
" Confession and beauty are before Him." They
honour Him by confession of their sins, they
vomit the evils which they had greedily de-
voured ; they return not to their vomit, like the
unclean dog ; i and there will then be confession
and beauty : we love beauty ; let us first choose
confession, that beauty may follow. Again, there
is one who loveth power and greatness : he
wisheth to be great as the Angels are. There is
a certain greatness in the Angels ; and such
power, that if the Angels exert it to the full, it
cannot be withstood. And every man desireth
the power of the Angels, but their righteousness
every man loveth not. First love righteousness,
and power shall follow thee. For what follow-
eth here? " Holiness and greatness are in His
sanctification." Thou wast before seeking for
greatness : first love righteousness : when thou
art righteous, thou shalt also be great. For
if thou preposterously dost wish first to be great,
thou fallest before thou canst rise : for thou dost
not rise, thou art raised up. Thou risest better,
if He raise thee who falleth not. For He who
falleth not descendeth unto thee : thou hadst
fallen : He descendeth, He hath stretched forth
His hand unto thee ; thou canst not rise by thy
own strength, embrace the hand of Him who
< Matt. ix. 13.
s 2 Pet. ii. aa.
Psalm XCVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
473
descendeth, that thou mayest be raised up by the
Strong One.
8. What then? If " confession and beauty are
before Him : holiness and greatness in His
sanctification " (ver. 7). This we declare, when
we are building the house ; behold, it is already
declared unto the heathen ; what ought the
heathen to do, to whom those who have cleared
away the wood have declared the Lord's honour?
He now saith to the heathen themselves, " Ascribe
unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people :
ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour."
Ascribe them not unto yourselves : because they
also who have declared it unto you, have not
declared their own, but His honour. Do ye then
" ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour ; "
and say, " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us :
but unto Thy Name give the praise." ' Put not
your trust in man. If each of you is baptized,
let him say : He baptizeth me, of whom the friend
of the Bridegroom said, " He baptizeth with the
Holy Ghost." 2 For when ye say this, ye ascribe
unto the Lord worship and honour : " Ascribe
unto the Lord worship and honour."
9. Ascribe unto the Lord glory unto His
Name" (ver. 8). Not unto the name of man,
not unto your own name, but unto His ascribe
worship. . . . Confession is a present unto God.
O heathen, if ye will enter into His courts, enter
not empty. " Bring presents." What presents
shall we bring with us ? The sacrifice of God is
a troubled spirit : a broken and a contrite heart,
O God, shalt not Thou despise." 3 Enter with an
humble heart into the house of God, and thou
hast entered with a present. But if thou art
proud, thou enterest empty. For whence
wouldest thou be proud, if thou wert not empty ?
For if thou wast full, thou wouldest not be puffed
up. How couldest thou be full? If thou wert
to bring a present, which thou shouldest carry to
the courts of the Lord. Let us not retain you
much longer : let us run over what remaineth.
Behold the house increasing : behold the edifice
pervade the whole world. Rejoice, because ye
have entered into the courts ; rejoice, because
ye are being built into the temple of God. For
those who enter are themselves built up, they
themselves are the house of God : He is the
inhabitor, for whom the house is built over the
whole world, and this " after the captivity."
" Bring presents, and come into His courts."
10. "O worship the Lord in His holy court"
(ver. 9) : in the Catholic Church ; this is His
holy court. Let no man say, " Lo, here is
Christ, or there. For there shall arise false
prophets."4 Say this unto them,* "There shall
1 Ps. CXV. I.
' John i. 33,
John 1. 31.
> Ps. li. 17.
. 29. Sec his commentary on the passage, and on
< Matt. xxiv. 23, 24. s Donatists.
not be left here one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down." Ye are calling me
to the whited wall ; I adore my God in His holy
court. " Let the whole earth be moved before
His face."
n. "Tell it out among the nations, that the
Lord reigneth from the wood : 6 and that it is He
who hath made the round world so fast that it
cannot be moved " (ver. 10). What testimonies
of the building of the house of God ! The clouds
of heaven thunder out throughout the world that
God's house is being built ; and the frogs cry
from the marsh,7 We alone are Christians. What
testimonies do I bring forward? That of the
Psalter. I bring forward what thou singest as
one deaf : open thine ears ; thou singest this ;
thou singest with me, and thou agreest not with
me ; thy tongue soundeth what mine doth, and
yet thine heart disagreeth with mine. Dost thou
not sing this? Behold the testimonies of the
whole world : " Let the whole earth be moved
before His face : " and dost thou say, that thou
art not moved ? " Tell it out among the heathen,
that the Lord hath reigned from the wood."
Shall men perchance prevail here, and say they
reign by wood, because they reign by means of
the clubs of their bandits ? 8 Reign by the Cross
of Christ, if thou art to reign by wood. For this
wood of thine maketh thee wooden : the wood of
Christ passeth thee across the sea. Thou hear-
est the Psalm saying, " He hath set aright the
round world, that it cannot be moved ; " and
thou sayest it hath not only been moved since it
was made fast, but hath also decreased. Dost
thou speak the truth, and the Psalmist falsehood ?
Do the false prophets, when they cry out, " Lo,
here is Christ, and there," ' speak truth ; and
doth this Prophet lie ? Brethren, against these
most open words ye hear in the corners rumours
like these ; " such an one was a traditor," and,
" such an one was a traditor." IO What dost thou
say ? Are thy words, or the words of God, to be
heard ? For, " it is He who hath set aright the
round world, that it cannot be moved." I show
unto thee the round world built : bring thy pres-
ent, and come into the courts of the Lord.
Thou hast no presents : and on that account
thou art not willing to enter. What is this ? If
God were to appoint unto thee a bull, goat, or
ram, for a present, thou wouldest find one to bring :
He hath appointed a humble heart, and trjou wilt
not enter ; for thou findest not this in thyself,
because thou art swollen with pride. " He hath
set aright the round world, that it cannot be
moved : and He shall judge the people right-
6 See p. 471, note 7itsrtpra.
7 [i.e. so say the Donatists. — C]
8 Circumcelliones. [See p. 42, note 4, and also p. 470, note 5,
supra. — C]
9 Matt. xxiv. 23.
10 Caecilianus and others, by communicating with whom they
alleged the universal Church to have fallen.
474
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVI.
eously." Then shall they mourn, who now re-
fuse to love righteousness.
12. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the
earth be glad" (ver. n). Let the heavens,
which declare the glory of God, rejoice ; let the
heavens rejoice, which the Lord made ; let the
earth be glad, which the heavens rain upon.
For the heavens are the preachers, the earth
the listeners. " Let the sea be stirred up, and
the fulness thereof." What sea? The world.
The sea hath been stirred up, and the fulness
thereof : the whole world was roused up against
the Church, while it was being extended and
built over all the earth. Concerning this stirring
up, ye have heard in the Gospel, " They shall
deliver you up to councils."' "The sea was
stirred up : but how should the sea ever con-
quer Him who made it?
13. "The plains shall be joyful, and all things
that are in them" (ver. 12). All the meek, all
the gentle, all the righteous, are the " plains " of
God. " Then shall all the trees of the woods
rejoice." The trees of the woods are the
heathen. Why do they rejoice? Because they
were cut off from the wild olive, and engraffed
into the good olive.2 " Then shall all the trees
of the woods rejoice : " because huge cedars and
cypresses have been cut down, and undecaying
timbers have been bought for the building of
the house. They were trees of the woods ; but
before they were sent to the building : they were
trees of the woods, but before they produced the
olive.
14. " Before the face of the Lord. For He
cometh, for He cometh to judge the world "
(ver. 13). He came at first, and will come
again. He first came in His Church in clouds.
What are the clouds which bore Him? The
Apostles who preached, respecting whom ye
have heard, when the Epistle was being read :
" We are ambassadors," he saith, " for Christ :
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God."3 These are the clouds in whom He
cometh, excepting His last Advent, when He
will come to judge the quick and the dead.
He came first in the clouds. This was His
first voice which sounded forth in the Gospel :
" From this time shall they see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds." 4 What is, " from this
time " ? Will not the Lord come in later times,
when all the tribes of the earth shall mourn?
He first came in His own preachers, and filled
the whole round world. Let us not resist His
first coming, that we may not tremble at His
second. " But woe to them that are with child,
and that give suck in those days ! " 5 Ye have
heard but now in the Gospel : " Take ye heed,
for ye know not at what hour He cometh." 6
1 Mark xiii. 9.
* Mark xiii. 26.
2 Rom. xi. 17.
5 Mark xiii. 17.
3 2 Cor. t. ao.
6 Mark xiii. 33.
This is said figuratively. Who are those with
child, and who give suck ? Those who are with
child, are the souls whose hope is in the world :
but those who have gained what they hoped for,
are meant by " they who give suck." For ex-
ample : one wisheth to buy a country seat ; he
is with child, for his object is not gained as yet,
the womb swelleth in hope : he buyeth it ; he
hath brought forth, he now giveth suck to what
he hath bought. " Woe to them that are with
child, and that give suck in those days ! " Woe
to those who put their hope in the world ; woe
to them that cling to those things which they
brought forth through hope in the world. What
then should the Christian do ? He should use,
not serve, the world.? What is this? Those
that have as those that have not. . . . He who
is without carefulness, waiteth without fear for
his Lord's coming. For what sort of love is it
of Christ, to fear lest He come ? Brethren, are
we not ashamed? We love Him, and yet we
fear lest He come. Are we sure that we love
Him? or do we love our sins more? Therefore
let us hate our sins for their own sake, and love
Him who will come to punish our sins. He
will come, whether we like or not : for because
He cometh not just now, it is no reason that He
will not come at all. He will come, and when
thou knowest not ; and if He shall find thee
ready, thy ignorance is no hurt to thee. " Then
shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the
Lord ; for He cometh : " at His first coming.
And what afterwards ? " For He cometh to
judge the earth. And all the trees of the woods
shall rejoice." He came first : and later to
judge the earth : He shall find those rejoicing
who believed in His first coming, " for He
cometh."
15. " For with righteousness shall He judge
the world : " not a part of it, for He bought not
a part : He will judge the whole, for it was the
whole of which He paid the price. Ye have
heard the Gospel, where it saith, that when He
cometh, " He shall gather together His elect
from the four winds."8 He gathereth all His
elect from the four winds : therefore from the
whole world. For Adam9 himself (this I had
said before) signifieth in Greek the whole world ;
for there are four letters, A, D, A, and M. But
as the Greeks speak, the four quarters of the
world have these initial letters, 'Arai-oAr), they
call the East ; AvVis, the West ; "ApKTos, the
North ; Mto-r^/Jpia, the South : thou hast the
word Adam. Adam therefore hath been scat-
tered over the whole world. He was in one
place, and fell, and as in a manner broken small,'0
he filled the whole world : but the mercy of God
7 1 Cor. vii. 29-32. • Mark xiii. 27.
9 Vid. Tract. 9 in Johan. note 14, and Tract, to, note 12. — Ben.
10 Quodammoao comminutus.
Psalm XCVIL]
ON THE PSALMS.
475
gathered, together the fragments from every side,
and forged ' them by the fire of love, and made
one what was broken. That Artist knew how
to do this ; let no one despair : it is indeed a
great thing, but reflect who that Artist was. He
who made, restored : He who formed, re-formed.
What are righteousness and truth? He will
gather together His elect with Him to the judg-
ment, but the rest He will separate one from
another ; for He will place some on the right,
others on the left hand. But what is more just,
what more true, than that they shall not expect
mercy from their Judge, who have refused to act
mercifully, before their Judge come? But those
who chose to act with mercy, with mercy shall
be judged. . . .
PSALM XCVII.'
i. . . . This Psalm is entitled, " A Psalm of
David's, when his land was restored." Let us
refer the whole to Christ, if we wish to keep the
road of a right understanding : let us not depart
from the corner stone,3 lest our understanding
suffer a fall : in Him let that become fixed, which
wavered with unstable motion ; let that rest upon
Him, which before was waving to and fro in
uncertainty. Whatever doubt a man hath in his
mind when he heareth the Scriptures of God, let
him not depart from Christ ; when Christ hath
been re.eiled to him in the words, let him then
be assured that he hath understood ; but before
he arriveth at the understanding of Christ, let
him not presume that he hath understood. " For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth." 4 What doth this
mean, and how are these words understood in
Christ, " When his land was restored "? . . .
2. The earth restored is the resurrection of the
flesh ; for after His resurrection, all those things
which are sung of in the Psalm were done. Let
us then hear a Psalm full of joy on the restora-
tion of the Earth. Let the Lord our God ex-
cite in us a hope and a pleasure worthy of so
great a thing ; may He rule our discourse, that
it be fit for your hearts, that whatever joy our
heart doth feel in such sights, He may bring on
to our tongue, and thence conduct it into your
ears, then to your heart, thence to your actions.
3. . . . "The Lord is King, let the earth be
glad : yea, let the multitude of the isles be joy-
ous" (ver. 1). It is so indeed, because the word
of God hath been preached not in the continent
alone, but also in those isles which lie in raid
sea : even these are full of Christians, full of the
servants of God. For the sea doth not retard
Him who made it. Where ships can approach,
cannot the words of God ? The isles are. filled.
1 Cotijlavit.
3 Eph ii. 20.
* Lat. XCVI,
4 Rom. x. 4.
A discourse to the people.
But figuratively the isles may be taken for all the
Churches. Why isles? Because the waves of
all temptations roar around them. But as an
isle may be beaten by the waves which on every
side dash around it, yet cannot be broken, and
rather itself doth break the advancing waves, than
by them is broken : so also the Churches of God,
springing up throughout the world, have suffered
the persecutions of the ungodly, who roar around
them on every side ; and behold the isles stand
fixed, and at last the sea is calmed.
4. " Clouds and darkness are round about
Him : righteousness and judgment are the di-
rection of His seat " (ver. 2 ) . . . . The Lord
Himself saith : " For judgment I am come into
this world ; that they which see not might see,
and that they which see might be made blind." '
They who seem unto themselves to see, who think
themselves wise, who think healing not needful
for them, that they may be made blind, may not
understand. And that " they which see not
may see ; " that they who confess their blindness
may obtain to be enlightened. Let there be
therefore " clouds and darkness round about
Him," for those who have not understood Him :
for those who confess and humble themselves,
" righteousness and judgment are the direction
of His seat." He called those who believe in
Him His seat : for from them hath He made
Himself a seat, since in them Wisdom sitteth ;
for the Son of God is the Wisdom of God. But
we have heard from another passage of Scripture
a strong confirmation of this interpretation.
" The soul of the righteous is the seat of
Wisdom." 6 Because then they who have be-
lieved in Him have been made righteous : jus-
tified by faith, they have become His own seat :
He sitteth in them, judging from them, and
guiding them. . . .
5. "There shall go a fire before Him, and
burn up His enemies on every side " (ver. 3).
We remember having read in the Gospel, He
shall say, " Depart into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels." 7 I do not think
it is said of that fire. Why do I not? Because
he speaketh of some fire, which shall go before
Him, before He cometh to judgment. For it
is said, that the fire goeth before Him, and burn-
etii up His enemies on every side, that is,
throughout the whole world. That fire will burn
after His advent : this, on the contrary, will go
before Him. What fire then is this? ■* . . Be-
hold, we have understood the fire that goeth
before Him, that is to be understood of a kind
of temporal punishment of the unbelieving and
ungodly : let us understand the fire, if possible,
of the salvation of the redeemed also ; for thus
we had proposed. The Lord Himself saith :
3 John ix. 30.
7 .Malt. XXV. 41.
6 Prov. xii. 23; t Cor. i. 24.
476
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVII.
" I am come to send fire on the earth : " ' " fire "
in the same way as a " sword ; " as in another
passage He saith, that He was not come to send
peace, but a sword, upon earth.2 The sword to
divide, the fire to burn : but each salutary : for
the sword of His own word hath in salutary wise
separated us from evil habits. For He brought
a sword, and separated every believer either
from his father who believed not in Christ, or
from his mother in like manner unbelieving : or
at least, if we were born of Christian parents,
from his ancestors. For no man among us had
not either a grandsire, or great grandsire, or some
ancestry among the heathen, and in that unbe-
lief which is accursed before God. We are sep-
arated from that which we were before ; but the
sword which separateth, but slayeth not, hath
cut between us. In the same way the fire also :
" I am come to send fire upon the earth." Be-
lievers in Him were set on fire, they received
the flame of love : and for this reason when the
Holy Spirit itself had been sent to the Apostles,
It thus appeared : " cloven tongues, like as of
fire." J Burning with this fire they set out on
their march through the world, to burn and
set on fire His enemies on every side. What
enemies of His? They who forsaking the God
who made them, adored the idols they had
made. . . .
6. " His lightnings gave shine unto the world "
(ver. 4). This is great joy. Do we not see?
is it not clear? His lightnings have shined unto
the whole world : His enemies have been set
on fire, and burnt. All that gainsaid hath been
burnt, and " His lightnings have given shine
unto the world." How have they shone ? That
the world might at length believe. Whence
were the lightnings? From the clouds. What
are the clouds of God? The preachers of the
truth. But thou seest a cloud, misty and dark
in the sky, and it hath I know not what hidden
within it. If there be lightning from the cloud,
a brightness shineth forth : from that which
thou didst despise, hath burst forth that which
thou mayest dread. Our Lord Jesus Christ
therefore sent His Apostles, as His preachers,
like clouds : they were seen as men, and were
despised ; as clouds appear, and are despised,
until what thou wonderest at gleameth from
them. For they were in the first place men
encumbered with flesh, weak ; then, men of low
station, unlearned, ignoble : but there was within
what could lighten forth ; there was in them
what could flash abroad. Peter a fisherman
approached, prayed, and the dead arose.4 His
human form was a cloud, the splendour of the
miracle was the lightning. So in their words,
so in their deeds, when they do things to be
1 Luke xii. 49.
4 Acta ix. 40.
* Matt. x. 34.
3 Acts ii. 3.
wondered at, and utter words to be wondered
at, " His lightnings gave shine unto the world ;
the earth saw it, and was afraid." Is it not
true? Doth not the whole Christian world at
length exclaim, Amen, afraid at the lightnings
which burst forth from those clouds?
7. " The hills melted like wax at the presence
of the Lord" (ver. 5). Who are the hills?
The proud. Every high thing raising itself
against God, at the deeds of Christ and of the
Christians, trembled, yielded, and when I say,
what hath been already said, "melted," a better
word cannot be found. " The hills melted like
wax at the presence of the Lord." Where is the
elevation of powers? where the hardness of
the unbelieving ? The Lord was a fire unto them,
they melted at His presence like wax ; so long
hard, until that fire was applied. Every height
hath been levelled ; it dareth not now blaspheme
Christ : and though the Pagan believeth not in
Him, he blasphemeth Him not ; though not as
yet become a living stone, yet the hard hill hath
been subdued. " At the presence of the Lord
of the whole earth : " not of the Jews only, but
of the Gentiles also, as the Apostle saith ; for
He is not the God of the Jews alone, but of
the Gentiles also.5 He is therefore the Lord
of the whole earth, the Lord Jesus Christ born
in Judaea, but not born for Judaea alone, because
before He was born He created all men ; and
He who created, also new created, all men.
8. "The heavens have declared His right-
eousness : and all the people have seen His
glory" (ver. 6). What heavens have declared?
"The heavens declare the glory of God."6 Who
are the heavens? Those who have become His
seat ; for as God sitteth in the heavens, so doth
He sit in the Apostles, so doth He sit in the
preachers of the Gospel. Even thou, if thou
vvjlt, shalt be a heaven. Dost thou wish to be
so? Purge from thy heart the earth. If thou
hast not earthly lusts, and hast not in vain
uttered the response, that thou hast " lifted up
thy heart," thou shalt be a heaven.7 " If ye be
risen with Christ," saith the Apostle to believers,
"set your affection on things above, not on
things of the earth." 8 Thou hast begun to set
thine affection upon things above, not on things
upon earth; hast thou not become a heaven?
Thou carriest flesh, and in thy heart thou art
already a heaven ; for thy conversation will be
in heaven.9 Being such, thou also declarest
Christ ; for who of the faithful declareth not
Christ? . . . Therefore the whole Church
preacheth Christ, and the heavens declare His
righteousness ; for all the faithful, whose care it
is to gain unto God those who have not yet
* Rom. iii. 29. 6 Ps. xix. i.
7 [See on this, Digtium, etc., p. 332, note 1, supra. — C]
8 Col. iii. i, a. 9 Philip, in. 90.
Psalm XCVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
477
believed, and who do this from love, are heavens.
From them God thundereth forth the terror of
His judgment ; and he who was unbelieving
trembleth, and is alarmed, and believeth. He
shows unto men what power Christ had through-
out the world, by pleading with them, and lead-
ing them to love Christ. For how many this
day have led their friends either to some pan-
tomimist, or flute-player? Why, except from
their liking him? And do ye love Christ. For
He who conquered the world hath exhibited
such spectacles, as that no man can say that he
findeth in them cause for blame. For each
person's favourite in the theatre is often van-
quished there. But no man is vanquished in
Christ : there is no reason for shame. Seize,
lead, draw, whom ye may : be without fear, ye
are leading unto Him, who displeaseth not those
who see Him ; and ask ye Him to enlighten
them, that they may behold to good account.
9. " Confounded be all they that worship
carved images" (ver. 7). Hath not this come
to pass? Have they not been confounded?
Are they not daily confounded? For carved
images are images wrought by the hand. Why
are all who worship carved images confounded ?
Because all people have seen His glory. All
nations now confess the glory of Christ : let
those who worship stones be ashamed. Because
those stones were dead, we have found a living
Stone ; indeed those stones never lived, so that
they cannot be called even dead ; but our Stone
is living, and hath ever lived with the Father,
and though He died for us, He revived, and
liveth now, and death shall no more have domin-
ion over Him.' This glory of His the nations
have acknowledged ; they leave the temples,
they run to the Churches. Do they still seek
to worship carved images? Have they not
chosen to forsake their idols ? They have been
forsaken by their idols. " Who glory in their
idols." But there is a certain disputer who
seemeth unto himself learned, and saith, I do
not worship that stone, nor that image which is
without sense ; . . . I worship not this image ;
but I adore 2 what I see, and serve him whom I
see not. Who is that? Some invisible deity,
he replieth, who presideth over that image. By
giving this account of their images, they seem
to themselves able disputants, because they do
not worship idols, and yet do worship devils.
"The things," brethren, saith the Apostle,
" which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto
devils, and not to God ; we know that an idol
is nothing : and that what the Gentiles sacri-
fice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God ;
and I would not that ye should have fellowship
with devils." 3 Let them not therefore excuse
3 1 Cor.
Vlll. 4, X. 20, 21.
2 i.e. fall down before.
themselves on this ground, that they are not de-
voted to insensate idols ; they are rather devoted
to devils, which is more dangerous. For if they
were only worshipping idols, as they would not
help them, so they would not hurt them ; but if
thou worship and serve devils, they themselves
will be thy masters. . . .
10. But observe holy men, who are like the
Angels. When thou hast found some holy man
who serveth God, if thou wish to worship him
instead of God, he forbiddeth thee : he will not
arrogate to himself the honour due to God, he
will not be unto thee as God, but be with thee
under God. Thus did the holy Apostles Paul
and Barnabas. They preached the word of God
in Lycaonia. When they had performed won-
derful works in Lycaonia, the people of that
country brought victims, and wished to sacrifice
to them, calling Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mer-
cury : they were not pleased. Did they per-
chance refuse to be sacrificed to, because they
abhorred to be compared to devils? No, but
because they shuddered at divine honour being
paid to men. Their own words show this : it is
no guess of ours ; for the text of the book
goeth on to say how they were moved.4 . . . Just
then, as good men forbade those who had
wished to worship them as gods, and wish rather
that God alone be worshipped, God alone be
adored, to God alone sacrifice be offered, not to
themselves ; so also all the holy Angels seek His
glory whom they love ; endeavour to impel and
to excite to the contemplation of Him all whom
they love : Him they declare to them, not them-
selves, since they are angels ; and because they
are soldiers, they study only how to seek the
glory of their Captain ; but if they have sought
their own glory, they are condemned as usurpers.5
Such were the devil and his angels ; he claimed
for himself divine honour, and for all his de-
mons ; he filled the Pagan temples, and per-
suaded them to offer images and sacrifices to
himself. Was it not better to worship holy
Angels than devils ? They answer : we do not
worship devils ; we worship angels, as ye call
them, the powers and the ministers of the great
God. I wish ye would worship them : ye would
easily learn from themselves not to worship
them.6 Hear an Angel teaching. He was
teaching a disciple of Christ, and showing him
many wonders in the Revelation of John : and
when some wonderful vision had been shown
him, he trembled, and fell down at the Angel's
feet ; but that Angel, who sought not but the
glory of God, said, " See thou do it not ; for I
am a fellow-servant of thee, and of thy brethren
the prophets." 7 What then, my brethren? Let
no man say, I fear lest the Angel may be angry
* Acts xiv. 14, 15.
6 [See Origen, vol. iv. p. 544. — C.J
^ Tyranni.
7 Rev. xix. 10.
4/8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVII.
•with me, if I worship him not as my God. He
is then angry with thee, when thou hast chosen
to worship him : for he is righteous, and loveth
God. As devils are angry if they are not wor-
shipped, so are Angels angry if they are wor-
shipped instead of God. But lest the weak and
trembling heart perchance say unto itself: If
then the demons are incensed because they are
not worshipped, I fear to offend them ; what can
even their chief the devil do unto thee ? If he
had any power over us. no one of us would re-
main. Are not daily so many things said against
him by the mouth of Christians, and yet the
harvest of Christians increaseth. When thou
art angry with the most depraved of thy slaves,
thou givest him the name, "Satan," Devil.
Perhaps in this thou dost err, since thou sayest
it to a man, and thy immoderate anger hurrieth
thee to revile the image of God : and yet thou
choosest a term thou deeply hatest, to apply to
him. If he could, would he not revenge him-
self? But it is not allowed : and he doth so
much only as is allowed him. For when he
wished to tempt Job, he had to ask power to do
so : ■ and he could do nothing had he not re-
ceived power. Why then dost thou not fear-
lessly worship God, without whose will no one
hurteth thee, and by whose permission thou art
chastened, not overcome ? For if it shall have
pleased the Lord thy God to permit some man
to hurt thee, or some spirit : He will chasten
thee, that thou mayest cry unto Him :J "Con-
founded," therefore, " be all they that delight in
vain gods : worship Him, all ye His angels."
Let Pagans learn to worship God : they wish to
worship Angels : let them imitate Angels, and
worship Him who is worshipped by Angels.
" Worship Him, all ye His angels." Let that
Angel worship who was sent to Cornelius (for
worshipping Him he sent Cornelius to Peter),
himself Peter's fellow-servant ; let him worship
Christ, Peter's Lord. " Worship Him, all ye
gods ! "
ii." Sion heard of it, and rejoiced " (ver. 8).
What did Sion hear? That all His Angels wor-
ship Him. . . . For the Church was not as yet
among the Gentiles ; in Judaea the Jews had
some of them believed, and the very Jews who
believed thought that they only belonged to
Christ : the Apostles were sent to the Gentiles,
Cornelius was preached to ; Cornelius believed,
was baptized, and they who were with Cornelius
were also baptized.3 But ye know what hap-
pened, that they might be baptized : the reader
indeed hath not reached this point, but, never-
theless, some recollect; and let those who do
not recollect, hear briefly from me. The Angel
was sent to Cornelius : the Angel sent Cornelius
1 Job i. ii.
» P». cxviii. 18.
3 Acts x. 47.
to Peter ; Peter came to Cornelius. And because
Cornelius and his household were Gentiles, and
uncircumcised : lest they might hesitate to give
the Gospel to the uncircumcised : before Corne-
lius and his household were baptized, the Holy
Spirit came, and filled them, and they began to
speak with tongues. Now the Holy Spirit had
not fallen upon any one who had not been bap-
tized : but upon these It fell before baptism.
For Peter might hesitate whether he might bap-
tize the uncircumcised : the Holy Spirit came,
they began to speak with tongues ; the invisible
gift was given, and took away all doubt about
the visible Sacrament ; they were all baptized.
. . . What did Sion hear, and rejoice at ? That
the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
One wall had come, but the corner existed not
as yet. The name Sion is here peculiarly given
to the Church which was in Judaea. " Sion
heard of it, and rejoiced : and the daughters of
Judah were glad." Thus it is written, "The
apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard."
See if the daughters of Judaea rejoiced not.
What did they hear? "That the Gentiles had
also received the word of God." . . . There-
fore, " The daughters of Judah rejoiced because
of Thy judgments, O Lord." What is, because
of Thy judgments ? Because in any nation, and
in any people, he that serveth Him is accepted
of Him : 4 for He is not the God of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles.5
1 2. See if this be not the reason for the joy of
the daughters of Judah. " For Thou, Lord, art
most high over all the earth" (ver. 9). Not
in Judxa alone, but over Jerusalem ; not over
Sion only, but over all the earth. To this whole
earth the judgments of God prevailed, so that it
assembled its nations from every quarter : judg-
ments with which they who have cut themselves
off have no communion : they neither hear the
prophecy, nor see its completion ; " For Thou,
Lord, art most high over all the earth : Thou
art exalted far above all gods." What is
" far " ? 6 For it is said of Christ. What then
meaneth " far," except that Thou mayest be ac-
knowledged coequal with the Father? What
meaneth, "above all gods"? Who are they?
Idols have not life, have not sense : devils have
life and sense ; but they are evil. What great
thing is it that Christ is exalted above devils?
He is exalted above devils : but neither is this
very great ; the heathen gods indeed are devils,?
but " He is far above all gods." Even men are
styled gods : " I have said, Ye are gods : and ye
are all the children of the Most Highest : " again
it is written, " God standeth in the congregation
of princes : He is a Judge among gods."8 Jesus
Christ our Lord is exalted above all : not only
4 Ps. xcvii. 35.
7 Ps. xcvi. 5.
3 Rom. iii. 29.
6 Ps. lxxxii 6. L
6 Nimis.
Psalm XCVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
479
above idols, not only above devils ; but above all
righteous men. Even this is not enough ; above
all Angels also : for whence otherwise is this,
" Worship Him, all ye gods " ? " Thou art far
exalted above all gods."
13. What then do we all, who have assembled
before Him, before Him who is exalted far above
all gods? He hath given us a brief command-
ment, " O ye that love the Lord, see that ye
hate the thing which is evil ! " (ver. 10). Christ
doth not deserve that with Him thou shouldest
love avarice. Thou lovest Him : thou shouldest
hate what He hateth. There is a man who is
thine enemy, he is what thou art ; ye are the
work of one Creator, with the same nature : and
yet if thy son were to speak unto thine enemy,
and come to his house, and constantly converse
with him, thou wouldest be inclined to disinherit
him ; because he speaketh with thine enemy.
And how so? Because thou seemest to say
justly, Thou art my enemy's friend, and seekest
thou aught of my property? Attend then.
Thou lovest Christ : avarice is Christ's foe ; why
speak with her ? I say not, speak with her ; why
dost thou serve her? For Christ commandeth
thee to do many things, and thou dost them not ;
she commandeth thee, and thou dost them. |
Christ commandeth thee to clothe the poor man :
and thou dost it not ; avarice biddeth thee de-
fraud, and this thou dost in preference. If such
be the case, if such thou art, do not very confi-
dently promise thyself Christ's heritage. But thou
sayest, I love Christ. Hence it appeareth that
thou lovest what is good, if thou shalt be found
to hate what is evil. . . .
14. Because then he had said above, "see
that ye hate the thing which is evil," lest ye
should_ fear to hate evil, lest he should kill thee,
he addeth instantly, " The Lord preserveth the
souls of His servants." Hear Him preserving
the souls of His servants, and saying, " Fear not
them which kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul." ' He who hath most power
against thee, slayeth the body. What hath he
done unto thee? What he also did to the Lord
thy God. Why lovest thou to have what Christ
hath, if thou fearest to suffer what Christ did ?
He came to bear thy life, temporal, weak, sub-
ject unto death. Surely fear to die, if thou canst
avoid dying. What thou canst not avoid through
thy nature, why dost thou not undergo by faith ?
Let the adversary who threatened! take away
from thee that life, God giveth thee another life :
for He gave thee this life also, and without His
will even this shall not be taken from thee ; but
if it be His will that it be taken from thee, He
hath a life to give thee in exchange ; fear not
to be robbed for His sake. Art thou unwilling to
Matt x 28.
put off a patched garment ? He will give thee
a robe of glory. What robe dost thou tell me
of? " This corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality."2 This
very flesh of thine shall not perish. Thine
enemy can rage as far as to thy death : he hath
not power beyond, either over thy soul, or even
over thy flesh ; for although he scatter thy flesh
about, he hindereth not the resurrection. Men
were fearful for their life : and what said the
Lord unto them ? " The very hairs of your head
are all numbered."3 Dost thou, who losest not
a single hair, fear the loss of thy life? All things
are numbered with God. He who created all
things, will restore all things. They were not,
and they were created : they were, and shall
they not be restored ? ..." He shall deliver
them from the hand of the ungodly."
15. But perhaps thou wilt say, I lose this light.
" There is sprung up a light for the righteous "
(ver. 1 1 ) . What light fearest thou thou mayest
lose ? fearest thou thou mayest be in darkness ?
Fear not thou mayest lose light ; nay, fear lest
while thou art guarding against the loss of this
light, thou mayest lose that true light. For we
see to whom that light is given which thou
fearest losing, and with whom it is shared. Do
the righteous only see this sun, when He maketh
it rise over the just and unjust, and raineth upon
the just and unjust?4 Wicked men, robbers, the
unchaste, beasts, flies, worms, see that light
together with thee. What sort of light doth
He keep for the righteous, who giveth this even
to such as these ? Deservedly the Martyrs
beheld this light in faith ; for they who despised
this light of the sun, had some light in their
eyes, which they longed for, who rejected this.
Do you imagine that they were really in misery,
when they walked in chains? Spacious was the
prison to the faithful, light were the chains to
the confessors. They who preached Christ amid
their torments, had joy in the iron-chair. What
light hath sprung up for the righteous? Not
that which springeth up for the unrighteous ;
not that which He causeth to rise over the good
and bad. There is a different light which spring-
eth up to the righteous ; of which light, that
never rose upon themselves, the unrighteous
shall in the end say, " Therefore have we erred
from the way of truth, and the light of righteous-
ness hath not shined upon us, and the sun of
righteousness rose not upon us." 5 Behold, by
loving this sun they have lain in the darkness of
the heart. What did it profit them to have seen
with their eyes this sun, and not in mind to
have seen that light? Tobit was blind, but he
used to teach his son the way of God. Ye
know this, that Tobit warned his son, and said
9 1 Cor. xv. 53.
s Wisd. v. 6.
3 Man. x. 30.
* Matt. v. 45.
480
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVIII,
to him, " Son, give alms of thy substance ; be-
cause that alms suffer not to come into dark-
ness." ' Even he who was in darkness spoke
thus. . . . Dost thou wish to know that light?
Be true-hearted. What is, be true-hearted ? Be
not of a crooked heart before God, withstanding
His will, and wishing to bend Him unto thee,
and not to rule thyself to please Him ; and thou
wilt feel the joyful gladness which all the true-
hearted know.
16. " Be glad, ye righteous" (ver. 12). Per-
haps already the faithful hearing the word, " Be
glad," are thinking of banquets, preparing cups,
waiting for the season of roses ; because it is
said, " Be glad, ye righteous ! " See what fol-
loweth, " Be glad in the Lord." Thou art wait-
ing for the season of spring, that thou mayest
be glad : thou hast the Lord for joyful gladness,
the Lord is always with thee, He hath no special
season ; thou hast Him by night, thou hast Him
by day. Be true-hearted ; and thou hast ever
joy from Him. For that joy which is after
the fashion of the world, is not true joy. Hear the
prophet Isaiah : " There is no joy, saith my God,
to the wicked." 2 What the wicked call joy is
not joy, such as he knew who made no account
of their joy : let us believe him, brethren. He
was a man, but he knew both kinds of joy. He
certainly knew the joys of the cup, for he was a
man, he knew the joy of the table, he knew the
joys of marriage, he knew those joys worldly
and luxurious. He who knew them saith with
confidence, " There is no joy to the wicked,
saith the Lord." But it is not man who speaks,
it is the Lord. . . . But thou sayest, I see not
that light which Isaiah saw. Believe, and thou
shalt see it. For perhaps thou hast not the eye
to see it ; for it is an eye by which that beauty
is discerned. For a:; there is an eye of the flesh,
by means of which this light is seen : so there is
an eye of the heart, by which that joy is per-
ceived : perhaps that eye is wounded, dimmed,
disturbed by passion, by avarice, by indulgence,
by senseless lust ; thine eye is disturbed : thou
canst not see that light. Believe, before thou
seest : thou shalt be healed, and shalt see.
17. "And confess to the remembrance of His
holiness." Now made glad, now rejoicing in the
Lord, confess unto Him ; for unless it were His
will, ye would not rejoice in Him. For the
Lord Himself saith : " These things I have
spoken to you : that in Me ye might have peace.
But in the world ye shall have tribulation." ' If
ye are Christians, look for tribulations in this
world ; look not for more peaceful and better
times. Brethren, ye deceive yourselves ; what
the Gospel doth not promise you, promise not
to yourselves. Ye know what the Gospel saith ;
Tobit iv. 7, 10.
2 Isa. Ivii. 31.
» John xvi. 33.
we are speaking to Christians ; we ought not
to disobey the faith. The Gospel saith this,
that in the last times many evils, many stum-
bling-blocks, many tribulations, much iniquity,
shall abound ; but he that shall endure unto the
end, the same shall be saved.4 "The love," it
saith, " of many shall wax cold." Whosoever
then hath been stedfastly fervent in spirit, as
the Apostle saith, " fervent in spirit," 5 his love
shall not wax cold : because " the love of God
is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us." 6 Let no man there-
fore promise himself what the Gospel doth not
promise. Behold, happier times will come, and
I am doing this, and purchasing this. It is
good for thee to listen to Him who is not de-
ceived, nor hath deceived any man, who prom-
ised thee joy not here, but in Himself; and when
all here hath passed away, to hope that with
Him thou wilt for ever reign ; lest when thou
dost wish to reign here, thou mayest neither en-
joy gladness here, nor find it there.
PSALM XCVIII.?
1 . " O sing unto the Lord a new song " (ver. 1 ) .
The new man knoweth this, the old man know-
eth it not. The old man is the old life, and the
new man the new life : the old life is derived
from Adam, the new life is formed in Christ.
But in this Psalm, the whole world is enjoined
to sing a new song. More openly elsewhere the
words are these : " O sing unto the Lord a new
song ; sing unto the Lord, all the whole earth ; " 8
that they who cut themselves off from the com-
munion of the whole earth,' may understand that
they cannot sing the new song, because it is sung
in the whole, and not in a part of it. Attend
here also, and see that this is said. And when
the whole earth is enjoined to sing a new song,
it is meant, that peace singeth a new song. " For
He hath done marvellous things." What mar-
vellous things? Behold, the Gospel was just
now being read, and we heard the marvellous
things of the Lord. The only son of his mother,
who was a widow, was being carried out dead :
the Lord, in compassion, made them stand still ;
they laid him down, and the Lord said, " Young
man, I say unto thee, Arise." IO . . . " The Lord
hath done marvellous things." What marvel-
lous things? Hear: "His own right hand, and
His holy arm, hath healed for Him." What is
the Lord's holy Arm ? Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hear Isaiah : " Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? " "
His holy arm then, and His own right hand, is
* Matt. xxiv. 3-13. 5 Rom. xii. II. 6 Rom. v. 5.
7 Lot. XCVII. A discourse to the people.
8 Ps. xcvi. j. 9 Donatists. I0 Luke vii. 13-14.
11 Isa. liii. x.
T3A1.M XCVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
481
Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ is therefore
the arm of God, and the right hand of God :
for this reason is it said, " hath He healed for
Him." It is not said only, " His right hand hath
healed the world," but " hath healed for Him."
For many are healed for themselves, not for
Him. Behold how many long for that bodily
health, and receive it from Him : they are healed
by Him, but not for Him. How are they healed
by Him, and not for Him? When they have
received health, they become wanton : they who
when sick were chaste, when cured become
adulterers : they who when in illness injured no
man, on the recovery of their strength attack
and crush the innocent : they are healed, but
not unto Him. Who is he who is healed unto
Him? He who is healed inwardly. Who is he
that is healed inwardly? He who trusteth in
Him, that when he shall have been healed in-
wardly, reformed into a new man, afterwards this
mortal flesh too, which doth languish for a time,
may in the end itself even recover its most per-
fect health. Let us therefore be healed for Him.
But that we may be healed for Him, let us be-
lieve in His right hand.
2. " The Lord hath made known His salva-
tion " (ver. 2). This very right hand, this very
arm, this very salvation, is our Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom it is said, " And all flesh shall see the
salvation of God ; " ' of whom also that Simeon
who embraced the Infant in his arms, spoke,
" Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." *
" The Lord hath made known His salvation."
To whom did He make it known ? To a part,
or to the whole? Not to any part specially.
Let no man betray, no man deceive, no man
say, " Lo, here is Christ, or there : " 3 the man
who saith, Lo, He is here, or there, pointeth to
some particular spots.. To whom "hath the
Lord declared His salvation " ? Hear what fol-
lowed1. : " His righteousness hath He openly
showed in the sight of the heathen." Our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ is the right hand of
God, the arm of God, the salvation of God, and
the righteousness of God.
3. " He hath remembered His mercy to Jacob,
and His truth unto the house of Israel " (ver. 3).
What meaneth this, "He hath remembered His
mercy and truth " ? He hath pitied, so that He
promised ; because He promised and showed
His mercy, truth hath followed : mercy hath
gone before promise, promise hath been fulfilled
in truth. . . .
"And His truth unto the house of Israel."
Who is this Israel? That ye may not perchance
think of one nation of the Jews, hear what fol-
loweth : " All the ends of the world have seen
1 Luke iii. 6. 3 Luke ii. 28-30. 3 Matt. xxtv. 23.
the salvation of our God." It is not said, all
the earth : but, " all the ends of the world : "
as it is said, from one end to the other. Let no
man cut this down, let no man scatter it abroad ;
strong is the unity of Christ. He who gave so
great a price, hath bought the whole : " All the
ends of the world."
4. Because they have seen, then, " Make a
joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands" (ver. 4).
Ye already know what it is to make a joyful noise.
Rejoice, and speak. If ye cannot express your
joy, shout ye ; let the shout manifest your joy,
if your speech cannot : yet let not joy be mute ;
let not your heart be silent respecting its God, let
it not be mute concerning His gifts. If thou
speakest to thyself, unto thyself art thou healed ;
if His right hand hath healed thee for Him,
speak thou unto Him for whom thou hast been
healed. " Sing, rejoice, and make melody."
5. " Make melody unto the Lord upon the
harp : on the harp and with the voice of a
Psalm " (ver. 5). Praise Him not with the voice
only ; take up works, that ye may not only sing,
but work also. He who singeth and worketh,
maketh melody with psaltery and upon the harp.
Now see what sort of instruments are next
spoken of, in figure: "With ductile trumpets
also, and the sound of the pipe of horn " (ver.
6). What are ductile trumpets, and pipes of
horn? Ductile trumpets are of brass : they are
drawn out by hammering ; if by hammering, by
being beaten, ye shall be ductile trumpets, drawn
out unto the praise of God, if ye improve when
in tribulation : tribulation is hammering, im-
provement is the being drawn out. Job was a
ductile trumpet, when suddenly assailed by the
heaviest losses, and the death of his sons,
become like a ductile trumpet by the beating of
so heavy tribulation, he sounded thus : " The
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ;
blessed be the name of the Lord." 4 How did
he sound? How pleasantly doth his voice
sound? This ductile trumpet is still under the
hammer. . . . We have heard how he was ham-
mered ; let us hear how he soundeth : let us,
if it please you, hear the sweet sound of this
ductile trumpet : " What ! shall we receive
good at the hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil ? " O courageous, O sweet sound !
whom will not that sound awake from sleep?
whom will not confidence in God awake, to
march to battle fearlessly against the devjl ; not
to struggle with his own strength, but His who
proveth him. For He it is who hammereth :
for the hammer could not do so of itself. . . .
See how (I dare so speak, my brethren) even
the Apostle was beaten with this very hammer :
he saith, " there was given to me a thorn in the
* Job i. 21.
482
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCVIir.
flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me." '
Behold he is under the hammer : let us hear how
he speaketh of it : " For this thing," he saith,
" I besought the Lord thrice, that it might
depart from me. And He said unto me, My
grace is sufficient for thee : for My strength is
made perfect in weakness." I, saith His
Maker, wish to make this trumpet perfect ; I
cannot do so unless I hammer it ; in weakness
is strength made perfect. Hear now the ductile
trumpet itself sounding as it should : " When I j
am weak, then am I strong." . . .
6. The voice of the pipe of horn, what is it?
The horn riseth above the flesh : in rising above
the flesh it needs must be solid so as to last,
and able to speak. And whence this ? Because
it hath surpassed the flesh. He who wisheth to
be a horn trumpet, let him overcome the flesh.
What meaneth this, let him overcome the flesh ?
Let him surpass the desires, let him conquer the
lusts of the flesh Hear the horn trumpets.
. . . What meaneth this, " Set your affection on
things above " ? It meaneth, Rise above the
flesh, think not of carnal things. They were
not yet horn trumpets, to whom he now spoke
thus : " I could not speak unto you, brethren,
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as
unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk,
and not with meat ; for hitherto ye were not
able to bear it : neither yet now are ye able.
For ye are yet carnal." 2 They were not there-
fore horn trumpets, because they had not risen
above the flesh. Horn both adhereth to the
flesh, and riseth above the flesh ; and although
it springeth from the flesh, yet it surpasseth it.
If therefore thou art spiritual, when before thou
wast carnal ; as yet thou art treading the earth
in the flesh, but in spirit thou art rising into
heaven ; for though we walk in the flesh, we do
not war after the flesh. . . . Brethren, do not
reproach brethren whom the mercy of God
hath not yet converted ; know that as long as ye
do this, ye savour of the flesh. That is not a
trumpet which pleaseth the ears of God : the
trumpet of boastfulness maketh the war fruitless.
Let the horn trumpet raise thy courage against
the devil ; let not the fleshly trumpet raise thy
pride against thy brother. " Make a joyful noise
in the sight of the Lord the King."
7. While ye are rejoicing, and delighted with
the ductile trumpets, and the voice of the horn,
what followeth ? " Let the sea be stirred up,
and the fulness thereof" (ver. 7). Brethren,
when the Apostles, like ductile trumpets and
horns, were preaching the truth, the sea was
stirred up, its waves arose, tempests increased,
persecutions of the Church took place. Whence
hath the sea been stirred up? When a joyful
1 2 Cor. xii. 7-10.
1 1 Cor. i. 13, tii. 1-4.
noise was made, when Psalms of thanksgiving
were being sung before God : the ears of God
were pleased, the waves of the sea were raised.
" Let the sea be stirred up, and the fulness
thereof: the round world, and all that dwell
therein." Let the sea be stirred up in its
persecutions. " Let the floods clap their hands
together" (ver. 8). Let the sea be aroused,
and the floods clap their hands together ; per-
secutions arise, and the saints rejoice in God.
Whence shall the floods clap their hands? What
is to clap their hands? To rejoice in works. To
clap hands, is to rejoice ; hands, mean works.
What floods? Those whom God hath made
floods, by giving them that Water, the Holy
Spirit. "If any man thirst," saith He, "let
him come unto Me, and drink. He that be-
lieveth on Me, out of his bosom shall flow rivers
of living water." ' These rivers clapped their
hands, these rivers rejoiced in works, and
blessed God. "The hills shall be joyful to-
gether."
8. " Before the Lord, for He is come ; for
He is come to judge the earth" (ver. 9).
"The hills" signify the great. The Lord cometh
to judge the earth, and they rejoice. But there
are hills, who, when the Lord is coming to judge
the earth, shall tremble. There are therefore
good and evil hills ; the good hills, are spiritual
greatness ; the bad hills, are the swelling of
pride. " Let the hills be joyful together before
the Lord, for He is come ; for He is come to
judge the earth." Wherefore shall He come,
and how shall He come ? "With righteousness
shall He judge the world, and the people with
equity" (ver. 10). Let the hills therefore
rejoice ; for He shall not judge unrighteously.
When some man is coming as a judge, to whom
the conscience cannot lie open, even innocent men
may tremble, if from him they expect a reward
for virtue, or fear the penalty of condemnation ;
when He shall come who cannot be deceived,
let the hills rejoice, let them rejoice fearlessly ;
they shall be enlightened by Him, not con-
demned ; let them rejoice, because the Lord
will come to judge the world with equity ; and
if the righteous hills rejoice, let the unrighteous
tremble. But behold, He hath not yet come :
what need is there they should tremble? Let
them mend their ways, and rejoice. It is in thy
power in what way thou wiliest to await the
coming of Christ. For this reason He delayeth
to come, that when He cometh He may not
condemn thee. Lo, He hath not yet come : He
is in heaven, thou on earth : He delayeth His
coming, do not thou delay wisdom. His coming
is hard to the hard of heart, soft to the pious.
See therefore even now what thou art : if hard
• John vii. 37-39.
l'SALM XCIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
4^3
of heart, thou canst soften ; if thou art soft, even
now rejoice that He will come. For thou art a
Christian. Yea, thou sayest. I believe that
thou prayest, and sayest, " Thy kingdom come." '
Thou desirest Him to come, whose coming
thou fearest. Reform thyself, that thou mayest
not pray against thyself.
PSALM XCIX.'
i. Beloved brethren, it ought already to be
known to you, as sons of the Church, and well
instructed in the school of Christ through all
the books of our ancient fathers, who wrote the
words of God and the great things of God, that
their wish was to consult for our good, who were
to live at this period, believers in Christ ; who,
at a seasonable time came unto us, the first time,
in humility ; at the second, destined to come in
exaltation. . . . For thus it is said in the Psalms :
" Truth shall flourish out of the earth : and
righteousness hath looked down from heaven." 3
Now, therefore, our whole design is, when we
hear a Psalm, a Prophet, or the Law, all of
which was written before our Lord Jesus Christ
came in the flesh, to see Christ there, to under-
stand Christ there. Attend therefore, beloved,
to this Psalm, with me, and let us herein seek
Christ ; certainly He will appear to those who
seek Him, who at first appeared to those who
sought Him not ; and He will not desert those
who long for Him, who redeemed those who
neglected Him. Behold, the Psalm beginneth
concerning Him : of Him it is said : —
2. "The Lord is King, be the people angry "
(ver. i). For our Lord Jesus Christ began to
reign, began to be preached, after He arose from
the dead and ascended into heaven, after He
had filled His disciples with the confidence of
the Holy Spirit, that they should not fear death,
which He had already killed in Himself. Our
Lord Christ began then to be preached, that
they who wished for salvation might believe in
Him ; and the peoples who worshipped idols
were angry. They who worshipped what they
had made were angry, because He by whom
they were made was declared. He announced,
in fact, through His disciples, Himself, who
wished them to be converted unto Him by
whom they were made, and to be turned away
from those things which they had made them-
selves. They were angry with their Lord in
behalf of their idols, they who even if they were
angry with their slave on their idol's account,
were to be condemned. For their slave was
better than their idol : for God made their slave,
the carpenter made their idol. They were so
angry in their idol's behalf, that they feared not
1 Matt. vi. to.
*■ Lat. XCV11I.
A sermon to the people. 3 Ps. lxxxv. u.
to be angry with their Lord. But the words,
" be they angry," are a prediction, not a com-
mand ; for in a prophecy it is that this is said,
" The Lord is King, be the people angry."
Some good resulteth even from the enraged peo-
ple : let them be angry, and in their anger let
the Martyrs be crowned. ... Ye heard when
Jeremiah was being read before the reading of
the Apostle,4 if ye listened ; ye saw therein the
times in which we now live. He said, " The
gods that have not made the heavens and the
earth, let them perish from the earth, and from
under the heaven." 5 He said not, The gods
that have not made the heavens and earth, let
them perish from the heaven and from the earth ;
because they never were in heaven : but what
did he say? " Let them perish from the earth,
and from under the heaven." As if, while the
word earth was repeated, the repetition of the
word heaven were wanting (because they never
were in heaven) : he repeateth the earth twice,
since it is under heaven. " Let them perish
from the earth, and from under the heaven,"
from their temples. Consider if this be not
now taking place ; if in a great measure it hath
not already happened : for what, or how much,
hath remained? The idols remained rather in
the hearts of the pagans, than in the niches of
the temples.
3. " He who sitteth between the cherubims : "
thou dost understand, " He is King : let the
earth be stirred up." . . . The Cherubim is
the seat of God, as the Scripture showeth us, a
certain exalted heavenly throne, which we see
not ; but the Word of God knoweth it, knoweth it
as His own seat : and the Word of God and the
Spirit of God hath Itself revealed to the ser-
vants of God where God sitteth. Not that God
doth sit, as doth man ; but thou, if thou dost
wish that God sit in thee, if thou wilt be good,
shalt be the seat of God ; for thus is it written,
" The soul of the righteous is the seat of wis-
dom." 6 For a throne is in our language called a
seat. For some, conversant with the Hebrew
tongue^have interpreted cherubim in the Latin
language (for it is a Hebrew term) by the words,
fulness of knowledge. Therefore, because God
surpasseth all knowledge, He is said to sit above
the fulness of knowledge. Let there be there-
fore in thee fulness of knowledge, and even thou
shalt be the throne of God. . . . He knoweth
all things : for our hairs are numbered before
God.7 But the fulness of knowledge which He
willed man to know is different from this ; the
knowledge which He willed thee to have, per-
taineth to the law of God. And who can, thou
mayest perhaps say unto me, perfectly know the
Law, so that he may have within himself the ful-
4 [The Lesson from the prophet, and the Epistle for the day. — C.J
5 Jer. x. IX. 6 Prov. xii. 23. ? Matt. x. 30.
484
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIX.
ness of the knowledge of the Law, and be able
to be the seat of God ? Be not disturbed ; it is
briefly told thee what thou hast, if thou dost
wish to have the fulness of knowledge, and to
become the throne of God : for the Apostle
saith, " Love is the fulfilling of the Law." '
What followeth then ? Thou hast lost the whole
of thine excuse. Ask thine heart ; see whether
it hath love. If there be love there, there is
the fulfilment of the Law there also ; already
God dwelleth in thee, thou hast become the
throne of God. " Be the people angry ; " what
can the angry people do against him who hath
become the throne of God? Thou givest heed
unto them who rage against thee : Who is it
that sitteth within thee, thou givest not heed.
Thou art become a heaven, and fearest thou the
earth ? For the Scripture saith in another pas-
sage, that the Lord our God doth declare, "The
heaven is My throne." 2 If therefore even thou
by having the fulness of knowledge, and by
having love, hast been made the throne of God,
thou hast become a heaven. For this heaven
which we look up to with these eyes of ours, is
not very precious before God. Holy souls are
the heaven of God ; the minds of the Angels,
and all the minds of His servants, are the heaven
of God.
4. " The Lord is great in Sion, and high above
all people " (ver. 2). . . . He whom I spoke to
thee of as above the Cherubims, is great in
Sion. Ask thou now, what is Sion ? We know
Sion to be the city of God. The city of Jerusa-
lem is called Sion ; and is so called according
to a certain interpretation, for that Sion signi-
fieth watching, that is, sight and contemplation ;
for to watch is to look forward to, or gaze upon,
or strain the eyes to see. Now every soul is a
Sion, if it trieth to see that light which is to be
seen. For if it shall have gazed upon a light of
its own, it is darkened ; if upon His, it is en-
lightened. But, now that it is clear that Sion is
the city of God ; what is the city of God, but the
Holy Church ? For men who love one another,
and who love their God who dwelleth in them,
constitute a city unto God. Because a city is
held together by some law ; their very law
is Love ; and that very Love is God : for openly
it is written, " God is Love." 3 He therefore
who is full of Love, is full of God ; and many,
full of love, constitute a city full of God. That
city of God is called Sion ; the Church therefore
is Sion. In it God is great. . . .
5. Do ye imagine, brethren, that they whose
instruments re-echoed yesterday, are not angry
with our fastings ? But let us not be angry with
them, but let us fast for them. For the Lord
our God who sitteth in us hath said, He hath
1 Rom. xiii. 10.
* Isa. Ixvi. 1.
s 1 John iv. 8.
Himself commanded us to pray for-our enemies,
to pray for them that persecute us : 4 and as
the Church doth this, the persecutors are almost
extinct. . . . The drunken man doth not offend
himself, but he offendeth the sober man. Show
me a man who is at last happy in God, liveth
gravely, sigheth for that everlasting peace which
God hath promised him ; and see that when he
hath seen a man dancing to an instrument, he is
more grieved for his madness, than for a man who
is in a frenzy from a fever. If then we know
their evils, considering that we also have been
freed from those very evils, let us grieve for
them ; and if we grieve for them, let us pray for
them ; and that we may be heard, let us fast
for them. For we do not keep our own fasts
in their holidays. Different are the fasts which
we celebrate through the days of the approach-
ing Passover, through different seasons which
are fixed for us in Christ : but through their hol-
idays we fast for this reason, that when they are
rejoicing, we may groan for them. For by their
joy they excite our grief, and cause us to re-
member how wretched they are as yet. But
since we see many freed thence, where we also
have been, we ought not to despair even of them.
And if they are still enraged, let us pray ; and if
still a particle of earth that hath remained behind
be stirred up against us, let us continue in lam-
entation for them, that to them also God may
grant understanding, and that with us they may
hear those words, in which we are at this moment
rejoicing.
6. All these very people, over whom Thou art
great in Sion, " Let them confess unto Thy Name,
which is great " (ver. 3). Thy Name was little
when they were enraged : it hath become great ;
let them now confess. In what sense do we say,
that the Name of Christ was little, before it was
spread abroad to so great an extent? Because
His report is meant by His Name. His Name
was small ; already it hath become great. What
nation is there that hath not heard of the Name
of Christ ? Therefore let now the people confess
unto Thy Name, which is great, who before were
enraged with Thy little Name. Wherefore shall
they confess ? Because it is " wonderful and
holy." Thy very Name is wonderful and holy.
He is so preached as crucified, so preached as
humbled, so preached as judged, that He may
come exalted, that He may come living, that He
may come to judge in power. He spareth
at present the people who blaspheme Him,
because " the long-suffering of God leadeth to
repentance." 5 For He who now spareth, will
not always spare : nor will He, who is now being
preached that He may be feared, fail to come to
judge. He will come, my brethren, He will
« Matt. v. 44.
5 Rom. U. 4.
I'SAI.M XCIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
485
come : let us fear Him, and let us live so that
we may be lound on His right hand. For He
will come, and will judge, so as to place some on
the left hand, some on the right.' And He doth
not act in an uncertain manner, so as to err
perchance betwixt men, so that lie who should
be set on the right hand, be set on the left; or
that he who ought to stand on the left, by a
mistake of God should stand on the right :
He cannot err, so as to place the evil where He
ought to set the good ; nor to place the good,
where He should have set the evil. If He can-
not err, we err, if we fear not ; but if we have
feared in this life, we shall not then have what to
fear for. " For the King's honour loveth judg-
ment." . . .
7. " Thou hast prepared equity ; Thou hast
wrought judgment and righteousness in Jacob."
For we too ought to have judgment, we ought
to have righteousness ; but He worketh in us
judgment and righteousness, who created us in
whom He might work them. How ought we
too to have judgment and righteousness? Thou
hast judgment, when thou dost distinguish evil
from good : and righteousness when thou follow-
est the good, and turnest aside from the evil.
By distinguishing them, thou hast judgment ;
by doing, thou hast righteousness. " Eschew
evil,' he saith, " and do good ; seek peace, and
ensue it." 2 Thou shouldest first have judgment,
then righteousness. What judgment? That
thou mayest first judge what is evil, and what
is good. And what righteousness? That thou
mayest shun evil, and do good. But this thou
wilt not gain from thyself; see what he hath
said, " Thou hast wrought judgment and right-
eousness in Jacob."
8. "O magnify the Lord our God" (ver. 5).
Magnify Him truly, magnify Him well. Let us
praise Him, let us magnify Him who hath
wrought the very righteousness which we have ;
who wrought it in us, Himself. For who but
He who justified us, wrought righteousness in
us? For of Christ it is said, "who justifieth
the ungodly."3 . . . "And fall down before4 His
footstool : for He is holy." What are we to fall
down before? His footstool. What is under
the feet is called a footstool, in Greek v7ro7ro'8toi',
in Latin Scabellum or Suppedaneum. But
consider, brethren, what he commandeth us to
fall down before. In another passage of the
Scriptures it is said, " The heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool." 5 Doth he
then bid us worship the earth, since in another
passage it is said, that it is God's footstool?
How then shall we worship the earth, when the
Scripture saith openly, " Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God " ? 6 Yet here it saith, " fall down
1 Matt. xxv. 31-33.
* Adorate. See p. 477,
2 Ps. xxxiv. 14.
3 Isa. lxvi. 1.
s Rom. iv. 5.
6 Deut. vi. 13.
before His footstool : " and, explaining to us
what His footstool is, it saith, " The earth is My
footstool." I am in doubt ; I fear to worship
the earth, lest He who made the h,eaven and the
earth condemn me ; again, I fear not to worship
the footstool of my Lord, because the Psalm
biddeth me, "fall down before His footstool."
I ask, what is His footstool ? and the Scripture
telleth me, " the earth is My footstool." In
hesitation I turn unto Christ, since I am herein
seeking Himself: and I discover how the earth
may be worshipped without impiety,7 how His
footstool may be worshipped without impiety.
For He took upon Him earth from earth ;
because flesh is from earth, and He received
flesh from the flesh of Mary. And because He
walked here in very flesh, and gave that very
flesh to us to eat for our salvation ; and no one
eateth that flesh, unless he hath first worshipped :
we have found out in what sense such a foot-
stool of our Lord's may be worshipped, and not
only that we sin not in worshipping it, but that
we sin in not worshipping. But doth the flesh
give life? Our Lord Himself, when He was
speaking in praise of this same earth, said, " It
is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing." . . . But when our Lord praised it,
He was speaking of His own flesh, and He had
said, " Except a man eat My flesh, he shall have
no life in him." 8 Some disciples of His, about
seventy,9 were offended, and said, " This is an
hard saying, who can hear it? " And they went
back, and walked no more with Him. It
seemed unto them hard that He said, " Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye have no
life in you : " they received it foolishly, they
thought of it carnally, and imagined that the
Lord would cut off parts from His body, and
give unto them ; and they said, " This is a hard
saying." It was they who were hard, not the
saying ; for unless they had been hard, and not
meek, they would have said unto themselves,
He saith not this without reason, but there must
be some latent mystery herein. They would
have remained with Him, softened, not hard :
and would have learnt that from Him which they
who remained, when the others departed, learnt.
For when twelve disciples had remained with
Him, on their departure, these remaining follow-
ers suggested to Him, as if in grief for the
death of the former, that they were offended by
His words, and turned back. But He instructed
them, and saith unto them, " It is the Spirit that
quickeneth, but the flesh profiteth nothing ; the
words that I have spoken unto you, they are
spirit, and they are life." IO Understand spiritu-
7 2 Sent. Dist. 9, c. aliis.autem. s John vi. 54.
9 Septuagintaferme. It is difficult to know whence this number
comes, unless it is that of the Seventy. But they can hardly be sup-
posed identical with these. One might think it a gloss but for the
mention of " twelve." lo John vi. 63.
486
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XCIX.
ally what I have said ; ye are not to eat this
body which ye see ; nor to drink that blood
which they who will crucify Me shall pour forth.
1 have commended unto you a certain mystery ;
spiritually understood, it will quicken. Although
it is needful that this be visibly celebrated, yet
it must be spiritually understood."
9. "Moses and Aaron among His priests,
and Samuel among such as call upon His Name :
these called upon the Lord, and He heard them "
(ver. 6). "He spake unto them out of the
cloudy pillar" (ver. 7)
there stated that he was
not this, what was he ?
greater than a priest?
that he also was himself a
. . . Of Moses it is not
a priest. But if he was
Could he be anything
This Psalm declareth
priest : " Moses and
Aaron among His priests." They therefore were
the Lord's priests. Samuel is read of later in
the Book of Kings : this Samuel is in David's
times; for he anointed the holy David. Samuel
from his infancy grew up in the temple. . . .
He mentioneth these: and by these desireth us
to understand all the saints. Yet why hath he
here named those? Because we said that we
ought here to understand Christ. Attend, holy
brethren. He said above, " O magnify the Lord
our God : and fall down before His footstool,
for He is holy : " praising some one, that is, our
Lord Jesus Christ ; whose footstool is to be wor-
shipped, because He assumed flesh, in which
He was to appear before the human race ; and
wishing to show unto us that the ancient fathers
also had preached of Him, because our Lord
Jesus Christ is Himself the True Priest, he men-
tioned these, because God spake unto them out
of the cloudy pillar. What meaneth, " out of
the cloudy pillar " ? He was speaking figura-
tively. For if He spoke in some cloud, those
obscure words predicted some one unknown,
yet to be manifest. This unknown one is no
longer unknown ; for He is known by us, our
Lord Jesus Christ. . . . He who first spoke out
of the cloudy pillar, hath in Person spoken unto
us in His footstool ; that is, on earth, when He
had assumed the flesh, for which reason we wor-
ship His footstool, for He is holy. He Himself
used to speak out of the cloud, which was not
then understood : He hath spoken in His own
footstool, and the words of His cloud have been
understood. "They kept His testimonies, and
the law that He gave them." ..." Thou heard-
est them," he saith, " O Lord our God : Thou
wast forgiving to them, O God " (ver. 8). God is
not said to be forgiving toward anything but sins :
when He pardoneth sins, then He forgiveth.
And what had He in them to punish, so that
He was forgiving in pardoning them ? He was
1 [A clear exposition of the Catholic doctrine against the
modern Roman, which was unknown to antiquity. See the treatise
of Ratramn. ed. (Lat and Eng.) Oxford, 1838. —C.J
forgiving in pardoning their sins, He was also
forgiving in punishing them. For what followeth ?
"And punishedst all their own affections." Even
in punishing them Thou wast forgiving toward
them : for not in remitting, but also in punishing
their sins, hast Thou been forgiving. Consider,
my brethren, what he hath taught us here :
attend. God is angry with him whom, when
he sinneth, He scourgeth not : for unto him to
whom He is truly forgiving, He not only remit-
teth sins, that they may not injure him in a
future life ; but also chasteneth him, that he
delight not in continual sin.
10. Come, my brethren ; if we ask how these
were punished, the Lord will aid me to tell you.
Let us consider these three persons, Moses,
Aaron, and Samuel : and how they were pun-
ished, since he said, "Thou hast punished all
their own affections : " meaning those affections
of theirs, which the Lord knew in their hearts,
which men knew not. For they were living in
the midst of the people of God, without com-
plaint from man. But what do we say ? That
perhaps the early life of Moses was sinful ; for
he fled from Egypt, after slaying a man.2 The
early life of Aaron also was such as would dis-
please God ; for he allowed a maddened and
infatuated people to make an idol to worship ; 3
and an idol was made for God's people to wor-
ship. What sin did Samuel, who was given up
when an infant to the temple ? He passed all
his life amid the holy sacraments of God : from
childhood the servant of God. Nothing was
ever said of Samuel, nothing by men. Perhaps
God knew of somewhat there to chasten ; since
even what seemeth perfect unto men, unto that
Perfection is still imperfect. Artists show many
of their works to the unskilful ; and when the
unskilful have pronounced them perfect, the
artists polish them still further, as they know
what is still wanting to them, so that men
wonder at things they had imagined already per-
fect having received so much additional polish.
This happeneth in buildings, and in paintings,
and in embroidery, and almost in every species
of art. At first they judge it to be already in a
manner perfect, so that their eyes desire nothing
further : but the judgment of the inexperienced
eye is one, and that of the rule of art another.
Thus also* these Saints were living before the
eyes of God, as if faultless, as if perfect, as if
Angels : but He who punished all their own
affections, knew what was wanting in them.
But He punished them not in anger, but in
mercy : He punished them that He might per-
fect what He had begun, not to condemn what
He had cast away. God therefore punished all
their affections. How did He punish Samuel?
2 Exod. ii. 12-15.
3 Exod. xxxti. 1-4.
Psalm C.|
ON THE PSALMS.
487
where is this punishment ? . . . What was said
unto Moses was a type, not a punishment.
What punishmerit is death to an old man?
What punishment was it, not to enter into that
land, into which unworthy men entered? But
what is said of Aaron? He also died an old
man : his sons succeeded him in the priesthood :
his son afterwards ruled in the priesthood : how
did He punish Aaron also?' Samuel also died
a holy old man, leaving his sons as his suc-
cessors.2 I seek for the punishment inflicted
upon them, and according to men I find it not :
but according to what I know the servants of
God suffer every day, they were day by day
punished. Read ye, and see the punishments,
and ye also who are advanced bear the punish-
ments. Every day they suffered from the obsti-
nate people, every day they suffered from the
ungodly livers ; and were compelled to live
among those whose lives they daily censured.
This was their punishment. He unto whom it
is small hath not advanced far ; for the ungodli-
ness of others tormenteth thee in proportion as
thou hast departed far from thine own. . . .
11. "O magnify the Lord our God!" (ver.
9). Again we magnify Him. He who is mer-
ciful even when He striketh, how is He to be
praised, how is He to be magnified? Canst
thou show this unto thy son, and cannot God?
For thou art not good when thou dost caress
thy son, and evil when thou strikest him. Both
when thou dost caress him thou art a father, and
when thou strikest him, thou art his father :
thou dost caress him, that he may not faint ; thou
strikest him, that he may not perish. " O mag-
nify the Lord our God, and worship Him upon
His holy hill : for the Lord our God is holy."
As he said above, " O magnify the Lord our
God and fall down before His footstool : "3 now
we have understood what it is to worship His
footstool : thus also but now after he had magni-
fied the Lord our God, that no man might mag-
nify Him apart from His hill, he hath also praised
His hill. What is His hill? We read elsewhere
concerning this hill, that a stone was cut from
the hill without hands, and shattered all the
kingdoms of the earth, and the stone itself in-
creased. This is the vision of Daniel which I
am relating. This stone which was cut from the
hill without hands increased, and " became," he
saith, " a great mountain, and filled the whole
face of the earth." 4 Let us worship on that
great mountain, if we desire to be heard. Here-
tics 5 do not worship on that mountain, because it
hath filled the whole earth ; they have stuck fast
on part of it, and have lost the whole. If they
acknowledge the Catholic Church, they will wor-
ship on this hill with us. For we already see
1 Numb. xx. 24-28, xxxiii. 38.
J Ps. xcix. 5. « Dan. ii. 34, 35.
2 1 Sam. viii. I, xxv.
5 Donattsts.
how that stone that was cut from the mountain
without hands hath increased, and how great
tracts of earth it hath prevailed over, and unto
what nations it hath extended. What is the
mountain whence the stone was hewn without
hands? The Jewish kingdom, in the first place ;
since they worshipped one God. Thence was
hewn the stone, our Lord Jesus Christ. . . .
That stone then was born of the mountain with-
out hands : it increased, and by its increase
broke all the kingdoms of the earth. It hath
become a great mountain, and hath filled the
whole face of the earth. This is the Catholic
Church, in whose communion rejoice that ye
are. But they who are not in her communion,
since they worship and praise God apart from
this same mountain, are not heard unto eternal
life ; although they may be heard unto certain
temporal things. Let them not flatter them-
selves, because God heareth them in some
things : for He heareth Pagans also in some
things. Do not the Pagans cry unto God, and it
raineth? Wherefore? Because He maketh His
sun to rise over the good and the bad, and send-
eth rain upon the just and the unjust.5 Boast
not therefore, Pagan, that when thou criest
unto God, God sendeth rain, for He sendeth
rain upon the just and the unjust. He hath
heard thee in temporal things : He heareth thee
not in things eternal, unless thou hast worshipped
in His holy hill. " Worship Him upon His
holy hill : for the Lord our God is holy." . . .
PSALM C.»
1. Ye heard the Psalm, brethren, while it was
being chanted : it is short, and not obscure :
as if I had given you an assurance, that ye should
not fear fatigue. . . .
2. The title of this Psalm is, " A Psalm of
confession." The verses are few, but big with
great subjects ; may the seed bring forth within
your hearts, the barn be prepared for the Lord's
harvest.
3. "Jubilate," therefore, "unto the Lord, all
ye lands" (ver. i). This Psalm giveth this ex-
hortation to us, that we jubilate unto the Lord.
Nor doth it, as it were, exhort one particular
corner of the earth, or one habitation or congre-
gation of men ; but since it is aware that it hath
sown blessings on every side, on every side it
doth exact jubilance. Doth all the earth at this
moment hear my voice? And yet the whole
earth hath heard this voice. All the earth is
already jubilant in the Lord ; and what is not as
yet jubilant, will be so. For blessing, extending
6 Matt, v 45.
7 Lat. XCIX. A sermon to the people, in which he speaketh
remarkably concerning enduring evil men in the Church or in a
monastery.
488
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm C.
on every side, when the Church was commencing
to spread from Jerusalem throughout all nations,'
everywhere overturneth ungodliness, and every-
where buildeth up piety : the good are mingled
with the wicked throughout all lands. Every
land is full of the discontented murmurs of the
wicked, and of the jubilance of the good.
What then is it, "to jubilate"? For the title
of the present Psalm especially maketh us give
good heed to this word, for it is entitled, "A
Psalm of confession." What meaneth, to jubi-
late with confession? It is the sentiment thus
expressed in another Psalm : " Blessed is the
people that understandeth jubilance." Surely
that which being understood maketh blessed is
something great. May therefore the Lord our
God, who maketh men blessed, grant me to
understand what to say, and grant you to under-
stand what ye hear : " Blessed is the people that
understandeth jubilance."2 Let us therefore
run unto this blessing, let us understand jubi-
lance, let us not pour it forth without under-
standing. Of what use is it to be jubilant and
obey 3 this Psalm, when it saith, " Jubilate unto
the Lord, all ye lands," and not to understand
what jubilance is, so that our voice only may be
jubilant, our heart not so ? For the understand-
ing is the utterance of the heart.4
4. I am about to say what ye know. One
who jubilates, uttereth not words, but it is a cer-
tain sound of joy without words : for it is the
expression of a mind poured forth in joy, ex-
pressing, as far as it is able, the affection, but not
compassing the feeling. A man rejoicing in his
own exultation, after certain words which can-
not5 be uttered or understood, bursteth forth
into sounds of exultation without words, so that
it seemeth that he indeed doth rejoice with his
voice itself, but as if filled with excessive joy
cannot express in words the subject of that joy.
. . . Those who are engaged at work in the
fields are most given to jubilate ; reapers, or vin-
tagers, or those who gather any of the fruits of
the earth, delighted with the abundant produce,
and rejoicing in the very richness and exuberance
of the soil, sing in exultation ; and among the
songs which they utter in words, they put in cer-
tain cries without words in the exultation of a
rejoicing mind ; and this is what is meant by
jubilating.6 . . .
5. When then are we jubilant? When we
praise that which cannot be uttered. For we
observe the whole creation, the earth and the
sea, and all things that therein are : we observe
that each have their sources and causes, the
power of production, the order of birth, the
1 Luke xxiv. 47. * Ps. Ixxxix. 15. 3 Al. " not obey."
* See St. Greg, on ^Job i. 7, Oxf. Tr. vol. i. p. 73.
* Many MSS. " which can."
6 [Coleridge instances the habitual notes of the Swiss mountain-
eers, much in the same way. — C. J
limit of duration, the end in decease, that suc-
cessive ages run on without any confusion, that
the stars roll, as it seemeth, from the East to the
West, and complete the courses of the years : we
see how the months are measured, how the hours
extend ; and in all these things a certain invisi-
ble element, I know not what, but some princi-
ple 1 of unity, which is termed spirit or soul,
present in all living things, urging them to the
pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain,
and the preservation of their own safety ; that
man also hath somewhat in common with the
Angels of God ; not with cattle, such as life,
hearing, sight, and so forth ; but somewhat which
can understand God, which peculiarly doth be-
long to the mind, which can distinguish justice
and injustice, as the eye discerneth white from
black. In all this consideration of creation,
which I have run over as I could, let the soul
ask itself : Who created all these things ? Who
made them ? Who made among them thyself?
... I have observed the whole creation, as far
as I could. I have observed the bodily crea-
tion in heaven and on earth, and the spiritual
in myself who am speaking, who animate my
limbs, who exert voice, who move the tongue,
who pronounce words, and distinguish sensations.
And when can I comprehend myself in myself?
How then can I comprehend what is above
myself? Yet the sight of God is promised to
the human heart, and a certain operation of
purifying the heart is enjoined ; this is the
counsel of Scripture. Provide the means of
seeing what thou lovest, before thou try to see
it. For unto whom is it not sweet to hear of
God and His Name, except to the ungodly,
who is far removed, separated from Him? . . .
6. Be therefore like Him in piety, and ear-
nest in meditation : for " the invisible things
of Him are clearly seen, being understood by
i the things that are made ; " 8 look upon the
I things that are made, admire them, seek their
! author. If thou art unlike, thou wilt turn back ;
I if like, thou wilt rejoice. And when, being like
I Him, thou shalt have begun to approach Him,
I and to feel God, the more love increaseth in
j thee, since God is love, thou wilt perceive some-
I what which thou wast trying to say, and yet
couldest not say. Before thou didst feel God,
thou didst think that thou couldest express God ;
thou beginnest to feel Him, and then feelest
that what thou dost feel thou canst not express.
But when thou hast herein found that what thou
dost feel cannot be expressed, wilt thou be mute,
wilt thou not praise God? Wilt thou then be
silent in the praises of God, and wilt thou not
offer up thanksgivings unto Him who hath willed
to make Himself known unto thee? Thou didst
7 Vestigium, " trace."
• Rom. i. 20.
Psalm C]
ON THE PSALMS.
489
praise Him when thou wast seeking, wilt thou
be silent when thou hast found Him? By no
means ; thou wilt not be ungrateful. Honour is
due to Him, reverence is due to Him, great
praise is due to Him. Consider thyself, see
what thou art : earth and ashes ; look who it is
hath deserved to see, and What ; consider who
thou art, What to see, a man to see God ! I
recognise not the man's deserving, but the
mercy of God. Praise therefore Him who hath
mercy. . . .
7. " Serve the Lord with gladness." All ser-
vitude is full of bitterness : all who are bound to
a lot of servitude both are slaves, and discon-
tented. Fear not the servitude of that Lord :
there will be no groaning there, no discontent,
no indignation ; no one seeketh to be sold to
another master, since it is a sweet service, be-
cause we are all redeemed. Great happiness,
brethren, it is, to be a slave in lhat great house,
although in bonds. Fear not, bound slave, con-
fess unto the Lord : ascribe thy bonds to thine
own deservings ; confess in thy chains, if thou
art desirous they be changed into ornaments.
... At the same time thou art slave, and free ;
slave, because thou art created such ; free, be-
cause thou art loved by God, by whom thou
wast created : yea, free indeed, because thou
lovest Him by whom thou wast made. Serve
not with discontent ; for thy murmurs do not
tend to release thee from serving, but to make
thee a wicked servant. Thou art a slave of the
Lord, thou art a freedman of the Lord : seek
not so to be emancipated as to depart from the
house of Him who frees thee. . . .
8. I will, therefore, saith he, live separate with
a few good men : why should I live in common
with crowds ? Well : those very few good men,
from what crowds have they been strained out ?
If however these few are all good : it is, never-
theless, a good and praiseworthy design in man,
to be with such as have chosen a quiet life ; dis-
tant from the bustle of the people, from noisy
crowds, from the great waves of life, they are as
if in harbour. Is there therefore here that joy ?
that jubilant gladness which is promised? Not
as yet ; but still groans, still the anxiety of temp-
tations. For even the harbour hath an entrance
somewhere or other ; if it had not, no ship could
enter it ; it must therefore be open on some side :
but at times on this open side the wind rusheth
in ; and where there are no rocks, ships dashed
together shatter one another. Where then is
security, if not even in harbour? And yet it
must be confessed, it is true, that persons in har-
bour are in their degree much better off than
when afloat on the main. Let them love one
another, as ships in harbour, let them be bound
together happily ; let them not dash against one
another : let absolute equality be preserved there,
constancy in love ; and when perchance the wind
rusheth in from the open side, let there be care-
ful piloting there. Now what will one who per-
chance presideth over such places, nay, who
serveth his brethren, in what are called monas-
teries, tell me? I will be cautious : I will admit
no wicked man. How wilt thou admit no evil
one ? . . . Those who are about to enter, do not
know themselves ; how much less dost thou know
them? For many have promised themselves
that they were about to fulfil that holy life, which
has all things in common, where no man calleth
anything his own, who have one soul and one
heart in God : ■ they have been put into the fur-
nace, and have cracked. How then knowest
thou him who is unknown even to himself? . . .
Where then is security? Here nowhere; in
this life nowhere, except solely in the hope of
the promise of God. But there, when we shall
reach thereunto, is complete security, when the
gates are shut, and the bars of the gates of Jeru-
salem made fast ; 2 there is truly full jubilance,
and great delight. Only do not thou feel secure
in praising any sort of life: "judge no man
blessed before his death." 3
9. By this means men are deceived, so that
they either do not undertake, or rashly attempt,
a better life ; because, when they choose to
praise, they praise without mention of the evil
that is mixed with the good : and those who
choose to blame, do so with so envious and per-
verse a mind, as to shut their eyes to the good,
and exaggerate only the evils which either actu-
ally exist there, or are imagined. Thus it hap-
peneth, that when any profession hath been ill.
that is, incautiously, praised, if it hath invited
men by its own reputation, they who betake
themselves thither discover some such as they
did not believe to be there ; and offended by
the wicked recoil from the good. Brethren,
apply this teaching to your life, and hear in
such a manner that ye may live. The Church
of God, to speak generally, is magnified : Chris-
tians, and Christians alone, are called great, the
Catholic (Church) is magnified; all love each
other ; each and all do all they can for one
another ; they give themselves up to prayers,
fastings, hymns ; throughout the whole world,
with peaceful unanimity God is praised. Some
one perhaps heareth this, who is ignorant that
nothing is said of the wicked who are mingled
with them ; he cometh, invited by these praises,
findeth bad men mixed with them, who were not
mentioned to him before he came ; he is of-
fended by false Christians, he flieth from true
Christians. Again, men who hate and slander
them, precipitately blame them : asking, what
sort of men are Christians? Who are Chris-
1 Acts iv. 3a.
3 Ecclus. xi. 28.
2 Ps. cxivii. 13.
[See A. N. F. vol. vi. p. 279. — C]
490
THE WORKS OF ST. .AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm C.
tians? Covetous men, usurers. Are not the
very persons who fill the Churches on holidays the
same who during the games and other spectacles
fill the theatres and amphitheatres ? They are
drunken, gluttonous, envious, slanderers of each
other. There are such, but not such only. And
this slanderer in his blindness saith nothing of
the good : and. that praiser in his want of cau-
tion is silent about the bad. . . . Thus also in
that common life of brethren, which exists in a
monastery : great and holy men live therein,
with daily hymns, prayers, praises of God ; their
occupation is reading ; they labour with their
own hands, and by this means support them-
selves ; ' they seek nothing covetously ; what-
ever is brought in for them by pious brethren,
they use with contentedness and charity ; no
one claimeth as his own what another hath not ;
all love, all forbear one another mutually. Thou
hast praised them ; thou hast praised ; he who
knoweth not what is going on within, who know-
eth not how, when the wind entereth, ships even
in harbour dash against one another, entereth as
if in hope of security, expecting to find no man
to forbear ; he findeth there evil brethren, who
could not have been found evil, if they had not
been admitted (and they must be at first toler-
ated, lest they should perchance reform ; nor
can they easily be excluded, unless they have
first been endured) : and becometh himself im-
patient beyond endurance. Who asked me
here? I thought that love was here. And irri-
tated by the perversity of some few men, since
he hath not persevered in fulfilling his vow, he
becometh a deserter of so holy a design, and
guilty of a vow he hath never discharged. And
then, when he hath gone forth himself too, he
also becometh a reproa'cher, and a slanderer ;
and records those things only (sometimes real),
which he asserts that he could not have endured.
But the real troubles of the wicked ought to be
endured for the society of the good. The
Scripture saith unto him : " Woe unto those that
have lost patience."2 And what is more, he
belcheth abroad the evil savour of his indigna-
tion, as a means to deter them who are about to
enter; because, when he had entered himself,
he could not persevere. Of what sort are they ?
Envious, quarrelsome, men who forbear no man,
covetous ; saying, He did this there, and he did
that there. Wicked one, why art thou silent
about the good ! Thou sayest enough of those
whom thou couldest not endure : thou sayest
nothing of those who endured thy wickedness. . . .
10. "O serve the Lord with gladness" (ver.
2) : he addresseth you, whoever ye are who
endure all things in love, and rejoice in hope.
" Serve the Lord," not in the bitterness of mur-
1 Inde se transigunt.
3 Ecclcs. ii. 16.
muring, but in the "gladness of love." "Come
before His presence with rejoicing." It is easy
to rejoice outwardly : rejoice before the presence
of God. I>et not the tongue be too joyful : let
the conscience be joyful. " Come before His
presence with a song."
11. " Be ye sure that the Lord He is God"
(ver. 3). Who knoweth not that the Lord, He
is God? But He speaketh of the Lord, whom
men thought not God : " Be ye sure that the
Lord He is God." Let not that Lord become
vile in your sight : ye have crucified Him,
scourged Him, spit upon Him, crowned Him
with thorns, clothed Him in a dress of infamy,
hung Him upon the Cross, pierced Him with
nails, wounded Him with a spear, placed guards
at His tomb ; He is God. " It is He that hath
made us, and not we ourselves." It is He that
hath made us : " and without Him was not any-
thing made that was made." i What reason
have ye for exultation, what reason have ye for
pride ? Another made you ; the Same who
made you, suffereth from you. But ye extol
yourselves, and glory in yourselves, as if ye were
created by yourselves. It is good for you that
He who made you, make you perfect. . . .
" We are His people, and the sheep of His
pasture." Sheep and one sheep. These sheep
are one sheep : and how loving a Shepherd we
have ! He left the ninety and nine, and
descended to seek the one, He bringeth it
back on His own shoulders4 ransomed by His
own blood. That Shepherd dieth without fear
for the sheep, who on His resurrection regaineth
His sheep.
12. "Enter into His gates with confession"
(ver. 3). At the gates is the beginning : begin
with confession. Thence is the Psalm entitled,
" A Psalm of Confession : " there be joyful.
Confess that ye were not made by yourselves,
praise Him by whom ye were made. Let thy
good come from Him, in departing from whom
thou hast caused thine evil. " Enter into His
gates with confession." Let the flock enter into
the gates : let it not remain outside, a prey for
wolves. And how is it to enter? "With con-
fession." Let the gate, that is, the commence-
ment for thee, be confession. Whence it is said
in another Psalm, " Begin unto the Lord with
confession." ' What he there calleth " Begin,"
here he calleth " Gates." " Enter into His
gates in confession." What? And when we
have entered, shall we not still confess? Always
confess Him : thou hast always what to confess
for. It is hard in this life for a man to be so far
changed, that no cause for censure be discover-
able in him : thou must needs blame thyself, lest
He who shall condemn blame thee. Therefore
3 John i. 3. * Luke xv. 4, 5 ' Ps. cxlvii 7.
Psalm CI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
491
even when thou hast entered His courts, then
also confess. When will there be no longer
confession of sins ? In that rest, in that likeness
to the Angels. But consider what I have said :
there will there be no confession of sins. I said
not, there will be no confession : for there will
be confession of praise. Thou wilt ever confess,
that He is God, thou a creature ; that He is thy
Protector, thyself protected. In Him thou shalt
be as it were hid.' " Go into His courts with
hymns ; and confess unto Him." Confess in
the gates ; and when ye have entered the courts,
confess with hymns. Hymn are praises. Blame
thyself, when thou art entering ; when thou hast
entered, praise Him. " Open me the gates of
righteousness," he saith in another Psalm, " that
I may go into them, and confess unto the Lord."2
Did he say, when I have entered, I will no longer
confess ? Even after his entrance, he will con-
fess. For what sins did our Lord Jesus Christ
confess, when He said, " I confess unto Thee,
O Father"?3 He confessed in praising Him,
not in accusing Himself. "Speak good of His
Name."
13. "For the Lord is pleasant" (ver. 4).
Think not that ye faint in praising Him. Your
praise of Him is like food : the more ye praise
Him, the more ye acquire strength, and He
whom ye praise becometh the more sweet.
" His mercy is everlasting." For He will not
cease to be merciful, after He hath freed thee :
it belongeth to His mercy to protect thee even
unto eternal life. " His mercy," therefore, " is
to everlasting : and His truth from generation
to generation" (ver. 5). Understand by "from
generation to generation," either every genera-
tion, or in two generations, the one earthly, the
other heavenly. Here there is one generation
which produceth mortals ; another which maketh
such as are everlasting. His Truth is both
here, and there. Imagine not that His truth is
not here, if His truth were not here, he would not
say in another Psalm : " Truth is risen out of
the earth ; " * nor would Truth Itself say, Lo, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world." 5
PSALM CI.6
1. In this Psalm, we ought to seek in the
whole body of it what we find in the first verse :
" Mercy and judgment will I sing unto Thee, O
Lord" (ver. 1). Let no man flatter himself
that he will never be punished through God's
mercy ; for there is judgment also ; and let no
man who hath been changed for the better
dread the Lord's judgment, seeing that mercy
goeth before it. For when men judge, some-
1 Ps. xxxi- 30. * Ps. cxviit. 19.
4 Ps tv. 12. 5 Matt, xxviii. 20.
6 Lat. C A discourse to the people.
3 Matt. xi. 25.
times overcome by mercy, they act against jus-
tice ; and mercy, but not justice, seemeth to be
in them : while sometimes, when they wish to
enforce a rigid judgment, they lose mercy. But
God neither loseth the severity of judgment in
the bounty of mercy, nor in judging with
severity loseth the bounty of mercy. Suppose
we distinguish these two, mercy and judgment,
by time ; for possibly, they are not placed in
this order without a meaning, so that he said
not "judgment and mercy," but "mercy and
judgment : " so that if we distinguish them by
succession in time, perhaps we find that the
present is the season for mercy, the future for
judgment. How is it that the season of mercy
cometh first? Consider first how it is with God,
that thou also mayest imitate the Father, in so
far as He shall permit thee. ..." He maketh
His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Behold mercy. When thou seest the just and
the unjust behold the same sun, enjoy the same
light, drink from the same founts, satisfied with
the same rain, blessed with the same fruits of the
earth, inhale this air in the same way, possess
equally the world's goods ; think not that God
is unjust, who giveth these things equally to the
just and the unjust. It is the season of mercy,
not as yet of judgment. For unless God spared
at first through mercy, He would not find those
whom He could crown through judgment.
There is therefore a season for mercy, when
the long-suffering of God calleth sinners to
repentance.
2. Hear the Apostle distinguishing each sea-
son, and do thou also distinguish it. . . .
" Thinkest thou," he saith, " O man, that
judgest them that do such things, and doest
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment
of God?" And as if we were to reply, Why
do I commit such sins daily, and no evil occur-
reth unto me? he goeth on to show to him the
season of mercy : " Despisest thou the riches
of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-
suffering?" And he did indeed despise them;
but the Apostle hath made him anxious. " Not
knowing," he saith, " that the goodness of God
leadeth thee to repentance?" 7 Behold the sea-
son of mercy. But that he might not think
this would last for ever, how did he in the next
verse raise his fears? Now hear the season of
judgment ; thou hast heard the season of mercy,
on which account, "mercy and judgment will I
sing unto Thee, O Lord:" "But thou," saith
the Apostle, " after thy hardness and impenitent
heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against
the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God, who will render to every man
1 a Rom. ii. 4.
492
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CI.
according to his deeds." ' Lo, " mercy and judg-
ment." But he hath threatened concerning
judgment : is therefore the judgment of God to
be feared only, and not to be loved ? To be feared
by the wicked on account of punishment, to be
loved by the good on account of the crown.
Because then the Apostle hath alarmed the
wicked in the testimony which I have quoted,
hear where he giveth hope concerning judgment
to the good. He puts forth himself, and shows
in himself too the season of mercy. For unless
he found a period of mercy, in what condition
would judgment find him? A blasphemer, a
persecutor, an injurer of others. For he thus
speaketh, and praiseth the season of mercy, in
which season we are now living : " I who was
before," he saith, " a blasphemer, and a perse-
cutor, and injurious : but I obtained mercy."
But perhaps he only hath obtained mercy?
Hear how he cheereth us : " That in me," he
saith, " first, Christ Jesus might show forth all
long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."2
What meaneth, " that He might show forth all
long-suffering " ? That every sinner and wicked
man might see that Paul received pardon, and
might not despair of himself? Lo, he hath
instanced himself, and thereby cheered others
also. . . . But did Paul alone deserve this? For
I had asserted, that as he raised our fears by the
former testimony, so did he encourage us by
the latter. When he said, "The Lord, the right-
eous Judge, shall render to me at that day : " he
addeth, " and not to me only, but unto all them
also that love His appearing " 3 and His kingdom.
Since therefore, brethren, we have a season of
mercy, let us not on that account flatter, or
indulge ourselves, saying, God spareth ever. . . .
3. " I will sing to the harp, and will have
understanding, in the spotless way. When Thou
shalt come unto me" (ver. 2). Except in the
spotless way, thou canst neither sing to the
harp, nor understand. If thou dost wish to
understand, sing in the spotless way, that is,
work with cheerfulness before thy God. What
is the spotless way ? Hear what followeth : " I
walked in innocence, in the midst of my house."
This spotless way beginneth from innocence,
and it endeth also in innocence. Why seek
many words ? Be innocent : and thou hast per-
fected righteousness. . . . But who is innocent?
He who while he hurteth not another, injureth
not himself. For he who hurteth himself, is
not innocent. Some one saith : Lo, I have not
robbed any one, I have not oppressed any one :
I will live happily on my own substance, the
fruits of my virtuous toil ; I wish to have fine
banquets, I wish to spend as much as pleaseth
1 Rom. ii. 5, 6.
1 Tim. i. 13, 16.
J 2 Tim. iv. 8.
me, to drink with those whom I like as much as
I please ; whom have I robbed, whom have I
oppressed, who hath complained of me? He
seemeth innocent. But if he corrupt himself,
if he overthrow the temple of God within him-
self, why hope that he will act with mercy
toward others, and spare the wretched? Can
that man be merciful to others, who unto him-
self is cruel? The whole of righteousness,
therefore, is reduced to the one word, inno-
cence. But the lover of iniquity, hateth his own
soul. When he loved iniquity, he fancied he
was injuring others. But consider whether he was
injuring others : " He who loveth iniquity," he
saith, " hateth his own soul." 4 He therefore
who wishes to injure another, first injureth him-
self; nor doth he walk, since there is no room.
For all wickedness suffereth from narrowness :
innocence alone is broad enough to walk in.
" I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the
midst of my house." By the middle of his
house, he either signifieth the Church herself;
for Christ walketh in her : or his own heart ;
for our inner house is our heart : as he hath
explained in the above words, " in the innocence
of my heart." What is the innocence of the
heart? The middle of his house? Whoever
hath a bad house in this, is driven out of doors.
For whoever is oppressed within his heart by a
bad conscience, just as any man in consequence
of the overflow of a waterspout or of smoke
goeth out of his house, suffereth not himself to
dwell therein ; so he who hath not a quiet heart,
cannot happily dwell in his heart. Such men
go out of themselves in the bent of their mind,
and delight themselves with things without, that
affect the body ; they seek repose in trifles, in
spectacles, in luxuries, in all evils. Wherefore
do they wish themselves well without? Because
it is not well with them within, so that they may
rejoice in a, good conscience. . . .
4. " I set no wicked thing before my eyes "
(ver. 3). . . . I did love no wicked thing. And
he explaineth this same wicked thing : " I hated
them that do unfaithfulness." Attend, my
brethren. If ye walk with Christ in the midst
of His house, that is, if either in your heart ye
have a good repose, or in the Church herself
proceed on a good journey in the way of godli-
ness ; ye ought not to hate those unfaithful only
who are without, but whomsoever also ye may
have found within. Who are the unfaithful?
They who hate the law of God ; who hear, and
do it not, are called unfaithful. Hate the doers
of unfaithfulness, repel them from thee. But
thou shouldest hate the unfaithful, not men :
one man who is unfaithful, hath, ye see, two
names, man, and unfaithful : God made him
< Ps.
Psalm CI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
493
man, he made himself unfaithful ; love in him
what God made, persecute in him what he made
himself. For when thou shalt have persecuted
his unfaithfulness, thou killest the work of man,
and freest the work of God. "I hated the
doers of unfaithfulness."
5. " The wicked heart hath not cleaved unto
me." . . . The heart of a man, who wisheth not
anything contrary to any that God wisheth, is
called straight. ... If therefore the righteous
heart followeth God, the crooked heart resisteth
God. Suppose something untoward happeneth
to him, he crieth out, " God, what have I done
unto Thee? What sin have I committed?"
He wisheth himself to appear just, God unjust.
What is so crooked as this? It is not enough
that thou art crooked thyself: thou must think
thy rule crooked also. Reform thyself, and thou
findest Him straight, in departing from whom
thou hast made thyself crooked. He doth
justly, thou unjustly ; and for this reason thou
art perverse, since thou callest man just, and
God unjust. What man dost thou call just?
Thyself. For when thou sayest, " What have I
done unto Thee?" thou thinkest thyself just.
But let God answer thee : " Thou speakest truth :
thou hast done nothing to Me : thou hast done
all things unto thyself; for if thou hadst done
anything for Me, thou wouldest have done good.
For whatever is done well, is done unto Me ;
because it is done according to My command-
ment ; but whatever of evil is done, is done
unto thee, not unto Me ; for the wicked man
doth nothing except for his own sake, since it
is not what I command." When ye see such
men, brethren, reprove them, convince and cor-
rect them : and if ye cannot reprove or correct
them, consent not to them.
6. " When the wicked man departed from me,
I knew him not" (ver. 4). I approved him
not, I praised him not, he pleased me not. For
we find the word " to know " occasionally used
in Scripture, in the sense of " to be pleased."
For what is hidden from God, brethren ? Doth
He know the just, and doth He not know the
unjust? What dost thou think of, that He doth
not know ? I say not, what thinkest thou ; but
what wilt thou ever think, that He will not have
seen beforehand? God knoweth all things,
then ; and yet in the end, that is in judgment
after mercy, He saith of some persons : " I will
profess unto them, I never knew you ; depart
from Me, ye workers of iniquity." ' Was there
any one He did not know? But what meaneth,
" I never knew you " ? I acknowledge you not
in My rule. For I know the rule of My right-
eousness : ye agree not with it, ye have turned
aside from it, ye are crooked. Therefore He
1 Matt. vii. 23.
j said here also : " When the wicked man de-
parted from Me, I knew him not." . . . There-
fore, " when the wicked man departed from me,"
that is, when the wicked man was unlike me,
and was unwilling to imitate my paths, was un-
willing in his wickedness to live as I had pro-
posed myself for his imitation ; " I knew him
not." What meaneth, "I knew him not"?
Not that I was ignorant of him, but that I did
not approve him.
7. " Whoso privily slandered his neighbour,
him I persecuted" (ver. 5). Behold the right-
eous persecutor, not of the man, but of the sin.
" With the proud eye, and the insatiable heart,
I did not feed." What meaneth, " I did not
feed with " ? I did not eat in common with
such. Attend, beloved ; since ye are about to
hear something wonderful. If he did not feed
with this man, he did not eat with him ; for to
feed is to eat ; how is it then that we find our
Lord Himself eating with the proud? It was
not only with those publicans and sinners, for
they were humble : for they acknowledged their
weakness, and asked for the physician. We find
that He ate with the proud Pharisees themselves.
A certain proud man had invited Him : it was
the same who was displeased because a sinning
woman, one of ill repute in the city, approached
the feet of our Lord. . . . That Pharisee was
proud : the Lord ate with him ; what is it there-
fore that he saith ? "With such an one I did
not eat." How doth He enjoin unto us what
He hath not done Himself? He exhorteth us
to imitate Himself: we see that He ate with
the proud ; how doth He forbid us to eat with the
proud? We indeed, brethren, for the sake of
reproof, abstain from communion with our breth-
ren, and do not eat with them, that they may be
reformed? We rather eat with strangers, with
Pagans, than with those who hold with us, if we
have seen that they live wickedly, that they may
be ashamed, and amend ; as the Apostle saith,
" And if any man obey not our word by this
Epistle, note that man, and have no company
with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count
him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a
brother."2 For the sake of healing others we
usually do this ; but nevertheless we often eat
with many strangers and ungodly men.
8. The pious heart hath its banquets, the
proud heart hath its banquets : for it was on
account of the food of the proud heart, that he
said, " with an insatiable heart." How is the
proud heart fed? If a man is proud, he is
envious : otherwise it cannot be. Pride is the
mother of enviousness : it cannot but generate
it, and ever coexist with it. Every proud man
is, therefore, envious : if envious, he feedeth on
2 2 Thess. iii. 14.
494
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIL
the misfortunes of others. Whence the Apostle
saith, " But if ye bite and devour one another,
take heed that ye be not consumed of one
another." ' Ye see them, then, eating : eat not
with these : fly such banquets : for they cannot
satisfy themselves with rejoicing in others' evils,
because their hearts are insatiable. Beware
thou art not caught in their feasts by the devil's
noose. . . . Just as birds feed at the trap, or fishes
at the hook, they were taken, when they fed.
The ungodly therefore have their own feasts,
the godly also have theirs. Hear the feasts of the
godly : " Blessed are they who hunger and thirst
after righteousness : for they shall be filled." * If
therefore the godly eateth the meat of righteous-
ness, and the ungodly of pride ; it is no wonder
if he is insatiable in heart. He eateth the meat
of iniquity : do not eat the meat of iniquity,
and the proud in eye, and the insatiable in heart,
eateth not with thee.
9. And whence wast thou fed? And what
pleased thee, when he did not eat with thee?
" Mine eyes," he saith, " were upon such as are
faithful in the land, that they might sit with
me" (ver. 6). That is, that with Me they
might be seated.' In what sense are they " to
sit " ? " Ye shall sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel."4 The faithful of the
earth judge, for to them it is said, " Know ye
not, that we shall judge angels ? " 5 " Whoso
walketh in a spotless way, he ministered unto me."
To " Me," he saith, not to himself. For many
minister the Gospel, but unto themselves ; be-
cause they seek their own things, not the things
of Jesus Christ. 6 . . .
10. "The proud man hath not dwelt in the
midst of my house" (ver. 7). Understand this
of the heart. The proud did not dwell in my
heart : no such dwelt in my heart : for he hur-
ried away from me. None but the meek and
peaceful dwelt in my heart ; the proud dwelt
not there, for the unrighteous one dwelleth not
in the heart of the righteous. Let the righteous
be distant from thee, I know not how many
miles and stations : 7 ye dwell together, if ye
have one heart. "The proud doer hath not
dwelt in the midst of my house : he that speak-
eth unjust things hath not directed in the sight
of my eyes." This is the spotless way, where
we understand when the Lord cometh unto us.
11. "In the morning I destroyed all the
ungodly that were in the land. That I may
root out all wicked doers from the city of the
Lord" (ver. 8). This is obscure. There are
then wicked doers in the city of the Lord, and
they at present, seemingly, spared. Why so?
1 Gal. r. 15. ' Matt. v. 6.
' Mfcum sederent There was an ambiguity in contiderent, as
written
' Matt. xix. 28. I I Cor. vi. 3.
6 Philip, li. 31. I Mansionibus.
Because it is the season of mercy : but that of
judgment will come ; for the Psalm thus began,
" Of mercy and judgment will I sing unto Thee,
O Lord." . . .
12. He at present spareth, He will then
judge. But when will He judge ? When night
shall have passed away. For this reason He
hath said : " In the morning." When the day
shall at last have arrived, night having passed
by. Why doth He spare them until the dawn ?
Because it was night. What meaneth, it was
night? Because it was the season for mercy:
He was merciful, while the hearts of men were
hidden. Thou seest some one living ill ; thou
endurest him : for thou knowest not of what
sort he will prove to be ; since it is night ;
whether he who to-day liveth ill, to-morrow may
live well ; and whether he who to-day liveth
well, to-morrow may be wicked. For it is night,
and God endureth all men, since He is of long-
suffering : He endureth them, that sinners may
be converted unto Him. But they who shall
not have reformed themselves in that season of
mercy, shall be slain. And wherefore? That
they may be scattered abroad 8 from the city
of the Lord, from the fellowship of Jerusalem,
from the fellowship of the Saints, from the fel-
lowship of the Church. But when shall they
be slain? "At dawn." What meaneth, "at
dawn " ? When night shall have passed away.
Wherefore now doth he spare? Because it is
the season of mercy. Why doth He not always
spare ? Because, " Mercy and judgment will I
sing unto Thee, O Lord." Brethren, let no
man flatter himself: all the doers of iniquity
shall be slain ; Christ shall slay them at the
dawn, and shall destroy them from His city.
But now while it is the time of mercy, let them
hear Him. Everywhere He crieth out by the
Law, by the Prophets, by the Psalms, by the
Epistles, by the Gospels : see that He is not
silent ; that He spareth ; that He granteth
mercy; but beware, for the judgment will
come.
PSALM CIL'
1. Behold, one poor man prayeth, and pray-
eth not in silence. We may therefore hear him,
and see who he is : whether it be not perchance
He, of whom the Apostle saith, "Though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that
ye through His poverty might be rich." '° If it
is He, then, how is He poor? For in what
sense He is rich, who seeth not? What then is
richer than He, by whom riches were made,
even those which are not true riches? For
through Him we have even these riches, ability,
memory, character, health of body, the senses,
• Oxf. MSS. disperdantur, " destroyed," as below.
» Lat. CI. *> 3 Cor. viii. 9.
Psalm CII.)
ON THE PSALMS.
495
and the conformation of our limbs : for when
these are safe, even the poor are rich. Through
Him also are those greater riches, faith, piety,
justice, charity, chastity, good conduct : for no
man hath these, except through Him who justi-
fieth the ungodly. . . . Behold, how rich ! In
one so rich, how are we to recognise these
words ? "I have eaten ashes as it were bread :
and mingled my drink with weeping." ' Have
these so great riches come to this? The former
state is a very high one, this is a very lowly
one. . . . Yet still examine whether this poor
man be He ; since, " The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us." 2 Reflect also upon these
words : " I am Thy servant, and the Son of
Thine handmaid."3 Observe, this handmaid,
chaste, a virgin, and a mother : for there He
received our poverty, when He was clothed in
the form of a servant, emptying Himself; lest
thou shouldest dread His riches, and in thy
beggarly state shouldest not dare approach Him.
There, I say, He put on the form of a servant,
there He was clothed with our poverty ; there
He made Himself poor, and us rich. We are
now drawing near to understand these things of
Him : nevertheless we may not as yet rashly
pronounce. . . .
2. Let him add poverty then to poverty :
let Him transfigure unto Himself our humble
body : let Him be our Head, we His limbs, let
there be two in one flesh.4 . . . For He hath
deigned to hold even us as His limbs. The
penitent also are among His limbs. For they
are not shut out, nor separated from His
Church : nor would He make the Church His
spouse, unless by words like these : " Repent
ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." '
Let us then hear what the head and the body
prayeth, the bridegroom and bride, Christ and
the Church,6 both one Person ; but the Word
and the flesh are not both one thing ; the Father
and the Word are both one thing ; Christ and
the Church are both one Person, one perfect
man in the form of His own fulness. . . . Let us
hear therefore Christ, poor within us and with
us, and for our sakes. For the title itself indi-
cates the poor one. Lastly, remember that I
conjectured who that poor one was : let us hear
His prayer, and recognise His Person ; and
mistake not, when thou shalt have heard any-
thing that cannot apply to His Head ; it was
for this reason that I have prefaced as I have,
that whatever thou shalt hear of this description,
thou mayest understand as sounding from the
weakness of the body, and recognise the voice
of the members in the head. The title is, "A
Prayer of the afflicted, when he was tormented,
and poured out his prayer before the Lord."
« Ps. cii. 9
4 Philip, iii. 3i.
2 John i. 14.
' Mail. iii. 3.
3 Ps. cxvi. 16.
& Eph. iv. 15; John iii. 29.
It is the same poor one who elsewhere saith :
" From the ends of the earth will I call upon
Thee, when my heart is in heaviness." 7 He is
afflicted because He is also Christ ; who in the
Prophet's words calleth Himself both Bride-
groom and Bride : " He hath bound on me the
diadem as on a bridegroom, and as a bride hath
adorned me with an ornament." 8 He called
Himself Bridegroom, He called Himself Bride ;
wherefore this, unless Bridegroom applieth to
the Head, Bride to the body? They are one
voice then, because they are one flesh. Let us
hear, and recognise ourselves in these words ;
and if we see that we are without, let us labour
to be there.
3. " Hear my prayer, O Ix)rd : and let my
crying come unto Thee " (ver. 1 ) . " Hear my
prayer, O Lord," is the same as, " Ixt my cry-
ing come unto Thee : " the feeling of the sup-
pliant is shown by the repetition. " Turn not
Thy face away from me." When did God turn
away His Face from His Son? when did the
Father turn away His Face from Christ? But
for the sake of the poverty of my members,
" Turn not away Thy face from me : whatsoever
day I am troubled, incline Thine ear unto me "
(ver. 2). . . . Thou art in trouble this day, I
am in trouble ; another is in trouble to-morrow,
I am in trouble ; after this generation other
descendants, who succeed your descendants, are
in trouble, I am in trouble ; down to the end of
the world, whoever are in trouble in My body,
I am in trouble. . . . Peter prayed, Paul prayed,
the rest of the Apostles prayed ; the faithful
prayed in those times, the faithful prayed in the
following times, the faithful prayed in the times
of the Martyrs, the faithful pray in our times,
the faithful will pray in the times of our descend-
ants. " Right soon : " for I now ask that which
Thou art willing to grant. I ask not earthly
things, as an earthly man ; but redeemed at last
from my former captivity, I long for the king-
dom of heaven ; " Hear rr.e right soon : " for it
is only to such a longing that Thou hast said,
" Even while Thou art speaking, I will say, Here
I am." 9 Wherefore dost thou call? in what
tribulation ? in what want ? O poor one, before
the gate of God all-rich, in what longing dost
thou beg? from what destitution dost thou ask
relief? from what want dost thou knock, that it
may be opened unto thee?
4. " For my days are consumed away like
smoke " (ver. 3). O days ! if days : for where
day is heard of, light is understood. " My days,"
my times ; wherefore, " like smoke," unless from
the puffing up of pride? . . . See smoke, like
pride, ascending, swelling, vanishing : deservedly
therefore failing, and not stedfast. " And my
» Ps. Ui. 3.
6 Isa. Ui. 10.
9 Isa. Iviii 9.
496
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CII.
bones are scorched up as it were in an oven."
Both my bones, and my strength, not without
tribulation, not without burning. The bones of
the body of Christ, the strength of His body, is
it anywhere greater than in the Holy Apostles?
And yet see that the bones are scorched. " Who
is offended, and I burn not ? " ' They are brave,
faithful, able interpreters and preachers of the
word, living as they speak, speaking as they
hear ; they are clearly brave, yet all who suffer
offences, are an oven to them. For there is love
there, and more so in the bones. The bones
are within all the flesh, and support all the flesh.
But if any man suffer any offence, and endanger
his soul ; the bone is scorched in proportion as
it loveth. . . .
5. Look back to Adam, whence the human
race sprung. For how but from him was misery
propagated? whence but from him is this hered-
itary poverty? Let him then, who in his own
body was at one time in despair, now that he is
set in Christ's body, say with hope, " My heart
is smitten down, and withered like grass " (ver.
4). Deservedly, since all flesh is grass.2 But
how did this happen unto thee? " Since I have
forgotten to eat my bread." For God had
given His commandment for bread. For what
is the bread of the soul ? The serpent suggest-
ing, and the woman transgressing, he touched
the forbidden fruit,' he forgot the command-
ment : his heart was smitten as it deserved,
and withered like grass, since he forgot to eat
his bread. Having forgotten to eat bread, he
drinketh poison : his heart is smitten, and with-
ered like grass. . . . Now eat that bread which
thou hadst forgotten. But this very Bread hath
come, in whose body thou mayest remember
the voice of thy forgetfulness, and cry out in thy
poverty, so that thou mayest receive riches.
Now eat : for thou art in His body, who saith,
" I am the living bread which came down from
heaven." « Thou hadst forgotten to eat thy
bread ; but after His crucifixion, " all the ends
of the earth shall be reminded, and be con-
verted unto the Lord." 5 After forgetfulness,
let remembrance come, let bread be eaten from
heaven, that we may live ; not manna, as they
did eat, and died ; 6 that bread, of which it is
said, " Blessed are they who hunger and thirst
after righteousness." 7
6. " For the voice of my groaning, the bones
cleave unto my flesh " (ver. 5 ) . For many groan,
and I also groan ; even for this I groan, because
they groan for a wrong cause. That man hath
lost a piece of money, he groaneth : he hath lost
faith, he groaneth not : I weigh the money and
the faith, and I find more cause for groaning for
1 3 Cor. xi. 29.
4 John vi 41.
' Matt. v. 6.
* Isa. xl. 6.
* Ps. xxii. 37.
3 Gen iii. 6.
* John vi. 49.
him who groaneth not as he ought, or doth not
groan at all. He committeth fraud, and rejoi-
ceth. With what gain, with what loss ? He hath
gained money, he hath lost righteousness. For
the latter reason, he who knoweth how to groan,
groaneth ; he who is near the head, who right-
eously clingeth to Christ's body, groaneth for
this reason. But the carnal do not groan for
this reason, and they cause themselves to be
groaned for, because they do not groan for this
reason ; nor can we despise them, whether they
groan not at all, or groan for the wrong cause.
For we wish to correct them, we wish to amend
them, we wish to reform them : and when we
cannot, we groan ; and when we groan, we are
not separated from them. . . .
7. " I am become like a pelican in the wilder-
ness, and like an owl among ruined walls "
(ver. 6). Behold three birds and three places :
the pelican, the owl, and the sparrow ; 8 and the
three places are severally, the wilderness, the
ruined walls, and the house-top. The pelican
in the wilderness, the owl in the ruined walls,
and the sparrow in the house-top. In the first
place we must explain, what the pelican signi-
fieth : since it is born in a region which maketh
it unknown to us. It is born in lonely spots,
especially those of the river Nile in Egypt.
Whatever kind of bird it is, let us consider what
the Psalm intended to say of it. "It dwelleth,"
it saith, " in the wilderness." Why enquire of its
form, its limbs, its voice, its habits? As far as
the Psalm telleth thee, it is a bird that dwelleth
in solitude. The owl is a bird that loveth night.
Parietince, or ruins, as we call them, are walls
standing without roof, without inhabitants, these
are the habitation of the owl. And then as to
the house-top and the sparrows, ye are familiar
with them. I find, therefore, some one of
Christ's body, a preacher of the word, sympa-
thizing with the weak, seeking the gains of Christ,
mindful of his Lord to come.9 Let us see these
three things from the office of His steward.
Hath such a man come among those who are
not Christians? He is a pelican in the wilder-
ness. Hath he come among those who were
Christians, and have relapsed? He is an owl
in the ruined walls ; for he forsaketh not even
the darkness of those who dwell in night, he
wisheth to gain even these. Hath he come
among such as are Christians dwelling in a house,
not as if they believed not, or as if they had let
go what they had believed, but walking luke-
warmly in what they believe? The sparrow
crieth unto them, not in the wilderness, because
they are Christians ; nor in the ruined walls,
because they have not relapsed ; but because
they are within the roof; under the roof rather,
• [In the next verse. — C]
9 Matt. xxv. 26.
Psalm CII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
497
because they are under the flesh. The sparrow
above the flesh crieth out, husheth not up the
commandments of God, nor becometh carnal,
so that he be subject to the roof. " What ye
hear in the ear, that preach ye on the house-
tops." ■ There are three birds and three places ;
and one man may represent the three birds, and
three men may represent severally the three
birds ; and the three sorts of places, are three
classes of men : yet the wilderness, the ruined
walls, and the house-top, are but three classes
of men.
8. . . . Let us not pass over what is said, or
even read, of this bird, that is, the pelican ; not
rashly asserting anything, but yet not passing
over what has been left to be read and uttered
by those who have written it. Do ye so hear,
that if it be true, it may agree ; if false, it may
not hold. These birds are said to slay their
young with blows of their beaks, and for three
days to mourn them when slain by themselves
in the nest : after which they say the mother
wounds herself deeply, and pours forth her
blood over her young,- bathed in which they
recover life. This may be true, it may be false :
yet if it be true, see how it agreeth with Him,
who gave us life by His blood.2 It agreeth
with Him in that the mother's flesh recalleth to
life her young with her blood ; it agreeth well.
For He calleth Himself a hen brooding over her
young.3 ... If, then, it be so truly, this bird
doth closely resemble the flesh of Christ, by
whose blood we have been called to life. But
how may it agree with Christ, that the bird her-
self slays her own young? Doth not this agree
with it? "I will slay, and I will make alive:
I will wound, and I will heal." < Would the per-
secutor Saul 5 have died, unless he were wounded
from heaven ; or would the preacher be raised
up, unless by life given him from His blood?
But let those who have written on the subject see
to this ; we ought not to allow our understand-
ing of it to rest upon doubtful ground.6 Let
us rather recognise this bird in the wilderness ;
as the Psalm expresseth it, " A pelican in the
solitude." I suppose that Christ born of a
Virgin is here meant. He was born in loneli-
ness, because He alone was thus born. After
the nativity, we come to His Passion. . . . Born
in the wilderness, because alone so born ; suffer-
ing in the darkness of the Jews as it were in
night, in their sin, as it were in ruins : what
next? "I have watched:" and "am become
even as it were a sparrow, that sitteth alone upon
the house-top " (ver. 7). Thou hadst then slept
amid the ruins, and hadst said, "I laid me
' Malt. x. 27. a [See p. 285. note 8, supra. — C]
3 Malt, xxiii. 37. * Deut. xxxii. 39. 5 Acts ix. 4.
* [Compare the pardonable credulity of Clement, A. N. F. vol. i.
p. 12, note 2; also p. 285, note 8, supra. — C.J
down, and slept." » What meaneth, " I slept "?
Because I chose, I slept : I slept for love of
night : but, " I rose again," followeth. There-
fore " I watched," is here said. But after He
watched, what did He ? He ascended into
heaven, He became as a sparrow by flying ; that
is, by ascending ; " alone on the house-top ; "
that is, in heaven. He is therefore as the peli-
can by birth, as the owl by dying, as the spar-
row by ascending again : there in the wilderness,
as one alone ; here in the ruined walls, as one
slain by those who could not stand in the
building ; and here again watching and flying
for our sakes alone on the house-top, He there
intercedeth in our behalf.8 For our Head is as
the sparrow, His body as the turtle-dove. " For
the sparrow hath found her an house." What
house? In heaven, where He doth mediate for
us. " And the turtle-dove a nest," the Church
of God hath found a nest from the wood of
His Cross, where "she may lay her young," her
children.
9. " Mine enemies revile me all day, and they
that praised me are sworn together against me "
(ver. 8). With their mouth they praised, in
their heart they were laying snares for me. Hear
their praise : " Master, we know that Thou art
true, and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest Thou for any man. Is it lawful
to give tribute unto Caesar, or not ? " « And
whence this evil repute, except because I came
to make sinners my members, that by repentance
they may be in my body? Thence is all the
calumny, thence the persecution. " Why eat-
eth your Master with publicans and sinners?
They that be whole need not a physician, but
they that be sick." IO Would that ye were aware
of your sickness, that ye might seek a physi-
cian ; ye would not slay Him, and through your
infatuated pride perish in a false health.
10. "I have eaten ashes as it were bread :
and mingled my drink with weeping" (ver. 9).
Because He chose to have among His members
these kinds of men, that they should be healed
and set free, thence is the evil repute. Now at
this day what is the character of Pagan calumny
against us? what, brethren, do ye conceive they
tell us? Ye corrupt discipline, and pervert the
morality of the human race. Why dost thou
attack us; say why? what have we done?* By
giving, he replieth, to men room for .•epentance,
by promising impunity for all sins : ' for this
reason men do evil deeds, careless of conse-
quences, because everything is pardoned them,
when they are converted. . . . And what is to
become of thee, miserable man, if there shall
be no harbour of impunity? If there is only
licence for sinning, and no pardon for sins,
» Ps. iii. 3.
9 Matt. xxii. 16, 17.
8 Rom. viii. 34.
10 Matt. ix. it, 12.
498
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CII.
where wilt thou be, whither wilt thou go?
Surely even for thee did it happen, that that
afflicted one ate ashes as it were bread, and
mingled His drink with weeping. Doth not
such a feast now please thee ? But nevertheless,
he replieth, men add to their sins under the
hope of pardon. Nay, but they would add to
them if they despaired of pardon. Dost thou
not observe in what licentious cruelty gladiators
live? whence this, except because, as destined
for the sword and sacrifice, they choose to sate
their lust, before they pour forth their blood ? ■
Wouldest not thou also thus address thyself? I
am already a sinner, already an unjust man, one
already doomed to damnation, hope of pardon
there is none : why should I not do whatever
pleaseth me, although it be not lawful ? why not
fulfil, as far as I can, any longings I may have,
if, after these, nothing but torments only be in
store ? Wouldest thou not thus speak unto thy-
self, and from this very despair become still worse?
Rather than this, then, He who promiseth for-
giveness, doth correct thee, saying, " As I live,
saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from
his way and live." * . . . For in order that men
might not live the worse from despair, He prom-
ised a harbour of forgiveness ; again, that they
might not live the worse from hope of pardon,
He made the day of death uncertain : fixing
both with the utmost providence, both as a
refuge for the returning, and a terror to the
loitering. Eat ashes as bread, and mingle thy
drink with weeping ; by means of this banquet
thou shalt reach the table of God. Despair
not ; pardon hath been promised thee. Thanks
be to God, he saith, because it is promised ; I
hold fast the promise of God. Now therefore
live well. To-morrow, he replieth, I will live
well. God hath promised the pardon ; no one
promised thee to-morrow. . . .
ii. "And that because of thine indignation
and wrath : because thou hast taken me up,
thou hast cast me down" (ver. 10). This is
thy wrath, O Lord, in Adam : that wrath in
which we were all born, which cleaveth unto us
by our birth ; the wrath from the stock of iniq-
uity, the wrath from the mass of sin : according
to what the Apostle saith, " We also were once
the children of wrath, even as others." For
He saith not, the wrath of God shall come upon
him : but, " abideth upon him : " because that
wrath in which he was born is not taken away.
. . . Man set in honour, is made in the image
of God : raised up to this honour, lifted up
from the dust, from the earth, he hath received
a reasonable soul ; by the vivacity of that very
reason, he is placed before all beasts, cattle,
i [See p. 315, note 10, tupra. — C.J
2 Eick. xiii. 11.
birds that fly, and fishes.3 For which of these hath
reason to understand? Because none of them
is created in the image of God. . . . Therefore,
" Because Thou hast taken me up, Thou hast
cast me down : " punishment followeth me,*be-
cause Thou hast given me a free choice. For
if Thou hadst not given me a free choice, and
for this reason didst not make me better than
cattle, just condemnation would not follow me
when I sinned. Thus Thou hast taken me up
in giving me freedom of choice, and by Thy
judgment Thou hast cast me down.
12. "My days have declined like a shadow"
(ver. 11). . . . He had said above, " My days
are consumed away like smoke ; " and he now
saith, " My days have declined like a shadow."
In this shadow, day must be recognised ; in
this shadow, light must be discerned ; lest after-
ward it be said in late and fruitless repentance,
" What hath pride profited us ? or what good
hath riches with our vaunting brought us ? All
those things are passed away like a shadow." *
Say at this season, all things will pass away like
a shadow, and thou mayest not pass away like a
shadow. " My days have declined like a shadow,
and I am withered like grass." For he had
said above, " my heart is smitten down, and I
am withered like grass." But the grass be-
dewed with the Saviour's blood will flourish
afresh. " I have withered like grass ; " I, that is,
man, after that disobedience ; this I have suf-
fered from Thy just judgment : but what art
Thou?
13. For not because I have fallen, hast Thou
grown old : for Thou art strong to set me free,
who hast been strong to humble me. "But
Thou, O Lord, endurest for ever : and Thy
remembrance throughout all generations " (ver.
12). "Thy remembrance," because Thou dost
not forget : " throughout all generations," foras-
much as we know the promise of life, both
present and future.5
14. " Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon
Sion : for it is time that Thou have mercy
upon her" (ver. 13). What time? " But when
the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the Law."
And where is Sion ? " To redeem them that
were under the Law." 6 First then were the Jews :
for thence were the Apostles, thence those more
than five hundred brethren,' thence that later
multitude, who had but one heart and one soul
toward God.8 Therefore, " the time is come."
What time ? " Behold, now is the accepted
time : behold, now is the day of salvation." »
Who saith this? That Servant of God, that
Builder, who said, " Ve are God's building." ,0
3 Gen. i. a6.
' Gal. iv. 4, 5.
9 2 Cor. vi. a.
t Wisd. v. 8, 9.
7 1 Cor. xv. 6.
,0 1 Cor. iii. 9-11.
5 1 Tim. Iv. 3
** Acts iv. 33.
Psalm CII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
499
15. Here therefore what saith he? " For thy
servants take pleasure in her stones" (ver. 14).
In whose stones? In the stones of Sion? But
there are those there that are not stones. Not
stones of what ? What then followeth ? " and
pity the dust thereof." I understand by the
stones of Sion all the Prophets : there was the
voice of preaching sent before, thence the minis-
try of the Gospel assumed, through their preach-
ing Christ became known. Therefore thy ser-
vants have taken pleasure in the stones of Sion.
But those faithless apostates from God, who
offended their Creator by their evil deeds, have
returned to the earth, whence they were taken.
They have become dust, they have become
ungodly.' But wait, Lord ; bear with us, Lord ;
be long-suffering, O Lord : let not the wind rush
in, and sweep away this dust from the face of the
earth. Let thy servants come, let them come,
let them acknowledge in the stones thy voice, let
them pity the dust of Sion, let them be formed
in thy image : let the dust say, lest it perish,
"Remember that we are but dust."2 This of
Sion : was not that which crucified the Lord,
dust? What is worse, it was dust from the
ruined walls ; altogether dust it was, but never-
theless it was not in vain said of this dust,
"Father, forgive them." From this very dust
there came a wall of so many thousands who
believed, and who laid the price of their posses-
sions at the Apostles' feet. From that dust
then there arose a human nature formed 3 and
beautiful. Who among the heathen acted thus?
How few are there whom we admire for having
done thus, compared with the many thousands
of these converts? At first suddenly three,
afterwards five thousand ; all living in unity, all
laying the price of their possessions, when they
had sold them, at the Apostles' feet, that it might
be distributed to each, as each had need, who
had one soul and one heart toward God.4 Who
made this even of that very dust, but He who
created Adam himself out of dust? This then
is concerning Sion, but not in Sion only.
16. " The heathen shall fear Thy Name, O
Lord ; and all the kings of the earth Thy Majesty "
(ver. 15). Now that Thou hast pitied Sion,
now that Thy servants have taken pleasure in
her stones, by acknowledging the foundation of
the Apostles and Prophets ; now that they have
pitied her dust ; so that man is formed, or rather
re-formed, in life out of dust ; hence preaching
hath increased among the heathen : let the
heathen fear Thy Name, let another wall
approach also from the heathen, let the Corner
Stone 5 be recognised, let the two who come from
different regions, but who no longer differ in
belief, meet in close union.
1 Ps. i. 4. 2 Ps. ciil. 14.
4 Acts ii. 41, iv. 3a.
3 Formata et/ormosa.
5 Eph. ii. so.
1 7. " For the Lord shall build up Sion "
(ver. 16). This work is going on now. O ye
living stones, run to the work of building, not
to ruin. Sion is in building, beware of the
ruined walls : the tower is building, the ark is in
building ; remember the deluge. This work is
in progress now ; but when Sion is built, what
will happen ? " And He will appear in His
glory." That He might build up Sion, that He
might be a foundation in Sion, He was seen by
Sion, but not in His glory : "we have seen Him,
and He had no form nor comeliness." 6 But
truly when He shall have come with His angels
to judge,7 shall they not look then upon Him
whom they have pierced?8 and they shall be put
to confusion when too late, who refused confu-
sion in early and healthful repentance.
18. "He hath turned Him unto the prayer
of the poor destitute, and despised not their
desire" (ver. 17). This is going on now in the
building of Sion : the builders of Sion pray, they
groan : He is the one poor, because the poor
are many ; because the thousands among so
many nations are one in Him, because He. is the
unity of the peace of the Church, He is one, He
is many : one, through love : many, on account
of His extension. Therefore we now pray, we
now run : now, if any man hath used to be
otherwise, and lived differently, let him eat
ashes as it were bread, and mingle his drink
with weeping. Now is the time, when Sion is
in building : now the stones are entering into the
structure : when the building is finished, and
the house dedicated, why dost thou run, to ask
when too late, to beg in vain, to knock to no
purpose, doomed to abide without with the five
foolish virgins? 9 Therefore now run.
19. "Let these things be written for those
that come after" (ver. 18). When these words
were written, they profited not so much those
among whom they were written : for they were
written to prophesy the New Testament, among
men who lived according to the Old Testament.
But God had both given that Old Testament,
and had settled in that land of promise His own
people. But since " Thy remembrance is from
generation to generation," belongeth not to the
ungodly, but to the righteous ; " in our genera-
tion " belongeth to the Old Testament ; while
" in the other generation " belongeth to the New
Testament ; and since the New Testament
announceth this that was prophesied, " Let these
things be written for those that come after : and
the people which shall be created, shall praise
the Lord." Not the people which is created,
but " the people which shall be created." What
is clearer, my brethren? Here is prophesied
that creation of which the Apostle saith :
6 Isa. liii. a.
" Zech. xu. so.
7 Matt. xxv. 31.
9 Matt. xxv. la.
5°o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CII.
" Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature ; old things are passed away ; behold,
all things are become new." ■ " For he hath
looked down from His lofty sanctuary." He
hath looked down from on high, that He might
come unto the humble : from on high He
hath become humble, that He might exalt the
humble. . . .
20. "Out of the heaven did the Lord look
down upon the earth" (ver. 19): "that He
might hear the mournings of such as are in fet-
ters, and deliver the children of such as are put
to death " (ver. 20). We have found it said in
another Psalm, " O let the sorrowful sighs of the
fettered come before Thee ; " 2 and in a passage
where the voice of the martyrs was meant.
Whence are the martyrs in fetters? . . . But God
had bound them with these fetters, hard indeed
and painful for a season, but endurable on account
of His promises, unto whom it is said, " On
account of the words of Thy lips, I have kept
hard ways." We must indeed groan in these fet-
ters in order to gain the mercy of God. These
fetters must not be shunned, in order to gain a
destructive freedom and the temporal and brief
pleasure of this life, to be followed by perpetual
bitterness. Accordingly Scripture,3 that we may
not refuse the fetters of wisdom, thus addresseth
us : " . . . Then shall her fetters be a strong
defence for thee, and her chains a robe of glory."
Let the fettered therefore cry out, as long as they
are in the chains of the discipline of God, in
which the martyrs have been tried : the fetters
shall be loosed, and they shall fly away, and these
very fetters shall afterwards be turned into an
ornament. This hath happened with the martyrs.
For what have the persecutors effected by killing
them, except that their fetters were thereby
loosed, and turned into crowns ? . . . The remis-
sion of sins, is the loosing. For what would it
have profited Lazarus, that he came forth from
the tomb, unless it were said to him, " loose him,
and let him go " ? 4 Himself indeed with His
voice aroused him from the tomb, Himself re-
stored his life by crying unto him, Himself over-
came the mass of earth that was heaped upon
the tomb, and he came forth bound hand and
foot : not therefore with his own feet, but by the
power of Him who drew him forth. This taketh
place in the heart of the penitent : when thou
hearest a man is sorry for his sins, he hath already
come again to life ; when thou hearest him by
confessing ' lay bare his conscience, he is already
drawn forth from the tomb, but he is not as yet
loosed. When is he loosed, and by whom is he
loosed ? " Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth,"
* 9 Cor. v. 17.
* Eccles. vi. 34-33.
2 Ps. lxxix. 11.
4 John xi. 44.
* [Public confession, the ancient discipline. A. N F. vol. iii. pp.
666, 667. — C]
He saith, " shall be loosed in Heaven." 6 Forgive-
ness of sins may justly be granted by the Church :
but the dead man himself cannot be aroused
except by the Lord crying within him ; for God
doth this within him. We speak to your ears :
how do we know what may be going on in your
hearts ? But what is going on within, is not our
doing, but His.7
21. "That the name of the Lord may be
declared in Sion " (ver. 21). For at first, when
the fettered were appointed unto death, the
Church was oppressed : since these tribulations
the Name of the Lord has been declared in
Sion, with great freedom, in the Church herself.
For she is Sion : not that one spot, at first proud,
afterwards taken captive ; but the Sion whose
shadow was that Sion, which signifieth a watch-
tower ; because when placed in the flesh, we
see into the things before us, extending our-
selves not to the present which is now, but to
the future. Thus it is a watch-tower : for every
watcher gazes far. Places where guards are set,
are termed watch-towers : these are set on rocks,
on mountains, in trees, that a wider prospect
may be commanded from a higher eminence.
Sion therefore is a watch-tower, the Church is a
watch-tower. ... If therefore the Church be
a watch-tower, the Name of the Lord is already
declared there. Not the Lord's Name only is
declared in that Sion, but ' 'His praise," He
saith, " in Jerusalem."
22. And how is it declared? " In the nations
gathering together in one, and the kingdoms,
that they may serve the Lord " (ver. 22). . How
is this accomplished, unless by the blood of the
slain? How accomplished, but by the groans
of the fettered ? Those therefore who were in
tribulation and humility have been heard ; that
in our times the Church might be in the great
glory which we see her in, so that the very king-
doms which then persecuted her, now serve the
Lord.
23. "She answered Him in the way of His
strength" (ver. 23). . . . The preceding words
show, that either " His praise," or "Jerusalem,"
answered : for it was said, " And His praise in
Jerusalem ; in the nations gathering together
in one, and the kingdoms, that they may serve
the Lord. Respondit ei." We cannot say, " the
kingdoms answered," for he would have said
responderunt. Respondit ei. We cannot say,
" the nations answered," for he would have
said, responderunt (in the plural). Since then
it is Respondit ei, in the singular, we look for
the singular number above, and find that the
words, " His praise," and "Jerusalem," are the
6 Matt. XV. 19.
7 [Note this distinction between what the Churchy may do in
restoring to communion, and what Christ only can do in cleansing
the conscience. — C.J
Psalm CII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
50i
only words in which we find it. But since it is
doubtful, whether it be " His praise," or "Jeru-
salem," let us expound it each way. How did
" His praise " answer Him ? When they who
are called by Him thank Him. For He calleth,
we answer ; not by our voice, but by our faith ;
not by our tongue, but by our life. . . . From
His elect and holy men, Jerusalem also answer-
eth Him. For Jerusalem also was called : and
the first Jerusalem refused to hear, and it was
said unto her, " Behold, thy house shall be left
unto the desolate." "... But that Jerusalem, of
whom it was written, " Sing, O barren, thou that
didst not bear,"2 "She hath answered Him."
What meaneth, "She hath answered Him"?
She despiseth Him not when He called. He
sent rain, She gave fruit.
24. " She answered Him : " but where? "in
the path of His strength." . . . The Church
therefore answered Him not in the way of weak-
ness ; because after His resurrection He called
the Church from the whole world, no longer
weak upon the cross, but strong in heaven. For
it is not the praise of the Christian faith that
they believe that Christ died, but that they
believe that He arose from the dead. Even the
Pagan believeth that He died ; and maketh this
a charge against thee, that thou hast believed in
one dead. What then is thy praise ? It is that
thou believest that Christ arose from the dead,
and that thou dost hope that thou shalt rise
from the dead through Christ : this is the praise
of faith. " For if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shalt believe
in thy heart that God hath raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved." 3 , . . This is the
faith of Christians. In this faith then, in which
the Church is gathered, " She hath answered
Him," She gave Him worship according to His
commandments : " in the path of His strength,"
not in the path of His weakness.
25. How she answered Him, ye have already
heard above. " In the gathering of the nations
into one." Herein she answered Him, in unity :
he who is not in unity, answereth Him not.
For He is One, the Church is unity : none but
unity answereth to Him who is One: . . . Since
some4 were destined to say against her, She
hath existed, and no longer doth exist ; " Show
me," He saith, " the shortness of my days,"
what is it, that I know not what apostates from
me murmur against me? why is it that lost men
contend that I have perished ? For they surely
say this, that I have been, and no longer am :
" Show me the shortness of my days." I do not
ask from Thee about those everlasting days :
they are without end, where I shall be ; it is
not those I ask of: I ask of temporal days;
■ Matt, xxiii. 38.
3 Rom. x. 9, 10.
2 Isa. liv. 1 ; Gal. iv. 27.
* [i.e. the party of Donatus. — C-l
show unto me my temporal days ; " show me
the shortness," not the eternity, " of my days."
Declare unto me, how long I shall be in this
world : on account of those who say, " She hath
been," and is no more : on account of those
who say, The Scriptures are fulfilled, all nations
have believed, but the Church hath become
apostate, and hath perished from among all
nations. . . .
26. Seest thou not that there are still nations
among whom the Gospel hath not been preached ?
Since then it is needful that what the Lord spoke
shall be fulfilled, declaring unto the Church the
shortness of my days, that this Gospel be
preached in all nations, and then that the end
may come, why is it that thou sayest that the
Church hath already perished from among all
nations, when the Gospel is being preached for
this purpose, that it may be in all nations?
Therefore the Church remaineth even unto the
end of the world, in all nations ; and this is the
shortness of Her days, because all that is limited
is short ; so that She may pass into eternity from
this brief existence. May heretics be lost,5 may
that which they are be lost, and may they be
found, that they may be what they are not.
Shortness of days will be unto the end of the
world : shortness for this reason, because the
whole of this season, I say not from this day
unto the end of the world, but from Adam down
to the end of the world, is a mere drop com-
pared with eternity.
27. Let not therefore heretics flatter themselves
against me, because I said, " the shortness of my
days," as if they would not last down to the end
of the v orld. For what hath he added ? " O
my God, take me not away in the midst of my
days" (ver. 24). Deal Thou not with me accord-
ing as heretics speak. Lead me on unto the end
of the world, not only to the middle of my days ;
and finish my short days, that Thou mayest
afterwards grant unto me eternal days. Where-
fore then hast thou asked concerning the short-
ness of thy days ? Wherefore ? Dost thou wish
to hear ? " Thy years are in the generation of
generations." This is why I asked concerning
those short days, because although my days
should endure unto the end of the world, yet
they are short in comparison of Thy days. For
" Thy years are in the generation of generations."
Wherefore doth he not say, Thy years are unto
worlds of worlds ; for thus rather is eternity
usually signified in the holy Scriptures ; but he
saith, " Thy years are in the generation of gen-
erations"? But what are thy years? what, but
those which do not come, and then pass away?
what, but they which come not, so as to cease
again? For every day in this season so cometh
3 Pereant.
502
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CII.
as to cease again ; every hour, every month,
every year; nothing of these is stationary;
before it hath come, it is to be ; after it hath
come, it will not be. Those everlasting years of
thine, therefore, those years that are not changed,
"are in the generation of generations." There
is a " generation of generations ; " in that shall
thy years be. There is one such, and if we
acknowledge it aright, we shall be in it, and the
years of God shall be in us. How shall they be
in us ? Just as God Himself shall be in us :
whence it is said, " That God may be all in all." '
For the years of God, and God Himself, are not
different : but the years of God are the eternity
of God : eternity is the very substance of God,
which hath nothing changeable; there nothing
is past, as if it were no longer : nothing is future,
as if it existed not as yet. There is nothing
there but, Is : there is not there, Was, and Will
be ; because what was, is now no longer : and
what will be, is not as yet : but whatever is there,
simply Is. . . . Behold this great I Am ! What
is man's being to this ? To this great I Am, what
is man, whatever he be? Who can understand
that To Be? who can share it? who can pant,
aspire, presume that he may be there ? Despair
not, human frailty ! " I am," He saith, " the
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob." Thou hast heard what I am
in Myself : now hear what I am on thy account.
This eternity then hath called us, and the Word
burst forth from eternity. It is now eternity, it
is now the Word, and no longer time.
28. . . . From so many generations thou wilt
gather together all the holy offspring of all gen-
erations, and wilt form one generation thence :
"In" this "generation of generations are Thy
years," that is, that eternity will be in that gen-
eration, which is collected from all generations,
and reduced into one ; this shall share in Thy
eternity. Other generations are born for ful-
filling their times, out of which this one is regen-
erated for ever; though changed it shall be
endued with life, it shall be fitted to bear Thee,
receiving strength from Thee.
29. "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth : and the Heavens
are the work of Thy hands" (ver. 25). ■. . .
God laid the foundation of the earth, we know :
the heavens are the works of His hands. For
do not imagine that God doth one thing with
His hand, another by His word. What He
doth by His word, He doth by His hand : for
He hath not distinct bodily members, who said,
" I Am That I Am." And perhaps His Word is
His hand, assuredly His hand is His power.
For inasmuch as it is said, " Let there be a fir-
mament," * and there was a firmament ; He is
1 1 Cor. xv. 18.
• Gen. i. 6.
understood to have created it by His Word ;
but when He said, " Let Us make man in Our
image, after Our likeness ; "' He seemeth to have
created him by His hand. Hear therefore :
"The heavens are the work of Thy hands."
Lo, what He created by His word, He created
also by His hands ; because He created them
through His excellence, through His power.
Observe rather what He created, and seek not
to know in what manner He created them. It
is much to thee to understand how He created
them, since He created thyself so, that thou
mayest first be a servant obeying, and afterwards
perhaps a friend understanding.4
30. "They shall perish, but Thou shalt en-
dure" (ver. 26). The Apostle Peter saith this
openly : " By the word of God the heavens were
of old," etc.s He hath said then that the
heavens have already perished by the flood : and
we know that the heavens perished as far as
the extent of this atmosphere of ours. For the
water increased, and filled the whole of that space
in which birds fly; thus perished the heavens
that are near the earth ; those heavens which are
meant when we speak of the birds of heaven.
But there are heavens of heavens higher than
these in the firmament : but whether these also
shall perish by fire, or those only which perished
also by the flood, is a much harder question
among the learned, nor can it easily, especially
in a limited space of time, be explained. Let
us therefore dismiss or put it off; nevertheless,
let us know that these things perish, and that
God endureth. . . .
31. Perhaps by the heavens we here may
understand, without being far-fetched, the right-
eous themselves, the saints of God, abiding in
whom God hath thundered in His command-
ments, lightened in His miracles, watered the
earth with the wisdom of truth, for " The heav-
ens have declared the glory of God." 6 But shall
they perish? Shall they in any sense perish?
In what sense ? Asa garment.7 What is, as a
garment? As to the body. For the body is
the garment of the soul ; since our Lord called
it a garment, when He said, " Is not the life
more than meat, and the body than raiment ? " 8
How then doth the garment perish ? " Though
our outward man perish, yet the inward man is
renewed day by day." » They then shall perish :
but as to the body : " But Thou shalt endure."
. . . Such heavens therefore shall perish ; not,
however, for ever; they shall perish, that they
may be changed. Doth not the Psalm say this ?
Read the following : " They shall all wax old as
doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou
3 Gen. i. 26. 4 John xv. 15.
5 3 Pet. iii. 5, 6. 6 Ps. xix. 7.
7 Or, " as 10 the garment," secundum vestimentum.
8 Matt. vi. 25. 9 2 Cor. iv. 16.
Psalm CIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
503
change them, and they shall be changed." Thou
hearest of the garment, of the vesture, and dost
thou understand anything but the body? We
may therefore hope for the change of our bodies
also, but from Him who was before us, and
abideth after us. . . . " But Thou art the same,
and Thy years shall not fail" (ver. 27). But
what are we to those years with these beggarly
years? and what are they? Yet we ought not
to despair. He had already said in His great
and exceeding Wisdom, " I Am That I Am ; "
and yet He saith to console us, " I am the God
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob : " ' and we are Abraham's seed : 2
even we, although abject, although dust and
ashes, trust in Him. We are servants : but for
our sakes our Lord took the garb of a servant : 3
for us who are mortal the Immortal One deigned
to die, for our sakes He showed His example
of resurrection. Let us therefore hope that
we may reach these lasting years, in which days
are not spent in a revolution of the Sun, but
what is abideth even as it is, because it alone
truly Is.
32. " The children of Thy servants shall dwell
there : and their seed shall stand fast for ages"
(ver. 28) : for the age of ages, the age of eter-
nity, the age that abideth. But, " the children,"
he saith, " of Thy servants : " is it to be feared
lest we be the servants of God, and our chil-
dren, and not ourselves, dwell there ? Or if we
are the children of the servants, inasmuch as
we are the Apostles' children, what are we to
say? Can those children rising after have so
unhappy a presumption, as to boast in their
late succession, and so to venture to say, We
shall be there ; the Apostles will not be there ?
May this be far from their piety as children, from
their faith as little ones, from their understand-
ing when of age ! The Apostles also will be
there : rams go before, lambs follow. Where-
fore then, " the children of Thy servants ; " and
not in brief, "Thy servants"? Both they are
Thy servants, and their children are Thy ser-
vants ; and the children of these, their grand-
sons, what are they but Thy servants? Thou
wouldest include them all briefly, if Thou
shouldest say, Thy servants shall dwell therein.
..." The children of Thy servants," are the
works of Thy servants ; no one shall dwell there,
but through his own works. What therefore
meaneth, Their children shall dwell? Let no
man boast that he shall dwell there, if he call-
eth himself God's servant, and hath not works ;
for none but children shall dwell there. What
meaneth therefore, " The children of Thy ser-
vants shall dwell there"? Thy servants shall
dwell there by their own works, Thy servants
I Exod. iii. 6.
* Gal.
3 Philip, ii. 7.
shall dwell there through their own children.
Be not therefore barren, if thou dost wish to
dwell there ; send before the children whom thou
mayest follow, by sending them before thee, not
by burying them. Let thy children lead thee
to the land of promise, the land of the living,
not of the dying : whilst thou art living here in
this pilgrimage, let them go before thee, let
them receive thee. . . .
PSALM CIII.''
1. . . . "Bless the Lord, O my soul ! and all
that is within me, His holy Name " (ver. 1). I
suppose that he speaketh not of what is within the
body ; I do not suppose him to mean this, that
our lungs and liver, and so forth, are to burst
forth into the voice of blessing of the Lord.
There are lungs in our breast indeed, like a kind
of bellows, which send forth successive breath-
ings, which breathing forth of the air inhaled
is pressed out into voice and sound, when the
words are articulated ; nor can any utterance
sound forth from our mouth, but what the
pressed lungs have given vent to ; but this is
not the meaning here ; all this relateth to the
ears of men. God hath ears : the heart also
hath a voice. A man speaketh to the things
within him, that they may bless God, and saith
unto them, " all that is within me bless His holy
Name ! " Dost thou ask the meaning of what
is within thee ? Thy soul itself. In saying then,
" all that is within me, bless His holy Name,"
it only repeateth the above, " Bless the Lord,
O my soul : " for the word " Bless," is under-
stood. Cry out with thy voice, if there be a
man to hear ; hush thy voice, when there is no
man to hear thee ; there is never wanting one
to hear all that is within thee. Blessing there-
fore hath already been uttered from our mouth,
when we were chanting these very words. We
sung as much as sufficed for the time, and were
then silent : ought our hearts within us to be
silent to the blessing of the Lord? Let the
sound of our voices bless Him at intervals,
alternately, let the voice of our hearts be perpet-
ual. When thou comest to church to recite a
hymn, thy voice soundeth forth the praises of
God : thou hast sung as far as thou couldest,
thou hast left the church ; let thy soul sound the
praises of God. Thou art engaged in thy daily
work : let thy soul praise God. Thou art taking
food ; see what the Apostle saith : " Whether ye
eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." s I
venture to say ; when thou sleepest, let thy soul
praise the Lord. Let not thoughts of crime
arouse thee, let not the contrivances of thieving
arouse thee, let not arranged plans of corrupt
4 Lat, CII. A sermon delivered on a feast of the Martyrs.
I 1 Cor. x. 31.
5<H
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIII.
dealing arouse thee. Thy innocence even when
thou art sleeping is the voice of thy soul.
2. " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget
not all His rewards " (ver. 2). But the rewards
of the Lord cannot be before thine eyes unless
thy sins are before thine eyes. Let not delight
in past sin be before thine eyes, but let the con-
demnation of sin be before thine eyes : condem-
nation from thee, forgiveness from God. For
thus God rewardeth thee, so that thou mayest
say, " How shall I reward the Lord for all His
rewards unto me?"1 This it was that the
martyrs considering (whose memory we are this
day celebrating), and all the saints who have
despised this life, and as ye have heard in the
Epistle of St. John, laid down their lives for
the brethren, which is the perfection of love,2 even
as our Lord saith : " Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends : " 3 this the holy martyrs, then, con-
sidering, despised their lives here, that they
might find them there, following our Lord's
words when He said, " He that loveth his life,
shall lose it ; and he that loseth his life for My
sake, shall keep it unto life eternal."4 . . . "For-
get not," he saith, " all His rewards : "not awards,
but " rewards." 5 For something else was due,
and what was not due hath been paid. Whence
also these words : " What," he asketh, " shall I
reward the Lord for all His rewards unto me? "
Thou hast rewarded good with evil ; He re-
wardeth evil with good. How hast thou, O
man, rewarded thy God with evil for good?
Thou who hast once been a blasphemer, and a
persecutor, and injurious,6 hast rewarded blas-
phemies. For what good things? First, be-
cause thou art : but a stone also is. Next,
because thou livest : but a brute also liveth.
What reward wilt thou give the Lord, for His
having created thee above all the cattle ; and
above all the fowls of the air, in His image and
likeness ? 7 Seek not how to reward Him : give
back unto Him His own image : He requireth
no more ; He demandeth His own coin.8 . . .
3. Think thou, soul, of all the rewards of God,
in thinking over all thy wicked deeds : for as
many as are thy sins, so many are His rewards
of good. And what present, what offering, what
sacrifice, canst thou ever tender unto Him ? . . .
What wilt thou reward the Lord with ? For thou
wast reflecting, and couldest not find : " I will
receive the cup of salvation." What ? hath not
the Lord Himself given the cup of salvation?
Reward Him from thine own, if thou canst. I
would say, No, do it not ; reward Him not from
thine own ; God doth not will to be rewarded
1 Pi. cxvi. 1 a. » 1 John iii. 16.
» John xv. 13. * John xii. 25: Matt. x. 39.
* Non tributionet, ted retributiones. *> 1 Tim. i. 13.
? Gen. i. 26, 37. b Matt. xxii. 31.
from thine own. If thou rewardest Him from
thine own, thou rewardest sin. For all that thou
hast thou hast from Him : sins only thou hast
of thine own. He doth not wish tu be rewarded
from thine, He doth will from His own. Just
as, if thou shouldest bring to a husbandman,
from the land which he hath sown, an ear of
wheat, thou hast rewarded him from the hus-
bandman's own produce ; if thorns, that hast
offered him of thine own. Reward truth, in
truth praise the Lord : if thou shalt choose to
reward Him from thine own, thou wilt lie. He
who speaketh a lie, speaketh of his own.' If
he who speaketh a lie, speaketh of his own : so
he who speaketh truth, speaketh of the Lord's.
But what is to receive the cup of salvation, but
to imitate the Passion of our Lord ? . . . I will
receive the cup of Christ, I will drink of our
Lord's Passion. Beware that thou fail not.
But, " I will call upon the Name of the Lord."
They then who failed, called not upon the Lord ;
they presumed in their own strength. Do thou
so return, as remembering that thou art returning
what thou hast received. So then let thy soul
bless the Lord, as not to forget all His rewards.
4. Hear ye all His rewards. " Who forgiveth
all thy sin : who healeth all thine infirmities "
(ver. 3). Behold His rewards. What, save
punishment, was due unto the sinner? What
was due to the blasphemer, but the hell of burn-
ing fire ? He gave not these rewards : that thou
mayest not shudder with dread : and without
love fear Him. . . . But thou art a sinner.
Turn again, and receive these His rewards : He
" forgiveth all thy sin." . . . Yet even after re-
mission of sins the soul herself is shaken by
certain passions ; still is she amid the dangers
of temptation, still is she pleased with certain
suggestions ; with some she is not pleased, and
sometimes she consenteth unto some of those
with which she is pleased : she is taken. This
is infirmity : but He " healeth all thine infirmi-
ties." All thine infirmities shall be healed : fear
not. They are great, thou wilt say : but the
Physician is greater. No infirmity cometh before
the Almighty Physician as incurable : only suffer
thou thyself to be healed : repel not His hands ;
He knoweth how to deal with thee. Be not
only pleased when He cherisheth thee, but also
bear with Him when He useth the knife : bear
the pain of the remedy, reflecting on thy future
health. . . . Thou dost not endure in uncer-
tainty : He who promised thee health, cannot
be deceived. The physician is often deceived :
and promiseth health in the human body. Why
is he deceived? Because he is not healing his
own creature. God made thy body, God made
thy soul. He knoweth how to restore what He
9 John viii. 44.
TSALM CHI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
505
hath made, He knoweth how to fashion again
what He hath already fashioned : do thou only
be patient beneath the Physician's hands : for
He hateth one who rejects His hands. This
doth not happen with the hands of a human
physician. . . .
5. " Who redeemeth thy life from corruption"
(ver. 4) . Behold, " the body which is corrupted,
weigheth down the soul." ' The soul then hath
life in a corruptible body. What sort of life?
It suffereth burdens, it beareth weights. How
great obstacles are there to thinking of God
Himself, as it is right that men should think
of God, as if interrupting us from the necessity of
human corruption ? how many influences recall
us, how many interrupt, how many withdraw the
mind when fixed on high ? what a crowd of illu-
sions, what tribes of suggestions? AH this in
the human heart, as it were, teemeth with the
worms of human corruption. We have set forth
the greatness of the disease, let us also praise
the Physician. Shall not He then heal thee,
who made thee such as to be in health, hadst
thou chosen to keep the law of health which
thou hadst received? . . . First think of thine
own health. Sometimes a man is stricken in
his own house, on his bed, with a more than
usually manifest disorder ; although this disorder
too, which men dislike to contemplate, be plain ;
yet each man may be attacked with that sickness
for which human physicians are sought, and may
gasp with fever in his bed ; perhaps he may wish
to consider of his domestic affairs, to make some
order or disposition relating to his estate or his
house ; at once he is recalled from such cares
by the anxiety of his friends, plainly expressed
around him, and he is advised to dismiss these
subjects, and first to take thought for his health.
This then is addressed unto thee, and to all
men : if thou art not sick, think of other things :
if thy very infirmity prove thee sick, first take
heed of thy health. Christ is thy health : think
therefore of Christ. Receive the cup of His
saving Health, "who healeth all thine infirmi-
ties ; " if thou shalt choose, thou shalt gain this
Health. . . . For thy life hath been redeemed
from corruption : rest secure now : the contract
of good faith hath been entered upon ; no man
deceives, no man circumvents, no man oppresses,
thy Redeemer. He hath here made a barter,
He hath already paid the price, He hath poured
forth His blood. The only Son of God, I say,
hath shed His blood for us : O soul, raise thy-
self, thou art of so great price. ..." He re-
deemeth thy life from corruption."
6. " Who crowneth thee with mercy and lov-
ing-kindness." Thou hadst perhaps begun to be
in a manner proud, when thou didst hear the
1 Wisd. ix. 15.
words, " He crowneth thee." I am then great,
I have then wrestled. By whose strength ? By
thine, but supplied by Him. . . . He crowneth
thee, because He is crowning His own gifts, not
thy deservings. " I laboured more abundantly
than they all," said the Apostle ; but see what
he addeth : " yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me."2 . . . It-is then by His
mercy that thou art crowned ; in nothing be
proud ; ever praise the Lord ; forget not all His
rewards. It is a reward when thou, a sinner and
an ungodly man, hast been called, that thou
mayest be justified. It is a reward, when thou
art raised up and guided, that thou mayest not
fall. It is a reward, when strength is given thee,
that thou mayest persevere unto the end. It is
a reward, that even that flesh of thine by which
thou wast oppressed riseth again, and that not
even a hair of thy head perisheth. It is a
reward, that after thy resurrection thou art
crowned. It is a reward, that thou mayest
praise God Himself for evermore without ceas-
ing. . . .
7. After the battle, then, I shall be crowned ;
after the crown, what shall I do? "He who
satisfieth thy longing with good things " (ver. 5).
. . . Seek thy own good, O soul. For one
thing is good to one creature, another to an-
other, and all creatures have a certain good of
their own, to the completeness and perfection
of their nature. There is a difference as to
what is essential to each imperfect thing, in
order that it may be made perfect ; seek for thy
own good. " There is none good but One, that
is, God." 3 The highest good is thy good.
What then is wanting unto him to whom the
highest good is good? For there are inferior
goods, which are good to different creatures
respectively. What, brethren, is good unto the
cattle, save to fill the belly, to prevent want, to
sleep, to indulge themselves, to exist, to be in
health, to propagate ? This is good to them :
and within certain bounds it hath an allotted
measure of good, granted by God, the Creator
of all things. Dost thou seek such a good as
this ? God giveth also this : but do not pursue it
alone. Canst thou, a coheir of Christ, rejoice
in fellowship with cattle? Raise thy hope to
the good of all goods. He will be thy good, by
whom thou in thy kind hast been made good,
and by whom all things in their kind were made
good. For God made all things very good^. . . .
8. When shall my longing be satisfied with
good things ? when, dost thou ask ? " Thy youth
shall be renewed as the eagle's." Dost thou
then ask when thy soul is to be satisfied with
good things ? When thy youth shall be restored.
And he addeth, as an eagle's. Something here
8 1 Cor. xv. 10.
3 Matt. xix. 17.
506
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIIL
lieth hidden ; what however is said of the eagle,
we will not pass over silently, since it is not for-
eign to our purpose to understand it. Let this
only be impressed upon our hearts, that it is not
said without cause by the Holy Spirit. For it
hath intimated unto us a sort of resurrection.
And indeed the youth of the eagle is restored,
but not into immortality, for a similitude hath
been given, as far as it could be drawn from a
thing mortal to signify a thing immortal, not to
demonstrate it. The eagle is said, after it becom-
eth overpowered with bodily age, to be incapable
of taking food from the immoderate length of its
beak, which is always increasing. For after the
upper part of its beak, which forms a crook above
the lower part, hath increased from old age to an
immoderate length, the length of this increase
will not allow of its opening its mouth, so as to
form any interval between the lower beak and the
crook above. For unless there be such an open-
ing, it hath no power of biting like a forceps,
by which to shear off what it may put within its
jaws. The upper part therefore increasing, and
being too far hooked over, it cannot open its
mouth, and take any food. This old age doth
to it, it is weighed down with the infirmity of
age, and becometh too weak from want of power
to eat ; two causes of infirmity assaulting it, old
age, and want. By a natural device, therefore,
in order in some measure to restore its youth,
the eagle is said to dash and strike against a rock
the upper lip of its beak, by the too great in-
crease of which the opening for eating is closed :
and by thus rubbing it against the rock, it break-
eth off the weight of its old beak, which impeded
its taking food. It cometh to its food, and
everything is restored : it will be after its old age
like a young eagle ; the vigour of all its limbs
returneth, the lustre of its plumage, the guidance
of its wings, it flieth aloft as before, a sort of
resurrection taketh place in it. For this is the
object of the similitude, like that of the Moon,
which after waning and being apparently inter-
cepted, again is renewed, and becometh full ;
and signifieth to us the resurrection ; but when it
is full it doth not remain so ; again it waneth,
that the signification may never cease. Thus also
what hath here been said of the eagle : the eagle
is not restored unto immortality, but we are unto
eternal life ; but the similitude is derived from
hence, that the rock taketh away from us what
hindereth us. Presume not therefore on thy
strength : the firmness of the rock rubbeth off thy
old age : for that Rock was Christ.' In Christ
our youth shall be restored like that of the
eagle. . . .
9. "The Lord executeth mercy and judg-
ment for all them that are oppressed with wrong "
1 1 Cor. x. <.
(ver. 6). . . . An adulterous woman is brought
forward to be stoned according to the Law, but
she is brought before the Lawgiver Himself.
. . . Our Lord, at the time she was brought
before Him, bending His Head, began writing
on the earth. When He bent Himself down
upon the earth, He then wrote on the earth :
before He bent upon the earth, He wrote not
on the earth, but on stone. The earth was now
something fertile, ready to bring forth from the
Lord's letters. On the stone He had written
the Law, intimating the hardness of the Jews :
He wrote on the earth, signifying the produc-
tiveness of Christians. Then they who were
leading the adulteress came, like raging waves
against a rock : but they were dashed to pieces
by His answer. For He said to them, " He that
is without sin among you, let him first cast a
stone at her." 2 And again bending His head,
He began writing on the ground. And now
each man, when he asked his own conscience,
came not forward. It was not a weak adulterous
woman, but their own adulterate conscience,
that drove them back. They wished to punish,
to judge ; they came to the Rock, their judges
were overthrown by the Rock.3 . . .
10. Execute mercy to4 the wicked, not as be-
ing wicked. Do not receive the wicked, in so
far forth as he is wicked : that is, do not re-
ceive him as if from inclination towards and love
for his iniquity. For it is forbidden to give unto
a sinner, and to receive sinners. Yet how is
this, " Give unto every man that asketh of
thee " ? and this, " if thine enemy hunger, feed
him"?5 This is seemingly contradictory: but
it is opened to those who knock in the name of
Christ, and will be clear unto those who seek.
" Help not a sinner : " and, " give not to the
ungodly ; " 6 and yet, " give unto every man that
asketh of thee." But it is a sinner who asketh
of me. Give, not as unto a sinner. When dost
thou give as unto a sinner? When that which
maketh him a sinner, pleaseth thee so that
thou givest.7 . . . Let those who give to a man
who fights with wild beasts, tell me why they
give? Why doth he give to this man? He
loveth that in him, in which consists his greatest
sin ; this he feedeth, this he clotheth in him,
wickedness itself, made public by all witnessing
it. Why doth the man give, who giveth to ac-
tors, or to charioteers, or to courtesans? Do
not these very persons give to human beings?
But it is not the nature of God's work that they
attend to, but the iniquity of the human work.
. . . When therefore thou givest, thou givest to
infamy, not to bravery. As then he who giveth
to the fighter of beasts, giveth not to the
2 John viii. 7.
4 Oxf. mss. also to."
6 Kcclus. xii. 4, 5, 6.
3 Ps. cxli. 6.
3 Rom. xii. 90.
t Oxf. MSS. add, " thou otfeiulest God."
Psalm CHI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
507
man, but to a most infamous profession ; for if
he were only a man, and not a fighter of beasts,
thou wouldest not give ; thou honourest him in
vice, not nature : so on the other hand, if thou
give to the righteous, if thou give to the prophet,
if thou give to the disciple of Christ anything
of which he is in want, without thinking that he
is Christ's disciple, that he is God's minister,
that he is God's steward ; but art thinking in
that case of some temporal advantage, for
instance, that when perchance he shall be need-
ful to thy cause, he may be bought for thee, be-
cause thou hast given him something ; thou
hast no more given to the righteous, if thou hast
thus given, than he gave to the man, when he
gave to the beast-fighter. The matter, then,
most beloved, is quite open to us, and I con-
ceive, that although it was obscure, it is now
clear. It was to this that the Lord bound thee,
when He said, " He who hath received the right-
eous man." That were enough. But as the
righteous may be received with another intention,
. . . He saith, " He who receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man : " ' that is,
receiving him in consideration of his righteous-
ness : . . . that is, because he is Christ's disciple,
because he is a steward of the Mystery : 2 " Ver-
ily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his
reward."3 So understand, he who receiveth a
sinner in the name of a sinner shall lose his
reward.
11. . . . On this account therefore be merci-
ful without fear, extend love even unto thine
enemies : punish those who chance to belong to
thy government, restrain them with affection,
with charity, in regard to their eternal salvation ;
lest while thou sparest the flesh, the soul perish.
Do this : and though thou have to endure many,4
over whom thou canst not exercise discipline,
because thou hast no lawful authority over them ;
bear their injuries ; be without apprehension.
He will show mercy unto thee if thou shalt
have been merciful : thou shalt be merciful,
without the injuries thou sufferest losing their
punishment; "To Me belongeth vengeance, I
will repay," ' saith the Lord.
12. " He made His ways known unto Moses "
(ver. 7). . . . For the Law was given with this
view, that the sick might be convinced of his
infirmity, and pray for the physician. This is ;
the hidden way of God. Thou hadst long ago
heard, " Who healeth all thine infirmities." j
Their infirmities were as yet hidden in the sick ; |
the five books were given to Moses : the pool
was surrounded by five porches ; he brought
1 Oxf. mss. add, " shall receive a righteous man's reward."
2 1 Cor. iv. 1. 3 Matt. x. 43.
* Oxf. mss. and 5 ap. Ben. iwn inultus. " Do this, and thou wilt
not without revenge endure those unrighteous on which thou canst
not exercise discipline."
5 Deut. xxxii. 35.
forth the sick, that they might lie there, that
they might be made known, not that they might
be healed. The five porches discovered, but
healed not, the sick ; the pool healed when one
descended, and this when it was disturbed : 6 the
disturbance of the pool was in our Lord's Pas-
sion. . . . Since therefore this is a mystery there,
he teacheth that the Law was given that sinners
might be convinced of their sin, and call upon
the Physician in order to receive grace. . . .
Therefore, as I had begun to say, because this
is a great mystery in the Law, that it was given
with this view, that by the increase of sin, the
proud might be humbled, the humbled might
confess, the confessing might be healed ; these
are the hidden ways, which He made known to
Moses, through whom He gave the Law, by
which sin should abound, that grace might more
abound. ..." He hath made known His good
pleasure unto the children of Israel." To all
the children of Israel? To the true children
of Israel ; yea, to all the children of Israel.
For the treacherous, the insidious, the hypo-
crites, are not children of Israel. And who are
the children of Israel ? " Behold an Israelite
indeed, in whom is no guile." '
13. "The Lord is full of compassion and
mercy : long-suffering, and of great mercy "
(ver. 8). Why so long-suffering? Why so
great in mercy? Men sin and live; sins are
added on, life continueth : men blaspheme daily,
and " He maketh His sun to rise over the good
and the wicked." 8 On all sid^s He calleth to
amendment, on all sides He calleth to re-
pentance, He calleth by the blessings of crea-
tion, He calleth by giving time for life,, He
calleth through the reader, He calleth through
the preacher, He calleth through the innermost
thought by the rod of correction, He calleth by
the mercy of consolation : " He is long-suffering,
and of great mercy." But take heed lest by
ill using the length of God's mercy, thou treas-
ure up for thyself, as the Apostle saith, wrath in
the day of wrath. . . . For some there are who
prepare to turn, and yet put it off, and in them
crieth out the raven's voice, " Cras ! Cras ! " °
The raven which was sent from the ark, never
returned.10 God seeketh not procrastination in
the raven's voice, but confession in the wailing
of the dove. The dove, when sent forth, re-
turned. How long, To-morrow ! To-morrow!?
Look to thy last morrow : since thou fcnowest
not what is thy last morrow, let it suffice that
thou hast lived up to this day a sinner. Thou
hast heard, often thou art wont to hear, thou hast
heard to-day also ; daily thou hearest, and daily
thou amendest not. . . .
14. " He will not alway be chiding : neither
6 John v. 2-4. 7 John i. 47.
9 To-morrow ! To-morrow ! "
8 Matt. v. 4S.
10 Gen. viii. 7.
5o8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIII.
keepeth He His anger for ever" (ver. 9). Since
it is in consequence of His anger that we live in
the scourges and corruption ' of mortality : we
have this in punishment for the first sin. . . .
Is it not through His anger, my brethren, that
" in the sweat of thy face and in toil thou shalt
eat bread, and the earth shall bear thorns and
thistles unto thee " ? 2 This was said to our fore-
fathers. Or if our life is different from this ; if
thou canst, turn unto some pleasure, where thou
mayest not feel thorns. Choose what thou hast
wished, whether thou art covetous or luxurious ;
to name these two alone ; add a third passion,
that of ambition ; how great thorns are there in
the desire of honours ? in the luxury of lusts how
great thorns ? in the ardour of covetousness how
great thorns? What troubles are there in base
loves? What terrible anxieties here in this life?
I omit hell. Beware lest thou even now become
a hell unto thyself. The whole of this, my
brethren, is the result of His anger : and when
thou hast turned thyself unto works of righteous-
ness, thou canst not but toil upon earth ; and
toil endeth not before life endeth. We must toil
on the way, that we may rejoice in our country.
He therefore consoleth by His promises thy toil,
thy labours, thy troubles, saying to thee, " He
will not alway be chiding."
15. " He hath not dealt with us according to
our sins " (ver. 10). Thanks unto God, because
He hath vouchsafed this. We have not received
what we were deserving of: "He hath not
dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded
us according to our wickednesses." " For as the
height of heaven above the earth, so hath the
Lord confirmed His mercy toward them that
fear Him" (ver. 11). Observe the heaven:
everywhere on every side it covereth the earth,
nor is there any part of the earth not covered by
the heaven. Men sin beneath heaven : they do
all evil deeds beneath the heaven ; yet they are
covered by the heaven. Thence is light for the
eyes, thence air, thence breath, thence rain upon
the earth for the sake of its fruits, thence all
mercy from heaven. Take away the aid of
heaven from the earth : it will fail at once. As
then the protection of heaven abideth upon the
earth, so doth the Lord's protection abide upon
them that fear Him. Thou fearest God, His
protection is above thee. But perhaps thou art
scourged, and conceivest that God hath forsaken
thee. God hath forsaken thee,3 if the protection
of heaven hath forsaken the earth.
16. " Look, how wide the east is from the
west ; so far hath He set our sins from us "
(ver. 12). They who know the Sacraments
know this ; nevertheless, I only say what all may
1 Oxf. mss. * correction.'
3 Gen. iii 19, 18.
3 Oxf mss. repeat this: '
God hath forsaken thee."
hear.4 When sin is remitted, thy sins fall, thy
grace riseth ; thy sins are as it were on the
decline, thy grace which freeth thee on the rise.
"Truth springeth from the earth." 5 What mean-
eth this? Thy grace is born, thy sins fall, thou
art in a certain manner made new. Thou
shouldest look to the rising, and turn away from
the setting.6 Turn away from thy sins, turn unto
the grace of God ; when thy sins fall, thou riseth
and profitest. . . . One region of the heaven
falleth, another riseth : but the region which is
now rising will set after twelve hours. Not like
this is the grace which riseth unto us : both our
sins fall for ever, and grace abideth for ever.
1 7. " Yea, like as a father pitieth his own
children, even so hath the Lord had mercy on
them that fear Him" (ver. 13). Let Him be
as angry as He shall will, He is our Father.
But He hath scourged us, and afflicted us, and
bruised us : He is our Father. Son, if thou
bewailest, wail beneath thy Father ; do not so
with indignation, do not so with the puffing up
of pride. What thou sufferest, whence thou
mournest, it is medicine, not punishment ; it is
thy chastening, not thy condemnation. Do not
refuse the scourge, if thou dost not wish to be
refused thy heritage : do not think of what pun-
ishment thou sufferest in the scourge, but what
place thou hast in the Testament.
18. "For He knoweth our forming"7 (ver.
14) : that is, our infirmity. He knoweth what
He hath created, how it hath fallen, how it may
be repaired, how it may be adopted, how it
may be enriched. Behold, we are made of clay :
" The first man is of the earth, earthy : the
second man is the Lord from heaven." 8 He
sent even His own Son, Him who was made the
second man, Him who was God before all
things. For He was second in His coming,
first in His returning : He died after many, He
arose before all. " He knoweth our forming."
What forming? Ourselves. Why sayest thou
that He knoweth? Because He hath pitied.
" Remember that we are but dust." Addressing
God Himself, he saith, " Remember," as if God
could forget : He perceiveth, He knoweth in
such a manner that He cannot forget. But what
meaneth, " Remember " ? Let thy mercy con-
tinue towards us. Thou knowest our forming;
forget not our forming, lest we forget thy grace.
19. "Man, his days are but as grass" (ver.
15). Let man consider what he is ; let not man
be proud. " His days are but as grass." Why
is the grass proud, that is now flourishing, and
in a very short space dried up? Why is the
4 [Referring to the privacy with which the Sacraments were
celebrated. — C.J
5 Ps. Ixxxv. 11.
6 They looked toward the west, while they renounced Satan
before Baptism, and then turned away to the east. See St. Cyrils
Catechetical Lectures, lect. xix. Tr. p. 259.
? Figmentum nostrum. e 1 Cor. XV. 47.
Psalm CHI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
509
grass proud that flourisheth only for a brief
season, until the sun be hot? It is then good
for us that His mercy be upon us, and from
grass make gold. " For he flourisheth as a
flower of the field." The whole splendour of
the human race ; honour, powers, riches, pride,
threats, is the flower of the grass. That house
flourisheth, and that family is. great, that family
flourisheth ; and how many flourish, and how
many years do they live ! Many years to thee,
are but a short season unto God. God doth not
count, as thou dost. Compared with the length
and long life of ages, all the flower of any house
is as the flower of the field. All the beauty of the
year hardly lasteth for the year. Whatever there
flourisheth, whatever there is warmed with heat,
whatever there is beautiful, lasteth not ; nay, it
cannot exist for one whole year. In howr brief a
season do flowers pass away, and these are the
beauty of the herbs ! This which is so very beau-
tiful, this quickly falleth.1 Inasmuch then as He
knoweth as a father our forming, that we are but
grass, and can only flourish for a time ; He sent
unto us His Word, and His Word, which abideth
for evermore, He hath made a brother unto the
grass which abideth not. Wonder not that thou
shalt be a sharer of His Eternity ; He became
Himself first a sharer of thy grass. Will He
who assumed from thee what was lowly, deny
unto thee what is exalted in respect of thee ?
20. " The wind shall go over on it, it shall
not be ; and the place thereof shall know it no
more" (ver. 16). For he is not speaking of
grass, but of that for whose sake even the Word
became grass. For thou art man, and on thy
account the Word became man. " All flesh is
grass : " " and the Word was made flesh." 2 How
great then is the hope of the grass, since the
Word hath been made flesh ? That which abideth
for evermore, hath not disdained to assume grass,
that the grass might not despair of itself.
21. In thy reflections therefore on thyself,
think of thy low estate, think of thy dust : be
not lifted up : if thou art anything better, thou
wilt be so by His Grace, thou wilt be so by His
mercy. For hear what followeth : " but the
mercy of the Lord endureth for ever and ever
upon them that fear Him" (ver. 17). Ye who
fear not Him, will be grass, and in grass, and in
torment with the grass : for the flesh shall arise
unto the torment. Let those who fear Him re-
joice, because His mercy is upon them.
22. "And His righteousness upon children's
children" (ver. 18). He speaketh of reward,
" upon children's children." How many ser-
vants of God are there who have not children,
how much less children's children? But He
calleth our works our children : the reward of
» Isa. xl. 6-8.
1 John i. 14.
works, our " children's children." " Even upon
such as keep His covenant." Let men beware
that all may not conceive what is here said to
belong to themselves : let them choose, while
they have the choice. " And keep in memory
His commandments to do them." Thou wast
already disposed to flatter thyself, and perhaps
to recite to me the Psalter, which I have not by
heart, or from memory to say over the whole
Law. Clearly thou art better in point of mem-
ory than I, better than any righteous man who
doth not know the Law word for word : but see
that thou keep the commandments. But how
shouldest thou keep them? Not by memory,
but by life. " Such as keep in memory His
commandments : " not, to recite them ; but, " to
do them." And now perhaps each man's soul
is disturbed. Who remembereth all the 00m-
mandments of God ? who remembereth all the
writings of God ? Lo, I wish not only to hold
them in my memory, but also to do them in my
works : but who remembereth them all ? Fear
not : He burdeneth thee not : " on two com-
mandments hang all the Law and the Proph-
ets." 3 . . .
23. " The Lord hath prepared His throne in
heaven " (ver. 19). Who but Christ hath pre-
pared His throne in heaven? He who de-
scended and ascended, He who died, and rose
from the dead, He who lifted up to heaven the
manhood He had assumed, hath Himself pre-
pared His throne in heaven. The throne is the
seat of the Judge : observe therefore ye who
hear, that "He hath prepared His throne in
heaven." . . . The kingdom is the Lord's, and
He shall be the Governor among the people.4
" And His kingdom shall rule over all."
24. " Bless ye the Lord, ye Angels of His, ye
that -are mighty in strength: ye that fulfil His
word " (ver. 20) . By the word of God, then,
thou art not righteous, nor faithful, unless when
thou dost it. " Ye that are mighty in strength,
ye that fulfil His commandment, and hearken
unto the voice of His words."
25. " Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts : ye
servants of His that do His pleasure " (ver. 21).
All ye angels, all ye that are mighty in strength :
ye that do His word : all ye His hosts, ye ser-
vants of His that do His pleasure, do ye, ye
bless the Lord. For all they who live wickedly,
though their tongues be silent, by their lips do
curse the Lord. What doth it profit If thy
tongue singeth a hymn, while thy life breatheth
sacrilege? By living ill thou hast set many
tongues to blasphemy. Thy tongue is given to
the hymn, the tongues of those who behold
thee, to blasphemy. If then thou dost wish to
bless the Lord, do His word, do His will. . . .
3 Matt. xxii. 40.
* Ps. xxii. 28.
5io
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIV.
26. " Bless ye the Lord, all ye works of His,
in all places of His dominion" (ver. 22).
Therefore in every place. Let Him not be
blessed where He ruleth not : " in all places of
His dominion." Let no man perchance say : I
cannot praise the Lord in the East, because He
hath departed unto the West; or, I cannot
praise Him in the West, because He is in the
East. " For neither from the east, nor from the
west, nor yet from the desert hills. And why ?
God is the Judge." ' He is everywhere, in such
wise that everywhere He may be praised : He
is in such wise on every side, that we may be
joyful in Him on every side : He is in such wise
blessed on every side, that on every side we may
live well. . . . "In every place of His dominion :
bless thou the Lord, O my soul ! " The last
verse is the same as the first : blessing is at the
head of the Psalm, blessing at the end ; from
blessing we set out, to blessing let us return,
in blessing let us reign.2
PSALM CIV.'
1. . . . "Bless the Lord, O my soul." Let
the soul of us all, made one in Christ, say this.
" O Lord my God, Thou art magnified exceed-
ingly ! " (ver. 1). Where art Thou magnified?
" Confession and beauty Thou hast put on."
Confess ye, that ye may be beautified, that He
may put you on. " Clothed with light as a gar-
ment" (ver. 2). Clothed with His Church,
because she is made " light" in Him, who before
was darkness in herself, as the apostle saith :
" Ye were sometime darkness, but now light in
the Lord." 4 " Stretching out the heaven like a
skin : " either as easily as thou dost a skin, if it
be " as easily," so that thou mayest take it after
the letter ; or let us understand the authority of
the Scriptures, spread out over the whole world,
under the name of a skin ; because mortality is
signified in a skin,5 but all the authority of the
Divine Scriptures was dispensed unto us through
mortal men, whose fame is still spreading abroad
now they are dead.
2. " Who covereth with waters the upper parts
thereof" (ver. 3). The upper parts of what?
Of Heaven. What is Heaven? Figuratively
only we said, the Divine Scripture. What are
the upper parts of the Divine Scripture ? The
commandment of love, than which there is none
more exalted.6 But wherefore is love compared
to waters ? Because " the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is
given unto us." 7 Whence is the Spirit Him-
self water? because "Jesus stood and cried,
' Pi. Ixxv. 6, 7. « One Oxf. MS. adds, '
' Lai. CIII. At Carthage, in his old age.
* Eph. v. 8. » ITob xix. 26. — C.]
* Mark xii. 31. 1 Rom. v. 5.
Amen."
He that believeth on Me, out of his bosom shall
flow rivers of living water." 8 Whence do we
prove that it was said of the Spirit? Let the
Evangelist himself declare, who followeth it up,
and saith, " But this spake He of the Spirit,
which they were to receive, who should believe
on Him." " Who walketh above the wings of
the winds ; " that is, above the virtues of souls.
What is the virtue of a soul ? Love itself. But
how doth He walk above it? Because the love
of God toward us is greater than ours toward
God.
3. " Who maketh spirits His angels, and flam-
ing fire His ministers " (ver. 4) : that is, those
who are already spirits, who are spiritual, not
carnal, He maketh His Angels, by sending them
to preach His gospel. " And flaming fire His
ministers." For unless the minister that preach-
eth be on fire, he enflameth not him to whom he
preacheth.
4. " He hath founded the earth upon its firm-
ness " (ver. 5). He hath founded the Church
upon the firmness of the Church. What is the
firmness of the Church, but the foundation of
the Church. What is the foundation of the
Church, but that of which the Apostle saith,
" Other foundation can no man lay.but that is
laid, which is Christ Jesus." "> And therefore,
grounded on such a foundation, what hath she
deserved to hear? " It shall not be bowed for-
ever and ever." " He founded the earth on its
firmness." That is, He hath founded the Church
upon Christ the foundation. The Church will
totter if the foundation totter ; but when shall
Christ totter, before whose coming unto us, and
taking flesh on Him, " all things were made by
Him, and without Him was not anything
made ; " '° who holdeth all things by His Ma-
jesty," and us by His goodness? Since Christ
faileth not, "she shall not be bowed for ever
and ever." Where are they'2 who say that the
Church hath perished from the world, when she
cannot even be bowed. . . .
5. "The deep, like a garment, is its clothing"
(ver. 6). Whose? Is it perchance God's?
But he had already said of His clothing, " Clothed
with light as with a garment." '3 I hear of God
clothed in light, and that light, if we will, are we.
What is, if we will ? if we are no longer darkness.
Therefore if God is clothed with light, whose
clothing, again, is the deep? For an immense
mass of waters is called the deep. All water, all
the moist nature, and the substance everywhere
shed abroad through the seas, and rivers, and
hidden caves, is all together called by one name,
the Deep. Therefore we understand the earth,
of which he said, " He hath founded the earth."
Of it I believe he said, " The deep, like a gar-
8 John vii. 37, 38.
» Heb. i. 3.
9 1 Cor. iii. It.
<2 Donatists.
10 John i. 3.
13 Ps. civ. a.
Psalm CIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
5"
merit is its clothing." For the water is as it
were the clothing of the earth, surrounding it and
covering it. . . .
6. " Above the mountains the waters shall
stand : " that is, the clothing of the earth, which
is the deep, so increased, that the waters stood
even above the mountains. We read of this
taking place in the deluge. . . . The Prophet
minding to foretell future things, not to relate
the past, therefore said it, because he would have
it understood that the Church should be in a
deluge of persecutions. For there was a time
when the floods of persecutors had covered
God's earth, God's Church, and had so covered
it, that not even those great ones appeared, who
are the mountains. For when they fled every-
where, how did they but cease to appear? And
perchance of those waters is that saying, " Save
me, O God, for the waters are come in even
unto my soul." ' Especially the waters which
make the sea, stormy, unfruitful. For whatso-
ever earth the sea-water may have covered, it
will not rather make it fruitful than bring it to
barrenness. For there were also mountains be-
neath the waters, because above the mountains
waters stood.2 . . . Why were the Apostles
hidden by flight? Because " above the moun-
tains the waters stood." 2 The power of the
waters was great, but how long? Hear what
followeth.
7. " From Thy rebuke they shall fly" (ver. 7).
And this was done, brethren ; from God's rebuke
the waters did fly ; that is, they went back from
pressing on the mountains. Now the mountains
themselves stand forth, Peter and Paul : how do
they tower ! They who before were pressed
down by persecutors, now are venerated by
emperors. For the waters are fled from the
rebuke of God ; because " the heart of kings is
in the hand of God, He hath bent it whither He
would ; " 3 He commanded peace to be given
by them to the Christians ; the authority of the
Apostles sprang up and towered high. . . . The
waters fled from the rebuke of God. " From
the voice of Thy thunder they shall be afraid."
Now who is there that would not be afraid, from
the voice of God through the Apostles, the voice
of God through the Scriptures, through His
clouds? The sea is quieted, the waters have
been made afraid, the mountains have been laid
bare, the emperor hath given the order. But
who would have given the order, unless God
had thundered ? Because God willed, they com-
manded, and it was done. Therefore let no one
of men arrogate anything to himself.
8. " The mountains ascend, and the plains go
down, into the place which Thou hast founded
for them" (ver. 8). He is still speaking of
1 Ps. lxix. I.
3 Prov. xxi. 1.
* Oxf. MSS. " shall stand.'
waters. Let us not here understand mountains
as of earth ; nor plains, as of earth : but waves
so great that they may be compared to moun«
tains. The sea did sometime toss, and its wave3
were as mountains, which could cover those
mountains the Apostles. But how long do the
mountains ascend and the plains go down?
They raged, and they are appeased. When
they raged they were mountains : now they are
appeased they are become plains : for He hath
founded a place for them. There is a certain
channel,4 as it were a deep place, into which all
those lately raging hearts of mortals have retired.
. . . They were mountains formerly, now they
are plains : yet, my brethren, even a dead calm s
is sea. For wherefore are they not now violent ?
wherefore do they not rage ? Wherefore do they
not try, if they cannot overthrow our earth, at
least to cover it ? Wherefore not ?
9. Hear. "Thou hast set a bound which
they shall not pass over, neither shall they turn
again to cover the earth " (ver. 9). What then,
because now the bitterest waves have received a
measure, that we must be allowed to preach such
things even with freedom ; because they have
had their due limit assigned, because they can-
not pass over the bound that ia set, nor shall
they return to cover the earth ; what is doing in
the earth itself? What workings take place
therein, now that the sea hath left it bare? Al-
though at its beach slight waves do make their
noise, although Pagans still murmur round ; the
sound of the shores I hear, a deluge I dread not.
What then; what is doing in the earth? "Who
sendeth out springs in the little valleys " (ver.
10). "Thou sendest out," he saith, "springs in
the little valleys." Ye know what little valleys
are, lower places among the lands. For to hills
and mountains, valleys and little valleys are
opposed in contrary shape. Hills and moun-
tains are swellings of the land : but valleys and
little valleys, lownesses of the lands. Do not
despise low places, thence flow springs. "Thou
sendest out springs in the little valleys." Hear
a mountain. The Apostle saith, " I laboured
more than they all." A certain greatness is
brought before us : yet immediately, that the
waters may flow, he hath made himself a valley :
" Yet not I, but the grace of God with me."6 It
is no contradiction that they who are mountains
be also valleys : for as they are called mountains
because of their spiritual greatness, so also v-alleys
because of the humility of their spirit. " Not I,"
he saith, " but the grace of God with me." . . .
10. What is, " In the midst between the moun-
tains the waters shall pass through " ? We have
heard who are the " mountains," the great Preach-
* Meatus, Ben. All the mss. mtttts, '
may be the true reading.
5 Malacia. 6 i Cor. xv. ia
a certain fear," which
512
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIV.
ers of the word, the exalted Angels of God,
though still in mortal flesh ; lofty not by their own
power, but by His grace ; but as far as relates
to themselves, they are valleys, in their humility
they send forth springs. " In the midst," he
saith, " between the mountains, the waters shall
pass through." Let us suppose this said thus,
" In the midst between the Apostles shall pass
through the preachings of the Word of Truth."
What is, in the midst between the Apostles?
What is called in the midst, is common. A
common property, from which all alike live, is in
the midst, and belongs not to me, but neither
belongs it to thee, nor yet to me. . . . For if
they are not in the midst, they are as it were
private, they flow not for public use, and I have
mine, and he has his own, it is not in the midst
for both me and him to have it ; but such is not
the preaching of peace. . . . Therefore, breth-
ren, let what we have said to your Love serve to
this purpose, because of the springs : that they
may flow from you, be ye valleys, and communi-
cate with all that which ye have from God. Let
the waters flow in the midst, envy ye no one,
drink, be filled, flow forth when ye are filled.
Everywhere let the common water of God have
the glory, not the private falsehoods of men. . . .
11. For it follows, "All the beasts of the wood
shall drink" (ver. n). We do indeed see
this also in the visible creation, that the beasts
of the wood drink of springs, and of streams that
run between the mountains : but now since it
hath pleased God to hide His own wisdom in
the figures of such things, not to take it away
from earnest seekers, but to close it to them
that care not, and open it to them that knock ;
it hath also pleased our Lord God Himself to
exhort you by us to this, that in all these things
which are said as if of the bodily and visible
creation, we may seek something spiritually
hidden, in which when found we may rejoice.
The beasts of the wood, we understand the
Gentiles, and Holy Scripture witnesses this in
many places. . . .
12. These beasts, then, drink those waters,
but passing; not staying, but passing; for all
that teaching which in all this time is dis-
pensed passeth. . . . Unless perchance your
love thinketh that in that city to which it is
said, " Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise thy
God, O Sion'; for He hath made strong the
bars of thy gates ; " ' when the bars are now
strengthened and the city closed, whence, as we
said some time since,2 no friend goeth out, no
enemy entereth ; 3 that there we shall have a
1 Ps. Cxlvii. 12, 13.
% See on Ps Ixxxv. 10 and on Ps. cxlvii. on ver. 13. — Ben.
i (This beautiful expression may be found in divers places in
these expositions: eg . on Ps. xlix. ver. 15 (p. 186, supra), where it is
of slightly different sense: also on Ps. Ixxxv. ver. 9, (p. 407, supra),
and, infra, un Ps. cxlviii. 13. The Latin is felicitous though varied:
book to read, or speech to be explained as it
is now explained to you. Therefore is it now
treated, that there it may be held fast : there-
fore is it now divided by syllables, that there it
may be contemplated whole and entire. The
Word of God will not be wanting there : but
yet not by letters, not by sounds, not by books,4
not by a reader, not by an expositor. How
then ? As, " In the beginning was the Word,"
etc.5 For He did not so come to us as to depart
from thence ; because He was in this world, and
the world was made by Him. Such a Word are
we to contemplate. For "the God of gods shall
appear in Zion."6 But this when? After our
pilgrimage, when the journey is done : if how-
ever after our journey is done we be not delivered
to the Judge, that the Judge may send us to
prison. But if when our journey is ended, as
we hope, and wish, and endeavour, we shall have
reached our Country, there shall we contemplate
What we shall ever praise ; nor shall That fail
which is present to us, nor we, who enjoy : nor
shall he be cloyed that eateth, nor shall that fail
which he eateth. Great and wonderful shall be
that contemplation. . . .
13. "The onagers shall take for their thirst."
By onagers he meaneth some great beasts. For
who knoweth not that wild asses are called
onagers? He meaneth, therefore, some great
untrained ones. For the Gentiles had no yoke
of the Law : many nations lived after their own
customs, ranging in proud boastfulness as in a
wilderness. And so indeed did all the beasts,
but the wild asses are put to signify the greater
sort. They too shall drink for their thirst, for
for them too the waters flow. Thence drinks
the hare, thence the wild ass : the hare little, the
wild ass great ; the hare timid, the wild ass
fierce : either sort drinks thence, but each for
his thirst. ... So faithfully and gently doth it
flow, as at once to satisfy the wild ass, and not
to alarm the hare. The sound of Tully's voice
rings out, Cicero is read, it is some book, it is a
dialogue of his, whether his own, or Plato's, or
by whatever such writer : some hear that are
unlearned, weak ones of less mind ; who dareth
to aspire to such a thing? It is a sound of
water, and that perchance turbid, but certainly
flowing so violently, that a timid animal dare not
draw near and drink. To whom soundeth a
Psalm, and he saith, It is too much for me?
Behold now what the Psalm soundeth ; certainly
they are hidden mysteries, yet so it soundeth,
that even children are delighted to hear, and the
Unde amicus non exit, quo inimicus non iutrat. I love the
familiar English: " Where no enemy ever enters, and whence no
friend departs." — C]
* [I suppose many Christians have said, " Shall I no more recall
my lhble, and be refreshed by the recollection of these songs of our
gilgrimagc? " 1 could not think o( heaven as a place where the Holy
criptures should be forgotten. The author's idea comforts me. — C.|
3 John i. 1. b Ps. Ixxxiv. 7.
Psalm CIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
513
unlearned come to drink, and when filled burst
forth in singing. . . .
14. Then the Psalm goes on in its text, "Upon
them ' the fowls of the heaven shall inhabit "
(ver. 12). . . . Upon the mountains, then, the
fowls of the air shall have their habitation. We
see these birds dwell upon the mountains, but
many of them dwell in plains, many in valleys,
many in groves, many in gardens, not all upon
mountains. There are some fowls that dwell
not save on the mountains. Some spiritual
souls doth this name denote. Fowls are spirit-
ual hearts, which enjoy the free air. In the
clearness of heaven these birds delight, yet their
feeding is on the mountains, there will they
dwell. Ye know the mountains, they have been
already treated of. Mountains are Prophets,
mountains are Apostles, mountains are all preach-
ers of the truth. . . .
15. But think not that those "fowls of heaven"
follow their own authority ; see what the Psalm
saith : " From the midst of the rocks they shall
give their voice." Now, if I shall say to you,
Believe, for this said Cicero, this said Plato, this
said Pythagoras : which of you will not laugh at
me? For I shall be a bird that shall send forth
my voice not from the rock. What ought each
one of you to say to me? what ought he who is
thus instructed to say ? " If any one shall
have preached unto you a gospel other than that
ye have received, let him be anathema."2 What
dost thou tell me of Plato, and of Cicero, and
of Virgil? Thou hast before thee the rocks of
the mountains, from the midst of the rocks give
me thy voice. Let them be heard, who hear
from the rock : let them be heard, because also
in those many rocks the One Rock is heard :
for " the Rock was Christ." 3 Let them there-
fore be willingly heard, giving their voice from
the midst of the rocks. Nothing is sweeter than
such a voice of birds. They sound, and the
rocks resound : they sound ; spiritual men dis-
cuss : the rocks resound, testimonies of Scripture
give answer. Lo ! thence the fowls give their
voice from the midst of the rocks, for they dwell
on the mountains.
16. " Watering the mountains from the higher
places" (ver. 13). Now if a Gentile uncircum-
cised man comes to us, about to believe in
Christ, we give him baptism, and do not call
him back to those works of the Law. And if a
Jew asks us why we do that, we sound from the
rock, we say, This Peter did, this Paul did : from
the midst of the rocks we give our voice. But
that rock, Peter himself, that great mountain,
when he prayed and saw that vision, was watered
from above. . . .
1 7. " From the fruit of Thy works shall the
« ///«.
* Gal. i. 9.
3 1 Cor. x. 4.
earth be satisfied." What is, " From the fruit
of Thy works "? Let no man glory in his own
works : but " he that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord." 4 With Thy grace he is satisfied,
when he is satisfied : let him not say that grace
was given for his own merits. If it is called
grace, " it is gratuitously given ; " if it is returned
for works, wages are paid.5 Freely therefore
receive, because ungodly thou art justified.
18. "Bringing forth grass for the cattle, and
green herb for the service of men" (ver. 14).
This is true, I perceive ; I recognise the creation :
the earth doth bring forth grass for the cattle,
and green herb for the service of men. But I
perceive the words, " Thou shalt not muzzle the
mouth of the ox which treadeth out the corn :
Doth God take care for oxen? For our
sakes therefore the Scripture saith it." 6 How
then doth the earth bring forth grass for the
cattle ? Because " the Lord hath ordained that
they which preach the Gospel should live of the
Gospel." He sent preachers, saying unto them,
" Eat such things as are set before you of them :
for the labourer is worthy of his hire." 7 . . .
They give spiritual, they receive carnal things ;
they give gold, they receive grass. ..." If we
have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great
matter if we shall reap your carnal things ? " 8
This the Apostle said, a preacher so laborious,
so indefatigable, so well tried, that he giveth this
very grass to the earth. " Nevertheless," he
saith, "we have not used this power." He
showeth that it is due to him, yet he received it
not ; nor hath he condemned those who have
received what was due. For those were to be
condemned who exact what is not due, not they
who accept their recompense : yet he gave up
even his own recompense. Thou dost not cease
to owe to another, because one hath given up his
dues, otherwise thou wilt not be the watered
earth which bringeth forth grass for the cattle. . . .
Thou receivest spiritual things, give carnal things
in return : to the soldier they are due, to the
soldier thou returnest them ; thou art the pay-
master 9 of Christ. " Who goeth a warfare any
time at his own charges ? who planteth a vine-
yard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who
feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of
the flock? I speak not thus, that it should be
so done unto me." IO There has been such a
soldier as gave up his rations of food even to
the paymaster : yet let the paymaster pay the
rations. . . .
19. " That it may bring forth bread out of the
earth." What bread? Christ. Out of what
earth? From Peter, from Paul, from the other
* 1 Cor. i. 31. 3 Rom. iv. 4,5. * 1 Cor. ix. 9.
7 Luke x. 7, 8. 8 1 Cor. ix. n.
9 Provincialis. Sec this series, vol. vii. p. 440, note 3.
10 1 Cor. ix. 7, 15.
5H
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIV.
stewards of the truth. Hear that it is from the
earth : " We have," saith St. Paul, " this treas-
ure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the
power may be of God, and not of us." ' He is
the bread who descended from heaven,2 that He
might be brought forth out of the earth, when
He is preached through the flesh of His ser-
vants. The earth bringeth forth grass, that it
may bring fortli bread from the earth. What
earth bringeth forth grass? Pious, holy nations.
That bread may be brought forth out of what
earth ? The word of God out of the Apostles,
out of the stewards of God's Sacraments, who
still walk upon the earth, who still carry an
earthly body.
20. " And wine maketh glad the heart of
man" (ver. 15). Let no man prepare himself
for intoxication ; nay, let every man prepare him
for intoxication. " How excellent is Thy cup
which maketh inebriate !" J We choose not to
say, Let no man be drunk. Be inebriated ; yet
beware, from what source. If the excellent cup
of the Lord doth saturate you, your ebriety shall
be seen in your works, it shall be seen in the
holy love of righteousness, it shall, lastly, be
seen in the estrangement of your mind, but from
things earthly to heavenly. " To make him a
cheerful countenance with oil." . . . What is
the making the countenance cheerful with oil?
The grace of God ; a sort of shining for mani-
festation ; as the Apostle saith, " The Spirit is
given to every man for manifestation." 4 A
certain grace which men can clearly see in men,
to conciliate holy love, is termed oil, for its
divine splendour ; and since it appeared most
excellent in Christ, the whole world loveth Him ;
who though while here He was scorned, is now
worshipped by every nation : " For the kingdom
is the Lord's, and He shall be Governor among
the people." s For such is His grace, that
many, who do not believe on Him, praise Him,
and declare that they are unwilling to believe on
Him, because no man can fulfil what He doth
command. They who with reproaches once raged
against Him, are hindered by His very praises.
Yet by all is He loved, by all is He preached ;
because He is excellently anointed, therefore
He is Christ : for He is called Christ from the
Chrism or anointing which He had. Messiah
in the Hebrew, Christ in the Greek, Unctus in
the Latin : but He anointeth over His whole
Body. All therefore who come, receive grace,
that their countenances may be made glad with
oil.
21. " And bread strengtheneth man's heart."
What is this, brethren? As it were, he hath
forced us to understand what bread he was
speaking of. For while that visible bread
strengtheneth the stomach, feedeth the body,
there is another bread which strengtheneth the
heart, in that it is the bread of the heart. . . .
There is therefore a wine that truly maketh glad
the heart, and knoweth not to do aught else
than to gladden the heart. But that thou may-
est not imagine that this indeed should be taken
of the spiritual wine, but not of that spiritual
bread ; He hath shown this very point, that it is
also spiritual : " and bread," he saith, " strength-
eneth man's heart." So understand it therefore
of the bread as thou dost understand it of the
wine ; hunger inwardly, thirst inwardly : " Blessed
are they," saith our Lord, " who hunger and
thirst after righteousness ; for they shall be
filled." 6 That bread is righteousness, that wine
is righteousness : it is truth, Christ is truth.7 " I
am," He said, " the living bread, who came
down from heaven ;"8 and, " I am the Vine, and
ye are the branches."9
22. " The trees of the plain shall be satisfied "
(ver. 16) : but with this grace, brought forth out
of the earth. "The trees of the plain," are the
lower orders of the nations. " And the cedars
of Libanus which He hath planted." The
cedars of Libanus, the powerful in the world,
shall themselves be filled. The bread, and wine,
and oil of Christ hath reached senators, nobles,
kings ; the trees of the plain are filled. First
the humble are filled ; next also the cedars of
Libanus, yet those which He hath planted ;
pious cedars, religious faithful ; for such hath
He planted. For the ungodly also are cedars
of Libanus; for, "The Lord shall break the
cedars of Libanus." IO For Libanus is a moun-
tain : there are those trees, even according to
the letter most long-lived and most excellent.
But Libanus is interpreted, as we read in those
who have written of these things, a brightness :
and this brightness seemeth to belong to this
world, which at present shineth and is refulgent
with its pomps. There are the cedars of
Libanus, which the Lord hath planted ; those
which the Lord hath planted shall be filled. . . .
23. "There shall the sparrows build their
nests : their leader is the house of the coot "
(ver. 17). Where shall the sparrows build?
In the cedars of Libanus. . . . Who are the
sparrows ? Sparrows are birds indeed, and fowls
of the air, but small fowls are wont to be called
sparrows. There are therefore some spiritual
ones that build in the cedars of Libanus : that
is, there are certain servants of God who hear
in the Gospel, " Sell all that thou hast, and give
to the poor; and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven; and come and follow Me." " . . . Let
him who hath resigned many things, not be
1 a Cor. iv 7.
< 1 Cor. xii. 7.
3 John vi. 41.
' Pi. xxii. 28.
* Ps. xxlil. 5.
6 Matt. v. 6.
8 John vi. 51.
*° Ps. xxix. 5.
' John xiv. 6.
' John xv. 5.
Matt. xix. 3i.
Psalm CIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
515
proud. We know that Peter was a fisherman :
what then could he give up, to follow our Lord ?
Or his brother Andrew, or John and James the
sons of Zebedee, themselves also fishermen ; '
and yet what did they say? " Behold, we have
forsaken all, and followed Thee." 2 Our Lord
said not to him, Thou hast forgotten thy pov-
erty ; what hast thou resigned, that thou should-
est receive the whole world ? He, my brethren,
who resigned not only what he had, but also
what he longed to have, resigned much. . . .
24. But although the sparrows will build in
the cedars of Libanus, " the house of the coot
is their leader." What is the house of the
coot? The coot, as we all know, is a water
bird, dwelling either among the marshes, or on
the sea. It hath rarely or never a home on the
shore ; but in places in the midst of the waters,
and thus usually in rocky islets, surrounded by
the waves. We therefore understand that the
rock is the fit home of the coot, it never dwelleth
more securely than on the rock. On what sort
of rock? One placed in the sea. And if it is
beaten by the waves, yet it breaketh the waves,
is not broken by them : this is the excellency
of the rock in the sea. How great waves beat
on our Lord Jesus Christ? The Jews dashed
against Him ; they were broken, He remained
whole. And let every one who doth imitate
Christ, so dwell in this world, that is, in this sea,
where he cannot but feel storms and tempests,
that he may yield to no wind, to no wave, but
remain whole, while he meets them all. The home
of the coot, therefore, is both strong and weak.
The coot hath not a home on lofty spots ; nothing
is more firm and nothing more humble than that
home. Sparrows build indeed in cedars, on
account of actual need : but they hold that rock
as their leader, which is beaten by the waves,
and yet not broken ; for they imitate the suffer-
ings of Christ. . . .
25. What then followeth? "The loftiest hills
are for the stags" (ver. 18). The stags are
mighty, spiritual, passing in their course over all
the thorny places of the thickets and woods.
" He maketh my feet like harts' feet, and setteth
me up on high."3 Let them hold to the lofty
hills, the lofty commandments of God ; let them
think on sublime subjects, let them hold those
which stand forth most in the Scriptures, let
them be justified in the highest: for those lofti-
est hills are for the stags. What of the humble
beasts? what of the hare? what of the hedge-
hog ? The hare is a small and weak animal :
the hedgehog is also prickly : the one is a timid
animal, the other is covered with prickles. What
do the prickles signify, except sinners? He who
sinneth daily, although not great sins, is covered
• Matt. iv. 18, 21.
2 Matt. xix. 27.
3 Ps. xviii. 33.
over with the smallest prickles. In his timidity
he is a hare : in his being covered with the
minutest sins, he is a hedgehog : and he cannot
hold those lofty and perfect commandments.
For " the loftiest hills are for the stags." What
then ? do these perish ? No. For so " is the
rock the refuge for the hedgehogs and the
hares." 4 For the Lord is a refuge for the poor.
Place that rock upon the land, it is a refuge for
hedgehogs, and for hares : place it on the sea,
it is the home of the coot. Everywhere the
rock is useful. Even in the hills it is useful : for
the hills without the rock's foundation would fall
into the deep. . . .
26. " He appointed the Moon for certain sea-
sons " (ver. 19). We understand spiritually the
Church increasing from the smallest size, and
growing old as it were from the mortality of this
life ; yet so, that it draweth nearer unto the Sun.
I speak not of this moon visible to the eye, but
of that which is signified by this name. While
the Church was in the dark, while she as yet
appeared not, shone not forth as yet, men were
led astray, and it was said, This is the Church,
here is Christ ; so that " while the Moon was
dark, they shot their arrows at the righteous in
heart." 5 How blind is he who now, when the
Moon is full, wandereth astray? " He appointed
the Moon for certain seasons." For here the
Church temporarily is passing away : for this
subjection to death will not remain for ever :
there will some time be an end of waxing and
waning ; it is appointed for certain seasons.
" And the sun knoweth his going down." And
what sun is this, but that Sun of righteousness,
whom the ungodly will lament on the day of
judgment never having risen for them ; they who
will say on that day, " Therefore we wandered
from the way of truth, and the light of right-
eousness shone not on us, and the sun did not
arise upon us." 6 That sun riseth for him who
understandeth Christ. . . .
27. Nor think, brethren, that the sun ought to
be worshipped by some men, because the sun
doth sometimes in the Scriptures signify Christ.
For such is the madness of men ; 7 as if we said
that a creature should be worshipped, when it
is said, the sun is an emblem of Christ. Then
worship the rock also, for it also is a type of
Christ.8 " He was brought as a lamb to the
slaughter : " ' worship the lamb also, since it is a
type of Christ. " The Lion of the tribe of
Judah hath prevailed ; " '° worship the lion also,
since it signifieth Christ. Observe how numer-
ous are the types of Christ : all these are Christ
in similitude, not in essence. . . .
< Ps. ix. 9. 5 ps. xi. 2. <■ Wisd. v. 6.
7 [What would our author have said to the teaching of the Trent
Catccnism on image-worship ? See A. N. F. vol. iii. p. 76. — C]
8 x Cor. x. 4. 9 Isa. liii. 7. IO Rev. v. 5.
5i6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[FSALM CIV.
28. What then, when the sun went down, when
our Lord suffered ? There was a sort of darkness
with the Apostles, hope failed, in those to whom
He at first seemed great, and the Redeemer of
all men. How so ? " Thou didst make dark-
ness, and it became night ; wherein all the beasts
of the forest shall move" (ver. 20). . . . Here
the beasts of the forest are used in different ways :
for these things are always understood in varying
senses ; as our Lord Himself is at one time termed
a lion, at another a lamb. What is so different
as a lion and a lamb ? But what sort of lamb ?
One that could overcome the wolf, overcome the
lion. He is the Rock, He the Shepherd, He
the Gate. The Shepherd entereth by the gate :
and He saith, " I am the good Shepherd : " and,
" I am the Door of the Sheep." * . . . Learn
thus to understand, when these things are spoken
figuratively ; lest perchance when ye have read
that the Rock signifieth Christ,2 ye may under-
stand it to mean Him in every passage. In one
place it meaneth one thing, another in another,
just as we can only understand the meaning of
a letter by seeing its position.3 " The lion's
whelps roaring after their prey, do seek their
meat from God" (ver. 21). Justly then our
Lord, when nigh unto His going down, the very
Sun of Righteousness recognising His going
down, said to His disciples, as if darkness being
about to come, the lion would roam about to
seek whom he might devour, that that lion could
devour no man, unless with leave : " Simon,"
said He, " this night Satan hath desired to have
you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." * When
Peter thrice denied,* was he not already between
the lion's teeth ? . . .
29. " The Sun hath arisen, and they get them
away together, and lay them down in their
dens" (ver. 22). More and more as the Sun
riseth, so that Christ is recognised by the round
world, and glorified therein, do the lion's whelps
get them away together ; those devils recede
from the persecution of the Church, who insti-
gated men to persecute the house of God, by
working in the sons of unbelief.6 Now that
none of them dareth persecute the Church, " the
Sun hath arisen, and they get them away to-
1 John x. II, 7. 2 1 Cor. x. 4.
3 Circumstatitia sui expotiuntur. f He adds, "If thou hast
heard the first letter in the word Deus, ana thinkest it must always
belong to it alone, thou wilt blot it out in the word Diabolus. For
the word Deus beginneth with the same letter as the word Diabolus:
and nothing is so far apart, as God from the devil. Consider how
utterly ignorant of things both human and divine he must be, who
shall say of the letter D, it ought not to be used in the beginning of
the word devil: and when thou hast asked the reason, replieth, I read
that letter in the name of God. Such a man is laughed at: for he is
not worthy of an argument. Do not then so childishly interpret these
divine things, as if any of you were to think, from my having said
above that the beasts of the forest signifies the Gentiles, while I now
lay that they signify devils and the angels of disobedience, that 1 am
contradicting what I said before. For they are only figures, and
wherever they occur, are explained by the context they have." — C. J
< Luke xxii. 31, 32. » Matt. xxvi. 70, 74. <■ Eph. ii. a.
gether." And where are they? "And they lay
them down in their dens." Their dens are the
hearts of the unbelieving. How many carry
lions crouching in their hearts? They burst not
forth thence, they make no assault upon the pil-
grim Jerusalem. Wherefore do they not so?
Because the Sun is already risen, and is shining
over the whole world.
30. What art thou doing, O man of God?
thou, O Church of God ? what art thou, O body
of Christ, whose Head is in Heaven? what art
thou doing, O man, His unity ? " Man," he saith,
"shall go forth to his work" (ver. 23). Let
therefore this man work good works in the secur-
ity of the peace of the Church, let him work
unto the end. For sometime there will be a
sort of general darkening, and a sort of assault
will be made, but in the evening, that is, in the
end of the world : but now the Church doth work
in peace and tranquillity ; for " man shall go forth
to his work, and to his labour, unto the evening."
31. " O Lord, how great are made Thy
works!" (ver. 24). Justly great, justly sub-
lime ! where were those works made, that are so
great ? what was that station where God stood,
or that seat whereupon He sat, when He did
those works? what was the place where He
worked thus? whence did those so beautiful
works proceed at the first ? To take it word for
word, every ordained creation, running by ordi-
nance, beautiful by ordinance, rising by ordi-
nance, setting by ordinance, going through all
seasons by ordinance, whence hath it proceeded ?
whence hath the Church herself received her
rise, her growth, her perfection ? In what man-
ner is she destined to a consummation in immor-
tality? with what heralding is she preached? by
what mysteries is she recommended? by what
types is she concealed ? by what preaching is she
revealed? where hath God done these things?
I see great works. " How great are made 1'hy
works, O Lord ! " I ask where He hath made
them : I find not the place : but I see what fol-
loweth : " In Wisdom hast Thou made them all."
All therefore Thou hast made in Christ. . . .
"The earth is full of Thy creation." The earth
is full of the creation of Christ. And how so ?
We discern how : for what was not made by the
Father through the Son ? Whatever walketh and
doth crawl on earth, whatever doth swim in the
waters, whatever flieth in the air, whatever doth
revolve in heaven, how much more then the
earth, the whole universe, is the work of God.
But he seems to me to speak here of some new
creation, of which the Apostle saith, " If any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things
have passed away ; behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God." » All who
' a Cor. v. 17, 18.
Psalm CIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
517
believe in Christ, who put off the old man, and
put on the new,' are a new creature. " The
earth is full of Thy works." On one spot of the
earth He was crucified, in one small spot that
seed fell into the earth, and died ; but brought
forth great fruit. . . .
32. "The earth is full of Thy creation." Of
what creation of Thine is the earth full ? Of all
trees and shrubs, of all animals and flocks, and
of the whole of the human race ; the earth
is full of the creation of God. We see, know,
read, recognise, praise, and in these we preach
of Him ; yet we are not able to praise respect-
ing these things, as fully as our heart doth abound
with praise after the beautiful contemplation of
them. But we ought rather to heed that crea-
tion, of which the Apostle saith, " If any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are
passed away ; behold, all things are become
new." 2 What " old things have passed away " ?
In the Gentiles, all idolatry ; in the Jews them-
selves, all that servitude unto the Law, all those
sacrifices that were harbingers of the present
Sacrifice. The oldness of man was then abun-
dant ; One came to renovate His own work, to
melt His silver, to form His coin, and we now see
the earth full of Christians believing in God,
turning themselves away from their former un-
cleanness and idolatry, from a past hope to the
hope of a new age : and behold it is not yet
realized, but is already possessed in hope, and
through that very hope we now sing, and say,
" The earth is full of Thy creation." We do not
as yet sing this in our country, nor yet in that
rest which is promised, the bars of the gates of
Jerusalem not being as yet made fast ; 3 but still
in our pilgrimage gazing upon the whole of this
world, upon men who on every side are running
unto the faith, fearing hell, despising death, lov-
ing eternal life, scorning the present, and filled
with joy at such a spectacle, we say, " The earth
is full of Thy creation."
33. . . . " So is the great and wide sea also ;
wherein are things creeping innumerable, both
small and great beasts" (ver. 25). He speak-
eth of the sea as terrible. Snares creep in this
world, and surprise the careless suddenly ; for
who numbereth the temptations that creep?
They creep, but beware, lest they snatch us away.
Let us keep watch on the Wood ; even in the
water,4 even on the waves, we are safe : let not
Christ sleep, let not faith sleep ; if He hath
slept, let Him be awakened ; He will command
the winds ; He will calm the sea ; 5 the voyage
will be ended, and we shall rejoice in our
country. For I see in this terrible sea un-
1 Eph. iv. 22-24.
* Some MSS. add, "
gloss.
5 Matt viii. 24-26.
2 2 Cor. v. 17. 3 Ps. cxlvii. 13.
On the cross let us sail ; " but this may be a
believers still ; for they dwell in barren and bit-
ter waters : but they are both small and great.
We know this : many little men of this world are
still unbelievers, many great men of this world
are so : there are living creatures, both small and
great, in this sea. They hate the Church : the
name of Christ is a burden to them : they rage
not, because they are not permitted ; the cruelty
which cannot burst forth in deeds, is shut up
within the heart. For all, whether small or
great, " creeping things, both small and great,"
who at present grieve at the temples being shut,
the altars overthrown, the images broken, the
laws which make it a capital crime to sacrifice
to idols ; all who mourn on this account, are
still in the sea. What then of us? And by
what road then are we to journey unto our coun-
try ? Through this very sea, but on the Wood.
Fear not the danger ; that wood which holdeth
together the world doth bear thee up.
34. " There shall go the ships" (ver. 26). Lo,
ships float upon that which alarmed you, and
sink not. By ships we understand churches ;
they go among the storms, among the tempests
of temptations, among the waves of the world,
among the beasts, both small and great. Christ
on the wood of His cross is the Pilot. " There
shall go the ships." Let not the ships fear, let
them not much mind where they float, but by
Whom they are steered. " There shall go the
ships." What voyage do they find tedious,
when they feel that Christ is their Pilot ? They
will sail safely, let them sail diligently, they will
reach their promised haven, they will be led to
the land of rest.
35. There is also in that sea somewhat which
transcends all creatures, great and small. What
is this? Let us hear the Psalm : "There is that
Leviathan, whom Thou hast formed to make
sport of him." There are creeping things innu-
merable, both small and great beasts ; there
shall the ships go, and shall not fear, not only
the creeping things innumerable, and beasts
both small and great, but not even the serpent
which is there ; " whom Thou," he speaketh
unto God, " hast made to make sport of him."
This is a great mystery ; and yet I am about to
utter what ye already know. Ye know that a
certain serpent is the enemy of the Church : ye
have not seen him with the eyes of the flesh, but
ye see him with the eyes of faith. . . .
36. This serpent then, our ancient dnemy,
glowing with rage, cunning in his wiles, is in the
mighty sea. " Here is that Leviathan, whom
Thou hast formed to make sport of him." Do
thou now make sport of the serpent : for for
this end was this serpent made. He falling by
his own sin from the sublime realms of the
heavens, and made devil instead of angel,
received a certain region of his own in this
5'8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIV.
mighty and spacious sea. What thou thinkest
his kingdom, is his prison. For many say :
wherefore hath the devil received so great
power, that he may rule in this world, and pre-
vaileth so much, can do so much? How much
prevaileth he? How much can he do? Unless
by permission, he can do nothing. Do thou so
act, that he may not be allowed to attack thee ;
or if he be allowed to tempt thee, he may depart
vanquished, and may not gain thee. For he
hath been allowed to tempt some holy men,
servants of God : they overcame him, because
they departed not from the way, they whose
heel he watched, fell not. . . .
37. He then, my brethren, who doth wish to
watch the serpent's head, and safely to pass this
sea ; for it must be that this serpent dwelleth
here, and, as I had commenced saying, the devil
when he fell from heaven received this region ;
let him watch his head, on the part of the fear
of the world, and of the lusts of the world.
For it is hence that he suggesteth some object
of fear or of desire; he trieth thy love, or thy
fear. If thou fearest hell, and lovest the king-
dom of God, thou wilt watch his head. . . .
" There is no power but of God." ' What then
fearest thou ? Let the dragon be in the waters,
let the dragon be in the sea : thou art to pass
through it. He is made so as to be made sport
of, he is ordained to inhabit this place, this
region is given him. Thou thinkest that this
habitation is a great thing for him, because thou
knowest not the dwellings of the angels whence
he fell : 2 what seemeth to thee his glory, is his
damnation.
38. . . . What then fearest thou? Perhaps
he is about to try thy flesh : it is the scourge
of thy Lord, not the power of thy tempter. His
wish is to injure that salvation which is promised :
but he is not allowed : but that he may not be
allowed, have Christ for thy Head : repel the
serpent's head : consent not unto his suggestion,
slip not from thy path. " There is that Leviathan,
whom Thou hast made to make sport of him."
39. Dost thou wish to see how incapable he
is of hurting thee, unless permitted? " These,"
he saith, " wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest
give them meat in due season " (ver. 27). And
this serpent wisheth to devour, but he devoureth
not whom he wisheth. . . . Thou hast heard
what the serpent's meat is. Thou dost not
wish that God give thee to be devoured by the
serpent ; because not the serpent's food : i.e.
forsake not the Word of God. For where it is
said to the serpent, " Dust thou shalt eat," it
is said to the transgressor, " Dust thou art, and
unto dust thou shalt return." * Thou dost not
1 Rom. xiii. I,
• Oxf mss. add, "Thou admirest the dwellings of the dead where
he is cast down."
3 Gen. iii. 14, 19.
wish to be the serpent's food? be not dust.
How, thou repliest, shall I not be dust? If
thou hast not a taste for earthly things. Hear
the Apostle, that thou mayest not be dust. For
the body which thou wearest is earth : but do
thou refuse to be earth. What meaneth this?
"Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth." 4 If thou dost not set thy
affections on earthly things, thou art not earth :
if thou art not earth, thou art not devoured by
the serpent, whose appointed food is earth. The
Lord giveth the serpent his food when He will,
what He will : but He judgeth rightly, he can-
not be deceived, He giveth him not gold for
earth. " When Thou hast given it them, they
gather it." . . .
40. " When thou openest Thy hand, they shall
all be filled with good" (ver. 28). What is it,
O Lord, that Thou openest Thy hand ? Christ
is Thy hand. " To whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed ? " s To whom it is revealed, unto
him it is opened : for revelation is opening.
" When Thou openest Thy hand, they shall all
be filled with good." When Thou revealest Thy
Christ, " they shall all be filled with good." But
they have not good from themselves ; this is
oftentimes proved unto them. "When Thou
hidest Thy face, they are troubled" (ver. 29).
Many filled with good have attributed to them-
selves what they had, and have wished to boast
as in their own righteousnesses, and have said to
themselves, I am righteous ; I am great : and
have become self-complacent. Unto these the
Apostle speaketh : " What hast thou, that thou
didst not receive ? " 6 But God, wishing to prove
unto man that whatever he hath he hath from
Him, so that with good he may gain humility
also, sometimes troubleth him ; He turneth away
His face from him, and he falleth into tempta-
tion; and He showeth him that his righteous-
ness, and his walking aright, was only under His
government. . . .
41. But wherefore dost Thou do this? where-
fore dost Thou hide Thy face, that they may be
troubled ? " Thou shalt take away their breath,
and they shall fail." Their breath was their
pride ; they boast, they attribute things to them-
selves, they justify themselves. Hide, therefore,
Thy face, that they may be troubled : take away
their breath, and let them fail ; let them cry
unto Thee, " Hear me, O Lord, and that soon,
for my spirit waxeth faint : hide not Thy face
from me." 7 " Thou shalt take away their breath,
and they shall fail, and shall be turned to their
dust." The man who repenteth of his sin dis-
covereth himself, that he had not strength of
himself; and doth confess unto God, saying,
that he is earth and ashes. O proud one, thou
* Col. iii. a.
6 1 Cor. iv. 7.
5 Tsa. liii. 1.
' Ps. cxliii. 7.
Psalm CIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
519
art turned to thine own dust, thy breath hath
been taken away ; no longer dost thou boast
thyself, no longer extol thyself, no longer justify
thyself; thou seest that thou art made of dust,
and when the Lord turneth away His face, thou
hast fallen back into thine own dust. Pray,
therefore, confess thy dust and thy weakness.
42. And see what followeth : " Thou shalt send
forth Thy Spirit,' and they shall be made " (ver.
30). Thou shalt take away their spirit, and send
forth Thine own : Thou shalt take away their
spirit : they shall have no spirit of their own.
Are they then forsaken ? " Blessed are the poor
in spirit : " 2 but they are not forsaken. They re-
fused to have a spirit of their own : they shall
have the Spirit of God. Such were our Lord's
words to the future martyrs : 3 "It is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speak-
eth in you." Attribute not your courage to
yourselves. If it is yours, He saith, and not
Mine, it is obstinacy, not courage. " For we
are His workmanship," saith the Apostle, " cre-
ated unto good works."4 From His Spirit we
have received grace, that we may live unto right-
eousness : for it is He that justifieth the ungodly.5
" Thou shalt take away their spirit, and they shall
fail ; Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they
shall be made : and Thou shalt renew the face of
the earth : " that is, with new men, confessing
themselves to have been justified, not righteous
of their own power, so that the grace of God is
in them. What then? When He hath taken
away our spirit, we shall be turned again to our
dust, beholding to our edification our weakness,
that when we receive His Spirit we may be re-
freshed. See what followeth : "Be the glory of
the Lord for ever" (ver. 31). Not thine, not
mine, not his, or his ; not for a season, but " for
ever." "The Lord shall rejoice in His works."
Not in thine, as if they were thine : because
if thy works are evil, it is through thy iniquity ; if
good, it is through the grace of God. " The Lord
shall rejoice in His works."
43. " Who looketh on the earth, and maketh
it tremble ; who touchefh the hills, and they
shall smoke " (ver. 32). O earth, thou wast ex-
ulting in thy good, to thyself thou didst ascribe
thy fulness and opulence ; behold, the Lord
looketh on thee, and causeth thee to tremble.
May He look on thee, and make thee tremble : for
the trembling of humility is better than the con-
fidence of pride. . . . For it is God, he saith,
which worketh in you. For this reason then with
trembling, because God worketh in you. Be-
cause He gave, because what thou hast cometh
not from thee, thou shalt work with fear and trem-
bling, for if thou fearest not Him, He will take
away what He gave. Work, therefore, with trem-
1 Or, " breath."
4 Eph. ii. 10.
2 Matt. v. 3.
3 Rom. iv. 5.
3 Matt. x. 20.
bling. Hear another Psalm : " Serve the Lord
with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling." 6
If we must rejoice with trembling, God behold-
eth us, there cometh an earthquake ; when God
looketh upon us, let our hearts tremble ; then
will God rest there. Hear Him in another pas-
sage : " Upon whom shall My Spirit rest ? Even
on him that is lowly and quiet, and who trem-
bleth at My Word." '
" Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it
tremble ; who toucheth the hills, and they shall
smoke" (ver. 32). The hills were proud, and
boastful of themselves, God had not touched
them : He toucheth them, and they shall smoke.
What meaneth the smoking of the hills? That
they pray unto the Lord. Behold great hills,
proud hills, vast hills, prayed not to God : they
wished themselves to be entreated, and entreated
not Him who was above them. For what pow-
erful, arrogant, proud man is there upon the
earth, who deigneth humbly to entreat God ? I
speak of the ungodly, not of the " cedars of Li-
banus, which the Lord hath planted." Every
ungodly man, unhappy soul, knoweth not how to
entreat God, while he wisheth himself to be en-
treated by men. He is a hill ; it is needful that
God touch him, that he may smoke : when he
hath begun to smoke, he will offer prayers unto
God, as it were the sacrifice of his heart. He
smoketh unto God, he then beateth his breast :
he beginneth to weep, for smoke doth elicit tears.
44. " I will sing unto the Lord in my life " (ver.
33). What will sing ? Everything that is willing.
Let us sing unto the Lord in our life. Our life at
present is only hope ; our life will be eternity here-
after : the life of mortal life, is the hope of an ever-
lasting life. " I will praise my God while I have
my being." Since I am in Him for ever and ever,
while I have my being, I will praise my God.
Let us not imagine that, when we have com-
menced praising God in that state, we shall have
any other work : our whole life will be for the
praises of God. If we become weary of Him
whom we praise, we may also become weary of
praising. If He is ever loved, He is ever praised
by us.
45. " Let my discourse be pleasing to Him :
my joy shall be in the Lord" (ver. 34). What
is the discourse of man unto God, save the con-
fession of sins? Confess unto God what thou
art, and thou hast discoursed with Him. Dis-
course unto Him, do good works, and discourse.
"Wash you, make you clean," saith Isaiah.8
What is it to discourse unto God ? Unfold thy-
self to him who knoweth thee, that He may un-
fold Himself to thee who knowest not Him.
Behold, it is thy discourse that pleaseth the Lord ;
the offering of thy humility, the tribulation of
« Ps. i
7 Isa. lxvi. 2.
8 Isa. i. 16.
52°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[fSALM cv.
thy heart, the holocaust of thy life, this pleaseth
God. But what is pleasing to thyself? " My
joy shall be in the Lord." This is that discours-
ing which I meant between God and thyself:
show thyself to Him who knoweth thee, and He
showeth Himself unto thee who knowest not him.
Pleasing unto Him is thy confession : sweet unto
thee is His grace. He hath spoken Himself unto
thee. How? By the Word. What Word?
Christ. . . .
46. " Let the sinners be consumed out of the
earth " (ver. 35). He seemeth angry ! O holy
soul, which here doth sing and groan ! Would
that our soul were with that very soul ! Would
that it were coupled with it, associated, conjoined
with it ! It shall behold also His loving-kindness
when he is angry. For who but he who is filled
with charity, understandeth this? Thou trem-
blest, because he curseth. And who doth curse ?
A saint. Without doubt he is listened to. But
it is said unto the saints, " Bless, and curse not." '
What is then the sense of the words, " Let the
sinners be consumed out of the earth " ? Let
them utterly be consumed ; let their spirit be
taken away, that He may send forth His own
Spirit, and they may be restored. " And the
ungodly, so that they be no more." In what
that they be no more, save as wicked men ? Let
them therefore be justified, that they may no
longer be ungodly. The Psalmist saw this, and
was filled with joy, and repeateth the first verse
of the Psalm : " Bless thou the Lord, O my
soul." Let our soul bless the Lord, brethren,
since He hath deigned to give unto us both un-
derstanding and the power of language, and unto
you attention and earnestness in hearing. Let
each, as he can recall to mind what he hath
heard, by mutual conversation stir up the food
ye have received, ruminate on what ye have
heard, let it not descend in you into the bowels
of forgetfulness. Let the treasure to be desired 2
rest upon your lips. These matters have been
sought out and discovered with great labour,
with great labour have they been announced and
discoursed of ; may our toil be fruitful unto you,
and may our soul bless the Lord.
PSALM CV.3
1. This Psalm is the first of those to which is
prefixed the word Allelujah ; the meaning of
which word, or rather two words, is, Praise
the Lord. For this reason he beginneth with
praises : " O confess unto the Lord, and call upon
His Name" (ver. 1) ; for this confession is to
be understood as praise, just as these words of
our Lord, " I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth." * For after commencing
1 Rom. xii. 14.
» Lat. CIV.
2 Prov. xxi. 20.
* Malt. xi. 25.
with praise, calling upon God is wont to follow,
whereunto he that prayeth doth next add 5 his
longings : whence the Lord's Prayer itself hath
at the commencement a very brief praise, in
these words, " Our Father which art in Heaven." 5
The things prayed for, then follow. . . . This also
followeth, " Tell the people what things He hath
done ; " ' or rather, to translate literally from the
Greek, as other Latin copies too have it, " Preach
the Gospel of His works among the Gentiles."
Unto whom is this addressed, save unto the
Evangelists in prophecy?
2. " O sing unto Him, and play on instru-
ments unto Him" (ver. 2). Praise Him both
by word and deed ; for we sing with the voice,
while we play with an instrument, that is, with
our hands. " Let your talking be of all His
wondrous works. Be ye praised in His holy
Name" (ver. 3). These two verses may with-
out any absurdity seem paraphrases of the two
words above ; so that, " Let your talking be of
all His wondrous works," may express the words,
" O sing unto Him ; " and what followeth, " be
ye praised in His holy Name," may be referred
to the words, " and play on instruments unto
Him ; " the former relating to the " good word "
wherewith we sing unto Him, in which His won-
drous works are told ; the latter to the good
work, in which sweet music is played unto Him,
so that no man may wish to be praised for a
good work on the score of his own power to do
it. For this reason, after saying, " be ye
praised," which assuredly they who work well
deservedly may, he added, " in His holy Name,"
since " he that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord." 8 . . . This is to be praised in His holy
Name. Whence we read also in another Psalm :
" My soul shall be praised in the Lord : let the
meek hear thereof, and be glad ; " 9 which here
in a sense followeth, " Let the heart of them
rejoice that seek the Lord : " for thus the meek
are glad, who do not rival with a bitter jealousy
those whom they imitate as already workers of
good.
3. " Seek the Lord, and be strengthened " IO
(ver. 4). This is very literally construed from
the Greek, though it may seem not a Latin
word : whence other copies have, " be ye con-
firmed ; " others, " be ye corroborated." . . .
While these words, then, " Come unto Him, and
be enlightened," " apply to seeing ; those in the
text relate to doing : " Seek the Lord, and be
strengthened." . . . But what meaneth, " Seek
His face evermore"? I know indeed that to
cling unto God is good for me ; " but if He is
always being sought, when is He found? Did he
mean by " evermore," the whole of the life we live
> Oxl. mss. " the sinner doth allege." 6 Matt. vi. 9.
' John xxi. 17. 8 1 Cor. i. 31. ' Ps. xxxiv. 2.
10 CoiifortamM. " Ps. xxxiv. 4. u Ps. lxxiii. 17.
Psalm CV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
521
here, whence we become conscious that we ought
thus to seek, since even when found He is still
to be sought? To wit, faith hath already found
Him, but hope still seeketh Him. But love
hath both found Him through faith, and seek-
eth to have Him by sight, where He will then
be found so as to satisfy us, and no longer to
need our search. For unless faith discovered
Him in this life, it would not be said, " Seek
the Lord." Also, if when discovered by faith,
He were not still to be diligently sought, it
would not be said, " For if we hope for that
we see not, then do we with patience wait for
it." "... And truly this is the sense of the
words, " Seek His face evermore ; " meaning
that discovery should not terminate that seeking,
by which love is testified, but with the increase
of love the seeking of the discovered One should
increase.
4. " Remember," he saith, " His marvellous
works that He hath done, His wonders, and the
judgments of His mouth " (ver. 5). This pas-
sage seemeth like that, " Thou shalt say unto
the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto
you : " an expression which, in ever so small
part, scarce a mind 2 taketh in. Then mention-
ing His own Name, He mercifully mingled in
His grace towards men, saying, " I am the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob ; this is My Name for ever." > By which
He would have it to be understood, that they
whose God He declared Himself lived with
Him for ever, and He said this, which might be
understood even by children, that they who by
the great powers of love knew how to seek His
face for evermore, might according to their
capacity comprehend, I am that I am.
5. Unto whom is it said, " O ye seed of Abra-
ham His servant, ye children of Jacob, His
chosen "? (ver. 6). . . . He next addeth, " He
is the Lord our God : His judgments are in all
the world" (ver. 7). Is He the God of the
Jews only?4 God forbid ! " He is the Lord our
God : " because the Church, where His judg-
ments are preached, is in all the world. . . .
6. " He hath been ahvay mindful of His cov-
enant " (ver. 8). Other copies read, " for ever-
more ; " and this arises from the ambiguity of
the Greek. But if we are to understand " alway "
of this world and not of eternity, why, when he
explaineth what covenant He was mindful of,
doth he add, "The word that He made to a
thousand generations " ? Now this may be un-
derstood with a certain limitation ; but he after-
wards saith, " Even the covenant that He made
with Abraham " (ver. 9) : " and the oath that He
sware unto Isaac ; and appointed the same unto
1 Rom. viii. 25.
2 Rara mens. Oxf. MSS. read " a pure mind."
3 Exod. iii. 14, 15. * Rom. lit. 29,
Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting 5
testament" (ver. 10). But if in this passage
the Old Testament is to be understood, on ac-
count of the land of Canaan ; for thus the lan-
guage of the Psalm runneth, " saying, Unto thee
will I give the land of Canaan : the lot of your
inheritance" (ver. n) : how is it to be under-
stood as everlasting, since that earthly inherit-
ance could not be everlasting? And for this
reason it is called the Old Testament, because
it is abolished by the New. But a thousand
generations do not seem to signify anything
eternal, since they involve an end ; and yet are
also too numerous for this very temporal state.
For by howsoever few years a generation is lim-
ited, such as in Greek is called ytvea, whereof
the shortest period some have fixed is at fifteen
years, after which period man hath the power of
generation ; what then are those " thousand gen-
erations," not only from the time of Abraham,
when that promise was made him, unto the New
Testament, but from Adam himself down to the
end of the world ? For who would dare to say
that this world should last for 15000 years?
Hence it seemeth to me that we ought not to
understand here the Old Testament, which it
said through the prophet was to be cancelled by
the New : " Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, when I will make a new covenant." 6 . . .
After saying, " He hath been mindful of His cov-
enant unto an age ; " which we ought to under-
stand as lasting for evermore, the covenant,
namely, of justification and an eternal inherit-
ance, which God hath promised to faith ; he
addeth, " and the Word that He commanded 7
unto a thousand generations." What meaneth
" commanded " ? . . . The command then was
faith, that the righteous should live by faith ; s
and an eternal inheritance is set before this
faith. " A thousand generations," then, are, on
account of the perfect number, to be understood
for all ; that is, as long as generation succeedeth
generation, so long is it commanded to us to live
by faith. This the people of God doth observe,
the sons of promise who succeed by birth, and
depart by death, until every generation be fin-
ished ; and this is signified by the number thou-
sand ; because the solid square of the number
ten, ten times ten, and this taken ten times
amounts to a thousand. " Even the covenant,"
he saith, " which He made with Abraham : and
the oath that He sware unto Isaac ; arid ap-
pointed the same unto Jacob," that is, Jacob
himself, " for a law." These are the very three
5 [He adds: " Where there is no room for doubt : for the Greek
has atwvioi', which our interpreters have never rendered by any other
word than eternal; though scarce any authors in any passage have
used aiuirto? in the sense of everlasting. Unless perhaps, because
they render alutv as meaning time, in a more familiar way, they may
choose to interpret aiuivtoi^ not eternal, but ' for an age; which I do
not remember any one having ventured to do." Conf Matt, xxv 46.
— C.J 6 Jer. xxxi. 31, 32. 7 Maiidaz'U. 8 Rom. i. 17.
522
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CV.
patriarchs, whose God He calleth Himself in a
special sense, whom the Lord also doth name in
the New Testament, where He saith, " Many
shall come from the east and the west, and shall
sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
in the kingdom of heaven." • This is everlasting
inheritance. . . .
7. He next followeth out the history well known
in the truth of the holy Scriptures. " When they
were in small numbers, very few, and they stran-
gers in the land " (ver. 12) ; that is, in the land
of Canaan. . . . But some copies have the words
"very few, and they strangers," in the accusa-
tive case,2 the translator having turned the Greek
phrase too literally into Latin. If we were to
render the whole clause in this way, we must say,
" that they were very few, and they strangers ; "
but the phrase, " while they were," is the mean-
ing of the Greek ; and the verb, " to be," takes
not an accusative, but a nominative after it.'
8. " What time as they went from one nation to
another, from one kingdom to another people "
(ver. 13). This is a repetition of what he had
said, " from one nation to another." " He suf-
fered no man to do them harm : but reproved
even kings for their sakes " (ver. 14). "Touch
not," He said, " Mine anointed, and do My
prophets no harm" (ver. 15). He declareth
the words of God chiding or reproving kings,
that they might not harm the holy fathers, while
they were small in number, very few, and they
strangers in the land of Canaan. Although these
words be not read in the books of that history,
yet they are to be understood as either secretly
spoken, as God speaketh in the hearts of men
by unseen and true visions, or even as announced
through an Angel. For both the king of Gerar
and the king of the Egyptians were warned from
Heaven not to harm Abraham,4 and another king
not to harm Isaac,* and others not to harm Jacob ; 6
while they were very few, and strangers, before
he went over into Egypt to sojourn with his sons :
which is understood to be herein mentioned.
But since it occurred to ask, before they passed
over and multiplied in Egypt, how so few in
number, and those strangers in a foreign land,
could maintain themselves : he next addeth, " He
suffered no man to do them wrong," etc.
9. But it may well excite a question, in what
sense they were styled (Christs, or) anointed,
before there was any unction, from which this
title was given to the kings.7 . . . Whence then
were those patriarchs at that time called
"anointed"? For that they were prophets, we
read concerning Abraham ; and certainly, what
is manifestly said of him, should be understood
1 Matt. viii. 11. 2 Paucissimos et incoltis.
* I. XX. iv T<i t'vat avrovc. " Fot we cannot say, cum esstnt
paucissimos.but cum ttsent pauciuimi."
* Gen. xit. 17-20, xx. 3. 5 Gen. xxvi. 8-n.
6 Gen. xxxii., xxxiii. * Ps. xtv. 8.
of them also. Are they styled "christs," be-
cause, even though secretly, yet they were already
Christians? For although the flesh of Christ
came from them, nevertheless Christ came before
them ; for He thus answered the Jews, " Before
Abraham was, I am." 8 But how could they not
know Him, or not believe in Him ; since they
are called prophets for this very reason, because,
though somewhat darkly, they announced the
Lord beforehand? Whence He saith Himself
openly, " Your father Abraham desired to see
My day, and he saw it, and was glad." 9 For no
man was ever reconciled unto God outside of
that faith which is in Christ Jesus, either before
His Incarnation, or after : as it -is most truly
defined by the Apostle : " For there is one God,
and one Mediator between God and men, the
Man Christ Jesus." IO
10. He then beginneth to relate how it hap-
pened that they went from one nation to another,
from one kingdom to another people. " He
calleth," he saith, " for a famine upon the land :
and brake all the staff of bread" (ver. 16).
Thus it happened that they went from one nation
to another, from one kingdom to another people.
But the expressions of the holy Scriptures are
not to be negligently passed by. " He called,"
he saith, " for a famine upon the land ; " as if
famine were some person, or some animated
body, or some spirit that would obey Him who
called. . . . Under this impression the old Ro-
mans consecrated some such deities, as the
goddess Fever, and the god Paleness. Or mean-
eth it, as is more credible, He said there should
be famine ; so that calling be the same thing
as mentioning by name ; mentioning by name, as
speaking ; speaking, as commanding? Nor doth
the Apostle say," " He calleth those things which
be not, that they may be ; " but, " as though they
were." For with God that hath already happened
which, according to His disposition, is fixed for
the future : for of Him it is elsewhere said, " He
who made things to come." '* And here when
famine happened, then it is said to have been
called, that is, that that which had been deter-
mined in His secret government, might be
realized. Lastly, he at once expounds, how He
called for the famine, saying, " He brake all the
staff of bread."
n. "But He had sent a man before them"
(ver. 17). Whatman? " Even Joseph." How
did He send him ? " Joseph was sold to be a
bond-servant." When this happened, it was the
sin of his brethren, and, nevertheless, God sent
Joseph into Egypt. We should therefore medi-
tate on this important and necessary subject,
how God useth well the evil works of men, as
8 John viii. 58.
10 1 Tim. ii. 5.
12 Isa. xlv. II.
9 John viii. 56.
11 Rom. iv. 17.
Psalm CV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
they on the other hand use ill the good works
of God.
12. Next he doth relate the story, mentioning
what Joseph suffered in his low estate, and how
he was raised on high. " His feet they hurt in
the stocks : the iron entered into his soul, until
his word came" (ver. 18). That Joseph was
put in irons, we do hot indeed read ; but we
ought no ways to doubt that it was so. For
some things might be passed over in that history,
which nevertheless would not escape the Holy
Spirit, who speaketh in these Psalms. We under-
stand by the iron which entered into his soul,
the tribulation of stern necessity ; for he did not
say body, but "soul." There is a somewhat
similar expression in the Gospel, where Simeon
saith unto Mary, " A sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also." ' That is, the Passion of the
Lord, which was a fall unto many, and in which
the secrets of many hearts were revealed, since
their sentiments respecting the Lord were ex-
torted from them, without doubt made His own
Mother exceeding sorrowful, heavily struck with
human bereavement. Now Joseph was in this
tribulation, " until his word came," with which
h£ truly interpreted dreams : whence he was
introduced to the king, that unto him also he
might foretell what would happen in respect to
his dreams.2 But since he said, " Until his words
were heard," that we might not altogether so
understand " his," that any one might think so
great an event was to be ascribed unto man ; he
at once added, "The word of the Lord inflamed
him" (ver. 19); or, as other copies have it
more closely from the Greek, " The word of the
Lord fired him," that he also might be reputed
amongst those to whom it is said, " Receive ye
praise in His holy Name." '
13. " The king sent and loosed him, the prince
ofthe peoples, and let him go free" (ver. 20).
The " king " is the same as " the prince of the
peoples:" he "loosed" him from his bonds,
" and let him go free " from his prison. " He
made him lord also of his house : and ruler of all
his substance" (ver. 21). "That he might
inform his princes like unto himself, and teach
his old men wisdom" (ver. 22). The Greek
hath, " and teach his elders wisdom." Which
might altogether be rendered to the letter thus ;
" Might inform his princes like unto himself, and
make his elders wise." The word translated old
men being presbyters or elders, not gerontas,
old men : and to teach wisdom being from the
Greek to sophize, which cannot be rendered
by a single word in Latin, and is from the word
sophia, wisdom, different from prudence, which
is in Greek phronesis. Yet we do not read
this in the high elevation of Joseph, as we
1 Luke ii. 35.
2 Gen. xli.
3 Ps. cv. 3.
read not of fetters in his low estate. Eut how
could it happen that so great a man, the wor-
shipper of the One True God, whilst in Egypt,
should have been intent upon the nourishing of
bodies, and the government of carnal matters
only, and have felt no anxiety for souls, and how
he could render them better? But those things
are written in that history, which, according to
the intention of the writer, in whom was the
Holy Spirit, were judged sufficient for signifying
future events in that narration.
14. "Joseph also came into Egypt, and Jacob
was a stranger in the land of Ham" (ver. 23).
Israel is the same with Jacob, as is Egypt with
the land of Ham. Here it is very plainly shown,
that the Egyptian race sprang from the seed of
Cham, the son of Noah, whose first-born was
Canaan. So that in those copies wherein in this
passage Canaan is read, we must alter the read-
ing. It is better construed, "was a stranger,"
than "dwelt," as other copies have it: which
would be the same as " was an inhabitant," for
it meaneth nothing different ; the very same word
is used in the Greek passage above, where it is
said, "Very few, and they strangers in the land."
Moreover, the state of an incola or accola doth
not signify a native, but a stranger. Behold
how " they went from one nation to another."
What had been briefly proposed, hath been
briefly explained in the narration. But from
what kingdom they passed over to another peo-
ple may well be asked. For they were not yet
reigning in the land of Canaan, because the
kingdom of the people of Israel had not yet
been established there. How then can it be
understood, except by anticipation, because the
kingdom of their seed was destined there to
exist?
15. Next is related what happened in Egypt.
" And He increased," he saith, " His people
exceedingly, and made them stronger than their
enemies " (ver. 24). Even the whole of this is
briefly set forth, in order that the manner in
which it took place may be afterwards related.
For the people of God was not made stronger
than their enemies the Egyptians, at the time
when their male offspring were slain, or when
they were worn out with making bricks ; but
when by His powerful hand, by the signs and
portents of the Lord their God, they became
objects of fear and of honour, until the opposi-
tion of the hardened king was overcome, and
the Red Sea overwhelmed the persecutor with
his army.
16. "And He turned their heart so, that they
hated His people, and dealt untruly with His
servants " (ver. 25 ) . Is it to be in any wise under-
stood or believed, that God turneth man's heart
to do sin ? . . . For they were not good before
they hated His people ; but being malignant and
524
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CV.
ungodly, they were such as would readily envy
their prosperous sojourners. And so, in that He
multiplied His own people, this bountiful act
turned the wicked to envy. For envy is the
hatred of another's prosperity. In this sense,
therefore, He turned their heart, so that through
envy they hated His people, and dealt untruly
with His servants. It was not then by making
their hearts evil, but by doing good to His peo-
ple, that He turned their hearts, that were evil
of their own accord, to hatred. For He did
not pervert a righteous heart, but turned one
perverted of its own accord to the hatred of His
people, while He was to make a good use of that
evil ; ' not by making them evil, but by lavishing
blessings upon those, which the wicked might
most readily envy.
17. The following verses, which are sung in
praise of Him when Allelujah is chanted, show
how He used this hatred of theirs, both for the
trial of His own people, and for the glory of His
Name, which is profitable for us. " He sent
Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had
chosen him" (ver. 26). "Whom He had
chosen," would be sufficient ; but there is no
difficulty in the addition of "him." It is a
phrase of Scripture, as, " The land in which they
shall dwell in it : " 2 a phrase which the divine
pages are full of.
18. " He set forth in them the words of His
tokens, and of His wonders in the land of Ham "
(ver. 27). We ought not to understand by
" the words of His tokens," words literally, words
with which the tokens and wonders were worked,
that is, which they uttered, that these tokens
and wonders might take place. For many were
performed without words, either with a rod, or
with outstretched hand, or by ashes sent towards
heaven. . . .
19. "He sent darkness, and made it dark"
(ver. 28). This is also written among the
plagues with which the Egyptians were smitten.
But what followeth, is variously read in different
copies. For some have, " and they provoked
His words ; " while others read, " and they pro-
voked not His words ; " but the reading first
mentioned we have found in most ; while, where
the negative particle is added, we could hardly
discover two copies. But perhaps the false
reading has abounded owing to the easy sense ;
for what is easier understood than this, " They
provoked His words," that is, by their contuma-
cious rebellions? We have endeavoured to
explain the other reading also according to some
true sense : and this for the present occurs :
"They provoked not His words," that is, in
Moses and Aaron ; because they most patiently
1 f A felicitous exposition of the tense in which " good is brought
out of evil." Compare A. N. F. vol. viii. pp. 140 and 223. — C.J
3 Numb. xiii. 20; Lev. xviii. 3.
bore with a very stiffnecked people, until all
things which God had determined to work by
them, were fulfilled in order.
20. " He turned their waters into blood, and
slew their fish" (ver. 29). "He made their
land frogs, yea, even in the king's chambers "
(ver. 30) : as if he were to say, He turned their
land into frogs. For there was so great a mul-
titude of frogs, that this might well be said by
hyperbole.
21." He spake the word, and there came all
manner of flies, and lice in all their quarters "
(ver. 31). If it be asked when He spake, it
was in His Word before it took place ; and there
it was, without time, at what time it should take
place : although even then He commanded it to
be done, when it was to be done, through Angels,
and through his servants Moses and Aaron.
22. "He made their rains hail" (ver. 32).
It is a similar expression to the former, " He
made their land frogs ; " except that the whole
land was not actually turned into frogs, though
the whole of the rain may have been turned into
hail. " A burning fire in their land : " under-
stand, " He sent."
23. " He smote their vines also and fig-trees.;
and brake every tree of their coasts" (ver. 33).
This was done by the violence of the hail, and
by lightnings ; whence he spoke of the fire as
" burning."
24. " He spake the word, and the locust came,
and the caterpillar, of which there was no num-
ber " (ver. 34) . The locusts and the caterpillars
are one plague : of which the one is the parent,
the other the offspring.
25. "And did eat up all the grass in their
land, and devoured the fruit of the ground "
(ver. 35). Even grass is fruit, as Scripture is
wont to speak, which calleth even the ripe corn
grass ; but it wished these two things to harmo-
nize in number with the two which it had spoken
of before, that is, the locust and the caterpillar.
But the whole of this doth belong to the variety
of speech, which is a remedy for weariness, not
to any difference of senses.
26. " He smote every first-born in their land :
even the first-fruits of all their strength " (ver.
36). This is the last plague, excepting the
death in the Red Sea. "The first-fruits of all
their strength," I imagine to be an expression
derived from the first-born of cattle. These
plagues are ten in number, but they are not all
mentioned, nor in the same order in which they
are there read to have happened. For praise-
giving is free from the law which bindeth one
who is relating or composing a history. And
since the Holy Spirit is the Author and Dictator,
through the Prophet, of this praise ; by the very
same authority with which He guided him who
wrote that history, he doth both mention some-
Psalm CVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
525
thing to have taken place which is not there
read, and passeth over what is there read.
27. Now he addeth this also to the praises
of God, that He led the Israelites out of Egypt
enriched with silver and gold ; because even they
were then in such a condition, that they could
not as yet despise the just and due, though tem-
poral, reward of their toils. ..." He brought
them forth also in silver and gold" (ver. 37) :
this too is a Scripture idiom ; for " in silver and
gold " is said for the same as if it had been said
" with silver and gold : there was not one feeble
person among their tribes : " in body, not in
mind. This also was a great blessing of God,
that in this necessity of removal there was no
infirm person.
28. " Egypt was glad at their departing : for
their fear fell upon them " (ver. 38) ; that is,
the fear of the Hebrews upon the Egyptians.
For " their fear " is not that with which the
Hebrews feared, but that with which they were
feared. Some one will say, how then were the
Egyptians unwilling to dismiss them? why did
they let them go as if they expected them to
return ? why did they lend them gold and silver,
as to men who were to return, and to repay them,
if " Egypt was glad at their departing " ? But we
must understand, after that final destruction of
the Egyptians, and the terrible overthrow of the
mighty pursuing army in the Red Sea, that
the rest of the Egyptians feared lest the Hebrews
should return, and with great ease crush the
relics of them : illustrating what he had stated,
that He made His people stronger than their
enemies.
29. He now proceedeth to the divine bless-
ings which were conferred upon them as they
wandered in the desert. " He spread out a
cloud to be their covering : and fire to give
them light in the night season " (ver. 39). This
is as clear as it is well known.
30. "They asked, and the quail came " (ver.
40). They did not desire quails, but flesh. But
since the quail is flesh, and in this Psalm he
speaketh not of the provocation of those who
did not please God, but of the faith of the
elect, the true seed of Abraham ; they are to be
understood to have desired that that might come
which might crush the murmurs of those who
provoked. Then in the next line, " And He
filled them with the bread of heaven," he has
not indeed named manna, but it is obscure to
none who hath read those records.
31. " He opened the rock of stone, and the
waters flowed out : so that rivers ran in the dry
places" (ver. 41). This fact too is understood
as soon as read.
32. But in all these blessings of His, God
doth commend in Abraham the merit of faith.
For the Psalmist goeth on to say, " For why ?
He remembered His holy promise, which He
made to Abraham His servant " (ver. 42). "And
He brought forth His people with joy, and His
chosen with gladness " (ver. 43). What he said,
" His people," he has repeated in, " His chosen."
So also what he said, " with joy," he has re-
peated in, " with gladness." " And gave them the
lands of the heathen : and they took the labours
of the people in possession" (ver. 44). "The
lands of the heathen," and " the labours of the
people," are the same ; and the words, " He
gave," are repeated in these, "they took in
possession."
33. . . . "That they may keep His statutes,
and seek out His law" (ver. 45). Lastly, since
by the seed of Abraham he wished those to be
understood here, who were truly the seed of
Abraham, such as were not wanting even in that
people ; as the Apostle Paul clearly showeth,
when he saith, " But not in all of them was God
well pleased ; " ' for if He was not pleased with
all, surely there were some in whom He was well
pleased : since then this Psalm praiseth such
men as this, he hath said nothing here of the
iniquities and provocations and bitterness of
those with whom God was not well pleased. But
since not only the justice but also the mercy of
Almighty God, the merciful, was shown even
unto the wicked ; concerning these attributes the
rest of the Psalm pursueth the praises of God.
And yet both sorts were in one people : nor did
the latter pollute the good with the contagion of
their iniquities. For " the Lord knoweth who
are His ; " 2 and if he cannot separate in this
world from wicked men, yet, " let every one that
nameth the name of Christ depart from in-
iquity." . . .
PSALM CVI.3
1. This Psalm also hath the title Allelujah
prefixed to it : and this twice. But some say,
that one Allelujah belongeth to the end of the
former Psalm, the other to the beginning of this.
And they assert, that all the Psalms bearing this
title have Allelujah at the end, but not all at the
beginning ; so that they will not allow any Psalm
which hath not Allelujah at the end, to have it
at the beginning ; supposing that what seemeth
to belong to the commencement, really belongeth
to the end of the former Psalm. But until they
persuade us by some sure proofs that this is
true, we will follow the general custom, which,
whenever it findeth Allelujah, attributes it to the
same Psalm, at the head of which it is found.
For there are very few copies (and I have found
this in none of the Greek copies, which I have
been able to inspect) which have Allelujah at
the end of the CLth Psalm ; after which there is
1 1 Cor. x. 5.
2 3 Tim. ii. 19.
3 Lat. CV.
526
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CVI.
no other which belongeth to the same canon.
But not even this could outweigh custom, al-
though all the copies had it so. For it might
be that, with some reference to the praise of
God, the whole book of Psalms, which is said to
consist of five books (for they say that the books
severally end where it is written Amen, Amen),
might be closed with this last Allelujah, after all
that hath been sung ; nor, on account of the end
of the CLth Psalm, do I see that it is necessary
that all the Psalms entitled Allelujah, should
have Allelujah at the end. But when there is a
double Allelujah at the head of a Psalm, why as
our Lord sometimes once, sometimes twice over,
saith Amen, in the same way Allelujah may not
sometimes be used once, sometimes twice, I
know not : especially, since as in this CVth, both
the Allelujahs are placed after the mark by
which the number of the Psalm is described,
whereas the one, if it belonged to the end of
the former Psalm, ought to have been placed
before the number ; and the Allelujah which
belonged to the Psalm of this number, should
have been written after the number. But per-
haps even in this an ignorant habit hath prevailed,
and some reason may be assigned of which we
are as yet uninformed, so that the judgment of
truth ought rather to be our guide than the
prejudice of custom. In the mean time, before
we are fully instructed in this matter, whenever
we find Allelujah written, whether once or twice,
after the number of the Psalm, according to the
most usual custom of the Church, we will ascribe
it to that Psalm to which the same number is
prefixed ; confessing that we both believe the
mysteries of all the titles in the Psalms, and of
the order of the same Psalms, to be important,
and that we have not yet been able, as we wish,
to penetrate them.
2. But I find these two Psalms, the CVth and
CVIth so connected, that in one of them, the
first, the people of God is praised in the person
of the elect, of whom there is no complaint,
whom I imagine to have been there in those
with whom God was well pleased ; ' but in the
following Psalm those are mentioned among the
same people who have provoked God ; though
the mercy of God was not wanting even to
these. . . . This Psalm therefore beginneth like
the former ; " Confess ye unto the Lord."' But
in that Psalm these words follow : " And call
upon His Name : " whereas here, it is as follows,
" For He is gracious,2 and His mercy endureth
forever" (ver. i). Wherefore in this passage
a confession of sins may be understood ; for
after a few verses we read, " We have sinned
1 i Cor. x. 5.
* '* Some copies read. ' for He is gracious,' others, ' for He is
sweet: ' one Greek word, xpiprrbc, having been differently translated.
Also in the words, ' for His mercy endureth to the end of the world ; '
the Greek hath <*« rttv aiwca, which may be interpreted ' for ever.' "
with our fathers, we have done amiss, and dealt
wickedly ; " but in the words, " For He is gra-
cious, and His mercy endureth for ever," there
is chiefly the praise of God, and in His praise
confession. Although when any one confesses
his sins, he ought to do so with praise of God ;
nor is a confession of sins a pious one, unless it
be without despair, and with calling upon the
mercy of God. It therefore doth contain His
praise, whether in words, when it calleth Him
gracious and merciful, or in the feeling only,
when he believeth this. ... If that mercy be
here understood, in respect of which no man
can be happy without God ; we may render it
better, " for ever : " but if it be that mercy
which is shown to the wretched, that they may
either be consoled in misery, or even freed from
it ; it is better construed, " to the end of the
world," in which there will never be wanting
wretched persons to whom that mercy may be
shown. Unless indeed any man ventured to
say, that some mercy of God will not be want-
ing even to those who shall be condemned with
the devil and his angels ; not a mercy by which
they may be freed from that condemnation, but
that it may be in some degree softened for
them : and that thus the mercy of God may be
styled eternal, as exercised over their eternal
misery.3 . . .
3. " Who can express the mighty acts of the
Lord?" (ver. 2). Full of the consideration of
the Divine works, while he entreateth His
mercy, " Who," he saith, " can express the
mighty acts of the Lord, or make all His praises
heard? " We must supply what was said above,
to make the sense complete here, thus, " Who
shall make all His praises heard? " that is, who
is sufficient to make all His praises heard?
" Shall make " them " heard," he saith ; that is,
cause that they be heard ; showing, that the
mighty acts of the Lord and His praises are so
to be spoken of, that they may be preached to
those who hear them. But who can make " all "
heard ? Is it that as the next words are, " Blessed
are they that alway keep judgment, and do
righteousness in every time" (ver. 3) ; he per-
haps meant those praises of His, which are un-
derstood as His works in His commandments?
"For it is God," saith the Apostle, "who
workeih in you," 4 . . . since He worketh in
these things in a manner that cannot be spoken.
"Who will do all His praises heard?" that is,
who, when he hath heard them, doth all His
praises? which are the works of His command-
ments. As far as they are done, although all
which are heard are not performed, He is to be
praised, who " worketh in us both to will and to
do of His good pleasure." 4 For this reason,
3 [Lukexii. 47, fi. — C]
« Philip, ii. 13.
Psalm CVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
527
while he might have said, all His command-
ments, or, all the works of His commandments ;
he preferred saying, " His praises." . . .
4. But unless there were some difference be-
tween judgment and righteousness, we should
not read in another Psalm, " Until righteousness
turn again unto judgment." ' The Scripture,
indeed, loveth to place these two words to-
gether ; as, " Righteousness and judgment are
the habitation of His seat ; " 2 and this, " He
shall make thy righteousness as clear as the
light, and thy judgment as the noon-day;"'
where there is apparently a repetition of the
same sentiment. And perhaps on account of
the resemblance of signification one may be put
for the other, either judgment for righteousness,
or righteousness for judgment : yet, if they be
spoken of in their proper sense, I doubt not
that there is some difference ; viz. that he is
said to keep judgment who judgeth rightly, but
he to do righteousness who acts righteously.
And I think that the verse, " Until righteousness
turn again unto judgment," may not absurdly be
understood in this sense : that here also those
are called blessed, who keep judgment in faith,
and do righteousness in deed. . . .
5. Next, since God justifieth, that is, maketh
men righteous, by healing them from their in-
iquities, a prayer followeth : " Remember me, O
Lord, according to the favour that Thou bearest
unto Thy people " (ver. 4) : that is, that we
may be among those with whom Thou art well
pleased ; since God is not well pleased with
them all. " O visit me with Thy salvation."
This is the Saviour Himself, in whom sins are
forgiven, and souls healed, that they may be able
to keep judgment, and do righteousness ; and
since they who here speak know such men to
be blessed, they pray for this themselves. . . .
" Visit us," then, " with Thy salvation," that is,
with Thy Christ. " To see the felicity of Thy
chosen, and to rejoice in the gladness of Thy
people " (ver. 5) : that is, visit us for this reason
with Thy salvation, that we may see the felicity
of Thy chosen, and rejoice in the gladness of
Thy people. For " felicity " ■* some copies read
" sweetness ; " as in the former passage, " For
He is gracious ; " where others read, " for He is
sweet." And it is the same word in the Greek,
as is elsewhere read, " The Lord shall show
sweetness : " 5 which some have translated
" felicity," others " bounty." But what meaneth,
" Visit us to see the felicity of Thy chosen : "
that is, that happiness which Thou givest to
Thine elect : except that we may not remain
blind, as those unto whom it is said, " But now
ye say we see: therefore your sin remaineth."6
1 Ps. xciv. 15.
3 Ps. xxxvii. 6.
5 Ps. lxxxv. 13,
1 Ps. x«-vii. 1.
< BoHitate.
* Julm ix. 41.
For the Lord giveth sight to the blind,7 not by
their own merits, but in the felicity He giveth
to His chosen, which is the meaning of " the
felicity of Thy chosen : " as, the help of my
countenance, is not of myself, but is my God.8
And we speak of our daily bread, as ours, but
we add, Give unto us.9 ..." That Thou may-
est be praised with Thine inheritance." I won-
der this verse hath been so interpreted in many
copies, since the Greek phrase is one and the
same in these three verses. . . . But since this
seemeth a doubtful expression, if that sense be
true according to which interpreters have pre-
ferred, " That Thou mayest be praised," the two
preceding verses also must be so understood, be-
cause, as I have said, there is one Greek expres-
sion in these three verses ; so that the whole
should be thus understood, " Visit us with Thy
salvation, that Thou mayest see the felicity of
Thy chosen ; " that is, visit us for this purpose,
that Thou mayest cause us to be there, and
mayest see us there ; that " Thou mayest rejoice
in the gladness of Thy people," that is, that
Thdu mayest be said to rejoice, since they
rejoice in Thee ; that " Thou mayest be praised
with Thine inheritance," that is, mayest be
praised with it, since it may not be praised save
for Thy sake. . . .
6. But let us hear what they next confess :
" we have sinned with our fathers : we have
done amiss, and dealt wickedly" (ver. 6). What
meaneth "with our fathers "?..." Our fathers,"
he saith, " regarded not Thy wonders in Egypt "
(ver. 7) ; and many other things also, he doth
relate of their sins. Or is, " we have sinned
with our fathers," to be understood as meaning,
we have sinned like our fathers, that is, by
imitating their sins? If it be so, it should be
supported by some example of this mode of
expression : which did not occur to me when
I sought on this occasion an instance of any one
saying that he had sinned, or done anything,
with another, whom he had imitated by a similar
act after a long interval of time. What meaneth
then, " Our fathers understood not Thy won-
ders ; " save this, they did not know what Thou
didst wish to convince them of by these miracles?
What indeed, save life eternal,10 and a good, not
temporal, but immutable, which is waited for
only through endurance ? For this reason they
impatiently murmured, and provoked, and they
asked to be blessed with present and fugitive
blessings, " Neither were they mindful of the
greatness of Thy mercy." He reproveth both
their understanding and memory. Understand-
ing there was need of, that they might meditate
unto what eternal blessings God was calling them
7 Ps. cxlvi. 8. 8 Ps. xliii. 5. 9 Matt. vi. n.
10 f A thesis which might be maintained against the brilliant para-
dox of Warburton. — C.J
528
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CVX
through these temporal ones ; and of memory,
that at least they might not forget the temporal
wonders which had been wrought, and might
faithfully believe, that by the same power which
they had already experienced, God would free
them from the persecutions of their enemies ;
whereas they forgot the aid which He had given
them in Egypt, by means of such wonders, to
crush their enemies. " And they provoked, as
they went up to the sea, even to the Red
Sea." ' We ought especially to notice how the
Scripture doth censure the not understanding
that which ought to have been understood, and
the not remembering that which ought to have
been remembered ; which men are unwilling to
have ascribed to their own fault, for no other
reason than that they may pray less, and be less
humble unto God, in whose sight they should
confess what they are, and might by praying for
His aid, become what they are not. For it is
better to accuse even the sins of ignorance and
negligence, that they may be done away with,
than to excuse them, so that they remain ; and
it is better to clear them off by calling upon
God, than to clench them by provoking Him.
He addeth, that God acted not according to
their unbelief. " Nevertheless," he saith, " He
saved them for His Name's sake : that He might
make His power to be known " (ver. 8) : not
on account of any deservings of their own.
7. " He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was
dried up" (ver. 9). We do not read that any
voice was sent forth from Heaven to rebuke the
sea ; but he hath called the Divine Power by
which this was effected, a rebuke : unless indeed
any one may choose to say, that the sea was
secretly rebuked, so that the waters might hear,
and yet men could not. The power by which God
acteth is very abstruse and mysterious, a power
which He causeth that even things devoid of
sense instantly obey at His will. "So He led
them through the deeps, as through a wilderness."
He calleth a multitude of waters the deeps.
For some wishing to give the sense of this whole
verse, have translated, " So He led them forth
amid many waters." What then doth " through
the deeps, as through a wilderness," mean,
except that that had become as a wilderness
from its dryness, where before had been the
watery deeps?
8. " And He saved them from the hating
ones"2 (ver. 10). Some translators, in order to
1 (The author says, " The copy which T was reading from, had
•he passage thus: And a star had been prefixed to these two last
words, ' even the Red Sea: ' which doth mark those readings which
occur in the Hebrew, and not in the Septuagint translation. But
most of the copies, whether Greek or Latin, which I have been able
to inspect, read thus: ' and they provoked,' or, and this is more liter-
ally from the Greek, ' and they wrought bitterness, as they went up
in the Red Sea.' . . . The word, ' went up,' is used, from the position
of the land being such, that we speak of going down from the land
of Canaan into Egypt, and of going up from Egypt into it." — C.J
3 Odicutium.
avoid an expression unusual in Latin, have ren-
dered the word, by a circumlocution, " And He
saved them from the hand of those that hated
them, and redeemed them from the hand of the
enemy." What price was given in this redemp-
tion ? Is it a prophecy, since this deed was a
figure of Baptism, wherein we are redeemed
from the hand of the devil at a great price,
which price is the Blood of Christ? whence this
is more consistently figured forth, not by any
sea indiscriminately, but by the Red Sea ; since
blood hath a red colour.
9. " As for those that troubled them, the
waters overwhelmed them : there was not one
of them left " (ver. 11); not of all the Egyp-
tians, but of those who pursued the departing
Israelites, desirous either of taking or of killing
them.
10. "Then believed they in His words" (ver.
12). The expression seemeth barely Latin, for
he saith not " believed His word," 3 or " on His
words/' 4 but " in His words ; " 5 yet it is very fre-
quent in Scripture. "And praised praise unto
Him;" such an expression as when we say,
"This servitude he served," "such a life he
lived." He is here alluding to that well-known
hymn, commencing, " I will sing unto the Lord,
for He hath triumphed gloriously : the horse
and the rider hath He thrown into the sea." 6
11." They acted hastily : they forgot His
works " (ver. 13) : other copies read more intel-
ligibly, " They hastened, they forgot His works,
and would not abide His counsel." For they
ought to have thought, that so great works of
God towards themselves were not without a pur-
pose, but that they invited them to some endless
happiness, which was to be waited for with
patience ; but they hastened to make them-
selves happy with temporal things, which give
no man true happiness, because they do not
quench insatiable longing : for " whosoever,"
saith our Lord, " shall drink of this water, shall
thirst again." ?
12. Lastly, "And they lusted a lust in the
wilderness, and they tempted God in the dry
land" (ver. 14). The "dry land," or land
without water, and " desert," are the same : so
also are, "they lusted a lust," and, "they tempted
God." The form of speech is the same as
above, " they praised a praise." 8
13. "And He gave them their desire, and
sent fulness withal into their souls" (ver. 15).
But He did not thus render them happy : for it
was not that fulness of which it is said, " Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after right-
eousness : for they shall be filled." 9 In this pas-
sage he doth not speak of the rational soul, but
3 Verbis. 4 In verba. 5 hi verbis.
6 Exod. xv. I. [Compare Rev. xv. 3. — C]
7 John iv. 4, 13. 8 Ps. cvi. 12. 9 Matt. v. 6.
Psalm CVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
529
of the soul as giving animal life to the body ;
to the substance of which belong meat and
drink, according to what is said in the Gospel,
" Is not the soul more than meat, and the body
than raiment?" ' as if it belonged to the soul to
eat, to the body to be clothed.
14. "And they angered Moses in the tents,
and Aaron the saint of the Lord" (ver. 16).
What angering, or, as some have more literally
rendered it, what provocation,2 he speaketh of,
the following words sufficiently show.
15. "The earth opened," he saith, "and swal-
lowed up Dathan, and covered over the congre-
gation of Abiram " (ver. 17): " swallowed up "
answereth to " covered over." Both Dathan
and Abiram were equally concerned in a most
sacrilegious schism.3
16. "And the fire was kindled in their com-
pany ; the flame burnt up the sinners " (ver. 18).
This word is not in Scripture usually applied to
those, who, although they live righteously, and
in a praiseworthy manner, are not without sin.
Rather, as there is a difference between those
who scorn and scorners, between men who mur-
mur and murmurers, between men who are
writing and writers, and so forth ; so Scripture
is wont to signify by sinners such as are very
wicked, and laden with heavy loads of sins.
17. "And they made a calf in Horeb, and
worshipped the graven image " (ver. 19). " Thus
they changed their glory, in the similitude of a
calf that eateth hay" (ver. 20). He saith not
" into " the likeness, but " in " the likeness. It
is such a form of speech as where he said,
" and they believed in His words." 4 With
great effect in truth he saith not, they changed
the glory of God when they did this ; as the
Apostle also saith, " They changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man : " s but " their glory." For
God was their glory, if they would abide His
counsel, and hasten not. . . .
18. "They forgat God who saved them"
(ver. 21). How did He save them? "Who
did so great things in Egypt : Wondrous works
in the land of Ham, and fearful things in the
Red Sea" (ver. 22). The things that are won-
drous, are also fearful ; for there is no wonder
without a certain fear : although these might be
called fearful, because they beat down their ad-
versaries, and showed them what they ought to
fear.
19. "So He said, He would have destroyed
them" (ver. 23). Since they forgot Him who
saved them, the Worker of wondrous works, and
1 Matt. vi. 26. 2 Atttttricationem.
3 [Numb. xvi. 1; Jude IX. Dathan and Abiram were laymen;
Koran and others were Levites who presumed to exercise the higher
offices of the priesthood. Numb. xvi. q, io. Compare 2 Chron. xxvi.
18. -C]
* IJs. cvi. 12. 3 Rom. i. 23.
made and worshipped a graven image, by this
atrocious and incredible impiety they deserved
death. " Had not Moses His chosen stood be-
fore Him in the breaking." He doth not say,
that he stood in the breaking,6 as if to break the
wrath of God, but in the way of the breaking,
meaning the stroke which was to strike them :
that is, had he not put himself in the way for
them, saying, " Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive
their sin ; — and if not, blot me, I pray Thee,
out of Thy book." Where it is proved how
greatly the intercession of the saints in behalf of
others prevaileth with God. For Moses, fear-
less in the justice of God, which could not blot
him out, implored mercy, that He would not
blot out those whom He justly might. Thus he
" stood before Him in the breaking, to turn
away His wrathful indignation, lest He should
destroy them."
20. "Yea, they thought scorn of that pleasant
land" (ver. 24). But had they seen it? How
then could they scorn that which they had not
seen, except as the following words explain, " and
believed not in His words." Indeed, unless that
land which was styled the land that flowed
with milk and honey,7 signified something great,
through which, as by a visible token, He was
leading those who understood His wondrous
works to invisible grace and the kingdom of
heaven, they could not be blamed for scorning
that land, whose temporal kingdom we also ought
to esteem as nothing, that we may love that Je-
rusalem which is free, the mother of us all,8 which
is in heaven, and truly to be desired. But
rather unbelief is here reproved, since they gave
no credence to the words of God, who was lead-
ing them to great things through small things,
and hastening to bless themselves with temporal
things, which they carnally savoured of, they
" abided not His counsel," as is said above.
21. " But murmured in their tents, and heark-
ened not unto the voice of the Lord " (ver. 25) ;
who strongly forbade them to murmur.
22. "Then lift He up His hand against them,
to overthrow them in the wilderness" (ver. 26) ;
" to cast out their seed among the nations : and
to scatter them in the lands" (ver. 27).
23. " They were initiated also unto Baalpeor ; "
that is, were consecrated to the Gentile idol ;
"and ate the offerings of the dead" (ver. 28).
"Thus they provoked Him to anger with jtheir
own inventions ; and destruction was multiplied
among them " (ver. 29). As if He had deferred
the lifting up of His hand which was to cast
them down in the desert, and to cast out their
seed among the nations, and to scatter them in
the lands ; as the Apostle saith : " And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowl-
6 Confractioni.
1 Exod. iii. 8.
8 Gal. iv. 26.
53°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CVL
edge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,
to do those things which are not convenient." '
" ' Destruction,' therefore, ' was multiplied among
them,' when they were heavily punished for
their heavy sins."
24. "Then stood up Phineas, and appeased
Him, and the shaking ceased " (ver. 30). He
hath related the whole briefly, because he is not
here teaching the ignorant, but reminding those
who know the history. The word "shaking"
here is the same as " breaking " before. For it
is one word in the Greek. lastly, so great was
their wickedness, in being consecrated to the
idol, and eating the sacrifices of the dead (that
is, because the Gentiles * sacrificed to dead men
as to God), that God would not be otherwise
appeased than as Phineas the Priest appeased
Him, when he slew a man and a woman together
whom he found in adultery.3 If he had done
this from hatred towards them, and not from
love, while zeal for the house of God devoured
him, it would not have been counted unto him
for righteousness. . . . Christ our Lord indeed,
when the New Testament was revealed, chose a
milder discipline ; but the threat of hell is more
severe, and this we do not read of in those
threatenings held out by God in His temporal
government.
25. " And that was counted unto him for
righteousness among all posterities for ever-
more" (ver. 31). God counted this unto His
Priest for righteousness, not only as long as
posterity shall exist, but " for evermore ; " for
He who knoweth the heart, knoweth how to
weigh with how much love for the people that
deed was done.
26. " And they angered Him at the waters
of strife : so that Moses was vexed for their
sakes" (ver. 32) ; " because they provoked his
spirit, so that he spake doubtfully* with his lips"
(ver. 33). What is spake doubtfully? As if
God, who had done so great wonders before,
could not cause water to flow from a rock. For
he touched the rock with his rod with doubt,
and thus distinguished this miracle from the
rest, in which he had not doubted. He thus
offended, thus deserved to hear that he should
die, without entering into the land of promise.5
For being disturbed by the murmurs of an un-
believing people, he held not fast that confidence
which he ought to have held. Nevertheless, God
giveth unto him, as unto His chosen, a good
testimony even after his death, so that we may
see that this wavering of faith was punished with
this penalty only, that he was not allowed to
enter that land, whither he was leading the
people. . . .
' Rom. i. 28.
» Oxf. mss. " They like the Gentiles."
* Dittinxit. * Deut. xxxii. 49-53.
3 Numb. xxv. 8.
27. But they of whose iniquities this Psalm
speaketh, when they had entered into that tem-
poral land of promise, " destroyed not the
heathen, which the Lord commanded them "
(ver. 34) ; " but were mingled among the
heathen, and learned their works" (ver. 35).
" Insomuch that they worshipped their idols,
which became to them an offence" (ver. 36).
Their not destroying them, but mingling with
them, became to them an offence.
28. "Yea, they offered their sons and their
daughters unto devils" (ver. 37); "and shed
innocent blood, even the blood of their sons
and of their daughters, whom they offered unto
the idols of Canaan" (ver. 38). That history
doth not relate that they offered their sons and
daughters to devils and idols ; but neither can
that Psalm lie, nor the Prophets, who assert this
in many passages of their rebukes. But the
literature of the Gentiles is not silent respecting
this custom of theirs. But what is it that follow-
eth? "And the land was slain with bloods."
We might suppose that this was a mistake of
the writer, and that he had written interfecta for
infecta, were it not for the goodness of God, who
hath willed His Scriptures to be written in many
languages ; were it not that we see it written as
in the text in many Greek6 copies which we have
inspected; "the land was slain with bloods."
What meaneth then, " the land was slain," unless
this be referred to the men who dwelt in the
land, by a metaphorical expression. . . . For
they themselves were slaying their own souls
when they offered up their sons, and when they
shed the blood of infants who were far from
consent to this crime : whence it is said, " They
shed innocent blood." " The land " therefore
" was slain with bloods, and defiled by their
works" (ver. 39), since they themselves were
slain in soul, and defiled by their works ; " and
they went a whoring after their own inventions."
By inventions are meant what the Greeks call
imTqSevimTa : for this word doth occur in the
Greek copies both in this and a former passage,
where it is said, " They provoked Him to anger
with their own inventions ; " " inventions " in
both instances signifying what they had initiated
others in. Let no man therefore suppose inven-
tions to mean what they had of themselves
instituted, without any example before them to
imitate. Whence other translators in the Latin
tongue have perferred pursuits, affections, imita-
tions, pleasures, to inventions : and the very
same who here write inventions, have elsewhere
written pursuits. I chose to mention this, lest
the word inventions, applied to what they had
not invented, but imitated from others, might
raise a difficulty.
6 Infecta, Vulgate; interfecta m «<f>oeo<cTor»j0T), Sept.
Psalm CVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
531
29. " Therefore was the wrath of the Lord
kindled against His own people" (ver. 40).
Our translators have been unwilling to use the
word anger, for the Greek $v/jlos ; though some
have used it ; while others translate by " indig-
nation " or " mind." ' Whichever of these terms
be adopted, passion doth not affect God ; but
the power of punishing hath assumed this name
metaphorically from custom.
30. " Insomuch that He abhorred His own
inheritance ; and He gave them over into the
hand of the heathen : and they that hated them
were lords over them" (ver. 41) : "and their
enemies oppressed them, and they were brought
low under their hands" (ver. 42). Since he
hath called them the inheritance of God, it is
clear that He abhorred them, and gave them
over into their enemies' hands, not in order to
their perdition, but for their discipline. Lastly,
he saith, " Many a time did He deliver them."
" But they provoked Him with their own coun-
sels " (ver. 43). This is what he said above,
"They did not abide His counsel." Now a
man's counsel is pernicious to himself, when he
seeketh those things which are his own only, not
those which are God's.2 In whose inheritance,
which inheritance He Himself is to us, when He
deigneth His presence for our enjoyment, being
with the Saints, we shall suffer no straitening
from the society, by our love of anything as our
own possession. For that most glorious city,
when it hath gained the promised inheritance,
in which none shall die, none shall be born, will
not contain citizens who shall individually re-
joice in their own, for " God shall be all in all." 3
And whoever in this pilgrimage faithfully and
earnestly doth long for this society, doth accus-
tom himself to prefer common to private inter-
ests, by seeking not his own things, but Jesus
Christ's : lest, by being wise and vigilant in his
own affairs, he provoke God with his own coun-
sel ; but, hoping for what he seeth not, let him
not hasten to be blessed with things visible ; and,
patiently waiting for that everlasting happiness
which he seeth not, follow His counsel in His
promises, whose aid he prayeth for in his prayers.
Thus he will also become humble in his confes-
sions ; so as not to be like those, of whom it is
said, " They were brought down in their wicked-
ness."
31. Nevertheless, God, full of mercy, forsook
them not. " And He saw when they were in
adversity, when He heard their complaint " (ver.
44). "And He thought upon His covenant,
and repented, according to the multitude of His
mercies " (ver. 45). He saith, " He repented,"
because He changed that wherewith He seemed
about to destroy them. With God indeed all
1 [Compare p. 426, § 6.
3 I Cor. xv. 28.
2 Philip, ii. 21.
things are arranged and fixed ; and when He
seemeth to act upon sudden motive, He doth
nothing but what He foreknew that He should
do from eternity ; but in the temporal changes
of creation, which He ruleth wonderfully, He,
without any temporal change in Himself, is said
to do by a sudden act of will what in the or-
dained causes of events He hath arranged in
the unchangeableness of His most secret coun-
sel, according to which He doth everything
according to defined seasons, doing the present,
and having already done the future. And who
is capable of comprehending these things ? * Let
us therefore hear the Scripture, speaking high
things humbly, giving food for the nourishment
of children, and proposing subjects for the re-
search of the older : that everlasting covenant
" which He made with Abraham," not the old
which is abolished, but the new which is hidden
even in the old. " And pitied them," etc. He
did that which He had covenanted, but He had
foreknown that He would yield this to them
when they prayed in their adversity ; since even
their very prayer, when it was not uttered, but
was still to be uttered, undoubtedly was known
unto God.
32. So "He gave them unto compassions, in
in the sight of all that had taken them captive"
(ver. 46). That they might not be vessels of
wrath, but vessels of mercy.* The compassions
unto which He gave them are named in the
plural for this reason, I imagine, because each
one hath a gift of his own frbm God, one in one
way, another in another.6 Come then, whosoever
readest this, and dost recognise the grace of God,
by which we. are redeemed unto eternal life
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by reading in
the apostolical writings, and by searching in the
Prophets, and seest the Old Testament revealed
in the New, the New veiled in the Old ; remem-
ber the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, where,
when He driveth him out of the hearts of the
faithful, He saith, " Now is the prince of this
world cast out : " 7 and again of the Apostle,
when he saith, " Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into
the kingdom of His dear Son." s Meditate on
these and such like things, examine also the Old
Testament, and see what is sung in that Psalm,
the title of which is, When the temple was
being built after the captivity :' for there it is
said, " Sing unto the Lord a new song." 'And,
that thou mayest not think it doth refer to the
Jewish people only, he saith, " Sing unto the
Lord, all the whole earth i sing unto the Lord,
and praise His Name : declare," or rather, "give
the good news of," or, to transfer the very word
* 2 Cor. ii. 16. s Rom. ix. 22, 23.
7 John xii. 31. 8 Coi. i. 13.
9 See LXX. Ps. xcvi. 1.
6 1 Cor. vii. 7.
532
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CVII.
used in the Greek, "evangelize day from day,
His salvation." Here the Gospel (Kvangelium)
is mentioned, in which is announced the Day
that came from Day, our Lord Christ, the Light
from Light, the Son from the Father. This
also is the meaning of His salvation : for Christ
is the Salvation of God, as we have shown
above." . . .
33. " Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather
us from among the nations (other copies read,
" from the heathen ") ; that we may give thanks
unto Thy holy Name, and make our boast of
Thy praise" (ver. 47), Then he hath briefly
added this very praise, " Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel from everlasting, and world without
end " * (ver. 48) : by which we understand from
everlasting to everlasting ; because He shall be
praised without end by those of whom it is said,
" Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house : they
will be alway praising Thee." 3 This is the per-
fection of the Body of Christ on the third day,
when the devils had been cast out, and cures
perfected, even unto the immortality of the body
itself, the everlasting reign of those who perfectly
praise Him, because they perfectly love Him ;
and perfectly love Him, because they behold
Him face to face. For then shall be com-
pleted the prayer at the commencement of this
Psalm : 4 " Remember us, O Lord, according to
the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people,"
etc. For from the Gentiles He doth not gather
only the lost sheep of the house of Israel,5 but
also those which do not belong to that fold ;
so that there is one flock, as is said, and one
Shepherd. But when the Jews suppose that
that prophecy belongeth to their visible king-
dom, because they know not how to rejoice in
the hope of good things unseen, they are about
to rush into the snares of him, of whom the
Lord saith, " I am come in My Father's Name,
and ye receive Me not : if another shall come
in his own name, him ye will receive." 6 Of
whom the Apostle Paul saith : " that Man of Sin
shall be revealed, the son of perdition," etc.
And a little after he saith, "Then shall that
Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall con-
sume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall
destroy with the brightness of His coming," etc.'
. . . Through that Apostate, through him who
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped, it seemeth to me, that the
carnal people of Israel will suppose that prophecy
to be fulfilled, where it is said, " Deliver us, O
Lord, and gather us from among the heathen ; "
that under His guidance, before the eyes of their
visible enemies, who had visibly taken them cap-
tive, they are to have visible glory. Thus they
1 Above, § 5. » Oxf. mss. add, " so be it! so be it! "
* Ps. lxxxiv. 4. 4 [Vers. 4, 5, p. 527, supra. — C]
» Matt. xv. 24. <> John v. 24. 7 2 Thess. ii. 3-11. ,
will believe a lie, because they have not re-
ceived the love of truth, that they might love not
carnal, but spiritual blessings. . . . For Christ
had other sheep that were not of this fold : 8 but
the devil and his angels had taken captive all
those sheep, both among the Israelites and the
Gentiles. The power, therefore, of the devil
having been cast out of them, in the sight of
the evil spirits who had taken them captive, their
cry in this prophecy is, that they may be saved
and perfected for evermore : " Deliver us, O
Lord our God, and gather us from among the
heathen." Not, as the Jews imagine it, fulfilled
through Antichrist, but through our Lord Christ
coming in the name of His Father, " Day from
day, His salvation ; " of whom it is here said,
" O visit us in Thy salvation ! And let all the
people say," the predestined people of the cir-
cumcision and of the uncircumcision, a holy
race, an adopted people, "So be it ! So be it!"»
PSALM CVII.'°
1. This Psalm commendeth unto us the mer-
cies of God, proved in ourselves, and is there-
fore the sweeter to the experienced. And it is a
wonder if it can be pleasing to any one, except
to him who has learned in his own case, what he
hears in this Psalm. Yet was it written not for
any one or two, but for the people of God, and
set forth that it might know itself therein as in
a mirror. Its title needeth not now to be
treated, for it is Halleluia, and again Halleluia.
Which we have a custom of singing at a certain
time in our solemnities, after an old tradition of
the Church : nor is it without a sacred meaning
that we sing it on particular days." Halleluia
we sing indeed on certain days,12 but every day
we think it. For if in this word is signified the
praise of God, though not in the mouth of the
flesh, yet surely in the mouth of the heart.
" His praise shall ever be in my mouth." '3 But
that the title hath Halleluia not once only but
twice, is not peculiar to this Psalm, but the former
also hath it so. And as far as appears from its
text, that was sung of the people of Israel, but
this is sung of the universal Church of God,
spread through the whole world. Perchance, it
not unfitly hath Halleluia twice, because we cry,
Abba, Father. Since Abba is nothing else but
Father, yet not without meaning the Apostle
said, " in whom we cry, Abba, Father ; " '4 but
because one wall indeed coming to the Corner
Stone crieth Abba, but the other, from the other
side crieth Father ; viz., in that Corner Stone,
B John x. 16. 9 Oxf. mss. add, " Amen."
'° tat. CVI.
11 [It was not used in Lent, and was a feature of the Easter solem-
nities. See Ps. cxi. infra. — C.l
12 See on P». cxi. I3 Ps. xxxiv. 1.
l* Rom. viii. 15.
Psalm CVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
533
"who is our Peace, who hath made both
one." . . .
2. " Confess unto the Lord that He is
sweet, because for aye in His mercy" (ver. i).
This confess ye that He is sweet : if ye have
tasted, confess. But he cannot confess, who
hath not chosen to taste, for whence shall he
say that that is sweet, which he knoweth not.
But ye if ye have tasted how sweet the Lord is,'
" Confess ye to the Lord that He is sweet."
If ye have tasted with eagerness, break forth 2
with confession. " For aye is His mercy," that
is, for ever. For here " for aye," is so put,
since also in some other places of Scripture, for
aye, that is, what in Greek is called eh alZva, is
understood for ever. For His mercy is not for
a time, so as not to be for ever, since for this
purpose His present mercy is over men, that
they may live with the Angels for ever.
3. " Let them say who are redeemed of the
Lord, whom He hath redeemed from the hand
of their enemies" (ver. 2). Redeemed indeed
it seems was also the people of Israel from the
land of Egypt, from the hand of slavery, from
fruitless labours, from miry works ; yet let us
see whether those who say these things, are they
who were freed by the Lord from Egypt. It is
not so. But who are they? " Those whom He
redeemed." Still one might take it also of
them, as redeemed from the hand of their ene-
mies, that is, of the Egyptians. Let them be
expressed exactly who they are, for whom this
Psalm would be sung. " He gathered them
from the lands ; " these might still be the lands
of Egypt, for there are many lands even in one
province. Let him speak openly. " From the
east and the west, from the north and the sea "
(ver. 3). Now then we understand these re-
deemed, in the whole circle of the earth. This
people of God, freed from a great and broad
Egypt, is led, as through the Red Sea,3 that in
Baptism it may make an end of its enemies.
For by the sacrament as it were of the Red
Sea, that is by Baptism consecrated with the
Blood of Christ, the pursuing Egyptians, the
sins, are washed away. ..." But all these
things happened to them in a figure, and were
written for our admonition, on whom the ends
of the ages have come."4 . . .
4. "They wandered in the wilderness, in a
dry place, they found not the way of a city
to dwell in" (ver. 4). We have heard a
wretched wandering ; what of want ? " Hungry
and thirsty, their soul fainted in them " (ver. 5).
But wherefore did it faint? for what good? For
God is not cruel, but He maketh Himself
known, in that it is expedient for us, that He be
entreated by us fainting, and that aiding us He
1 1 Pet. ii. 3.
3 Exod. xiv. za.
2 Eructate.
* 1 Cor. x. 11.
be loved. And therefore after this wandering,
and hunger, and thirst, " And they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them
out of their distress" (ver. 6). And what did
He for them, as they were wandering ? " And He
led them in the right way " (ver. 7) . They
found not the way of a city to dwell in, with
hunger and thirst they were vexed and faint,
" and He led them into the right way, that they
might go into a city to dwell in." How He
helped their hunger and thirst, He saith not,
but even this expect ye : " Let them confess
unto the Lord His mercies, and His wonders
towards the children of men" (ver. 8). Tell
them, ye that are experienced, to the inexperi-
enced ; ye that are already in the way, already
directed towards finding the city, already at last
free from hunger and thirst. "Because He
hath satisfied the empty soul, and filled the
hungry soul with good things " (ver. 9).
5. "Them that sit in darkness, and in the
shadow of death, fast bound in beggary and
iron" (ver. 10). Whence this, but that thou
wast attributing things to thyself? that thou wast
not owning the grace of God ? that thou wast re-
jecting the counsel of God ' concerning thee ?
For see what He addeth : " Because they re-
belled against the words of the Lord through
pride" (ver. 11), not knowing the righteousness
of God, and wishing to establish their own,6
" and they were bitter against the counsel of the
Most High." " And their heart was brought low
in labour" (ver. 12). And now fight against
lust ; if God cease to aid thou mayest strive,
thou canst not conquer. And when thou shalt
be pressed by thine evil, thy heart will be brought
low in labour, so that now with humbled heart
thou mayest learn to cry out, " O wretched man
that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body
of this death ? " 7 . . . Freed, thou wilt confess
the mercies of the Lord. " And they cried unto
the Lord when they were troubled, and He de-
livered them out of their distresses " (ver. 13).
They were freed from the second temptation.
There remains that of weariness and loathing.
But first see what He did for them when freed.
" And He led them out of darkness and the
shadow of death, and brake their bonds asun-
der" (ver. 14). "Let them confess to the Lord
His mercies, and His wonders to the children of
men" (ver. 15). Wherefore? what difficulties
hath He overcome ? " Because He brake the
gates of brass, and snapped the bars of iron "
(ver. 16). " He took them up from the way of
their iniquity, for because of their unrighteous-
nesses they were brought low" (ver. 17). Be-
cause they gave honour to themselves, not to
God, because they were establishing their own
5 Luke vii. 30.
* Rom. x. 3.
Rom. vii. 34.
534
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CVII.
righteousness, not knowing the righteousness of
God,' they were brought low. They found that
they were helpless without His aid, who were
presuming on their own strength alone.
6. " Their soul abhorred all manner of
meat" (ver. 18). Now they suffer satiety.
They are sick of satiety. They are in danger
from satiety. Unless perchance thou thinkest
they could be killed with famine, but cannot
with satiety. See what followeth. When he had
said, " Their soul abhorred all manner of meat,"
lest thou shouldest think them, as it were, safe of
their fulness, and not rather see that they would
die of satiety : " And they came near," he saith,
" even unto the gates of death." What then re-
maineth? That even when the word of God
delighteth thee, thou account it not to thyself;
nor for this be puffed up with any sort of arro-
gance, and having an appetite for food, proudly
spurn at those who are in danger from satiety.
" And they cried out unto the I^ord when
they were in trouble, and He delivered them out
of their distresses" (ver. 19). And because it
was a sickness not to be pleased, " He sent His
Word, and healed them" (ver. 20). See what
evil there is in satiety ; see whence He delivers,
to whom he crieth that loathes his food. " He
sent His Word, and healed them, and snatched
them," from whence? not from wandering, not
from hunger, not from the difficulty of overcom-
ing sins, but " from their corruption." It is a
sort of corruption of the mind to loathe what is
sweet. Therefore also of this benefit, as of the
others before, " Let them confess to the Lord
His mercies, and His wonders unto the sons of
men" (ver. 21). "And sacrifice the sacrifice
of praise " (ver. 22). For now that He may be
praised, the Lord is sweet, "and let them tell
out His works with gladness." Not with weari-
ness, not with sadness, not with anxiety, not
with loathing, but " with gladness."
7. . . . "They who go down on the sea in
ships, doing their business on the mighty wat-
ers " (ver. 23) ; that is, amongst many peoples.
For that waters are often put for peoples, the
Apocalypse of John is witness, when on John's
asking what those waters were, it was answered
him, they are peoples. They then who do their
business on mighty waters, " they have seen
the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the
deep" (ver. 24). For what is deeper than
human hearts? hence often break forth winds;
storms of sedition, and dissensions, disturb the
ship. And what is done in them ? God, willing
that both they who steer, and they who are con-
veyed, should cry unto Him, " He spake, and
the breath of the storm stood " (ver. 25 ). What
is, stood? Abode, continued, still disturbeth,
' Rom. x 3.
long tosseth ; rageth, and passeth not away.
" For He spake, and the breath of the storm
stood." And what did that breath of the storm ?
" They go up even to the heavens," in daring ;
"They go down even into the deeps " (ver. 26),
in fearing. "Their soul wasted in miseries."
" They were disturbed, and moved like a drunken
man " (ver. 27). They who sit at the helm, and
they who faithfully love the ship, feel what I say.
Certainly, when they speak, when they read,
when they interpret, they appear wise. Woe for
the storm ! " and all their wisdom," he saith,
" was swallowed up." Sometimes all human
counsels fail ; whichever way one turns himself,
the waves roar, the storm rageth, the arms are
powerless : where the prow may strike, to what
wave the side may be exposed, whither the
stricken ship may be allowed to drift, from
what rocks she must be kept back lest she be
lost, is impossible for her pilots to see. And
what is left but that w hich follows ? " And they
cried out unto the Lord when they were troubled,
and He delivered them from their distresses "
(ver. 28). "And He commanded the storm,
and it stood unto clear air " (ver. 29), "and the
waves of it were still." Hear on this point the
voice of a steersman, one that was in peril, was
brought low, was freed. " I would not," he saith,
" have you ignorant, brethren, of our distress,
which befell us in Asia, that " we were pressed
above strength, and above measure " (I see all
his " wisdom swallowed up "), " so that we were
weary," he saith, " even of life." 2 . . .
" And they were glad, because they were still,
and He brought them into the haven of their
desire" (ver. 30). "Let His mercies confess
unto the Ixird, and His wonders towards the sons
of men" (ver. 31). Everywhere, without ex-
ception, let not our merits, not our strength, not
our wisdom, " confess unto the Lord," but, " His
mercies." Let Him be loved in every deliver-
ance of ours, who has been invoked in every
distress.
8. "And let them exalt Him in the assem-
bly of the people, and praise Him in the seat of
the elders " (ver. 32). Let them exalt, let them
praise, peoples and elders, merchants and pilots.
For what hath He done in this assembly?
What hath He established? Whence hath He
rescued it ? What hath He granted it ? Even as
He resisted the proud, and gave grace to the
humble : 3 the proud, that is, the first people of
the Jews, arrogant, and extolling itself on its de-
scent from Abraham, and because to that nation
" were entrusted the oracles of God." 4 These
things did not avail them unto soundness, but
unto pride of heart, rather to swelling than to
greatness. What then did God, resisting the
» a Cor. i. 8.
» Ja.. iv. 6.
* Rom. iii. 2.
Psalm CVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
535
proud, but giving grace to the humble ; cutting
off the natural branches for their pride ; grafting
in the wild olive for its humility?
" He made the rivers a wilderness " (ver. 33).
Waters did run there, prophecies were in course.
Seek now a prophet among the Jews ; thou
findest none. For " He made the outgoings of
waters to be thirst." Let them say, " Now
there is no prophet more, and He will not know
us any more." ' " A fruitful land to be salt-
pools " (ver. 34). Thou seekest there the faith
of Christ, thou findest not : thou seekest a
prophet, thou findest not : thou seekest a sacri-
fice, thou findest not : thou seekest a temple,
thou findest none. Wherefore this ? " From the
wickedness of them that dwell therein." Be-
hold how He resisteth the proud : hear how He
giveth grace to the humble. " He made the
wilderness to be a standing water, and the dry
ground to be outgoings of waters " (ver. 35).
" And He caused the hungry to dwell there "
(ver. 36). Because to Him it was said, "Thou
art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchize-
dec." 2 For thou seekest a sacrifice among the
Jews ; thou hast none after the order of Aaron.
Thou seekest it after the order of Melchizedec ;
thou findest it not among them, but through the
whole world it is celebrated in the Church.
" From the rising of the sun to the setting there-
of the name of the Lord is praised." 3 . . . "And
they sowed fields, and planted vineyards, and
gat fruit of corn" (ver. 37) : at which that
workman rejoiceth, who saith, " Not because I
desire a gift, but I seek fruit." 4 " And He
blessed them, and they were multiplied exceed-
ingly, and their cattle were not diminished "
(ver. 38). This standeth. For "the founda-
tion of God standeth sure ; because the Lord
knoweth them that are His." 5 They are called
" beasts of burden," and " cattle," that walk
simply in the Church, yet are useful ; not much
learned, but full of faith. Therefore, whether
spiritual or carnal, " He blessed them."
9. " And they became few, and were vexed "
(ver. 39). Whence this? From athwart? Nay,
from within. For that they should "become
few," " They went out from us, but they were
not of us." 6 But therefore he speaketh as of
these, of whom he spake before, that they may
be discerned with understanding ; because he
speaketh as if of the same, because of the sac-
raments they have in common. For they belong
to the people of God, though not by the virtue,
yet surely by the appearance of piety : for con-
cerning them we have heard the Apostle, " In
the last times there shall come grievous times,
for there shall be men lovers of themselves." 7
» Ps. lxxiv. 9. a Ps. ex. 4,
* Philip, iv. 17. 5 2 Tim. ii. 19.
? a Tim. iii. 2.
3 Ps. cxiii. 3 and Mai. i. 10.
6 1 John ii. 19.
The first evil is, " lovers of themselves ; " that is,
as being pleased with themselves. Would that
they were not pleasing to themselves, and were
pleasing to God : would that they would cry out
in their difficulties, and be freed from their dis-
tresses. But while they presumed greatly on
themselves, " they were made few." It is mani-
fest, brethren : all who separate themselves from
unity become few. For they are many ; but in
unity, while they are not parted from unity. For
when the multitude of unity hath begun no more
to belong to them, in heresy and schism, they
are few. " And they were vexed, from distress
of miseries and grief." " Contempt was poured
on princes " (ver. 40). For they were rejected
by the Church of God, and the more because
they wished to be princes, therefore they were
despised, and became salt that had lost its sa-
vour, cast out abroad, so that it is trodden under
foot of men." " And He led them astray in the
pathless place, and not in a way." Those above
in the way, those directed to a city, and finally
led thither, not led astray ; but these, where
there was no way, led astray. What is, " Led
them astray"? God "gave them up to their
own hearts' lusts." » For " led astray " means
this, gave them up to themselves. For if thou
enquire closely, it is they that lead themselves
astray. ..." And He helped the poor out of
beggary" (ver. 41). What meaneththis, breth-
ren ? Princes are despised, and the poor helped.
The proud are cast aside, and the humble pro-
vided for. ..." And made him households like
sheep." Thou understandest one poor man and
one beggar of him concerning whom he said,
" He hath helped the poor out of misery : " this
poor man is now many households, this poor
man is many nations ; many Churches are one
Church, one nation, one household, one sheep.
These are great mysteries, great types, how pro-
found, how full of hidden meanings ; how sweetly
discovered, since long hidden. Therefore, " the
righteous will consider this, and rejoice : and
the mouth of all wickedness shall be stopped "
(ver. 42). That wickedness that doth prate
against unity, and compelleth truth to be made
manifest, shall be convicted, and have its mouth
stopped.
10. "Who is wise? and he will consider
these things ; and will understand the mercies of
the Lord " (ver. 43). . . . Not his own fcleserv-
ings, not his own strength, not his own power ;
but " the mercies of the Lord ; " who, when he
was wandering and in want, led him back to the
path, and fed him ; who, when he was struggling
against the difficulties of his sins, and bound
down with the fetters of habit, released and freed
him ; who, when he loathed the Word of God,
1 Matt. '
9 Rom. i. 24.
536
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIX.
and was almost dying with a kind of weariness,
restored him by sending him the medicine of
His Word ; who, when he was endangered among
the risks of shipwreck and storm, stilled the sea,
and brought him into port ; who, finally, placed
him in that people, where He giveth grace to
the humble ; not in that where he resisteth the
proud ; and hath made him His own, that re-
maining within he may be multiplied, not that
going out he may be minished. The righteous
see this, and rejoice. " The mouth," therefore,
" of all wickedness shall be stopped."
PSALM CVIII.'
i. I have not thought that the CVIIIth Psalm
required an exposition ; since I have already
expounded it in the LVIIth Psalm,2 and in the
LXth, of the last divisions of which this Psalm
consisteth. For the last part of the LVIIth is the
first of this, as far as the verse, " Thy glory is
above all the earth." Henceforth to the end, is
the last part of the LXth : as the last part of the
CXXXVth is the same as that of the CXVth,J
from the verse, "The images of the heathen are
but gold and silver : " as the XlVth * and Lllld,*
with a few alterations in the middle, have every-
thing the same from the beginning to the end.
Whatever slight differences therefore occur in
this CVIIIth Psalm, compared with those two, of
parts of which it is composed, are easy to under-
stand ; just as we find in the LVIIth,6 " I will
sing and give praise ; awake, O my glory : "
here, " I will sing and give praise, with my glory." 1
Awake, is said there, that he may sing and give
praise therewith. Also, there, "Thy mercy is
great " (or, as some translate, " is lifted up ")
"unto the heavens;"8 but here, "Thy mercy
is great above the heavens." » For it is great
unto the heavens, that it may be great in the
heavens ; and this is what he wished to express
by " above the heavens." Also in the LXth,
" I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem : " '° here
" I will be exalted, and will divide Shechem." "
Where is shown what is signified in the division
of Shechem, which it was prophesied should
happen after the Lord's exaltation, and that this
joy doth refer to that exaltation ; so that He
rejoiceth, because He is exalted. Whence he
elsewhere saith, " Thou hast turned my heavi-
ness into joy ; Thou hast put off my sackcloth,
and girded me with gladness." " Also there,
" Ephraim, the strength of my head : " '3 but
here, " Ephraim the taking up of my head." '*
But strength cometh from taking up, that is, He
1 Lat. CVII. Why no exposition is here given.
2 Ps. lvii. 8-ia, lx. 5-12. 3 Ps, exxxv. 15. cxv. 4.
< Ps. xiv. » Pi liii. » Ps. lvii. 7, 8.
7 Ps. cviii 1. B Ps. lvii. 10. 9 Ps. cviii, 4.
•° Ps. lx. 6. " Ps. cviii. 7. » Ps. xxx. II.
" Ps. lx. 7. ** Ps. cvui. 8.
maketh men strong by taking up, causing fruit
in us ; for the interpretation of Ephraim is, bear-
ing fruit. But " taking up " may be understood
of us, when we take up Christ ; or of Christ,
when He, who is Head of the Church, taketh us
up. And the words, " them that trouble us,"
in the former Psalm,'* are the same with " our
enemies," in this.'6
2. We are taught by this Psalm, that those
titles which seem to refer to history are most
rightly understood prophetically, according to
the object of the composition of the Psalms.
. . . And yet this Psalm is composed of the
latter portions of two,'7 whose titles are different.
Where it is signified that each concur in a com-
mon object, not in the surface of the history,
but in the depth of prophecy, the objects of
both being united in this one, the title of which
is, "A Song or Psalm of David : " '* resembling
neither of the former titles, otherwise than in
the word David. Since, " in many places, and
in diverse manners," as the Epistle to the He-
brews saith, " God spoke in former times to the
fathers through the Prophets ; " '9 yet He spoke of
Him whom He sent afterwards, that the words
of the Prophets might be fulfilled : for " all the
promises of God in Him are yea." 2°
PSALM CIX.2'
i. Every one who faithfully readeth the Acts
of the Apostles, acknowledgeth that this Psalm
containeth a prophecy of Christ ; for it evidently
appeareth that what is here written, " let his
days be few, and let another take his office," is
prophesied of Judas, the betrayer of Christ. . . .
For as some things are said which seem pecul-
iarly to apply to the Apostle Peter, and yet are
not clear in their meaning, unless when referred
to the Church, whom he is acknowledged to
have figuratively represented, on account of the
primacy 22 which he bore among the Disciples ;
as it is written, " I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven," 2i and other passages
of the like purport : so Judas doth represent
those Jews who were enemies of Christ, who
both then hated Christ, and now, in their line of
succession, this species of wickedness contin-
uing, hate Him. Of these men, and of this
people, not only may what we read more openly
discovered in this Psalm be conveniently under-
stood, but also those things which are more ex-
pressly stated concerning Judas himself.
2. The Psalm, then, beginneth thus : " O God,
»s Ps. lx. 12. « Ps. cviii. 13. " Ps. lvii. Tit.; Ps. lx. Tit.
18 Ps. cviii. Tit. " Heb. i. 1.
*> 2 Cor. i. 20. » Lat. CVIII.
" [That he was facilt princeps in the original college, nobody
denies ; that he had any supremacy over his brethren, all antiquity, as
well as Holy Scripture, disproves. The keys were equally given to
the others. See A.N. F. vol. viii. p. 601 tt uq. — C.J
" Matt. xvi. 19.
Psalm CIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
537
be not silent as to my praise ; for the mouth
of the ungodly, yea, the mouth of the deceitful
is opened upon me" (ver. i). Whence it ap-
peareth, both that the blame, which the ungodly
and the deceitful is not silent of, is false, and
that the praise, which God is not silent of, is true.
" For God is true, but every man a liar ; " ' for
no man is true, except him in whom God speak-
eth. But the highest praise is that of the only-
begotten Son of God, in which He is proclaimed
even that which He is, the only-begotten Son
of God. But this did not appear, but, when
His weakness appeared, lay hid, when the mouth
of the ungodly and deceitful was opened upon
Him ; and for this reason his mouth was opened,
because His virtue was concealed : and he saith,
"the mouth of the deceitful was opened," be-
cause the hatred which was covered by deceit
burst out into language.
3. " They have spoken against me with false
tongues " (ver. 2) : then chiefly when they
praised him as a " good Master " with insidious
adulation. Whence it is elsewhere said : " and
they that praised me, are sworn together against
me." 2 Next, because they burst into cries,
" Crucify Him, crucify Him ; " 3 he hath added,
" They compassed me about also with words of
hatred." They who with a treacherous tongue
spoke words seemingly of love, and not of ha-
tred, " against me," since they did this insid-
iously ; afterwards " compassed me about with
words " not of false and deceitful love, but of
open " hatred, and fought against me without a
cause." For as the pious love Christ for nought,
so do the wicked hate Him for nought ; for as
truth is earnestly sought by the best men on its
own account, without any advantage, external to
itself, in view, so is wickedness sought by the
worst men. Whence among secular authors it
is said of a very bad man, " he was wicked and
cruel for no object." 4
4. " In place," saith he, " of loving me, they"
detracted from me" (ver. 3). There are six
different acts of this class, which may, when
mentioned, very easily be borne in mind ; ( 1 ) to
return good for evil, (2) not to return evil for
evil ; (3) to return good for good, (4) to return
evil for evil ; (5) not to return good for good,
(6) to return evil for good. The two first of
these belong to the good, and the first of thesc'under the appearance of wishing evil, suppose
two is the better ; the two last belong to the
wicked, and the latter of the two is the worse ;
the two middle to a sort of middle class of per-
sons, but the first of these borders upon the
good, the latter on the bad. We should remark
these things in the holy Scriptures. Our Lord
Himself returneth good for evil, who " justifieth
the ungodly ; " 5 and who, when hanging upon
1 Rom. iii. 4. 2 Ps. cii. 8.
* Sallusl. Bell. Cat. i.
3 John xix. 6.
5 Rom. iv. 5.
the Cross, said, " Father, forgive them ; for they
know not what they do." 6 . . .
5. But after he had said, "in place of loving
me, they detracted from me ; " what doth he add ?
" But I gave myself unto prayer. " He said not
indeed what he pcayed, but what can we better
understand than for them themselves? For
they were detracting greatly from Him whom they
crucified, when they ridiculed Him as if He
were a man, whom in their opinion they had
conquered ; from which Cross He said, " Fa-
ther, forgive them, for they know not what
they do ; " so that while they in the depth of
their malignity were rendering evil for good, He
in the height of His goodness was rendering
good for evil. . . . The divine words then teach
us by our Lord's example, that when we feel
others ungrateful to us, not only in that they do
not repay us with good, but even return evil for
good, we should pray ; He indeed for others who
were raging against Him, or in sorrow, or endan-
gered in faith ; but we tor ourselves in the first
place, that we may by the mercy and aid of God
conquer our own mind, by which we are borne
on to the desire of revenge, when any detraction
is made from us, either in our presence or our
absence. . . .
6. He addeth, " Thus have they rewarded me
evil for good" (ver. 4). And as if we asked,
what evil? for what good? " And hatred," he
saith, " for my good will." This is the sum total
of their great guilt. For how could the perse-
cutors injure Him who died of His own free-
will, and not by compulsion? But this very
hatred is the greatest crime of the persecutor,
although it be the willing atonement of the suf-
ferer. And he hath sufficiently explained the
sense of the above words, " In place of loving
me," since they owed love not as a general duty
only, but in return for His love : in that he hath
here added, " for my good will." This love He
mentioneth in the Gospel, when He saith, " How
often would I have gathered thy children to-
gether, and thou wouldest not ! " 1
7. He then beginneth to prophesy what they
should receive for this very impiety ; detailing
their lot in such a manner, as if he wished its
realization from a desire of revenge. Some not
understanding this mode of predicting the future,
hatred to be returned for hatred, and an evil will
for an evil will, since in truth it belongeth to few to
distinguish, in what way the punishment of the
wicked pleaseth the accuser, who longeth to satiate
his enmity ; and in how widely different a way it
pleaseth the judge, who with a righteous mind
punisheth sins. For the former returneth evil
for evil : but the judge when he punisheth doth
6 Luke xxiii. 34.
7 Matt, xxiii. 37.
538
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIX.
not return evil for evil, since he returneth justice
to the unjust ; and what is just, is surely good.
He therefore punisheth not from delight in an-
other's misery, which is evil for evil : but from
love of justice, which is good for evil. . . .
8. " Set thou an ungodly man to be ruler over
him ; and let Satan stand at his right hand "
(ver. s). Though the complaint had been before
concerning many, the Psalm is now speaking of
one. . . . Since therefore he is here speaking
of the traitor Judas, who, according to the Scrip-
ture in the Acts of the Apostles, was to be pun-
ished with the penalty due to him,1 what meaneth,
" set thou an ungodly man over him," save him
whom in the next verse he mentioneth by name,
when he saith, " and let Satan stand at his right
hand " ? He therefore who refused to be subject
unto Christ, deserved this, that he should have
the devil set over him, that is, that he should be
subject unto the devil. . . . For this reason also
it is said of those who, preferring the pleasures
of this world to God, styled the people blessed
who have such and such things, " their right
hand is a right hand of iniquity." 2 . . .
9. " When sentence is given upon him, let him
be condemned, and let his prayer be turned into
sin " (ver. 6) . For prayer is not righteous except
through Christ, whom he sold in his atrocious
sin :. but the prayer which is not made through
Christ, not only cannot blot out sin, but is itself
turned into sin. But it may be inquired on
what occasion Judas could have so prayed, that
his prayer was turned into sin. I suppose that
before he betrayed the Lord, while he was think-
ing of betraying Him ; for he could no longer
pray through Christ. For after he betrayed
Him, and repented of it, if he prayed through
Christ, he would ask for pardon ; if he asked for
pardon, he would have hope ; if he had hope, he
would hope for mercy ; if he hoped for mercy,
he would not have hanged himself in despair. . . .
10. " Let his days be few " (ver. 7). By " his
days," he meant the days of his apostleship,
which were few ; since before the Passion of our
Lord, they were ended by his crime and death.
And as if it were asked, What then shall become
of that most sacred number twelve, within which
our Lord willed, not without a meaning, to limit
His twelve first Apostles? he at once addeth,
" and let another take his office." As much as
to say, let both himself be punished according
to his desert, and let his number be filled up.
11. "Let his children be fatherless, and his
wife a widow" (ver. 8). After his death, both
his children were fatherless, and his wife a widow.
" Let his children be vagabonds, and be carried
away, and beg their bread " (ver. 9). By " vaga-
bonds " he meaneth, uncertain whither to go,
' Acts i. ».
2 Ps. cxliv. II.
destitute of all help. " Let them be driven
from their habitations." He here explaineth
what he had said above, " Let them be carried
away." How all this happened to his wife and
children, the following verses explain.
12. "Let the extortioner search out all his
substance, and let the strangers spoil his labour "
(ver. 10). " Let there be no man to help him "
(ver. 11): that is, to guard his posterity ;
wherefore followeth, " nor to have compassion
on his fatherless children "
13. But as even orphans may, without one to
help them, and without a guardian, nevertheless
increase amid trouble and want, and preserve
their race by descent ; he next saith, " Let his
posterity be destroyed ; and in the next genera-
tion let his name be clean put out" (ver. 12) :
that is, let what hath been generated by him
generate no more, and quickly pass away.
14. But what is it that he next addeth? " Let
the wickedness of his fathers be had in remem-
brance in the sight of the Lord, and let not the
sin of his mother be done away" (ver. 13). Is it
to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers
shall be visited upon him? For upon him they
are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ,
and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked,
by not having imitated their conduct.3 . . . And
to these words, " I will visit the sins of the
fathers upon the children," 4 is added, " who hate
Me ; " that is, hate Me as their fathers hated Me :
so that as the effect of imitating the good is
that even their own sins are blotted out, so the
imitation of the wicked causeth men to suffer
not their own deservings only, but those also of
those whom they have imitated. . . .
15. " Let them alway be against5 the Lord"
(ver. 14). "Against the Lord," meaneth in
the Lord's sight : for other translators have
rendered this line, " let them be always in the
sight of the Lord ; " while others have rendered
it, " let them be before the Lord alway ; " as it
is elsewhere said, " Thou hast set our misdeeds
in Thy sight." 6 By " alway," he meaneth that
this great crime should be without pardon, both
here, and in a future life. " Let the memorial
of them perish from off the earth : " that is, of
his father and of his mother. By memorial
of them, he meaneth, that which is preserved by
successive generations : this he prophesied should
perish from the earth, because both Judas him-
self, and his sons, who were the memorial of his
father and mother, without any succeeding off-
spring, as it is said above, were consumed in the
short space of one generation.7 . . .
3 Ezek. xviii. 4, 20. * Exod. xx. 5. ' Centra. 6 Ps. xc. 8.
7 [Here he inquires whether Judas, in Hades, could know the
condition of his family; and he replies, " It is indeed a great question,
and not one to be discussed at present, because it belongelh to a
labour of greater extent, whether, or to what degree, or in what man-
ner, the spirits of the dead are aware of what is passing around us,"
He compares Luke xvi. 23, 28. — C.J
Psalm CIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
539
16. " And that, because he remembered not
to act mercifully" (ver. 15) ; either Judas, or
the people itself. But " remembered not " is
better understood of the people : for if they
slew Christ, they might well remember the deed
in penitence, and act mercifully towards His
members, whom they most perseveringly perse-
cuted. For this reason he saith, " but perse-
cuted the poor man and the beggar " (ver. 16).
It may indeed be understood of Judas ; for the
Lord did not disdain to become poor, when He
was rich, that we might be enriched by His
poverty.' But how shall I understand the word
" beggar," save perhaps because He said to the
Samaritan woman, " Give me to drink," 2 and on
the Cross He said, " I thirst." 3 But as to what
followeth, I do not see how it can be understood
of our Head Himself, that is, the Saviour of His
own body, whom Judas persecuted. For after
saying, " He persecuted the poor man and the
beggar : " he addeth, " and to slay," that is,
" that he might slay Him," for some have so
rendered it, " Him that was pricked at the heart."
This expression is not commonly used except of
the stings of past sins in the sorrows of penitence ;
as it is said of those who, when they had heard
the Apostles after our Lord's ascension, were
" pricked in heart," even they who had slain the
Lord. . . .
17. The Psalm then continueth : "His delight
was in cursing, and it shall happen to him"
(ver. 17). Although Judas loved cursing, both
in stealing from the money bag, and selling and
betraying the Lord : nevertheless, that people
more openly loved cursing, when they said,
" His blood be on us, and on our children." *
" He loved not blessing, therefore it shall be far
from him." Such was Judas indeed, since he
loved not Christ, in whom is everlasting bless-
ing ; but the Jewish people still more decidedly
refused blessing, unto whom he who had been
enlightened by the Lord said, " Will ye also be
His disciples? "5 "He clothed himself with
cursing, like as with a raiment : " either Judas,
or that people. " And it came into his bowels
like water."6 Both without, then, and within;
without, like a garment ; within, like water :
since he hath come before the judgment-seat of
Him "who hath power to destroy both body
and soul in hell ; " 7 the body without, the soul
within. " And like oil into his bones." He
showeth that he worketh evil with delight, and
storeth up cursing for himself, that is, everlasting
punishment ; for blessing is eternal life. For
at present evil deeds are his delight, flowing like
1 2 Cor. viii. g. 2 John iv. 7. 3 John xix. 28.
* Matt, xxxii. 25. 5 John ix 27.
6 [It seems to me there is here a reference to the water of jeal-
ousy, Numb. v. 22, 23. Compare Acts i. 18. As to oil, generally
a .blessing, compare Ps, Iv. 21: Prov. v. 3, 4. "For envy they
delivered Him." Prov. xiv. 30. — C.J
» Matt. x. 28.
water into his bowels, like oil into his bones ;
but it is styled cursing, because God hath
appointed torments for such men.
18. " Let it be unto him as the cloak which
covereth him " (ver. 18). Since he hath before
spoken of the cloak, why doth he repeat it?
When he said, " He clothed himself with cursing
as with a raiment ; " doth the raiment with
which he is " covered " differ from that with
which he is " clothed " ? For every man is
clothed with his tunic, covered with his cloak ;
and what is this, save boasting in iniquity, even
in the sight of men? "and as the girdle," he
saith, " that he is alway girded withal." Men are
girded chiefly that they may be better fit for toil,
that they may not be hindered by the folds of
their dress. He therefore girdeth himself with
curses, who designeth an evil which he hath
carefully contrived, not on a sudden impulse,
and who learneth in such a manner to do evil,
that he is always ready to commit it.
19. " This is the work of them that slander
me before the Lord " (ver. 19). He said not,
" their reward," but, " their work : " for it is
clear that by the clothing, covering, water, oil,
and girdle, he was describing the very works by
which eternal curses are procured. It is not
then one Judas, but many, of whom it is said,
" This is the work of them that slander me
before the Lord." Although indeed the plural
number might have been put for the singular ;
even as, when Herod died, it was said by the
Angel, " They are dead which sought the young
Child's life." 8 But who slander Christ more
before the Lord, than they who slander the very
words of the Lord, by declaring that it is not He
whom the Law of the Lord and His Prophets
announced beforehand ? " And of those that
speak evil against my soul : " by denying that
He, when He had willed, could have arisen :
though He saith, " I have power to lay down
My life, and I have power to take it again." °
20. " But work Thou with me, O Lord God "
(ver. 20). Some have thought "mercifully"
should be understood, some have actually added
it ; but the best copies have the words thus :
" But work Thou with me, O Lord God, for Thy
Name's sake." Whence a higher sense should
not be passed over, supposing the Son to have
thus addressed the Father, " Deal Thou with
Me," since the works of the Father and of the Son
are the same. Where although we understand
mercy, — for these words follow, "for sweet is
Thy mercy," — because he said not, " In me," or,
" over me ; " or anything of this sort : but, " work
Thou with Me ; " we rightly understand that
the Father and Son together work mercifully tow-
ards the vessels of mercy.10 " Work with me," "
8 Matt. ii. 20.
10 Rom. ix. 23.
9 John x. 18.
1 Fac Mecum.
54°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CIX.
may also be understood to mean, help me. We
use this expression in our daily language, when
we are speaking of anything which is in our
favour ; " It works with us." For the Father
aideth the Son, as far as the Deity aideth Man,
on account of His having assumed the " form
of a servant," to which Man, God, and to which
" Form of a servant," the Lord too is Father.
For in the " form of God," the Son needeth
not aid, for He is eqally all-powerful with the
Father, on which account He also is the helper
of men. . . . And because when he had said,
" Work Thou with me," he added, " for Thy
Name's sake," he hath commended grace. For
without previous deserving works, human nature
was raised to such a height, that the whole in
one, the Word and Flesh, that is, God and Man,
was styled the Only-begotten Son of God. And
this was done that that which had been lost
might be sought by Him who had created it, i
through that which had not been lost ; whence
the following words, " For Thy mercy is sweet."
21. " O deliver me, for I am needy and poor "
(ver. 21). Need and poverty is that weakness,
through which He was crucified.' " And my
heart is disturbed within me." This alludeth to
those words which He spoke when His Passion
was drawing near, " My soul is exceeding sor-
rowful, even unto death." J
22. "I go hence like a shadow that declin-
eth " (ver. 22). By this he signified death itself.
For as night comes of the shadow's declining,
so death comes of mortal flesh. "And am
driven away as the locusts." This I think' would
be more suitably understood of His members,
that is, of His faithful disciples. That he might
make it much plainer, he preferred writing
" locusts " in the plural number : although many
may be understood where the singular number
is used, as in that passage, " He spake, and the
locust came ; " 3 but it would have been more
obscure. His disciples, then, were driven away,
that is, were put to flight by persecutors, either
the multitude of whom He wished to be signified
by the word locusts, or their passing from one
place to another.
23. " My knees are weak through fasting "
(ver. 23). We read, that our Lord Christ under-
went a fast of forty days : 4 but had fasting so
great power over Him, that His knees were
weakened? Or is this more suitably understood
of His members, that is, of His saints? "And
my flesh is changed because of the oil ; " 5 be-
cause of spiritual grace, Whence Christ was so
called from the Greek word, chrisma, which
signifies unction. But the flesh was changed
1 a Cor. xiii. 4. 2 Malt. xxvi. 38.
i P*. cv. 34. * Man. iv. a.
_ * [Strange that our author's power of association fails to connect
this with John xii 7, and so with another incioent in the history of
Judas, quite to his purpose. See this series, vol. vi. p. 174. — C.j
through the oil, not for the worse, but for the
better, that is, rising from the dishonour of death
to the glory of immortality. . . . His flesh was
not yet changed. But whether the Holy Spirit
be represented by water through the notion
of ablution or irrigation, or by oil through that of
exultation and the inflaming of charity ; It doth
not differ from Itself, because Its types are dif-
ferent. For there is a great difference between
the lion and the lamb, and yet Christ is repre-
sented by both. . . .
24. " I became also a reproach unto them "
(ver. 24): through the death of the Cross. "For
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us."6 " They looked
upon Me, and shaked their heads." Because
they beheld His crucifixion, without beholding
His resurrection : they saw when His knees were
weakened, they saw not when His flesh was
changed.
25. " Help me, O Lord my God : O save me
according to Thy mercy" (ver. 25). This may
be referred to the whole, both to the Head and
to the body : to the Head, owing to His having
taken the form of a servant ; to the body, on
account of the servants themselves. For He
might even in them have said unto God, " Help
Me : " and, " O save Me : " as in them He said
unto Paul, " Why persecutest thou Me " ?7 The
following words, " according to Thy mercy,"
describe grace given gratuitously, not according
to the merit of works.
26. "And let them know how that this is Thy
Hand, and that Thou, Lord, hast made it " (ver.
26). He said, "Let them know," of those for
whom He even prayed while they were raging ;
for even those who afterwards believed in Him
were among the crowd who shook their heads in
mockery of Him. But let those who ascribe
unto God the shape of the human body, learn
in what sense God hath a hand. Let us there-
fore understand, that the Hand of God mean-
eth Christ : whence it is elsewhere said, " Unto
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? " 8 . . .
27. "Though they curse, yet bless Thou"
(ver. 27). Vain therefore and false is the curs-
ing of the sons of men, that have pleasure in
vanity, and seek a lie ; » but when God blesseth,
He doth what He saith. " Let them be con-
founded that rise up against me." For their
imagining that they have some power against
Me, is the reason that they rise up against Me ;
but when I shall have been exalted above the
heavens, and My glory shall have commenced
spreading over the whole earth, they shall be
confounded. " But Thy servant shall rejoice : "
either on the right hand of the Father, or in
His members when they rejoice, both in hope
6 Gal. iii. 13.
8 Isa. liii. 1.
7 Acts ix. 4.
9 Ps. iv. a.
Psalm CX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
541
among temptations, and after temptations for
evermore.
28. " Let my slanderers be clothed with
shame " (ver. 28) : that is, let it shame them to
have slandered me. But this may also be under-
stood as a blessing, in that they are amended.
" And let them cover themselves with their own
confusion, as with a double cloak ; " for diplois
is a double cloak ; that is, let them be con-
founded both within and without : both before
God and before men.
29. " As for me, I will confess greatly ' unto
the Lord with my mouth" (ver. 29). ... Is
He said to " praise among the multitude " be-
cause He is with His Church here even unto the
end of the world ; 2 so that we may understand
by "among the multitude," that He is honoured
by this very multitude? For he is said to be in
the midst, unto whom the chief honour is paid.
But if the heart is, as it were, that which is mid-
most of a man, no better construction can be
put on this passage than this, I will praise Him
in the hearts of many. For Christ dwelleth
through faith in our hearts ; 3 and therefore he
saith, " with my mouth," that is, with the mouth
of my body, which is the Church.
30. " For He stood at the right hand of the
poor" (ver. 30). It was said of Judas, "Let
Satan stand at his right hand ; " since he chose
to increase his riches by selling Christ ; but here
the Lord stood at the right hand of the poor,
that the Lord Himself might be the poor man's
riches. " He stood at the right hand of the
poor," not to multiply the years of a life that
one day must end, nor to increase his stores,
nor to render him strong in the strength of the
body, or secure for a time ; " but," he saith, "to
save my soul from the persecutors." Now the
soul is rendered safe from the persecutors, if we
do not consent to them unto evil ; but there is
no such consent to them when the Lord stand-
eth at the right hand of the poor, that he may
not give way through his very poverty, that is,
weakness. This aid was given to the Body of
Christ in the case of all the holy Martyrs.
PSALM CX."
1. . . . This Psalm is one of those promises,
surely and openly prophesying our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ ; so that we are utterly un-
able to doubt that Christ is announced in this
Psalm, since we are now Christians, and believe
1 [He says : " The word nimis is used in T.atin to express excess,
the contrary to paruni, which meaneth deficiency. The Greek word
for nimis is iiyav : but this verse hath ff^joSoa, not ayap ; which our
translators have sometimes rendered by nimis, sometimes by vaid?
(' very much '). Now if nimis be taken as equivalent to valde, it may
be understood of pr;'ise: for this confession signifieth praise. For the
next wo.ds are, ' and I will praise Him among the multitude.'" — C.j
- Matt, xxviii. 20. 3 Eph. iii. 17.
* Lat. CIX. A sermon to the people.
the Gospel. For when our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ asked of the Jews, whose Son they
alleged Christ to be, and they had replied, " the
Son of David ; " He at once replied to their an-
swer, " How then doth David in spirit call Him
Lord, saying, The Lord said unto My Lord ? "
etc. "If then," He asked, "David in the spirit
call Him Lord, how is He his son?"5 With
this verse this Psalm beginneth.
2. " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou
on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies
Thy footstool " (ver. i). We ought, therefore,
thoroughly to consider this question proposed
to the Jews by the Lord, in the very commence-
ment of the Psalm. For if what the Jews an-
swered be asked of us, whether we confess or
deny it ; God forbid that we should deny it. If
it be said to us, Is Christ the Son of David, or
not? if we reply, No, we contradict the Gospel ;
for the Gospel of St. Matthew thus beginneth,
" The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the Son of David." 6 The Evangelist declareth,
that he is writing the book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the Son of David. The Jews, then,
when questioned by Christ, whose Son they be-
lieved Christ to be, rightly answered, the Son of
David. The Gospel agreeth with their answer.
Not only the suspicion of the Jews, but the faith
of Christians, doth declare this. ..." If then
David in the spirit called Him Lord, how is He
his son ? " The Jews were silent at this question :
they found no further reply : yet they did not
seek Him as the Lord, for they did not acknowl-
edge Him to be Himself that Son of David. But
let us, brethren, both believe and declare : for,
" with the heart we believe unto righteousness :
but with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation ; " 7 let us believe, I say, and let us de-
clare both the Son of David, and the Lord of
David. Let us not be ashamed of the Son
of David, lest we find the Lord of David angry
with us.
3. . . . We know that Christ sitteth at the
right hand of the Father, since His resurrection
from the dead, and ascent into heaven. It is
already done : we saw not it, but we have be-
lieved it : we have read it in the Scripture, have
heard it preached, and hold it by faith. So that
by the very circumstance that Christ was David's
Son, He became His Ix>rd also. For That which
was born of the seed of David was so honoured,
that It was also the Lord of David. Thou won-
derest at this, as if the same did not happen in
human affairs. For if it should happen, that the
son of any private person be made a king, will
he not be his father's lord ? What is yet more
wonderful may happen, not only that the son of
a private person, by being made a king, may
3 Matt. xxii. 42-45.
6 Matt.
7 Rom. x. 10.
542
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CX.
become his father's lord ; but that the son of a
layman, by being made a Bishop, may become
his father's father. So that in this very circum-
stance, that Christ took upon Him the flesh,
that He died in the flesh, that He rose again in
the same flesh, that in the same He ascended
into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of His
Father, in this same flesh so honoured, so bright-
ened, so changed into a heavenly garb, He is
both David's Son, and David's Lord. . . .
4. Christ, therefore, sitteth at the right hand
of God, the Son is on the right hand of the
Father, hidden from us. Let us believe. Two
things are here said : that God said, " Sit Thou
on My right hand ; " and added, " until I make
Thy enemies Thy footstool ; " that is, beneath
Thy feet. Thou dost not see Christ sitting at
the right hand of the Father : yet thou canst
see this, how His enemies are made His foot-
stool. While the latter is fulfilled openly, be-
lieve the former to be fulfilled secretly. What
enemies are made His footstool? Those to
whom imagining vain things it is said, " Why
do the heathen so furiously rage together : and
why do the people imagine a vain thing? " etc'
. . . He therefore sitteth at the right hand of
God, till His enemies be placed beneath His
feet. This is going on, this is taking place :
although it is accomplished by degrees, it is
going on without end. For though the heathen
rage, will they, taking counsel together against
Christ, prevent the fulfilment of these words :
" I will give thee the heathen for thine inherit-
ance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy
possession "?..." Their memorial is perished
with a cry ; " but, " The Lord shall endure for
ever : " * as another Psalm, but not another
Spirit, saith.
5. And what followeth? "The Lord shall
send the rod of Thy power out of Sion " (ver.
2). It appeareth, brethren, it most clearly ap-
peareth, that the Prophet is not speaking of
that kingdom of Christ, in which He reigneth
for ever with His Father, Ruler of the things
which are made through Him : for when doth
not God the Word reign, who is in the begin-
ning with God ? 3 For it is said, " Now unto the
King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise
God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." 4
To what eternal King? To one invisible, in-
corruptible. For in this, that Christ is with the
Father, invisible and incorruptible, because He
is His Word, and His Power, and His Wisdom,
and God with God, through whom all things
were made ; He is " King eternal ; " but, never-
theless, that reign of temporal government, by
which, through the mediation of His flesh, He
called us into eternity, beginneth with Chris-
1 P». ii. 1 , etc.
* x Tim. i. 17.
P». ix. 7.
J J' Jm i. 1.
tians ; but of His reign there shall be no end.
His enemies therefore are made His footstool,
while He is sitting on the right hand of His
Father, as it is written ; this is now going on,
this will gp on unto the end. . . .
6. When therefore He hath sent the rod of
His power out of Sion : what shall happen ?
" Be Thou ruler, even in the midst among Thine
enemies." First, " Be Thou ruler in the midst
of Thine enemies : " in the midst of the raging
heathen. For shall He rule " in the midst of
His enemies " at a later season, when the Saints
have received their reward, and the ungodly
their condemnation? And what wonder if He
shall then rule, when the righteous reign with
Him for ever, and the ungodly burn with eter-
nal punishments? What wonder, if He shall
then? Now "in the midst of Thine enemies,"
now in this transition of ages, in this propaga-
tion and succession of human mortality, now
while the torrent of time is gliding by, unto this
is the rod of Thy power sent out of Sion, " that
Thou mayest be Ruler in the midst of Thine
enemies." Rule Thou, rule among Pagans,
Jews, heretics, false brethren. Rule Thou, rule,
O Son of David, Lord of David, rule in the midst
of Pagans, Jews, heretics, false brethren. " Be
Thou Ruler in the midst of Thine enemies."
We understand not this verse aright, if we do
not see that it is already going on. . . .
7. " With Thee the beginning on the day of
Thy power" (ver. 3). What is this day of His
power, when is there beginning with Him, or
what beginning, or in what sense is there begin-
ning with Him, since He is the Beginning? . . .
8. What meaneth, " With Thee is the begin-
ning"? Suppose anything you please as the
beginning. Of Christ Himself, it would rather
have been said, Thou art the Beginning, than,
With Thee is the beginning. For He answered
to those who asked Him, "Who art Thou?"
and said, " Even the same that I said unto you,
the Beginning ; " 5 since His Father also is the
Beginning, of whom is the only-begotten Son,
in which Beginning was the Word, for the Word
was with God. What then, if both the Father
and the Son are the beginning, are there two
beginnings? God forbid ! For as the Father
is God, and the Son is God, but the Father and
the Son are not two Gods, but one God : so is
the Father Beginning and the Son Beginning,
but the Father and the Son are not two, but one
Beginning. "With Thee is the beginning."
Then it shall appear in what sense the beginning
is with Thee. Not that the beginning is not
with Thee here also. For hast Thou not also
said, " Behold, ye shall be scattered, every man
to his own, and shall leave Me alone ; but I am
i John viii. 35.
Psalm CX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
543
not alone, because the Father is with Me " ? '
Here therefore also, the beginning is with Thee.
For Thou hast said elsewhere also, " But the
Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth His
works."2 " With Thee is the beginning:" nor
was the Father ever separated from Thee. But
when the Beginning shall appear to be with Thee,
then shall it be manifest \into all who are made
like Thee ; since they shall see Thee as Thou
art ; 3 for Philip saw Thee here, and sought the
Father.4 Then therefore shall be seen what
now is believed : then shall " the beginning be
with Thee " in the sight of the righteous, in the
sight of saints ; the ungodly being removed, that
they may not see the brightness of the-Lord. . . .
9. Explain of what power thou speakest.
Because here also, as is said, His power is men-
tioned, when the rod of His power is sent forth out
of Sion, that He may be Ruler in the midst of His
enemies. Of what power speakest thou, " In
the splendour of the saints " ? " In the splen-
dour," he saith, " of the saints." He speaketh
of that power when the saints shall be in splen-
dour ; not when still carrying about their earthly
flesh, and groaning in a mortal and corruptible
body. . . .
10. But this is put off, this will be granted
afterwards : what is there now ? " From the
womb I have begotten Thee, before the morn-
ing star." What is here? If God hath a Son,
hath He also a womb? Like fleshly bodies, He
hath not ; for He hath not a bosom either ; yet
it is said, " He who is in the bosom of the
Father, hath declared Him." s But that which
is the womb, is the bosom also : both bosom
and womb are put for a secret place. What
meaneth, " from the womb " ? From what is
secret, from what is hidden ; from Myself, from
My substance ; this is the meaning of " from
the womb;" for, "Who shall declare His gener-
ation?"6 Let us then understand the Father
saying unto the Son, " From My womb before
the morning star have I brought Thee forth."
What then meaneth, "before the morning star"?
The morning star is put for the stars, as if the
Scripture signified the whole from a part, and
from one conspicuous star all the stars. But
how were those stars created? "That they may
be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and
years." 7 . . . This expression also, " before the
morning star," is used both figuratively and
literally, and was thus fulfilled. For the Lord
was born at night from the womb of the Virgin
Mary ; the testimony of the shepherds doth
assert this, who were " keeping watch over their
flock."8 So David: O Thou, my Lord, who
sittest at the right hand of my Lord, whence
1 John xvi. 32.
* John xiv. 8.
7 Gen. i. 14.
2 John xiv. 10.
' John i. 18.
8 Luke ii. 7, 8.
3 1 John iii.
* Isa. liii. 8.
art Thou my Son, except because, " From the
womb before the morning star I have begotten
Thee"?
1 1 . And unto what art Thou born ? " The
Lord hath sworn, and will not repent : Thou art
a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec"
(ver. 4). For unto this wast Thou born from
the womb before the morning star, that Thou
mightest be a Priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedec. For in that character in which
He was born of the Father, God with God,
coeternal with Him who begot Him, He is not
a Priest ; but He is a Priest on account of the
flesh which He assumed, on account of the
victim which He was to offer for us received
from us. " The Lord," then, " hath sworn."
What then meaneth, the Lord hath sworn?
Doth the Lord, who forbiddeth men to swear,9
Himself swear? Or doth He possibly forbid
man to swear chiefly on this account, that he
may not fall into perjury, and for this reason
the Lord may swear, since He cannot be for-
sworn. For man, who, through a habit of
swearing, may slip into perjury, is rightly forbid-
den to swear : for he will be farther from perjury
in proportion as he is far from swearing. For
the man who sweareth, may swear truly or
falsely : but he who sweareth not, cannot swear
falsely ; for he sweareth not at all. Why then
should not the Lord swear, since the Lord's
oath is the seal of -the promise ? Let Him
swear by all means. What then dost thou,
when thou swearest? Thou callest God to wit-
ness : this is to swear, to call God to witness ;
and for this reason there must be anxiety, that
thou mayest not call God to witness anything
false. If therefore thou by an oath dost call
God to witness, why then should not God also
call Himself to witness with an oath? "I live,
saith the Lord," this is the Lord's oath. . . .
" The Lord sware," then, that is, confirmed :
" He will not repent," He will not change.
What ? " Thou art a Priest for ever. " For
ever," for He will not repent. But Priest, in
what sense? Will there be those victims, vic-
tims offered by the Patriarchs, altars of blood,
and tabernacle, and those sacred emblems of
the Old Covenant ? God forbid ! These things
are already abolished ; the temple being de-
stroyed, that priesthood taken away, their Victim
and their sacrifice having alike disappeared, not
even the Jews have these things. They see that
the priesthood after the order of Aaron hath
already perished, and they do not recognise the
Priesthood after the order of Melchizedec. I
speak unto believers. If catechumens under-
stand not something, let them lay aside sloth,
and hasten unto knowledge. It is not therefore
9 Matt. v. 34.
544
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CX.
needful for me to disclose mysteries, here : ' let
the Scriptures intimate to you what is the Priest-
hood after the order of Melchizedec.
12. " The Lord on Thy right hand " (ver. 5).
The Lord had said, "Sit Thou on My right
hand ; " now the Lord is on His right hand, as
if they changed seats. . . . That very Christ, the
" Lord on Thy right hand," unto whom Thou
hast sworn, and it will not repent Thee : what
doth He, Priest for evermore ? What doth He,
who is at the right hand of God, and interceded!
for us,2 like a priest entering into the inner places,
and into the holy of holies, into the mysteries of
heaven, He alone being without sin, and there-
fore easily purifying from sins.3 He therefore
" on Thy right hand shall wound even kings in
the day of His wrath." What kings, dost thou
ask? Hast thou forgotten? "The kings of
the earth stood up, and the rulers took counsel
together against the Lord, and against His
Anointed." * These kings He wounded by His
glory, and by the weight of His Name made
kings weak, so that they had not power to effect
what they wished. For they strove amain to
blot out the Christian name from the earth, and
could not ; for " Whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken." 5 Kings therefore fall
on this " stone of offence," and are therefore
wounded, when they say, Who is Christ? I
know not what Jew or what Galilean He may
have been, who died, who was slain in such a
manner ! The stone is before thy feet, lying, so
to speak, mean and humble : therefore by scorn-
ing thou dost stumble, by stumbling thou fallest,
by falling thou art wounded. ..." But on
whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to
powder." 6 When therefore any one falleth upon
it, it lieth as it were low ; it then woundeth : but
when it shall grind him to powder, then it will
come from above. See how in these two words,
it shall wound him and grind him to powder : he
striketh upon it, and it shall come down upon
him : are distinguished the two seasons, of the
humiliation and the majesty of Christ, of hidden
punishment and future judgment. He will not
crush, when He cometh, that man whom He
doth not wound when He lieth in a contemptible
appearance. . . .
13. " He shall judge among the heathen : He
shall fill up what hath fallen" (ver. 6). Who-
ever thou art who art obstinate against Christ,
thou hast raised on high a tower that must fall.
It is good that thou shouldest cast thyself down,
become humble, throw thyself at the feet of Him
« [He says elsewhere on Ps. civ. ver. 3: " What is that which is
hidden, and is not public in the Church? The Sacrament of Baptism,
the Sacrament of trie Euch irist. For our good works even Pagans see,
but Sacraments are hidden from them. Note the implications:
two Sacraments, and no public celebration of the Eucharist. See
A. N. F. vol. viii. Primitive I-itur^io passim. — C-]
a Rom. viii. 34. i Heb. ix. 12, 14, 24. * Ps. ii. a.
5 Matt. xxi. 44. o Luke xx. 18.
who sitteth on the right hand of the Father, that
in thee a ruin may be made to be built up. For
if thou abidest in thy evil height, thou shalt be
cast down when thou canst not be built up. For
of such the Scripture saith in another passage :
" Therefore shall He break down, and not build
them up." 7 Beyond doubt he would not say this
of some, unless there were some whom He broke
down so as to build them up again. And this
is going on at this time, while Christ is judging
among the heathen in such a manner as to fill
up what hath fallen. " He shall smite many
heads over the earth." Here upon the earth in
this life He shall smite many heads. He mak-
eth them humble instead of proud ; and I dare
to say, my brethren, that it is more profitable to
walk here humbly with the head wounded, than
with the head erect to fall into the judgment of
eternal death. He will smite many heads when
he causeth them to fall, but He will fill them up
and build them up again.
14. "He shall drink" of the brook8 in the
way, therefore shall he lift up his head " (ver.'
7). Let us consider Him drinking of the brook
in the way : first of all, what is the brook ? the
onward flow of human mortality : for as a brook
is gathered together by the rain, overflows, roars,
runs, and by running runs down, that is, finishes
its course ; so is all this course of mortality.
Men are born, they live, they die, and when
some die others are born, and when they die
others are born, they succeed, they flock to-
gether, they depart and will not remain. What
is held fast here? what doth not run? what is
not on its way to the abyss as if it was gathered
together from rain? For as a river suddenly
drawn together from rain from the drops of
showers runneth into the sea, and is seen no
more, nor was it seen before it was collected
from the rain ; so this hidden rain is collected
together from hidden sources, and floweth on ;
at death again it travelleth where it is hidden :
this intermediate state soundeth and passeth
away. Of this brook He drinketh, He hath
not disdained to drink of this brook; for to
drink of this brook was to Him to be born
and to die. What this brook hath, is birth and
death ; Christ assumed this, He was born, He
died. " Therefore hath He lifted up His head ; "
that is, because He was humble, and " became
obedient unto death, even the death of the
Cross : therefore God also hath highly exalted
Him, and given Him a Name which is above
every name ; that at the Name of Jesus every
knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth ; and that
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ the
Lord is in the glory of God the Father." «
1 Ps. J
8 De tor rente.
9 Philip, ii. 8-1 1.
Psalm CXI.I
ON THE PSALMS.
545
PSALM CXI.'
i . The days have come for us to sing Allelu-
jah.2 . . . Now these days come only to pass
away, and pass away to come, again, and typify the
day which does not come and pass away, because
it is neither preceded by yesterday to cause it to
come, nor pressed upon by the morrow to cause
it to pass. . . . For as these days succeed in
regular season, with a joyful cheerfulness, the
past days of Lent, whereby the misery of this
life before the Resurrection of the Lord's body
is signified ; so that day which after the Resur-
rection shall be given to the full body of the
Lord, that is, to the holy Church, when all the
troubles and sorrows of this life have been shut
out, shall succeed with perpetual bliss. But
this life demandeth from us self-restraint, that
although groaning and weighed down with our
toil and struggles, and desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven,* we
may refrain from secular pleasures : and this is
signified by the number of forty, which was the
period of the fasts of Moses, and Elias,« and our
Lord Himself. ... But by the number fifty
after our Lord's resurrection, during which season
we sing Allelujah, not the term and passing away
of a certain season is signified, but that blessed
eternity; because the denary* added to forty
signifieth the reward paid to the faithful who
toil in this life, which our Father hath prepared
an equal share of for the first and for the last.
Let us therefore hear the heart of the people of
God full of divine praises. He representeth in
this Psalm some one exulting in happy joyful-
ness, he prefigureth the people whose hearts are
overflowing with the love of God, that is, the
body of Christ, freed from all evil.
2. "I will make confession unto Thee, O
Lord," he saith, " with my whole heart " (ver.
i ) . Confession is not always confession of sins,
but the praise of God is poured forth in the
devotion of confession. The former mourneth,
the latter rejoiceth : the former showeth the
wound to the physician, the latter giveth thanks
for health. The latter confession signifieth some
one, not merely freed from every evil, but even
separate from all the ill-disposed. And for this
reason let us consider the place where he con-
fessed! unto the Lord with all his heart. " In
the counsel," he saith, " of the upright, and in
the congregation : " I suppose, of those who
shall " sit upon the twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel." 6 For there will be no
longer an unjust man among them, the thefts
of no Judas are allowed, no Simon Magus is
baptized, wishing to buy the Spirit, whilst he
■ Lat. CX. A sermon to the people at the Paschal festival.
* [See Ps. evii. p. 532, supra. — C.J 3 2 Cor. v. 2.
* Exod. xxxiv 28; 1 Kings xix. 8. 3 Matt xx 10
* Matt. xix. 28.
designeth to sell it ; i no coppersmith like Alex-
ander doth many evil deeds,8 no man covered
with sheep's clothing creepeth in with feigned
fraternity; such as those among whom the
Church must now groan, and such as she must
then shut out, when all the righteous shall be
gathered together.
"These are the great works of the Lord,
sought out unto all His wills " (ver. 2) : through
which mercy forsaketh none who confesseth, no
man's wickedness is unpunished.' . . . Let man
choose for himself what he listeth : the works
of the Lord are not so constituted, that the
creature, having free discretion allowed him,
should transcend the will of the Creator, even
though he act contrary to His will. God willeth
not that thou shouldest sin ; for He forbiddeth
it : yet if thou hast sinned, imagine not that the
man hath done what he willed, and that hath
happened to God which He willed not. For as
He would that man would not sin, so would He
spare the sinner, that he may return and live ;
He so willeth finally to punish him who persist-
eth in his sin, that the rebellious cannot escape
the power of justice. Thus whatever choice thou
hast made, the Almighty will not be at a loss to
fulfil His will concerning thee.
3. "Confession and glorious deeds are His
work" (ver. 3). What is a more glorious deed
than to justify the ungodly? But perhaps the
work of man preventeth that glorious work of
God, so that when he hath confessed his sins,
he deserveth to be justified. . . . This is the
glorious work of the Lord : for he loveth most, to
whom most is forgiven.10 This is the glorious
work of the Lord : for " where sin abounded,
there did grace much more abound." " But
perhaps a man would deserve justification from
works. " Not," saith he, " of works, lest any man
boast. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works " ,2 For a man
worketh not righteousness save he be justified :
but by "believing on Him that justifieth the
ungodly," -3 he beginneth with faith ; that good
may not by preceding' show what he hath
deserved, but by following what he hath re-
ceived. . . .
4. " He hath made His wonderful works to
be remembered " (ver. 4) : by abasing this man,
exalting that. Reserving unusual miracles for a
fit season, that thus human weakness, intent upon
novelty, may remember them, although His daily
miracles be greater. He created so many trees
throughout the whole earth, and no one won-
dereth : He dried up one with a word, and the
hearts of mortals were thunderstruck:'* For that
miracle, which hath not through its frequency
7 Acts viii. r3, 18, 19.
10 Luke vii. 42-48.
13 Rom, iv. 5.
8 2 Tim. iv. 14.
11 Rom. v. 20.
" Matt. xxi. 19,
» Heb. xii. 6.
12 Eph. ii. 9, 10.
546
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXII.
become common, will cling most firmly to the
heart. But of what use were the miracles, save
that He might be feared? What too would fear
profit, unless " the gracious and merciful Lord "
gave"meat unto them that fear Him "? (ver.5).
meat that doth not spoil, " bread that cometh
down from heaven," ' which He gave to no de-
servings of ours. For " Christ died for the un-
godly." 2 No one then would give such food,
save a gracious and merciful Lord. But if He
gave so much to this life, if the sinner who was
to be justified received the Word made flesh ;
what shall he receive when glorified in a future
world ? For, " He shall ever be mindful of His
covenant." Nor hath He who hath given a
pledge, given the whole.
5. " He shall show His people the power of
His works" (ver. 6). Let not the holy Israel-
ites, who have left all their possessions and have
followed Him, be saddened ; let them not be
sorrowful and say, "Who then can be saved?"
For " it is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God." For " with men
these things are impossible, but with God all
things are possible." 3 " That He may give them
the heritage of the heathen." For they went to
the heathen, and enjoined the rich of this world
" not to be high-minded, nor to trust in uncer-
tain riches, but in the living God," * to whom
that is easy which is difficult for men. For thus
many were called, thus the heritage of the
heathen has been occupied, thus it hath hap-
pened, that even many who have not abandoned
all their possessions in this life in order to follow
Him, have despised even life itself for the sake
of confessing His Name ; and like camels hum-
bling themselves to bear the burden of troubles,
have entered as it were through a needle's eye,
through the piercing straits of suffering. He
hath wrought these effects, unto whom all things
are possible.
6. " The works of His hands are verity and
judgment" (ver. 7). Let verity be held by
those who are judged here. Martyrs are here
sentenced, and brought to the judgment-seat,
that they may judge not only those by whom
they have been judged, but even give judgment
on angels,' against whom was their struggle here,
even when they seemed to be judged by men.
Let not tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness,
the sword, separate from Christ. For " all His
commandments are true ; " 6 He deceiveth not,
He giveth us what He promised. Yet we should
not expect here what He promised ; we should
not hope for it : but " they stand fast for ever
and ever, and are done in truth and equity "
(ver. 8) . It is equitable and just that we should
1 John vi. 27, 51.
* z Tim. vi. 17.
J Rom. v. 6.
5 1 Cor. vi. 3.
3 Matt xix. 24-36.
* Rom. viii. 35.
labour here and repose there ; since " He sent
redemption unto His people "(ver. 9). But
from what are they redeemed, save from the
captivity of this pilgrimage ? Let not therefore
rest be sought, save in the heavenly country.
God indeed gave the carnal Israelites an earthly
Jerusalem, " which is in bondage with her chil-
dren : " but this is the Old Covenant, pertaining
unto the old man. But they who there under-
stood the figure, even then were heirs of the
New Covenant ; for " Jerusalem which is above
is free, which is our everlasting mother in
heaven."7 But that transitory promises were
given in that Old Testament is proved by the
fact itself : however, " He hath commended
His covenant for ever." But what, but the
New? Whosoever dost wish to be heir of this,
deceive not thyself, and think not of a land flow-
ing with milk and honey, nor of pleasant farms,
nor of gardens abounding in fruits and shade :
desire not how to gain anything of this sort,
such as the eye of covetousness is wont to lust
for. For since " covetousness is the root of all
evils," 8 it must be cut off, that it may be con-
sumed here ; not be put off, that it may be satis-
fied there. First escape punishments, avoid
hell ; before thou longest for a God who
promiseth, beware of one who threateneth.
For " holy and reverend is His Name."
7. . . . "The fear of the Lord," therefore,
" is the beginning of wisdom." " Understand-
ing is good " (ver. 10). Who gainsayeth ? But
to understand, and not to do, is dangerous. It
is " good," therefore, " to those that do there-
after." Nor let it lift up the mind unto pride ;
for, " the praise of Him," the fear of whom is
the beginning of wisdom, " endureth for ever : "
and this will be the reward, this the end, this the
everlasting station and abode. There are found
the true commandments, made fast for ever and
ever ; here is the very heritage of the New
Covenant commanded for ever. " One thing,"
he saith, " I have desired of the Lord, which I
will require : even that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life." 9 For,
" blessed are they that dwell in the house " of
the Lord : " they will be alway praising " IO Him ;
for " His praise endureth for ever."
PSALM CXII."
1. I believe, brethren, that ye remarked and
committed to memory the title of this Psalm.
" The conversion," he saith, " of Haggai and
Zechariah." These prophets were not as yet in
existence, when these verses were sung.12 . . .
7 Gal. iv. 25, 36. • 1 Tim. vi. 10. 9 Ps. xxvii. 4.
10 Ps. lxxxiv. 4.
11 Lat. CXI. A discourse 10 ihc people.
" [He argues from the relations of these prophets to the building
of the second temple. — C. }
Psalm CXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
547
But both, the one within a year after the other,
began to prophesy that which seemeth to pertain
to the restoration of the temple, as was foretold
so long before." ..." For the temple of God is
holy, which temple ye are." * Whoever therefore
converteth himself to the work of this building
together, and to the hope of a firm and holy edi-
fice, like a living stone from the miserable ruin of
this world, understandeth the title of the Psalm,
understandeth " the conversion of Haggai and
Zechariah." Let him therefore chant the fol-
lowing verses, not so much with the voice of his
tongue as of his life. For the completion of
the building will be that ineffable peace of wis-
dom, the " beginning " of which is the " fear of
the Lord : " let him therefore, whom this con-
version buildeth together, begin thence.
2. " Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord :
he will have great delight in His command-
ments " (ver. i). God, who alone judgeth both
truthfully and mercifully, will see how far he
obeyeth His commandments : since " the life
of man on earth is a temptation," 3 as holy Job
saith. But " He who judgeth us is the Lord." 4
. . . He therefore will see how far each man
profiteth in His commandments ; yet he who
loveth the peace of this building together, shall
have great delight in them ; nor ought he to
despair, since there is " peace on earth for men
of good will." s
3. Next follows, " His seed shall be mighty
upon earth" (ver. 2). The Apostle witnesseth,
that the works of mercy are the seed of the
future harvest, when he saith, " Let us not be
weary in well doing, for in due season we shall
reap ; "6 and again, " But this I say, He which
soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly." ^
But what, brethren, is more mighty than that
not only Zacchaeus should buy the kingdom of
Heaven by the half of his goods,8 but even the
widow for two mites,9 and that each should pos-
sess an equal share there ? What is more mighty,
than that the same kingdom should be worth
treasures to the rich man, and a cup of cold
water to the poor? ..." Glory and riches shall
be in his house " (ver. 3). For his house is his
heart ; where, with the praise of God, he liveth
in greater riches with the hope of eternal life,
than with men flattering, in palaces of marble,
with splendidly adorned ceilings, with the fear
of everlasting death. " For his righteousness
endureth for ever : " this is his glory, there are
his riches. While the other's purple, and fine
linen, and grand banquets, even when present,
are passing away ; and when they have come
to an end, the burning tongue shall cry out,
1 Ezra i. 5; Hagg. i ; Zech. i.
3 Job vii. 1.
5 Luke ii. 14. 6 Gal. vi. o.
9 Mark xu. 43.
■ 14-
Luke xix. 8.
8 1 Cor. iii. 17.
4 1 Cor. iv. 4.
7 a Cor. ix. 6.
longing for a drop of water from the finger's
end.'°
4. "Unto the right-hearted there ariseth up
light in the darkness" (ver. 4). Justly do the
godly direct their heart unto their God, justly do
they walk with their God, preferring His will to
themselves ; and having no proud presumption
in their own. For they remember that they
were some time in darkness, but are now light
in the Lord." " Merciful, pitying, and just is the
Lord God." It delighteth us that He is " mer-
ciful and pitying," but it perhaps terrifieth us that
the Lord God is " just." Fear not, despair not
at all, happy man, who fearest the Lord, and
hast great delight in His commandments ; be
thou sweet, be merciful and lend. For the Lord
is just in this manner, that He judgeth without
mercy him who hath not shown mercy ; " but,
" Sweet is the man who is merciful and lendeth "
(ver. 5) : God will not spew him o*it of His
mouth as if he were not sweet. " Forgive," He
saith, " and ye shall be forgiven ; give, and it
shall be given unto you." '3 Whilst thou forgivest
that thou mayest be forgiven, thou art merciful ;
whilst thou givest that it may be given unto thee,
thou lendest. For though all be called generally
mercy where another is assisted in his distress,
yet there is a difference where thou spendest
neither money, nor the toil of bodily labour, but
by forgiving what each man hath sinned against
thee, thou gainest free pardon for thine own sins
also. . . . He who is unwilling to give to the
poor, seeketh riches ; listen to what is written,
"Thou shalt have treasure in heaven." '* Thou
wilt not then lose honour by forgiving : for it is
a very laudable triumph to conquer anger : wilt
not grow poor by giving ; for a heavenly treasure
is a more safe possession. The former verse,
" Riches and plenteousness shall be in his house,"
was pregnant with this verse.
5. He therefore who doth these things, "shall
guide his words with discretion." His deeds
themselves are the words whereby he shall be
defended at the Judgment ; which shall not be
without mercy unto him, since he hath himself
shown mercy. " For he shall never be moved "
(ver. 6) : he who, called to the right hand,
shall hear these words, " Come, ye blessed of
My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world." For
no works of theirs, save works of mercy, are there
mentioned. He therefore shall hear, " Come,
ye blessed of My Father ; " for, " the generation
of the right ones shall be blessed." T hus, " the
righteous shall be had in everlasting remem-
brance." " He will not be afraid of any evil
hearing ; for his heart standeth fast and believeth
10 Luke xvi. 34.
J3 Luke vi. 37, 38.
" Eph. v. 8. " Ja». ii. 13.
1* Matt. xix. ax.
548
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIII.
in the Lord " (ver. 7). Such as the words which
he will hear addressed to those on the left hand,
" Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels." ' He therefore who seeketh
here not his own things, but those of Jesus
Christ,2 most patiently endureth sufferings, waiteth
for the promises with faith. Nor is he broken
down by any temptations : " His heart is estab-
lished, and will not shrink, until he see beyond
his enemies " (ver. 8). His enemies wished to
see good things here, and when invisible bless-
ings were promised them, used to say, "Who
will show us any good ? " 3 Let our heart there-
fore be established, and shrink not, until we see
beyond our enemies. For they wish to see
good things of men in the land of the dying ;
we trust to see the good things of the Lord in
the land of the living.4
6. But it is a great thing to have the heart es-
tablished, and not to be moved, while they rejoice
who love what they see, and mock at him who
hopeth for what he seeth not ; " what the Lord
hath prepared for them that love Him." 5 How
great is the value of this which is not seen, and
it is bought for so much as each man is able to
give for it. On this account he also " dispersed
abroad, and gave to the poor " (ver. 9) : he saw
not, yet he kept buying ; but He was storing up
the treasure in heaven, who deigned to hunger
and thirst in the poor on earth. It is no won-
der then if " his righteousness remaineth for
ever : " He who created the ages being his guar-
dian. " His horn," whose humility was scorned
by the proud, " shall be exalted with honour."
7. " The ungodly shall see it, and he shall be
angered " (ver. 10) : this is that late and fruit-
less repentance. For with whom rather than
himself is he "angered," when he shall say,
" Our pride, what hath it profited us? the boast-
fulness of our riches, what hath it given us ? " 6
seeing the horn of him exalted with honour, who
" dispersed abroad, and gave to the poor." " He
shall gnash with his teeth, and consume away : "
for " there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
For he will no more bring forth leaves and bloom,
as would happen if he had repented in season :
but he will then repent, when " the desire of the
ungodly shall perish," no consolation succeeding.
" The desire of the ungodly shall perish," when
" all things shall pass away like a shadow," 1 when
the flower shall fall down on the withering of the
grass. " But the word of the Lord that endureth
for ever," 8 as it is mocked by the vanity of the
falsely happy, so will laugh at the perdition of
the same when truly miserable.
1 Matt. xxv. 34. 41.
> P.. iv. 6.
4 P». xxvii. 13.
3 1 Cor. 11 9.
» Wisd. v. 8.
I WUd. v. 8, 9.
• Iu. xl. 8.
2 Philip, ii. ax.
PSALM CXIII.'
1. . . . When ye hear sung in the Psalms,
" Praise the Lord, ye children " (ver. 1 ) ; imagine
not that that exhortation pertaineth not unto you,
because having already passed the youth of the
body, ye are either blooming in the prime of
manhood, or growing gray with the honours of
old age : for unto all of you the Apostle saith,
" Brethren, be not children in understanding ;
howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in under-
standing be men." '" What malice in particular,
save pride ? For it is pride that, presuming in
false greatness, suffereth not man to walk along
the narrow path, and to enter by the narrow gate ;
but the child easily entereth through the narrow
entrance ; and thus no man, save as a child,
entereth into the kingdom of heaven. " Praise
the Name of the Lord." ... Let Him therefore
be alway proclaimed : " Blessed be the Name
of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore "
(ver. 2). Let Him be proclaimed everywhere:
" From the rising up of the sun unto the going
down, of the same, praise ye the Name of the
Lord " (ver. 3).
2. If any of the holy children who praise the
Name of the Lord were to ask of me and say to
me, " for evermore " I understand to mean unto
all eternity : but why " from this," and why is
not the Name of the Lord blessed before this,
and before all ages? I will answer the infant,
who asketh not in contumacy. Unto you it is
said, masters and children, unto you it is said,
" Praise the Name of the Lord ; blessed be the
Name of the Lord : " let the Name of the Lord
be blessed, " from this," that is, from the moment
ye speak these words. For ye begin to praise,
but praise ye without end. ... Or, since in this
passage he seemeth to signify rather humility
than childhood, the contrary of which is the
vain and false greatness of pride ; and for this
reason none but children praise the Lord, since
the proud know not how to praise Him ; let
your old age be childlike, and your childhood
like old age ; that is, that neither may your wis-
dom be with pride, nor your humility without
wisdom, that ye may " praise the Lord from this
for evermore." Wherever the Church of Christ
is diffused in her childlike saints, " Praise ye the
Name of the Lord ; " that is, " from the rising
up of the sun unto the going down of the
same."
3. "The Lord is high above all heathen"
(ver. 4) . The heathen are men : what wonder
if the Lord be above all men? They see with
their eyes those whom they worship high above
themselves to shine in heaven, the sun and moon
and stars, creatures which they serve while they
9 Lat. CXII. A discourse to the people.
10 1 Cor. xiv. 20; Matt, xviii. 3.
Psalm CXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
549
neglect the Creator. But not only " is the Lord
high above all heathen ; " but " His glory " also
" is above the heavens." The heavens look up
unto Him above themselves ; and the humble
have Him together with them, who do not wor-
ship the heavens instead of Him, though placed
in the flesh beneath the heavens.
4. " Who is like unto the Lord our God, that
hath His dwelling so high ; and yet beholdeth
the humble?" (ver. 5). Any one would think
that He dwelleth in the lofty heavens, whence
He may behold the humble things on earth ;
but " He beholdeth the humble things that are
in heaven and earth " (ver. 6): what then is His
high dwelling, whence He beholdeth the humble
things that are in heaven and earth ? Are the
humble things He beholdeth His own high
dwelling itself? For He thus exalteth the hum-
ble, so as not to make them proud. He there-
fore both dwelleth in those whom He raiseth
high, and maketh them heaven for Himself, that
is, His own abode ; and by seeing them not
proud, but constantly subject to Himself, He
beholdeth even in heaven itself these very hum-
ble things, in whom raised on high He dwelleth.
For the Spirit thus speaketh through Isaiah :
" Thus saith the Highest that dwelleth on high,
that inhabiteth eternity ; the Lord Most High,
dwelling in the holy." He hath expounded what
He meant by dwelling on high, by the more full
expression, " dwelling in the holy." . . .
5. And he hath moved us also to enquire
whether the Lord our God beholdeth the same
humble things in heaven and in earth : or dif-
ferent humble things in heaven to what He be-
holdeth on earth. . . . But if the Lord our God
beholdeth other humble things in heaven to what
He doth on earth ; I suppose that He already
beholdeth in heaven those whom He hath called,
and in whom He dwelleth ; while on earth He
beholdeth those whom He is now calling, that
He may dwell in them. For He hath the one
with Him musing on heavenly things, the others
He is waking, while they yet dream things
earthly. But since it is difficult to call even
those humble, who have not as yet submitted
their necks in piety to the gracious yoke of
Christ, since the divine writings throughout the
whole Psalm warn us to understand holy by the
word humble ; there is also another interpreta-
tion, which, Beloved, ye may consider with me.
I believe that those are now meant by heavens
who shall sit upon twelve thrones, and shall judge
with the Lord ; ' and under the name of the
earth, the rest of the multitude of the blessed,
who shall be set on the right hand, that through
works of mercy they may be praised and re-
ceived into everlasting habitations by those whom
1 Matt. xix. 38.
they have made friends to themselves from the
mammon of unrighteousness in this mortal
life.2 . . .
6. " He taketh up the destitute' out of the
dust, and lifteth the' poor out of the mire "
(ver. 7) ; "that He may set Him with the
princes, even with the princes of His people "
(ver. 8). Let not then the heads of the exalted
disdain to be humble, beneath the Lord's right
hand. For though the faithful steward of the
Lord's money be placed together with the
princes of the people of God, although he be
destined to sit on the twelve seats, and even to
judge angels ; ' yet he is taken up destitute from
the dust, and lifted from out of the mire. Was
not he possibly lifted up from the mire, who
" served divers lusts and pleasures " ? . . .
7. What then, brethren, if we have already
heard of those humble things which are in
heaven, lifted up from the mire, that they might
be set with the princes of the people ; have we
by consequence heard nothing of the humble
things which the Lord beholdeth on the earth ?
For those friends who will judge with their Lord
are fewer, while those whom they receive ihto
everlasting habitations are more in number. For
although the whole of a heap of corn compared
with the separate chaff may seem to contain few
in number ; yet considered by itself, it is abun-
dant. . . . The Church then speaketh thus in
that sense, wherein she seemeth to bear no off-
spring among those crowds who have not given
up all things, that they might follow the Lord,
and might sit upon the twelve thrones.1 But
how many in the same crowd, who make unto
themselves friends of the mammon of unright-
eousness,2 shall stand on the right hand through
works of mercy? He not only then lifteth up
from the mire him whom He is to place with the
princes of His people ; but also, " Maketh the
barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful
mother of children " (ver. 9) : He who dwelleth
on high, and beholdeth the humble things that
are in heaven and earth, the seed of Abraham
like the stars of heaven, holiness set on high in
heavenly habitations ; and like the sand on the
sea shore, a merciful and countless multitude
gathered together from the harmful waves, and
the bitterness of impiety.
i
PSALM CXIV.3
1. The river Jordan, when they were entering
across it into the land of promise, when touched
by the feet of the priests who bore the Ark,
stood still from above with bridled stream, while
it flowed down from below, where it ran on into
the sea, until the whole people passed over, the
2 Luke jtvi. 9.
3 Lat. CXIII.
55°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIV.
priests standing on the dry ground.1 We know
these things, but yet we should not imagine in
this Psalm, to which we have now answered by
chanting Allelujah, that it is the purpose of the
Holy Spirit, that while we call to mind those
deeds of the past, we should not consider things
like unto them yet to take place. For " these
things," as the Apostle saith, "happened unto
them for ensamples." J
2. " When Israel came out of Egypt, and the
house of Jacob from among the strange people "
(ver. i), " Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel
His dominion " (ver. 2) ; " the sea saw that and
fled, Jordan was driven back" (ver. 3). Think
not that past deeds are related unto us, but rather
that the future is predicted ; since, while those
miracles also were going on in that people,
things present indeed were happening, but not
without an intimation of things future. . . . Some
things he has related differently to what we have
learnt and read there : that he might not truly
be thought to be repeating past acts rather than
to be prophesying future things. For in the
first place, we read not that the Jordan was
driven back, but that it stood still on the side
nearest the source of its streams, while the peo-
ple were passing through ; next, we read not of
the mountains and hills skipping : all which he
hath added, and repeated. For after saying,
" The sea saw that, and fled ; Jordan was driven
back : " he added, " The mountains skipped like
rams, and the little .hills like young sheep"
(ver. 4) : and then asketh, " What aileth thee,
O thou sea, that thou fleddest : and thou, Jor-
dan, that thou wast driven back ? " (ver. 5). "Ye
mountains, that ye skipped like rams ; and ye
little hills, like young sheep?" (ver. 6).
3. Let us therefore consider what we are
taught here ; since both those deeds were typ-
ical of us, and these words exhort us to recognise
ourselves. For if we hold with a firm heart the
grace of God which hath been given us, we are
Israel, the seed of Abraham : unto us the Apostle
saith, "Therefore are ye the seed of Abraham." '
. . . Let therefore no Christian consider himself
alien to the name of Israel. For we are joined in
the corner stone with those among the Jews who
believed, among whom we find the Apostles chief.
Hence our Lord in another passage saiih, " And
other sheep I have, which are not of this fold ;
them also I must bring, that there may be one
fold and one Shepherd." * The Christian people
then is rather Israel, and the same is preferably
the house of Jacob ; for Israel and Jacob are the
same. But that multitude of Jews, which was
deservedly reprobated for its perfidy, for the
pleasures of the flesh sold their birthright, so
that they belonged not to Jacob, but rather to
1 Jpth ui. 15-17.
> Gal. ui. if, Rom. iv. to, etc.
7 1 Cor. x. ix
* John x. 16.
Esau. For ye know that it was said with this
hidden meaning, " That .the elder shall serve the
younger." 5
4. But Egypt, since it is said to mean afflic-
tion, or one who afflicteth, or one who oppress-
ed, is often used for an emblem of this world ;
from which we must spiritually withdraw, that we
may not be bearing the yoke with unbelievers.6
For thus each one becometh a fit citizen of the
heavenly Jerusalem, when he hath first renounced
this world ; just as that people could not be led
into the land of promise, save first they had de-
parted from Egypt. But as they did not depart
thence, until freed by Divine help ; so no man is
turned away in heart from this world, unless
aided by the gift of the Divine mercy. For what
was there once prefigured, the same is fulfilled
in every faithful one in the daily travailings of
the Church, in this end of the world, in this, as
the blessed John writeth, last time.7 Hear the
Apostle the teacher of the Gentiles, thus instruct-
ing us : "I would not, brethren, that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and
were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and
in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat,
and did all drink the same spiritual drink ; for
they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ. But with many
of them God was not well pleased, for they were
overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things
were our examples." 8 What more do ye wish,
most beloved brethren ? For it is surely clear,
not from human conjecture, but from the declara-
tion of an Apostle, that is, of God and our Lord :
for God spoke in them, and though from clouds
of flesh, yet it was God who thundered : surely
then it is clear by so great testimony that all
these things which were done in figure, are now
fulfilled in our salvation ; because then the future
was predicted, now the past is read, and the
present observed.
5. Hear what is even more wonderful, that the
hidden and veiled mysteries of the ancient books
are in some degree revealed by the ancient
books. For Micah the prophet speaketh thus.
" According to the days of thy coming out of
Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things,
etc.' ... In this Psalm, therefore, although the
wonderful spirit of prophecy doth look into the
future, yet it seemeth, as it were, to be merely
detailing to the past. " Judah," he saith, " was
His sanctuary : the sea saw that and fled : "
" was," " saw," and " fled," are words of the past
tense ; and " Jordan was driven back, and the
mountains skipped, and the earth trembled," in
like manner have a past expression, without, how-
ever, any difficulty in understanding by them the
5 Gen xxv. 33, 33.
• 1 Cor. x. 1-6.
6 a Tor. vi. 14.
9 Micah vii. 15-19.
' 1 John ii. 18.
Psalm CXV.l
ON THE PSALMS.
551
future. . . . For though it was so long after the
departure of that people from Egypt, and so long
before these seasons of the Church, that he sang
what I have quoted ; nevertheless, he witnesseth
that he is foretelling the future without any ques-
tion. " According to the days," he saith, " of
thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show
unto him marvellous things." " The nations
shall see and be confounded." This is what
is here said, " The sea saw that, and fled : "
for if in this passage, through words of the
past tense the future is secretly revealed, as is
the case ; who would venture to explain the
words, " shall see and be confounded," of past
events ? And a little lower down he ' alludeth
more clearly than light itself to those very
enemies of ours, who followed us flying, that they
might slay us, that is, our sins, which are over-
whelmed and extinguished in Baptism, just as
the Egyptians were drowned in the sea, saying,
since " He retaineth not His anger for ever, be-
cause He is of good will and merciful, He will
turn again, He will have compassion upon us,
He will drown our iniquities : and Thou wilt
cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
6. What is it, most beloved? ye who know
yourselves to be Israelites according to Abra-
ham's seed, ye who are of the house of Jacob,
heirs according to promise, know that even ye
have gone forth from Egypt, since ye have re-
nounced this world ; that ye have gone forth
from a foreign people, since by the confession
of piety, ye have separated yourselves from the
blasphemies of the Gentiles. For it is not your
tongue, but a foreign one, which knoweth not
how to praise God, to whom ye sing Allelujah.
For " Judah " hath become " His sanctuary " in
you ; for " he is not a Jew which is one out-
wardly ; neither is that circumcision, which is
outward in the flesh ; but he is a Jew which is
one inwardly, and by circumcision of the heart." 2
Examine then your hearts, if faith hath circum-
cised them, if confession hath cleansed them ;
in you " Judah " hath become " His sanctuary,"
in you " Israel " hath become " His dominion."
For " He gave " unto you " the power to become
the sons of God." * . . .
7. But I would not that ye should seek with-
out yourselves, how the Jordan was turned back,
I would not ye should augur anything evil. For
the Lord chideth those who have " turned "
their " back " unto Him, " and not their face." *
And whoever forsaketh the source of his being,
and turneth away from his Creator ; as a river
into the sea, he glides into the bitter wickedness
of this world. It is therefore good for him that
he turn back, and that God whom he had set
behind his back, may be before' his face as he
1 [i.e. Micah. See vii. 19. — C]
3 John i. 12.
8 Rom. ii. 38, 39.
* Jer. ii. 37.
returneth ; and that the sea of this world, which
he had set before his face, when he was gliding
on towards it, may become behind him ; and that
he may so forget what is behind him, that he
may " reach forward to what is before him ; " s
which is profitable for him when once con-
verted. . . .
8. " Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of
the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob "
(ver. 7). What meaneth, "at the presence of
the Lord," save at the presence of Him who
said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the
end of the world." 6 For the earth trembled ;
but because it had remained slothful, it was
made to tremble, so that it might be more firmly
fixed at the presence of the Lord.
9. " Who turned the hard rock into standing
waters, and the flint stone into springing wells "
(ver. 8). For He melted Himself, and what
may be called His hardness to water those who
believe on Him, that He might in them be-
come "a fountain of water gushing forth unto
everlasting life ; " 7 because formerly, when He
was not known, He seemed hard. Hence they
who said, " This is an hard saying, who can bear
it?"8 were confounded, and waited not until He
should flow and stream upon them when the
Scriptures were revealed. The rock, that hard-
ness, was turned into pools of water, that stone
into fountains of waters, when on His resurrec-
tion, " He expounded unto them, commencing
with Moses and all the prophets, how Christ
ought to suffer thus ; " 9 and sent the Holy Ghost,
of whom He said, " If any man thirst, let him
come unto Me, and drink." IO
PSALM CXV."
1. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto Thy Name give the praise" (ver. i). For
that grace of the water that gushed from the rock
("now that rock was Christ " I2), was not given
on the score of works that had gone before, but
of His mercy "that justifieth the ungodly."'3
For " Christ died for sinners," '■* that men might
not seek any glory of their own, but in the
Lord's Name.
2. " For Thy loving mercy, and for Thy
truth's sake" (ver. 2). Observe how often
these two qualities, loving mercy and truth, are
joined together in the holy Scriptures.- For in
His loving mercy He called sinners, and in His
truth He judgeth those who when called refused
to come. " That the heathen may not say,
Where is now their God?" For at the last,
His loving mercy and truth will shine forth,
when " the sign of the Son of man shall appear
5 Philip, iii. 13. 6 Matt, xxviii. 30. 7 John iv. 14.
8 John vi. 60. 9 Luke xxiv. 36, 37. 10 John vii. 37.
" tat. CXIII. " : Cor. x. 4. "3 Rom. iv. 5.
l* Rom. v. 6. [In Sept. and Vulg. this Psalm is joined with Ps.
cxiv. — C]
552
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXV.
in heaven, and then shall all tribes of the earth
cry woe ; " ■ nor shall they then say, " Where is
their God? "when He is no longer preached
unto them to be believed in, but displayed be-
fore them to be trembled at.
3. " As for our God, He is in heaven above "
(ver. 3). Not in heaven, where they see the
sun and moon, works of God which they adore,
but " in heaven above," which overpasseth all
heavenly and earthly bodies. Nor is our God
in heaven in such a sense, as to dread a fall that
should deprive Him of His throne, if heaven
were withdrawn from under Him. " In heaven
and earth He hath made whatsoever pleased
Him." Nor doth He stand in need of His own
works, as if He had place in them where He
might abide ; but endureth in His own eternity,
wherein He abideth and hath done whatsoever
pleased Him, both in heaven and earth ; for
they did not support Him, as a condition of
their being created by Him : since, unless they
had been created, they could not have supported
Him. Therefore, in whatsoever He Himself
dwelleth, He, so to speak, containeth this as in
need of Himself, He is not contained by this as
if He needed it. Or it may be thus under-
stood : " In heaven and in earth He hath done
whatsoever pleased Him," whether among the
higher or the lower orders of His people, He
hath made His grace His free gift, that no man
may boast in the merits of his own works. . . .
4. " Their idols," he saith, " are silver and
gold, even the work of men's hands " (ver. 4).
That is, although we cannot display our God to
your carnal eyes, whom ye ought to recognise
through his works ; yet be not seduced by your
vain pretences, because ye can point with the
finger to, the objects of your worship. For it
were much worthier for you not to have what to
point to, than that your hearts' blindness should
be displayed in what is exhibited to these eyes
by you : for what do ye exhibit, save gold and
silver? They have indeed both bronze, and
wood, and earthenware idols, and of different
materials of this description ; but the Holy Spirit
preferred mentioning the more precious material,
because when every man hath blushed for that
which he sets more by, he is much more easily
turned away from the worship of meaner objects.
For it is said in another passage of Scripture
concerning the worshippers of images, " Saying
to a stock, Thou art my father ; and to a stone,
Thou hast brought me forth." * But lest that
man who speaketh thus not to a stone or stock,
but to gold and silver, seem wiser to himself;
let him look this way, let him turn hitherwards
the ear of his heart : " The idols of the Gentiles
are gold and silver." Nothing mean and con-
1 Matt. xxiv. 30
1 Jer. u. 27.
temptible is here mentioned : and indeed to
that mind which is not earth, both gold and sil-
ver is earth, but more beautiful and brilliant,
more solid and firm. Employ not then the
hands of men, to create a false Deity out of that
metal which a true God hath created ; nay, a
false man, whom thou mayest worship for a true
God. . . .
5. " For they have mouths, and speak not :
eyes have they, and see not" (ver. 5). "They
have ears, and hear not : noses have they, and
smell not" (ver. 6). "They have hands, and
handle not ; feet have they, and walk not ; nei-
ther cry they through their throat" (ver. 7).
Even their artist therefore surpasseth them, since
he had the faculty of moulding them by the mo-
tion and functions of his limbs : though thou
wouldest be ashamed to worship that artist.
Even thou surpassest them, though thou hast not
made these things, since thou doest what they
cannot do. Even a beast doth excel them ; for
unto this it is added, " neither cry they through
their throat." For after he had said above,
"they have mouths, and speak not ; " what need
was there, after he had enumerated the limbs
from head to feet, to repeat what he had said of
their crying through their throat ; unless, I sup-
pose, because we perceive that what he men-
tioned of the other members, was common to
men and beasts ? For they see, and hear, and
smell, and walk, and some, apes for instance,
handle with hands. But what he had said of
the mouth, is peculiar to men : since beasts do
not speak. But that no one might refer what
hath been said to the works of human members
alone, and prefer men only to the gods of the
heathen; after all this he added these words,
" neither cry they through their throat : " which
again is common to men and cattle. . . . How
much better then do mice and serpents, and
other animals of like sort, judge of the idols
of the heathen, so to speak, for they regard not
the human figure in them when they see not
the human life. For this reason they usually
build nests in them, and unless they are de-
terred by human movements, they seek for them-
selves no safer habitations. A man then mov-
eth himself, that he may frighten away a living
beast from his own god ; and yet worshippeth
that god who cannot move himself, as if he
were powerful, from whom he drove away one
better than the object of his worship. . . . Even
the dead surpasseth a deity who neither liveth
nor hath lived. . . .
6. But they seem to themselves to have a
purer religion, who say, I neither worship an
idol, nor a devil ; but in the bodily image I be-
hold an emblem 3 of that which I am bound to
• [The pretext of all image-worship. — C]
Psalm CXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
553
worship. . . . They presume to reply, that they
worship not the bodies themselves, but the dei-
ties which preside over the government of them.
One sentence of the Apostle, therefore, testifieth
to their punishment and condemnation ; "Who,"
he saith, " have changed the truth of God into a
lie, and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed for ever." ■ For
in the former part of this sentence he condemned
idols ; in the latter, the account they give of their
idols : for by designating images wrought by an
artificer by the names of the works of God's
creation, they change the truth of God into a
lie ; while, by considering these works them-
selves as deities, and worshipping them as such,
they serve the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed for ever. . . .
7. But, it will be said, we also have very many
instruments and vessels made of materials or
metal of this description for the purpose of cele-
brating the Sacraments, which being consecrated
by these ministrations are called holy, in honour
of Him who is thus worshipped for our salva-
tion : and what indeed are these very instru-
ments or vessels, but the work of men's hands ?
But have they mouth, and yet speak not? have
they eyes, and see not? do we pray unto them,
because through them we pray to God ? This is
the chief cause of this insane profanity, that the
figure resembling the living person, which in-
duces men to worship it, hath more influence in
the minds of these miserable persons, than the
evident fact that it is not living, so that it ought
to be despised by the living.2
8. The result that ensueth is that described in
the next verse : " They that make them are like
unto them, and so are all such as put their trust
in them" (ver. 8). Let them therefore see
with open eyes, and worship with shut and dead
understandings, idols that neither see nor live.
" But the house of Israel hath hoped in the
Lord " (ver. 9). " For hope that is seen is not
hope ; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet
hope for ? But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it." 3 But that
this patience may endure to the end, " He is
their helper and defender." Do perhaps spirit-
ual persons (by whom carnal minds are built
up in " the spirit of meekness," 4 because they
pray as higher for lower minds) already see, and
is that already to them reality which to the lower
is hope ? It is not so. For even " the house of
Aaron hath hope in the Lord" (ver. 10).
Therefore, that they also may stretch forward
perseveringly towards those things which are
before them, and may run perseveringly, until
1 Rom. i. 25.
* [Compare the gross misstatements and bad reasoning of the
Trent Catechism. A. N. F. vol. iii. p. 76. — C.l
3 Rom. viii. 24, 25. * Gal. vi. 1.
they may apprehend that for which they are ap-
prehended,5 and may know even as they are
known,6 "He is their helper and defender." For
both " fear the Lord, and have hoped in the Lord :
He is their helper and defender " (ver. 1 1 ) .
9. For we do not by our deservings prevent
the mercy of God ; but, " The Lord hath been
mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath
blessed the house of Israel, He hath blessed
the house of Aaron" (ver. 12). But in bless-
ing both of these, " He hath blessed all that
fear the Lord " (ver. 13). Dost thou ask, who
are meant by both of these? He answereth,
" both small and great." That is, the house of
Israel with the house of Aaron, those who among
that nation believed in Jesus the Saviour. . . .
For in the character of those who out of that
nation believed, it is said, " Except the Lord of
Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as
Sodoma, and been made like unto Gcmorrha." 1
Seed, because when it has been scattered over
the earth, it multiplied.
10. For the great ones, of the house of Aaron,
have said, " May the Lord increase you more
and more, you and your children " (ver. 14).
And thus it hath happened. For children that
have been raised even from the stones have
flocked unto Abraham : 8 sheep which were not
of this fold, have flocked unto him, that there
might be one flock, and one shepherd ; ? the faith
of all nations was added, and the number grew,
not only of wise priests, but of obedient peoples -,
the Lord increasing not only their fathers more
and more, who in Christ might show the way to
the rest who should imitate them, but also their
children, who should follow their fathers' pious
footsteps.
n. Therefore the Prophet saith unto these
great and small, the mountains and the little
hills, the rams and the young sheep, what fol-
loweth : " Ye are the blessed of the Lord, who
made heaven and earth" (ver. 15). As if he
should say, Ye are the blessed of the Lord, who
made the heaven in the great, earth in the small :
not this visible heaven, studded with luminaries
which are objects to these eyes. For " The
heaven of heavens is the Lord's" (ver. 16);
who hath elevated the minds of some saints to
such a height, that they became teachable by no
man, but by God Himself; in comparison of
which heaven, whatever is discerned with carnal
eyes is to be called earth ; which " He hath
given to the children of men ; " that when it is
contemplated, whether in that region which illu-
mineth above, as that which is called heaven, or
in that which is illumined beneath, which is
properly called earth (since in comparison with
that which is called heaven of heaven, the whole,
3 Philip, iii. 13-14.
8 Matt. iii. 9.
6 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 7 Rom. ix. 29.
9 John x. 1-16, 28, 29.
554
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXVI.
as we have said, is earth ;) the whole therefore
of this earth He hath given to the children of
men, that by the consideration of it, as far as they
can, they may conceive of the Creator, whom
with their yet weak hearts they cannot see with-
out that aid to their conception.
12. . . . But nevertheless since they derive
the truth and richness of wisdom, not from man
nor through man, but through God Himself,
they have received little ones who shall be heaven,
that they may know that they are heaven of
heaven ; as yet however earth, unto which they
say, " I have planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the increase." ' For to those very sons of
men whom He made heaven, He who knoweth
how to provide for the earth through heaven,
hath given earth upon which they work. May
they therefore abide, heaven and earth, in their
God, who made them, and let them live from
Him, confessing unto Him, and praising Him ;
for if they choose to live from themselves, they
shall die, as it is written, " From the dead, as
though he were not, confession ceaseth." 2 But,
" The dead praise not Thee, O Lord, neither all
they that go down into silence " (ver. 17). For
the Scripture in another passage proclaimeth,
"The sinner, when he cometh into the abyss of
wickednesses, scorneth." 3 " But we, who live,
will praise the Lord, from this time forth for ever-
more " (ver. 18).
PSALM CXVI."
1. " I have loved, since the Lord will hear the
voice of my prayer " (ver. 1 ). Let the soul that
is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus,
let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let
that son who had " died and returned to life,"
who had "been lost and was found;"5 let our
soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons.
Let us be taught, and let us abide, and let us
sing thus with the Saints : " I have loved : since
the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer." Is
this a reason for having loved, that the Lord will
hear the voice of my prayer? and do we not
rather love, because He hath heard, or that He
may hear? What then meaneth, " I have loved,
since the Lord will hear"? Doth he, because
hope is wont to inflame love, say that he hath
loved, since he hath hoped that God will listen
to the voice of his prayer?
2. But whence hath he hoped for this? Since,
he saith, " He hath inclined His ear unto me :
and in my days I have called upon Him " (ver.
2). I loved, therefore, because He will hear;
He will hear, "because He hath inclined His
ear unto me." But whence knowest thou, O
1 1 Cor. iii 6. * Ecclus. xvii. 36. * Prov. xviii. 3, LXX.
4 Lai. CXV. A sermon to the common people.
5 Luke xv. 6, 24.
human soul, that God hath inclined His ear unto
thee, except thou sayest, " I have believed " ?
These three things, therefore, " abide, faith, hope,
charity : " 6 because thou hast believed, thou hast
hoped ; because thou hast hoped, thou hast
loved. . . .
3. And what are thy days, since thou hast
said, " In my days I have called upon Him " ?
Are they those perchance, in which " the fulness
of time came," and "God sent His Son," ' who
had already said, " In an acceptable time have I
heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I
helped thee"?8 ... I may rather call my days
the days of my misery, the days of my mor-
tality, the days according to Adam, full of toil
and sweat, the days according to the ancient
corruption. " For I lying, stuck fast in the deep
mire," 9 in another Psalm also have cried out,
" Behold, Thou hast made my days old ; " ro in
these days of mine have I called upon Thee.
For my days are different from the days of my
Lord. I call those my days, which by my own
daring I have made for myself, whereby I have
forsaken Him : and, since He reigneth every-
where, and is all-powerful, and holdeth all things,
I have deserved prison ; that is, I have received
the darkness of ignorance, and the bonds of
mortality. . . . For in these days of mine, " The
snares of death compassed me round about,
and the pains of hell gat hold upon me "
(ver. 3) : pains that would not have overtaken
me, had I not wandered from Thee. But now
they have overtaken me ; but I found them not,
while I was rejoicing in the prosperity of the
world, in which the snares of hell deceive the
more.
4. But after" I too found trouble and heavi-
ness, I called upon the Name of the Lord "
(ver. 4). For trouble and profitable sorrow I
did not feel ; trouble, wherein He giveth aid,
unto whom it is said, " O be Thou our help in
trouble : and vain is the help of man." " For I
thought I might rejoice and exult in the vain
help of man ; but when I had heard from my
Lord, " Blessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted : " '2 I did not wait until I
should lose those temporal blessings in which I
rejoiced, and should then mourn : but I gave
heed to that very misery of mine which caused
me to rejoice in such things, which I both feared
to lose, and yet could not retain ; I gave heed to
it firmly and courageously, and I saw that I was
not only agonized by the adversities of this world,
but even bound by its good fortune ; and thus
" I found the trouble and heaviness " which had
escaped me, " and called upon the Name of the
Lord ; O Ix>rd, I beseech Thee, deliver my
6 I Cor. xiii. 13.
9 Ps. Ixix. a.
12 Matt. v. 4.
I Gal. iv. 4.
10 Ps. xxxix. 5.
> Jsa. xlix. 8
» Ps. lx. 11.
Psalm CXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
555
soul." Let then the holy people of God say, " I
called upon the Name of the Lord : " and let
the remainder of the heathen hear, who do not
as yet call upon the Name of the Lord ; let
them hear and seek, that they may discover
trouble and heaviness, and may call upon the
Name of the Lord, and be saved. . . .
5. "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous ; yea,
our God is merciful" (ver. 5). He is gracious,
righteous, and merciful. Gracious in the first
place, because He hath inclined His ear unto
me ; and I knew not that the ear of God had
approached my lips, till I was aroused by those
beautiful feet, that I might call upon the Lord's
Name : for who hath called upon Him, save he
whom He first called ? Hence therefore He is
in the first place " gracious ; " but " righteous,"
because He scourgeth ; and again, " merciful,"
because He receiveth ; for " He scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth ; " nor ought it to be so
bitter to me that He scourgeth, as sweet that He
receiveth. For how should not "The Lord,
who keepeth little ones " (ver. 6), scourge those
whom, when of mature age, He seeketh to be
heirs ; " for what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not ? " ' "I was in misery, and He
helped me." He helped me, because I was in
misery ; for the pain which the physician causeth
by his knife is not penal, but salutary.
6. "Turn again then unto thy rest, O my
soul; for the Lord hath done good to thee"
(ver. 7) : not for thy deservings, or through thy
strength ; but because the Lord hath done good
to thee. " Since," he saith, " He hath delivered
my soul from death" (ver. 8). It is wonderful,
most beloved brethren, that, after he had said
that his soul should turn unto rest, since the
Lord had rewarded him ; he added, since " He
hath delivered my soul from death." Did it
turn unto rest, because it was delivered from
death ? Is not rest more usually said of death ?
What is the action of him whose life is rest, and
death disquietude? Such then ought to be the
action of the soul, as may tend to a quiet secur-
ity, not one that may increase restless toil ; since
He hath delivered it from death, who, pitying
it, said, " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," etc.*
Meek therefore and humble, following, so to speak,
Christ as its path, should the action of" the
soul be that tendeth towards repose ; neverthe-
less, not slothful and supine ; that it may finish
its course, as it is written, " In quietness make
perfect thy works." ' " Thou hast delivered my
soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my
feet from falling." Whoever feeleth the chain
of this flesh, chanteth these things as fulfilled
in hope towards himself. For it is truly said,
1 Heb. xii. 6, 7. 2 Matt. xi. 28-30. 3 Ecclus. iii. 19.
" I was in misery, and He delivered me ; " but
the Apostle saith this also truly, that we are
saved by hope.4 And that we are delivered from
death, is well said to be already fulfilled, so that
we may understand the death of unbelievers, of
whom he saith, " Leave the dead to bury their
dead." * . . . He will then clear our eyes of
tears, when He shall save our feet from falling.
For there will then be no slipping of our feet as
they walk, when there will be no sliding of the
weak flesh. But now, however firm our path,
which is Christ, be : yet since we place flesh,
which we are enjoined to subdue, beneath us ;
in the very work of chastening and subduing it,
it is a great thing not to fall : but not to slip in
the flesh, who can attain ? "I shall please in the
sight of the Lord, in the land of the living " (ver.
9). . . . We "labour" indeed now, because we
are awaiting "the redemption of our body:"5
but, " when death shall have been swallowed up
in victory, and this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal immortality ; " *
then there will be no weeping, because there
will be no falling ; and no falling, because no
corruption. And therefore we shall then no
longer labour to please, but we shall be entirely
pleasing in the sight of the Lord, in the land of
the living.
7. ..." I believed," saith he, " and therefore
did I speak. But I was sorely brought down "
(ver. 10) . For he suffered many tribulations, for
the sake of the word which he faithfully held, faith-
fully preached ; and he was sorely brought down ;
as they feared who loved the praise of men bet-
ter than that of God. But what meaneth, " But
I " ? "He should rather say, I believed, and
therefore I have spoken, and I was sorely brought
down : why did he add, " But I," save because
a man may be sorely brought down by those who
oppose the truth, the truth itself cannot, which
he believeth and speaketh? Whence also the
Apostle, when he was speaking of his chain, saith,
" the word of God is not bound." 8 So this man
also, since there is one person of the holy wit-
nesses, that is, of the Martyrs of God, saith. " I
believed, and therefore will I speak." " But I ; "
not that which I believed, not the word which I
have delivered ; " but I was sorely brought
down."
8. " I said in my trance, All men are liars "
(ver. 11). By trance he meaneth fear, which
when persecutors threaten, and when the suf-
ferings of torture or death impend, human weak-
ness suflereth. For this we understand, because
in this Psalm the voice of Martyrs is heard. For
trance is used in another sense also, when the
mind is not beside itself by fear, but is possessed
by some inspiration of revelation. " But I said
* Rom. viii. 24.
' 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54.
5 Matt. viii. 22.
8 2 Tim. ii. 9.
6 Rom. viii. 23.
556
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXVII.
in my haste, All men are liars." In consterna-
tion he hath had regard to his infirmity, and hath
seen that he ought not to presume on himself;
for as far as pertaineth to the man himself, he is
a liar, but by the grace of God he is made true ;
lest yielding to the pressure of his enemies he
might not speak what he had believed, but might
deny it ; even as it happened to Peter, since he
had trusted in himself, and was to be taught that
we ought not to trust in man. And if every one
ought not to trust in man, surely not in himself;
because he is a man. Rightly therefore in his
fear did he perceive that every man was a liar ;
since they also whom no fear robs of their pres-
ence of mind, so that they never lie by yielding
to the persecutors, are such by the gifts of God,
not by their own strength. . . .
9. " What," he asketh, " what reward shall I
give unto the Lord, for all the benefits that He
hath returned unto me?" (ver. 12). He saith
not, for all the benefits that He hath done unto
me ; but, " for all the benefits that He hath re-
turned unto me." What deeds then on the
man's part had preceded, that all the benefits of
God were not said to be given, but returned ?
What had preceded, on the man's part, save
sins? God therefore repayeth good for evil,
whilst unto Him men repay evil for good ; for
such was the return of those who said, " This is
the heir : come, let us kill him." '
10. But this man seeketh what he may return
unto the Lord, and findeth not, save out of those
things which the Lord Himself returneth. " I
will receive," he saith, " the cup of salvation,
and call upon the Name of the Lord " (ver. 13).
" My vows will I render to the Lord, before
all His people" (ver. 14). Who hath given
thee the cup of salvation, which when thou
takest, and callest upon the Name of the Lord,
thou shalt return unto Him a reward for all that
He hath returned unto thee? Who, save He
who saith, " Are ye able to drink the cup that I
shall drink of ? " 2 Who hath given unto thee to
imitate His sufferings, save He who hath suffered
before for thee? And therefore, "Right dear
in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
Saints" (ver. 15). He purchased it by His
Blood, which He first shed for the salvation of
slaves, that they might not hesitate to shed their
blood for the Lord's Name ; which, neverthe-
less, would be profitable for their own interests,
not for those of the Lord.
11. Let therefore the slave purchased at so
great a price confess his condition, and say,
" Behold, O Lord, how that I am Thy servant :
" I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine hand-
maid " (ver. 16). . . . This, therefore, is the
son of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above,
' Matt. xxi. 38. ' Matt. xx. aa. [He omiu ver. 14. — C.J
the free mother of us all.3 And free indeed
from sin she is, but the handmaid of righteous-
ness; to whose sons still pilgrims it is said,
" Ye have been called unto liberty ; " 4 and
again he maketh them servants, when he saith,
" but by love serve one another." . . . Let
therefore that servant say unto God, Many
call themselves martyrs, many Thy servants, be-
cause they hold Thy Name in various heresies
and errors ; but since they are beside Thy
Church, they are not the children of Thy hand-
maid. But " I am Thy servant, and the son of
Thine handmaid." " Thou hast broken my
bonds asunder."
12. "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of
praise" (ver. 17). Fori have not found any
deserts of mine, since Thou hast broken my
bonds asunder ; I therefore owe Thee the sacri-
fice of praise ; because, although I will boast
that I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy hand-
maid, I will glory not in myself, but in Thee, my
Lord, who hast broken asunder my bonds, that
when I return from my desertion, I may again
be bound unto Thee.
13. "I will pay my vows unto the Lord " (ver.
18). What vows wilt thou pay? What victims
hast thou vowed ? what burnt-offerings, what hol-
ocausts? Dost thou refer to what thou hast
said a little before, " I will receive the cup of
salvation, and will call upon the Name of the
Lord ;" and, " I will offer to Thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving " ? and indeed whosoever well
considereth what he is vowing to the Lord, and
what vows he is paying, let him vow himself, let
him pay himself as a vow : this is exacted, this
is due. On looking at the coin, the Lord saith,
" Render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's, and unto God the things which are
God's : " 5 his own image is rendered unto
Caesar : let His image be rendered unto God.
14. " In the courts," he saith, " of the
Lord's house" (ver. 19). What is the Lord's
house, the same is the Lord's handmaid : and
what is God's house, save all His people? It
therefore followeth, " In the sight of all His
people." And now he more openly nameth his
mother herself. For what else is His people,
but what followeth, " In the midst of thee, O
Jerusalem"? For than that which is returned
grateful, if it be returned from peace, and in
peace. But they who are not sons of this hand-
maid, have loved war rather than peace. . . .
PSALM CXVII.6
1. " O praise the Lord, all ye heathen : praise
Him, all ye nations" (ver. 1). These are the
courts of the Lord's house, this all His people,
3 Gal. iv. 26.
6 Lat. CXVI.
< Gal. v. 13.
A sermon to the people.
* Matt. xxii. ai.
TSALM CXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
557
this the true Jerusalem. Let those rather listen
who have refused to be the children of this city,
since they have cut themselves off from the com-
munion of all nations.' " For His merciful kind-
ness is ever more and more towards us : and the
truth of the Lord endureth for ever " (ver. 2).
These are those two things, loving-kindness and
truth, which in the CXVth Psalm I admonished
you should be committed to memory. But " the
merciful kindness of the Lord is ever more and
more towards us," since the furious tongues of
hostile nations have yielded to His Name,
through which we have been freed : " and the
truth of the Lord endureth for ever," whether in
those things which He promised to the righteous,
or in those which He hath threatened to the
ungodly.
PSALM CXVIII.*
1. . . . We are taught in this Psalm, when we
chaunt Allelujah, which meaneth, Praise the
Lord, that we should, when we hear the words,
"Confess unto the Lord" (ver. 1), praise the
Lord. The praise of God could not be expressed
in fewer words than these, " For He is good."
I see not what can be more solemn than this
brevity, since goodness is so peculiarly the qual-
ity of God, that the Son of God Himself when
addressed by some one as " Good Master," by
one, namely, who beholding His flesh, and com-
prehending not the fulness of His divine nature,
considered Him as man only, replied, " Why
callest thou Me good ? There is none good but
one, that is, God."' And what is this but to
say, If thou wishest to call Me good, recognise
Me as God? But since it is addressed, in reve-
lation of things to come, to a people freed from
all toil and wandering in pilgrimage, and from all
admixture with the wicked, which freedom was
given it through the grace of God, who not only
doth not evil for evil, but even returneth good
for evil ; it is most appropriately added, " Be-
cause His mercy endureth for ever."
2. " Let Israel now confess that He is good,
and that His mercy endureth forever" (ver. 2).
" Let the house of Aaron now confess that His
mercy endureth forever" (ver. 3). "Yea, let
all now that fear the Lord confess that His mercy
endureth forever" (ver. 4). Ye remember, I
suppose, most beloved, what is the house of Is-
rael, what is the house of Aaron, and that both
are those that fear the Lord. For they are " the
little and the great," 4 who have already in an-
other Psalm been happily introduced into your
hearts : in the number of whom all of us should
rejoice that we are joined together, in His grace
who is good, and whose mercy endureth for ever ;
since they were listened to who said, " May the
1 Donatists.
* Ps. CXV. 12, 13.
2 Lat. CXVII.
3 Mark x. 17, 18.
Lord increase you more and more, you and your
children ; " * that the host of the Gentiles might
be added to the Israelites who believed in Christ,
of the number of whom are the Apostles our
fathers, for the exaltation of the perfect and the
obedience of the little children ; that all of us
when made one in Christ, made one flock under
one Shepherd, and the body of that Head, like
one man, may say, " I called upon the Lord in
trouble, and the Lord heard me at large" (ver.
5). The narrow straits of our tribulation are
limited : but the large way whereby we pass along
hath no end. " Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect ? " 6
3. "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear
what man doeth unto me" (ver. 6). But are
men, then, the only enemies that the Church
hath? What is a man devoted to flesh and
blood, save flesh and blood? But the Apostle
saith, " We wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against," ... he saith, " spiritual wicked-
ness in high places ; " 7 that is, the devil and his
angels ; that devil whom elsewhere he calleth
" the prince of the power of the air." 8 Hear
therefore what followeth : " The Lord is my
helper : therefore shall I despise mine enemies "
(ver. 7). From what class soever my enemies
may arise, whether from the number of evil men,
or from the number of evil angels ; in the Lord's
help, unto whom we chant the confession of
praise, unto whom we sing Allelujah, they shall
be despised.
4. But, when my enemies have been brought
to contempt, let not my friend present himself
unto me as a good man, so as to bid me repose
my hope in himself: for " It is better to trust in
the Lord, than to put any confidence in man "
(ver. 8). Nor let any one, who may in a certain
sense be styled a good angel, be regarded by
myself as one in whom I ought to put my trust :
for " no one is good, save God alone ; " ' and
when a man or an angel appear to aid us, when
they do this of sincere affection, He doth it
through them, who made them good after their
measure. " It is " therefore " better to trust in
the Lord, than to put any confidence in princes "
(ver. 9). For angels also are called princes,
even as we read in Daniel, " Michael, your
prince." lo
5. "All nations compassed me round about,
but in the Name of the Lord have i' taken
vengeance on them" (ver. 10). "They kept
me in on every side, they kept me in, I say,
on every side ; but in the Name of the Lord
have I taken vengeance on them" (ver. n).
He signifieth the toils and the victory of the
Church ; but, as if the question were asked how
she could have overcome so great evils, he look-
3 Ps. cxv. 14.
8 Eph. ii. 2.
6 Rom. viii. 33.
9 Mark x. 18.
7 Eph. vi. 12.
10 Dan. xii. 1.
558
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXVIII.
eth back to the example, and declareth what she
had first suffered in her Head, by adding what
followeth, " They kept me in on every side : "
and the words, " All nations," are with reason
not repeated here, because this was the act of
the Jews alone. There that very religious nation
(which is the body of Christ, and in behalf of
which was done all that was done in mortal form
with immortal power, by that inward divinity,
through the outward flesh), suffered from perse-
cutors, of whose race that flesh was assumed and
hung upon the cross.
6. " They came about me as bees do a hive,
and burned up even as the fire among the
thorns : and in the Name of the Lord have I
taken vengeance on them" (ver. 12). Here
then the order of the words corresponds with
the order of events. For we rightly understand
that our Lord Himself, the Head of the Church,
was surrounded by persecutors, even as bees
surround a hive. For the Holy Spirit is speak-
ing with mystic subtlety of what was done by
those who knew not what they did. For bees
make honey in the hives : while our Lord's per-
secutors, unconscious as they were, rendered
Him sweeter unto us even by His very Passion ;
so that we may taste and see how sweet is the
Lord,' " Who died for our sins, and arose for our
justification." * But what followeth, " and burned
up even as the fire among the thorns," is better
understood of His Body, that is, of a people
spread abroad, whom all nations compassed
about, since it was gathered together from all
nations. They consumed this sinful flesh, and
the grievous piercings of this mortal life, in the
flame of persecution. "Taken vengeance on
them : " either because they themselves, that
wickedness, which in them persecuted the right-
eous, having been extinguished, were joined
with the people of Christ ; or because the rest
of them, who have at this time scorned the
mercy of Him who calleth them, will at the end
feel the truth of Him who judgeth them.
7. " I have been driven on like a heap of sand,
so that I was falling, but the Lord upheld me "
(ver. 13). For though there were a great mul-
titude of believers, that might be compared to
the countless sand, and brought into one com-
munion as into one heap; yet "what is man,
save Thou be mindful of Him ? " 3 He said not,
the multitude of the Gentiles could not surpass
the abundance of my host, but, " the Lord," he
saith, " hath upheld me." The persecution of
the Gentiles succeeded not in pushing forward,
to its overthrow, the host of the faithful dwelling
together in the unity of the faith.
8. " The Lord is my strength and my praise,
and is become my salvation " (ver. 14). Who
1 Pi. xxxiv. 8.
2 Rom. iv. 25.
' Ps. viii. 4.
then fall, when they are pushed, save they
who choose to be their own strength and their
own praise ? For no man falleth in the contest,
except he whose strength and praise faileth. He
therefore whose strength and praise is the Lord,
falleth no more than the Lord falleth. And for
this reason He hath become their salvation ; not
that He hath become anything which He was
not before, but because they, when they believed
on Him, became what they were not before, and
then He began to be salvation unto them when
turned towards Him, which He was not to them
when turned away from Himself.
9. "The voice of joy and health is in the
dwellings of the righteous" (ver. 15); where
they who raged against their bodies thought
there was the voice of sorrow and destruction.
For they did not know the inward joy of
the saints in their future hope. Whence the
Apostle also saith, " As sorrowful, yet alway
rejoicing ; " * and again, " And not only so, but
we glory in tribulations also." 5
10. " The right hand of the Lord hath brought
mighty things to pass" (ver. 16). What mighty
things? saith he. "The right hand of the
Lord," he saith, " hath exalted me." It is a
mighty thing to exalt the humble, to deify the
mortal, to bring perfection out of infirmity, glory
from subjection, victory from suffering, to give
help, to raise from trouble ; that the true salva-
tion of God might be laid open to the afflicted,
and the salvation of men might remain of no
avail to the persecutors. These are great things •.
but what art thou surprised at? hear what he
repeateth : " The right hand of the Lord hath
brought mighty things to pass."
11. "I shall not die, but live, and declare the
works of the Lord" (ver. 17). But they, while
they were dealing havoc and death on every side,
thought that the Church of Christ was dying.
Behold, he now declareth the works of the Ixird.
Everywhere Christ is the glory of the blessed
Martyrs. By being beaten He conquered those
who struck Him ; by being patient of torments,
the tormentors ; 6 by loving, those who raged
against Him.
12. Nevertheless, let him point out to us, why
the body of Christ, the holy Church, the people
of adoption, suffered such indignities. "The
Lord," he saith, " hast chastened and corrected
me, but He hath not given me over unto death "
(ver. 18). Let not then the boastful wicked
imagine that aught hath been permitted to their
power : they would not have that power, were it
not given them from above. Oft doth the father
of a family command his sons to be corrected by
the most worthless slaves ; though he designeth
the heritage for the former, fetters for the latter.
* 2 Cor. vi. 10. 5 Rom. v. 3.
6 Hss.facicntes* Edd. impatientex.
Psalm CXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
559
What is that heritage ? Is it of gold, or silver,
or jewels, or farms, or pleasant estates? Con-
sider how we enter into it : and learn what it is.
13. " Open me," he saith, " the gates of right-
eousness" (ver. 19). Behold, we have heard of
the gates. What is within ? "That I may," he
saith, " go into them, and give thanks unto the
Lord." This is the confession of praise full of
wonder, " even unto the house of God, in the
voice of joy and confession of praise, among such
as keep holiday : " ' this is the everlasting bliss of
the righteous, whereby they are blessed who
dwell in the Lord's house, praising Him for
evermore.2
14. But consider how the gates of righteous-
ness are entered into. " These are the gates of
the Lord" he saith, "the righteous shall enter
into them" (ver. 20). At least let no wicked
man enter there, that Jerusalem which receiveth
not one uncircumcised, where it is said, " With-
out are dogs." 3 Be it enough, that in my long
pilgrimage " I have had my habitation among
the tents of Kedar : " 4 I endured even unto the
end the intercourse of the wicked, but " these
are the gates of the Lord : the righteous shall
enter into them."
15. "I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, for
Thou hast heard me, and art become my sal-
vation " (ver. 21). How often is that con-
fession proved to be one of praise, that doth not
point out wounds to the physician, but giveth
thanks for the health it hath received. But the
Physician Himself is the Salvation.
16. But who is this whom we speak of? "The
Stone which the builders rejected" (ver. 22);
for, " It hath become the head Stone of the cor-
ner ; " to " make in Himself of twain one new
man, so making peace ; and that He might rec-
oncile both unto God in one body ; " s circum-
cision, to wit, and uncircumcision.
1 7. " By the Lord was it made unto it "
(ver. 23) : that is, it is made into the head stone
of the corner by the Lord. For although He
would not have become this, had He not suf-
fered : yet He became not this through those from
whom He suffered. For they who were building,
refused Him : but in the edifice which the Lord
was secretly raising, that was made the head
stone of the corner which they rejected. " And
it is marvellous in our eyes : " in the eyes of the
inner man, in the eyes of those that believe,
those that hope, those that love ; not in the car-
nal eyes of those who, through scorning Him as
if He were a man, rejected Him.
1 8. "This is the day which the Lord hath
made" (ver. 24). This man remembereth that
he had said in former Psalms, " Since He hath in-
clined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon
' Ps. xlii. 4.
* Pi. cxx. 5.
a Ps. Ixxxiv. 4.
* Kph. ii. 15, 16.
3 Rev. xxii. 15.
Him as long as I live ; " 6 making mention of his
old days ; whence he now saith, " This is the day
which the Lord hath made ; " that is, wherein
He hath given me Salvation. This is the day
whereof He said, " In an acceptable time have I
heard thee, and in a day of Salvation have I
helped thee ; " 1 that is, a day wherein He, the
Mediator, hath become the head Stone of the
corner. " Let us rejoice," therefore, " and be
glad in Him."
19. "Save me now, O Lord: prosper Thou
well my way, O Lord" (ver. 25). Because it
is the day of Salvation, " save me : " because
we, returning from a long pilgrimage, are sep-
arated from those who hated peace, with whom
we were peaceful, and who, when we spoke to
them, made war upon us without a cause ;
" prosper well our way " as we return, since
Thou hast become our Way.
20. " Blessed be He that cometh in the
Name of the Lord" (ver. 26). Cursed, there-
fore, is he that cometh in his own name ; as He
saith in the Gospel : " if another shall come in
his own name, him ye will receive." 8 " We have
blessed you out of the house of God." I
believe that these are the words of the great to
the little, of those great ones, to wit, who in
spirit commune with God the Word, who is with
God, as they may in this life ; and yet temper
their discourse for the sake of the little ones, so
that they may sincerely say what the Apostle
saith : " For whether we be beside ourselves, it
is to God : or whether we be sober, it is for your
cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us."'9
They bless the little children from the inner
house of the Lord, where that praise faileth not
age after age : consider therefore what they pro-
claim from thence.'0
21. "God is the Lord, who hath showed us
light" (ver. 27). That Lord, who came in the
Lord's Name, whom the builders refused, and
who became the head Stone of the corner," that
"Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ," l2
is God, He is equal with the Father, He hath
showed us light, that we might understand what
we believed, and declare it to you who under-
stand it not as yet, but already believe it. But
that ye also may understand, " Declare a holy
day in full assemblies, even unto the horns of"
the altar ; " that is, even unto the inner house of
God, from which we have blessed you, where
are the high places of the altar. " Declare a
holy day," not in a slothful manner, but " in full
assemblies" (ver. 28). For this is the voice of
joyfulness among those that keep holy day, who
8 John v. 43.
6 Ps. cxiv. a. 7 Isa. xlix. 8.
9 2 Cor. v. 13, 14.
10 [Contrary to all his habitual usage, our author fails to note just
here what is written in St. Matt. xxi. 15, 16, concerning this Paschal
Psalm, and the hosannas. of children in the temple. — C]
" Malt. xxi. 9, 42. >2 1 Tim. ii. 5.
560
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
walk " in the place of the wonderful tabernacle,
even unto the house of God." ' For if there be
there the spiritual sacrifice, the everlasting sacri-
fice of praise, both the Priest is everlasting, and
the peaceful mind of the righteous an everlast-
ing altar. . . .
22. And what shall we sing there, save His
praises? What else shall we say there, save,
"Thou art my God, and I will confess unto
Thee ; Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee.
I will confess unto Thee, for Thou hast heard
me, and art become my Salvation." We will
not say these things in loud words ; but the love
that abideth in Him of itself crieth out in these
words, and these words are love itself. Thus,
as he began with praise, so he endeth : " Con-
fess unto the Lofd, for He is gracious, and His
mercy endureth for ever" (ver. 29). With
this the Psalm commenceth, with this it endeth ;
since, as from the commencement which we
have left behind, so in the end, whither we are
returning, there is not anything that can more
profitably please us, than the praise of God, and
Allelujah evermore.
PSALM CXIX.'
Altph.
i. From its commencement, dearly beloved,
doth this great Psalm exhort us unto bliss, which
there is no one who desireth not. . . . And there-
fore this is the lesson which he teacheth, who
saith, "Blessed are those that are undefiled in
the way, who walk in the law of the Lord "
(ver. 1 ) . As much as to say, I know what thou
wishest, thou art seeking bliss : if then thou
wouldest be blessed, be undefiled. For the
former all desire, the latter fear : yet without it,
what all wish cannot be attained. But where
will any one be undefiled, save in the way ? In
what way, save in the law of the Lord ? . . .
• Ps. xlii. 4.
2 Lat. CXVIII. [The author says: " Preface. — I have ex-
pounded all the rest of the Psalms, which we know the Book of the
Psalms containeth, which by the custom of the Church is styled the
Psalter, partly by preaching among the people, partly by dictations,
as well as I, by the Lord's help, was able: but I put off the CXIXth
Psalm, as well on account of its well-known length, as on account of
its depth being fathomable by few. And when my brethren deeply
regretted that the exposition of this Psalm alone, so far as pertainetn
to the Psalms of the same volume, was wanting to my works, and
strongly pressed me to pay this debt, I yielded not to them, though
they long entreated and solicited me; because as often as I began to
reflect upon it, it always exceeded the utmost stretch of my powers.
For in proportion as it seemeth more open, so much the more deep
doth it appear to me; so that I cannot show how deep it is. For in
others, which are understood with difficulty, although the sense lie
hid in obscurity, yet the obscurity itself appeareth ; but in this, not
even this is the case : since it is superficially such, that it seemeth not
to need an expositor, but only a reader and listener. And now that
at length I approach its interpretation, 1 am utterly ignorant what I
can achieve tn it: nevertheless, I hope that God will atd me with His
Presence, that I may effect something. For thus He hath done in all
those which, though at first they seemed to me difficult, and almost
impracticable, I have succeeded in adequately expounding. But I
decided to do this by means of sermons, which might be delivered
among the people, such as the Greeks term oniAiai. For this is, I
think, more equitable, that the assemblies of the Church be not
defrauded of the comprehension of this Psalm, by the singing of
which, as much as by that of others, they are wont to be charmed.
But let the preface end here: we must now speak of the Psalm itself,
to which we have thought it right to make this Preface.** — C.J
2. Listen now to what he addeth : " Blessed
are they that keep His testimonies, and seek
Him with their whole heart" (ver. 2). No
other class of the blessed seemeth to me to be
mentioned in these words, than that which has
been already spoken of. For to examine into
the testimonies of the Lord, and to seek Him
with all the heart, this is to be undefiled in the
way, this is to walk in the law of the Lord. He
then goeth on to say, " For they who do wick-
edness, shall not walk in His ways" (ver. 3).
And yet we know that the workers of wickedness
do search the testimonies of the Lord for this
reason, that they prefer being learned to being
righteous : we know that others also search the
testimonies of the Lord, not because they are
already living well, but that they may know how
they ought to live. Such then do not as yet
walk undefiled in the law of the Lord, and for
this reason are not as yet blessed. . . .
3. It is written, and is read, and is true, in
this Psalm, that " They who do wickedness, walk
not in His ways" (ver. 3). But we must en-
deavour, with the help of God, " in " whose " hand
are both we and our words," 3 that what is rightly
said, by not being rightly understood, may not
confuse the reader or hearer. For we must be-
ware, lest all the Saints, whose words these are,
" If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our-
selves, and the truth is not in us ; " 4 may either
not be thought to walk in the ways of the Lord,
since sin is wickedness, and " they who do wick-
edness, walk not in His ways ; " or, because it is
not doubtful that they walk in the ways of the
Lord, may be thought to have no sin, which is
beyond doubt false. For it is not said merely
for the sake of avoiding arrogance and pride.
Otherwise it would not be added, " And the
truth is not in us ; " but it would be said, Humil-
ity is not in us : especially because the following
words throw a clearer light on the meaning, and
remove all the causes of doubt. For when the
blessed John had said this, he added, " If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright-
eousness." 5 . . .
4. What meaneth, " Thou hast charged that
we shall keep Thy commandments too much "?
(ver. 4) . Is it, " Thou hast charged too much " ?
or, "to keep too much"? Whichever of these
we understand, the sense seems contrary to that
memorable and noble sentiment which the
Greeks praise in their wise men, and which the
Latins agree in praising. " Do nothing too
much."6 . . . But the Latin language some-
3 Wisd. vii. 16. * 1 John i. 8, 9. Si John i. 9.
6 Terence, Andria, v. 34. "This Greek sentiment does not
contain a word answering to that which is here read: for there, aval*
is used, which is nimis ; but here <r<f>oipa, which is equivalent to
valdi, very much. But sometimes, as we have said, we And minis
used, and use it ourselves, for what means valdi." — The Author.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
56i
times uses the word nimis in such a sense,
that we find it in the holy Scripture, and employ
it in our discourses, as signifying, very much. In
this passage, " Thou hast charged that we keep
Thy commandments too much," we simply un-
derstand very much, if we understand rightly ;
and if we say to any very dear friend, I love
you too much, we do not wish to be under-
stood to mean more than is fitting, but very
much.
5. "O that," he saith, " my ways were made
so direct, that I might keep Thy statutes " (ver.
5). Thou indeed hast charged : O that I could
realize what thou hast charged. When thou
hearest, " O that," recognise the words of one
wishing ; and having recognised the expression
of a wish, lay aside the pride of presumption.
For who saith that he desireth what he hath
in such a manner in his power, that without
need of any help he can do it? Therefore if
man desireth what God chargeth, God must be
prayed to grant Himself what He enjoineth. . . .
6. " So shall I not be confounded, while I
have respect unto all Thy commandments " (ver.
6). We ought to look upon the commandments
of God, whether when they are read, or when
they are recalled to memory, as a looking-glass,
as the Apostle James saith.' This man wisheth
himself to be such, that he may regard as in a
mirror the commandments of God, and may
not be confounded ; because he chooses not
merely to be a hearer of them, but a doer. On
this account he desireth that his ways may be
made direct to keep the statutes of God. How
to be made direct, save by the grace of God ?
Otherwise he will find in the law of God not a
source of rejoicing, but of confusion, if he hath
chosen to look into commandments, which he
doth not.
7. " I will confess unto Thee," he saith, " O
Lord, in the directing of my heart ; in that I
shall have learned the judgments of Thy right-
eousness " (ver. 7). This is not the confession
of sins, but of praise ; as He also saith in whom
there was no sin, " I will confess unto Thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth ; " 2 and as it
is written in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, " Thus
shalt thou say in confession, of all the works of
God, that they are very good." 3 " I will con-
fess unto Thee," he saith, " in the directing of
my heart." Indeed, if my ways are made
straight, I will confess unto Thee, since Thou hast
done it, and this is Thy praise, and not
mine. . . .
8. Next he addeth : " I will keep Thy ordi-
nances" (ver. 8). . . . But what is it that follow-
eth ? " O forsake me not even exceedingly ! "
1 Tas. i. 23-95
2 Matt xi. 25.
3 Ecclus. x
ix. 15, 16.
or, as some copies have it, " even too much,"
instead of, " even exceedingly." 4 But since
God had left the world to the desert of sins, He
would have forsaken it " even exceedingly," if so
powerful a cure had not supported it, that is, the
grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ ;
but now, according to this prayer of the body of
Christ, He forsook it not "even exceedingly;"
for, " God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto Himself." 5 . . .
Beth.
9. "Wherewithal shall a young man correct
his way? even by keeping Thy words" (ver. 9).
He questioneth himself, and answereth himself.
" Wherewithal? " So far it is a question : next
cometh the answer, " even by keeping Thy
words." But in this place the keeping of the
words of God, must be understood as the obeying
His commandments in deed : for they are kept
in memory in vain, if they are not kept in life
also. But what is meant by " young man " here ?
For he might have said, wherewithal shall any
one (Jwmo) correct his way? or, wherewithal
shall a man (yir) correct his way? which is
usually put by the Scriptures in such a way, that
the whole human race is understood. . . . But
in this passage he saith neither any one, nor
a man, but, "a young man." Is then an old
man to be despaired of? or doth an old man
correct his way by any other means than by
ruling himself after God's word? Or is it per-
haps an admonition at what age we ought chiefly
to correct our way ; according to what is else-
where written, " My son, gather instruction from
thy youth up : so shalt thou find wisdom till thy
gray hairs." 6 There is another mode of inter-
preting it, by recognising in the expression the
younger son in the Gospel,? who returned to him-
self, and said, " I will arise and go to my father." 8
Wherewithal did he correct his way, save by
ruling himself after the words of God, which
he desired as one longing for his father's
bread. . . .
10. "With my whole heart," he saith, "have
I sought thee ; O repel me not from Thy com-
mandments " (ver. 10). Behold, he prayeth
that he may be aided to keep the words of God,
wherewith he had said that the young man cor-
rected his way. For this is the meaning^of the
words, " O repel me not from Thy command-
ments : " for what is it to be repelled of God,
save not to be aided? For human infirmity is
not equal to obeying His righteous and exalted
commandments, unless His love doth prevent
* "For the same Greek word is here too, namely, a4>65pa: as
though he wished himself to be forsaken of God, but not ' even
exceedingly.' " — T/te author.
5 2 Cor. v. 19. 6 Ecclus. vi. 18.
7 Luke xv. 12, etc.
8 Luke xv. 18.
562
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
and aid. But those whom He aideth not, these
He is justly said to repel. . . .
11. " Thy words have I hid within my heart,
that I may not sin against Thee" (ver. n).
He at once sought the Divine aid, lest the words
of God might be hidden without fruit in his
heart, unless works of righteousness followed.
For after saying this, he added, " Blessed art
Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy righteousnesses."
(ver. 12). "Teach me," he saith, as they learn
who do them ; not as they who merely remem-
ber them, that they may have somewhat to speak
of. Why then doth he say, " Teach me Thy
righteousnesses," save because he wisheth to
learn them by deeds, not by speaking or retaining
them in his memory? Since then, as it is read
in another Psalm, " He shall give blessing, who
gave the law ; " ' therefore, " Blessed art Thou,
O Lord," he saith, " O teach me Thy righteous-
ness." For because I have hidden Thy words
in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee,
Thou hast given a law ; give also the blessing of
Thy grace, that by doing right I may learn what
Thou by teaching hast commanded. . . .
12. " With my lips have I been telling of all the
judgments of Thy mouth" (ver. 13) ; that is, I
have kept silent nothing of Thy judgments, which
Thou didst will should become known to me
through Thy words, but I have been telling of
all of them without exception with my lips.
This he seemeth to me to signify, since he saith
not, all Thy judgments, but, " all the judgments
of Thy mouth ; " that is, which Thou hast re-
vealed unto me : that by His mouth we may
understand His word, which He hath discovered
unto us in many revelations of the Saints, and in
the two Testaments ; all which judgments the
Church ceaseth not to declare at all times with
her lips.
13. " I have had as great delight in the way of
Thy testimonies, as in all manner of riches "
(ver. 14). We understand that there is no more
speedy, no more sure, no shorter, no higher way
of the testimonies of God than Christ, " in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowl-
edge." ' Thence he saith that he hath had as
great delight in this way, as in all riches. Those
are the testimonies, by which He deigneth to
prove unto us how much He loveth us.3 . . .
14. "I will talk of Thy commandments, and
have respect unto Thy ways " 4 (ver. 15). And
thus the Church doth exercise herself in the com-
mandments of God, by speaking in the copious
1 Ps. lxxxiv. 6. " The rain also," etc.
8 Col. ii. 3. 3 Rom. v. 8, o; John xiv. 6; Rom. viii. 33.
* [He says: "The Greek word is, at>o\tax*)<ru, which the Latin
translators have rendered sometimes hy ' talking,' sometimes by
' being exercised in: ' and these seem different from one anoth r: but
if the exercise of the understanding be understood, with a certain
delight in uttering, they are connected with one another, and one
thing, in a manner, is made up of both, so that talking is not foreign
to tins sort of exercise,
made up
,"-C.j
disputations of the learned against all the ene-
mies of the Christian and Catholic faith ; which
are fruitful to those who compose them, if noth-
ing but the ways of the Lord is regarded in
them ; but " All the ways of the Lord are," as it
is written, " mercy and truth ; " 5 the fulness of
which both is found in Christ. Through this
sweet exercise is gained also what he subjoineth :
" My meditation shall be in Thy statutes, and I
will not forget Thy word" (ver. 16). "My
meditation " shall be therein, that I may not for-
get them. Thus the blessed man in the first
Psalm " shall meditate in the law " of the Lord
" day and night." 6 . . .
Gimel.
15. He had said, "Wherewithal shall a young
man cleanse his way? Even by keeping Thy
words." Behold he now more openly asketh
aid that he may do this : " Reward," he saith,
" Thy servant : let me live, and keep Thy word "
(ver. 17). ... It is this reward that he asketh,
who saith, " Reward Thy servant." For there are
four modes of reward : either ( 1 ) evil for evil, as
God will reward everlasting fire to the unright-
eous; or (2) good for good, as He will reward
an everlasting kingdom to the righteous ; or (3)
good for evil, as Christ by grace justifieth the
ungodly ; or (4) evil for good, as Judas and
the Jews through their wickedness persecuted
Christ. Of these four modes of reward, the first
two belong to justice, whereby evil is rewarded
for evil, good for good ; the third to mercy,
whereby good is rewarded for evil ; the fourth
God knoweth not, for to none doth He reward
evil for good. But that which I have placed
third in order, is in the first instance necessary :
for unless God rewarded good for evil, there
would be none to whom He could reward good
for good. . . .
16. Nowhere then let human pride raise itself
up : God giveth good rewards unto His own
gifts. ...
1 7. " Open Thou mine eyes, and I will con-
sider wondrous things of Thy law" (ver. 18).
What he addeth, " I am a lodger upon earth "
(ver. 19) : or, as some copies read, "I am a
sojourner upon earth, O hide not Thy com-
mandments from me," hath the same mean-
ing. ...
18. Here an important question ariseth re-
specting the soul. For the words, I am a
sojourner, or lodger, or stranger upon earth,'
cannot seem to have been said in reference to
the body, since the body derives its origin from
5 Ps xxvi. 9. 6 Ps. xxv. ro.
? [He says: "The Greek word wopotxo? is variously rendered
by our translators, incoln, iHaitih'ttus, or advena. Lodycrs
(inquJltHi) who have no house of their own, dwell in another
man's: but sojourners (incolcr), or strangers {advenes) , aie spoken
of as foreigners (advtlttitii)," — C]
Psalm CXIX]
ON THE PSALMS.
563
the earth. But in this most profound question
I dare not define anything. For if it might
justly have been said in respect of the soul
(which God forbid we should suppose derived
from the earth), "I am a lodger," or "stranger
upon earth ; " or in reference to the whole man,
since he was at one time an inhabitant of Para-
dise, where he who spake these words was not ;
or, what is more free from all controversy, if it
be not every man who could say this, but one
to whom an everlasting country hath been prom-
ised in heaven : this I know, " that the life of
man on earth is a temptation ; " ■ and that " there
is a heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam." 2 But
it pleaseth me more to discuss the question in
accordance with this construction, that we say
we are tenants or strangers upon earth, because
we have found our country above, whence we
have received a pledge, and where when we have
arrived we shall never depart.' . . .
19. Those whose conversation 4 is in heaven,
as far as they abide here conversant, are in truth
strangers. Let them pray therefore that the
commandments of God may not be hidden from
them, whereby they may be freed from this
temporary sojourn, by loving God, with whom
they will be for evermore ; and by loving their
neighbour, that he may be there where they also
themselves will be.
20. But what is loved by loving, if love itself
be not loved? Whence by consequence that
stranger upon earth, after praying that the com-
mandments of God might, not be hidden from
him, wherein love is enjoined either solely or
principally ; declareth that he desireth to have a
love for love itself, saying, " My soul hath coveted
to have a desire ahvay after Thy judgments"
(ver. 20). This coveting is worthy of praise,
not of condemnation. . . .
21. But he saith not, " coveteth," only ; but,
" My soul hath coveted to desire Thy judgments."
For there is no obstacle to possessing the judg-
ments of God, save that they are not desired,
while love hath no warmth toward winning them,
though their light is so clear and shining. . . .
22. "Thou hast rebuked the proud : and cursed
are they that do err from Thy commandments "
(ver. 21). For the proud err from the com-
mandments of God. For it is one thing not to
fulfil the commandments of God through in-
firmity or ignorance ; another to err from them
through pride ; as they have done, who have
begotten us in our mortal state unto these evils.
. . . But consider now, after saying, " Thou hast
rebuked the proud," he saith not, Cursed are
they that have erred from Thy commandments ;
so that only that sin of the first men should
Job vii. i.
3 IHere follows a homily, accordingly. — C.J
4 Citizenship. Philip, iti. 19, 30.
* Ecclus. xl. 1.
come into the mind ; but he saith, " Cursed are
they that do err." For it was needful that all
might be terrified by that example, that they
might not err from the divine commandments,
and by loving righteousness in all time, recover
in the toil of this world, what we lost in the
pleasure of Paradise.
23. "O turn from me shame and rebuke ; for
I have sought out Thy testimonies " (ver. 22).
Testimonies are called in Greek /jLaprvpta, which
word we now use for the Latin word : whence
those who on account of their testimony to
Christ have been brought low by various suffer-
ings, and have contended unto death for the
truth, are not called testes, but by the Greek
term Martyrs.5 Since then ye hear in this term
one more familiar and grateful, let us take these
words as if it.were said, " O turn from me shame
and rebuke; because I have sought out Thy mar-
tyrdoms." When the body of Christ speaketh
thus, doth it consider it any punishment to hear
rebuke and shame from the ungodly and the
proud, since it rather reacheth the crown by this
means ? Why then doth it pray that it should
be removed from it as something heavy and
insupportable, save because, as I said, it prayeth
for its very enemies, to whom it seeth it is destruc-
tive, to cast the holy name of Christ as a reproach
to Christians. . . . For my enemies, whom Thou
enjoinest to be loved by me, who more and more
die and are lost, when they despise Thy martyr-
doms and accuse them in me, will indeed be
recalled to life and be found, if they reverence
Thy martyrdoms in me. Thus it hath happened :
this we see. Behold, martyrdom in the name of
Christ, both with men and in this world, is not
only not a disgrace, but a great ornament :
behold, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in
the sight of men, " precious is the death of His
Saints ; " 6 behold, His martyrs are not only not de-
spised, but honoured with great distinctions. . . .
24. " Princes also did sit and speak against
me : but Thy servant is exercised in Thy stat-
utes " (ver. 23). Thou who desirest to know
what sort of exercise this was, understand what
he hath added, " For Thy testimonies are my
meditation, and Thy statutes are my counsel-
lors" (ver. 24). Remember what I have above
instructed you, that testimonies are acts of mar-
tyrdom. Remember that among the statutes of
the Lord there is none more difficult and more
worthy of admiration, than that every man should
love his enemies.7 Thus then the body of Christ
was exercised, so that it meditated on the acts
of martyrdom that testified of Him, and loved
those from whom, while they rebuked and de-
spised the Church for these very martyrdoms,
she suffered persecutions. . . .
s Either word means '
6 Ps. cxvi. 15.
7 Matt. v. 44.
564
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
Daleth.
25. " My soul cleaveth to the pavement : O
quicken Thou me according to Thy word "
(ver. 25). What meaneth, "My soul cleaveth
to the pavement, O quicken Thou me according
to Thy word " ? . . . If we look upon the whole
world as one great house, we see that the heavens
represent its vaulting, the earth therefore will
be its pavement. He wisheth thereforeto be
rescued from earthly things, and to say with the
Apostle, " Our conversation ' is in heaven."
To cling therefore to earthly things is the soul's
death; the contrary of which evil, life is prayed
for, when he saith, " O quicken Thou me."
26. . . . The body itself also, because it is of
the earth, is reasonably understood by the word
pavement ; since, because it is still corruptible and
weigheth down the soul,2 we justly groan while
in it, and say unto God, " O quicken Thou me."
For we shall not be without our bodies when we
shall be for evermore with the Lord ; 3 but then,
because they will not be corruptible, nor will
they weigh down our souls, if we view it strictly,
we shall not cleave unto them, but they rather
unto us, and we unto God. . . .
27. For what he was by himself, he confesseth
in the following words : " I have acknowledged
my ways, and Thou heardest me" (ver. 26).
Some copies indeed read, " Thy ways : " but
more, and the best Greek, read " my ways," that
is, evil ways. For he seemeth to me to say this ;
I have confessed my sins, and Thou hast heard
me ; that is, so that Thou wouldest remit them.
" 0 teach me Thy statutes." I have acknowl-
edged my ways : Thou hast blotted them out :
teach me Thine. So teach me, that I may act ;
not merely that I may know how I ought to act.
For as it is said of the Lord, that He knew not
sin,4 and it is understood, that He did no sin ;
so also he ought truly to be said to know right-
eousness, who doeth it. This is the prayer of
one who is improving. . . .
28. Finally he addeth, " Intimate to me the
way of Thy righteousness" (ver. 27); or, as
some copies have it, " instruct me ; " which is
expressed more closely from the Greek, " Make
me to understand the way of Thy righteous-
nesses ; so shall I be exercised in Thy wondrous
things." These higher commandments, which
he desireth to understand by edification, he call-
eth the wondrous things of God. There are
then some righteousnesses of God so wondrous,
that human weakness may be believed incapable
of fulfilling them by those who have not tried.
Whence the Psalmist, struggling and wearied
with the difficulty of obeying them, saith, " My
soul hath slumbered for very heaviness : O stab-
1 Citizenship. Philip, iii. ao.
* 1 Thess. iy. 17.
4 a Cor. v. 81.
» Wisd. ix. 15.
lish Thou me with Thy word ! " (ver. 28) . What
meaneth, hath slumbered? save that he hath
cooled in the hope which he had entertained of
being able to reach them. But, he addeth,
" Stablish Thou me with Thy word : " that I
may not by slumbering fall away from those
duties which I feel that I have already attained :
stablish Thou me therefore in those words of
Thine that I already hold, that I may be able
to reach unto others through edification.
29. "Take Thou from me the way of iniquity "
(ver. 29). And since the law of works hath
entered in, that sin might abound ; s he addeth,
"And pity me according to Thy law." By what
law, save by the law of faith? Hear the Apos-
tle: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded.
By what law? Of works. Nay: but by the
law of faith."6 This is the law of faith, whereby
we believe and pray that it may be granted us
through grace ; that we may effect that which
we cannot fulfil through ourselves ; that we may
not, ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish our own, fail to submit our-
selves unto the righteousness of God.7
30. But after he had said, " And pity me ac-
cording to Thy law ; " he mentioneth some of
those blessings which he hath already obtained,
that he may ask others that he hath not yet
gained. For he saith, " I have chosen the way
of truth : and Thy judgments I have not for-
gotten " (ver. 30). " I have stuck unto Thy testi-
monies : O Lord, confound me not " (ver. 31) :
may I persevere in striving toward the point
whereunto I am running : may I arrive whither
I am running ! So then " it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy." 8 He next saith, " I will run
the way of Thy commandments, when Thou
hast widened my heart" (ver. 32). I could not
run hadst Thou not widened my heart. The
sense of the words, " I have chosen the way of
truth, and Thy judgments I have not forgotten :
I have stuck unto Thy testimonies," is clearly
explained in this verse. For this running is
along the way of the commandments of God.
And because he doth allege unto the Lord rather
His blessings than his own deservings ; as if it
were said unto him, How hast thou run that way,
by choosing, and by not forgetting the judgments
of God, and by sticking to His testimonies?
Couldest thou do these things by thyself? I
could not, he replieth. It is not therefore
through my own will, as though it needed no
aid of Thine ; but because " Thou has widened
my heart." The widening of the heart is the
delight we take in righteousness. This is the
gift of God, the effect of which is, that we are
not straitened in His commandments through
5 Rom. v. ao.
8 Rom. ix. 16.
* Rom. iii. 2j.
• Rom. x. 3.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
565
the fear of punishment, but widened through
love, and the delight we have in righteous-
ness.
He.
31. In this great Psalm there cometh next in
order that which, with the Lord's help, we must
consider and treat of. " Set a law for me, O
Lord, the way of Thy statutes, and I shall seek
italway" (ver. 33). • • •
32. Why doth this man still pray for a law to
be laid down for him ; which, if it had not been
laid down for him, he could not have run the
way of God's commandments in the breadth of
his heart? But since one speaketh who is
growing in grace, and who knoweth that it is
God's gift that he profiteth in grace ; what else
doth he pray, when he prayeth that a law may
be laid down for him, save that he may profit
more and more ? As, if thou holdest a full cup,
and givest it to a thirsty man ; he both exhausts
it by drinking it, and prayeth for it by still long-
ing for it. . . .
33. But what meaneth, "Evermore"? . . .
Doth " evermore " mean as long as we live here,
because we progress in grace so long ; but after
this life, he who was in a good course of im-
provement here, is made perfect there? . . .
Here the law of God is examined into, as long
as we progress in it, both by knowing it and by
loving it : but there its fulness abideth for our
enjoyment, not for our examination. Thus also
is this spoken, "Seek His face evermore.'"
Where, evermore, save here ? For we shall not
there also seek the face of God, when " we shall
see face to face." 2 Or if that which is loved
without a change of affection is rightly said to
be sought after, and our only object is, that it be
not lost, we shall indeed evermore seek the law
of God, that is, the truth of God : for in this
very Psalm it is said, "And Thy law is the
truth." 3 It is now sought, that it may be held
fast ; it will then be held fast that it may not be
lost. . . .
34. " Give me understanding, and I shall search
Thy law, yea, I shall keep it with my whole
heart" (ver. 34). For when each man hath
searched the law, and searched its deep things,
in which its whole meaning doth consist ; he
ought indeed to love God with all his heart,
with all his soul, with all his mind ; and his
neighbour as himself. " For on these two com-
mandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." 4
This he seemeth to have promised, when he
said, " Yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart."
35. But since he hath no power to do even
this, save he be aided by Him who commandeth
him to do what He commandeth, " Make me,"
he addeth, " to go in the path of Thy com-
mandments, for therein is my desire" (ver. 35).
My desire is powerless, unless Thou Thyself
makest me to go where I desire. And this is
surely the very path, that is, the path of God's
commandments, which he had already said that
he had run, when his heart was enlarged by the
Lord. And this he calleth a " path," because
" the way is narrow which leadeth unto life ; " 5
and since it is narrow, we cannot run therein
save with a heart enlarged. . . .
36. He next saith, " Incline mine heart unto
Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness " (ver.
36). This then he prayeth, that he may profit
in the will itself.6 ... But the Apostle saith,
" Avarice is a root of all evils." 7 But in the
Greek, whence these words have been rendered
into our tongue, the word used by the Apostle is
not TrXeow&'a, which occurs in this passage of the
Psalms; but <j>i\apyvpia, by which is signified
"love of money." But the Apostle must be
understood to have meant genus by species
when he used this word, that is, to have meant
avarice universally and generally by love of
money, which is truly the root of all evils.8 . . .
If therefore our heart be not inclined to cove-
tousness, we fear God only for God's sake, so
that He is the only reward of our serving Him.
Let us love Him in Himself, let us love Him in
ourselves, Him in our neighbours whom we love
as ourselves, whether they have Him, or in order
that they may have Him. . . .
37. The next words in the Psalm which we have
undertaken tc expound are, " O turn away mine
eyes, lest they behold vanity : and quicken Thou
me in Thy way" (ver. 37). Vanity and truth
are directly contrary to one another. The de-
sires of this world are vanity : but Christ, who
freeth us from the world, is truth. He is the
way, too, wherein this man wisheth to be quick-
ened, for He is also the life : " I am the way,
the truth, and the life," •> are His own words.
38. . . . He prayeth that those eyes wherewith
we consider on what account we do what we do,
may be turned away that they behold not vanity ;
that is, that he may not look to vanity, as his
motive, when he doeth anything good. In this
vanity the first place is held by the love of men's
praise, on account of which many great deeds
have been wrought by those who are styled
great in this world, and who have been much
praised in heathen states, seeking glory not with
God, but among men, and on account of this
1 Ps. cv. 4.
« Malt, xxii. 37-40.
* 1 Cor. xiii. la. 3 P». cxix. 14a.
S Matt. vii. 14. • ' . * .. ,
» [He says: "He useth here a Greek expression, from which
covetousness generally may be understood, whereby every man
seeketh more than is enough: for the word irAtoi- meaneth »wre,m&
Ifit signifieth having, being derived from the verb to have. It is
therefore termed irA<oi-«{to, from having too much: a word which
the Latin .translators in this passage have variously rendered by
emolument, utility, and avarice, which last is best,' — C. |
? 1 'rim. vi. 10.
8 Gen. iii. 5.
9 John xiv. 6.
566
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
living in appearance prudently, courageously,
temperately, and righteously ; and when they
have reached this they have reached their re-
ward : vain men, and vain reward.' . . . More-
over, if it be a vain thing to do good works for
the sake of men's praises, how much more vain
for the sake of getting money, or increasing it,
or retaining it, and any other temporal advan-
tage, which cometh unto us from without ? Since
" all things are vanity : what is man's abundance,
with all his toil, wherein he laboureth under the
sun?"J For our temporal welfare itself finally
we ought not to do our good works, but rather
for the sake of that everlasting welfare which we
hope for, where we may enjoy an unchangeable
good, which we shall have from God, nay, what
God Himself is unto us. For if God's Saints
were to do good works for the sake of this tem-
poral welfare, never would the martyrs of Christ
achieve a good work of confession in the loss of
this same welfare. . . .
39. " O stablish Thy word in Thy servant, that
I may fear Thee " (ver. 38). And what else is
this than, Grant unto me that I may do accord-
ing to what Thou sayest ? For the word of God
is not stablished in those who remove it in them-
selves by acting contrary to it ; but it is stab-
lished in those in whom it is immoveable. God
therefore stablisheth His word, that they may
fear Him, in those unto whom He giveth the
spirit of the fear of Him ; not that fear of which
the Apostle saith, "Ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear ; " 3 for " per-
fect love casteth out " this " fear," 4 but that
fear which the Prophet calleth " the spirit of
the fear of the Lord ; " 5 that fear which " is
pure, and endureth for ever ; " 6 that fear which
feareth to offend Him whom it loveth.
40. " Take away my reproach which I have sus-
pected, for Thy judgments are sweet " (ver. 39).
Who is he who suspected his own reproach, and
who doth not know his own reproach better than
that of his neighbour? For a man may rather
suspect another's than his own ; since he know-
eth not that which he suspecteth ; but in each
one's own reproach there is not suspicion for
him, but knowledge, wherein conscience speak-
eth. What then mean the words, " the rebuke
which I have suspected " ? The meaning of
them must be derived from the former verse ;
since as long as a man doth not turn away his
eyes lest they behold vanity, he suspecteth in
others what is going on in himself; so that he
believeth another to worship God, or do good
works, from the same motive as himself. For
men can see what we do, but with a view to what
end we act, is hidden. . . .
41. "Behold, I have coveted Thy com-
• Matt. vi. 1.
* 1 John iv. 18.
' Ecclet. i. a, 3.
3 lia. xi. a.
3 Rom._ viii. 15.
6 Pi. xix. 9.
mandments -. ' O quicken Thou me in Thy
righteousness" (ver. 40). Behold, I have cov-
eted to love Thee with all my heart, and
with all my soul, and with all my mind, and
my neighbour as myself, but, " O quicken Thou
me " not in my own, but " in Thy righteousness,"
that is, fill me with that love which I have
longed for. Aid me that I may do that which
Thou chargest me : Thyself give what Thou dost
command. " O quicken Thou me in Thy right-
eousness : " for in myself I had that which
would cause my death : but I find not save in
Thee whence I may live. Christ is Thy right-
eousness, " Who of God is made unto us wisdom,"
etc.7 And in Him I find Thy commandments,
which I have coveted, that in Thy righteousness,
that is, in Him, Thou mayest quicken me.
For the Word Himself is God ; and " the Word
was made flesh," 8 that He Himself also might be
my neighbour.
Vau.
42. "And let Thy loving mercy come also
unto us, O Lord " (ver. 41). This sentence
seems annexed to the foregoing : for he doth
not say, Let it come unto me, but, "And let it
come unto me." . . . What then doth he here
pray for, save that through His loving mercy
who commanded, he may perform the com-
mandments which he hath coveted? For he
explaineth in some degree what he meant by
adding, " even Thy salvation, according to Thy
word : " that is, according to Thy promise.
Whence the Apostle desireth us to be under-
stood as the children of promise : ' that we may
not imagine that what we are is our own work,
but refer the whole to the grace of God._ . . .
Christ Himself is the Salvation of God, so
that the whole body of Christ may say, " By the
grace of God I am what I am." ,0
43. "And so shall I make answer," he saith,
" to them that reproach me with the word " (ver.
42). It is doubtful whether it be "reproach
me with a word ; " or, " I will answer with a
word ; " but either signifieth Christ. They to
whom Christ crucified is a stumbling-block or
foolishness," reproach us with Him ; ignorant
that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in
us ; " 8 the Word which " was in the beginning,"
and "was with God, and was God."" But
although they may not reproach us with the
Word which is unknown unto them, because His
Divinity is not known unto those by whom His
weakness on the Cross is despised ; let us never-
theless make answer of the Word, and let us not
be terrified or confounded by their reproaches.
For " if they had known " the Word, " they
7 1 Cor. i. 30, 31.
9 Rom. ix. 8.
11 1 Cor. i. 83.
* John i. 14.
10 1 Cor. xv. :o.
" John i. t.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
567
would never have crucified the Lord of glory." '
. . . Therefore, when the Psalmist had said, " I
will make answer unto them that reproach me
with the word : " he at once addeth, " For my
trust is in Thy words," which meaneth exactly,
in Thy promises.
44. " O take not the word of Thy truth away
out of my mouth even exceedingly" (ver. 43).
He saith, out of my mouth, because the unity
of the body is speaking, among whose members
those also are counted who failed at the hour by
denying, but by penitence afterwards came again
to life, or even, by renewing their confession,
received the palm of martyrdom, which they had
lost. The word of truth, therefore, was not
" even exceedingly," or, as some copies have it,
even every way, that is not altogether taken from
the mouth of Peter, in whom was the type of
the Church ; because although he denied for
the hour, being disturbed with fear, yet by weep-
ing he was restored,2 and by confessing was after-
wards crowned. The whole body of Christ
therefore speaketh. . . . Next followeth, " for I
have hoped in Thy judgments." Or, as some
have more strictly rendered it from the Greek,
" I have hoped more ;" 3 a word which, although
compounded in a somewhat unusual way, yet
answers the necessary purpose of conveying the
truth in a translation. . . . Behold the saints
and the humble in heart when they have trusted
in Thee, have not failed in persecutions : behold
also those who from trusting in themselves have
failed, and nevertheless have belonged to the
Very Body, have wept when they became known
unto themselves, and have found Thy grace a
more solid support, because they have lost their
own pride.
45 . "So shall I alway keep Thy law " (ver. 44) :
that is, if Thou wilt not take the word of Thy
truth out of my mouth. " Yea, unto age, and
age of age : " he showeth what he meant by
" alway." For sometimes by " alway " is meant,
as long as we live here ; but this is not, " unto
age, and age of age."4 For it is better thus
translated than as some copies have, "to eternity,
and to age of age," since they could not say,
and to eternity of eternity. That law therefore
should be understood, of which the Apostle saith,
"Love is the fulfilling of the law."' For this
will be kept by the saints, from whose mouth the
word of truth is not taken, that is, by the Church
of Christ Herself, not only during this world,
that is, until this world is ended ; but for another
also which is styled, " world without end." 6 . . .
46. "And I walked at liberty: for I sought
1 1 Cor. ii. 8. ' Matt. xxvi. 70-75. -
3 Supersperavi. Gr. en-ijAiriaa ; literally, as he takes it, " over-
hoped."
* The phrase in sacuhtm saculi is that which we usually render
" world without end," or, " for ever and ever."
* Rom. xiii. 10. 6 Lit. "age of age."
Thy precepts" (ver. 45). . . . "And I walked
at liberty." Here the copulative conjunction,
"and," is not used as a connecting particle ; for
he doth not say, and I will walk, as he had said,
" and I will keep Thy commandments for ever
and ever : " or if this latter verse be in the
optative mood, and may I keep Thy law ; he
doth not add, And may I walk at liberty, as if he
had desired and prayed for both of these things ;
but he saith, " And I walked at liberty." If
this conjunction were not used here, and if the
sentence were introduced free from any such
connection with what preceded, " I walked at
liberty," the reader would never be induced by
anything unusual in the mode of speech to think
he should seek for some hidden sense. Doubt-
less, then, he wished what he hath not said to be
understood, that is, that his prayers had been
heard ; and he then added what he had become :
as if he were to say, When I prayed for these
things, Thou heardest me, " And I walked at
liberty ; " and so with the remaining expressions
which he hath added to the same purpose.
47. . . . Whence after he had said, "And I
walked at liberty," he subjoined the reason,
" For I sought out Thy commandments." Some
copies have not " commandments " but " testi-
monies : " but we find " commandments " in
most, and especially in the Greek ; and who
would hesitate rather to believe this tongue, as
prior to our own/ and that from which these
Psalms have been rendered into Latin ? If then
we wish to know how he sought out these com-
mandments, or how they ought to be sought out,
let us consider what our good Master, who both
taught and gave them, saith : " Ask, and it shall
be given you." 8 And a little lower, " If ye
then," He saith, " being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in Heaven give good
things to them that ask Him."' Where He
evidently showeth, that the words He had spoken,
seek, ask, knock, belong only to earnestness in
asking, that is, in praying. Moreover, another
Evangelist saith not, He will give good things to
them that ask Him ; which may be understood
in many ways, either as earthly or spiritual
blessings ; but has excluded other interpreta-
tions, and very carefully expressed what our
Lord wished us to pray earnestly and instantly
for, in these words : " How much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him." ,0 . . .
48. " I spoke of Thy testimonies also," he
saith, " before kings, and I was not ashamed "
(ver. 46) : as one who had sought and had
7 [A noteworthy tribute to the Septuagint as compared with the
Vulgate. -CI
■ Matt. vii. 7. 9 Matt. vii. n.
10 Luke xi. 13. [The sevenfoU gifts. — C. j
568
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[PSAI.M CXIX.
received grace to answer those who reproached
him with the word, and the promise that the
word of truth should not be taken from his
mouth. Struggling for this truth even unto
death, not even before kings was he ashamed to
speak of it. For testimonies, whereof he doth
avow that he was speaking, are in Greek styled
ItapTvpia, a word which we now employ instead
of the Latin. The name of " Martyrs," unto
whom Jesus foretold, that they should confess
Him even before kings,1 is derived hence.
49. " And I meditated," he saith, " on Thy
commandments, which I have loved " (ver. 47).
" My hands also have I lifted up unto Thy com-
mandments, which I have loved " (ver. 48) ;
or, as some copies read, " which I have loved
exceedingly," or " too much," or " vehemently,"
as they have chosen to render the Greek word
<r<f>68pa. He then loved the commandments of
God because he walked at liberty ; that is,
through the Holy Spirit, through whom love
itself is shed abroad,2 and enlargeth the hearts
of the faithful. But he loved, both in thought
and in acts. With a view to thought, he saith,
" And I rneditated : " as to action, " My hands
also have I lifted up." But to both sentences
he hath annexed the words, " which I have
loved : " for " the end of the commandment is
love out of a pure heart." 3 . . . The following
words, "And my study was in Thy statutes,"
relate to both. This expression most of the
translators have preferred to this, " I rejoiced
in," or " I talked of," a version which some
have given from the Greek TjSoKia-xow. For he
who keepeth the commandments of God, which
he loveth, both in thought and in works taking
delight in them, is exercised with joy, and with
a certain abundance of speech, in the judgments
of God.
Zain.
50. " O remember Thy word unto Thy servant,
wherein Thou hast given me hope" (ver. 49).
Is forgetfulness incident to God, as it is to man ?
Why then is it said unto Him, " O remember " ?
Although in other passages of holy Scripture
this very word is used, as, " Why hast Thou
forgotten me?"« and, "Wherefore forgettest
Thou our misery? "5 . . . These expressions
are borrowed from moral discourses on human
affections ; although God doth these things ac-
cording to a fixed dispensation, With no failing
memory, nor with an understanding obscured,
nor with a will changed. When therefore it is
said unto Him, "O remember," the desire of
him who prayeth is displayed, because he asketh
for what was promised ; God is not admonished,
as if the promise had escaped from His mind.
1 Matt. x. 18.
« P». xtii. 9.
* Rom. v. 5.
> P». xliv. 14.
» 1 Tim. i. j.
"O remember," he saith, "Thy word unto Thy
servant : " that is, fulfil Thy promise to Thy
servant. " Wherein Thou hast given me hope : "
that is, in Thy Word, since Thou hast promised,
Thou hast caused me to hope.
51. "The same is my comfort in my humilia-
tion" (ver. 50). Namely, that hope which is
given to the humble, as the Scripture saith :
" God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto
the humble." 6 Whence also our Lord Himself
saith with His own lips, " For whosoever exalteth
himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted." 7 We well understand
here that humiliation also, not whereby each
man humbleth himself by confessing his sins,
and by not arrogating righteousness to himself ;
but when each man is humbled by some tribu-
lation or mortification which his pride deserved ;
or when he is exercised and proved by endur-
ance ; 8 whence a little after this Psalm saith,
" Before I was troubled, I went wrong." . . .
And the Lord Jesus, when He foretold that this
humiliation would be brought upon His disciples
by their persecutors, did not leave them without
a hope ; but gave them one, whereby they might
find comfort, in these words : " In your patience
shall ye possess your souls ; " and declared even
of their very bodies, which might be put to
death by their enemies, and seemingly be utterly
annihilated, that not a hair of their heads should
perish.' This hope was given to Christ's Body,
that is, to the Church, that it might be a comfort
to Her in her humiliation. . . . This hope He
gave in the prayer which He taught us, where
He enjoined us to say, " Lead us not into
temptation : " IO for He in a manner implicitly
promised that He would give to His disciples in
their danger that which He taught them to ask
for in their prayers. And indeed this Psalm is
rather to be understood to speak of this hope :
" For Thy word hath quickened me." Which
they have rendered more closely who have put
not "word," but "utterance." For the Greek
has \6yiov, which is " utterance ; " not \6yos,
which is " word."
52. The next verse is, "The proud dealt ex-
ceeding wickedly : yet have I not shrinked from
Thy law" (ver. 51). By the proud he wished
to be understood the persecutors of the pious ;
and he therefore added, " yet have I not shrinked
from Thy laws," because the persecution of the
proud attempted to force him to do this. He
saith that they dealt " exceeding wickedly,"
because they were not only wicked themselves,
but even tried to make the godly wicked. In
this humiliation, that is, in this tribulation, that
hope comforted him which was given in the
word of God, who promised aid, that the faith
6 Jas. iv. 6 and i Pet. v.
8 Kcclus. ii. 4, 5. 9
L7 Luke xiv. it and xviii. 14,
uke xxi. 17, 18. I0 Matt. vi. 13.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
569
of the Martyrs might not faint ; and who by the
presence of His Spirit gave strength fo them in
their toils, that they might escape from the snare
of the fowlers.' . . .
53. " For I was mindful of Thy judgments
from the beginning of the world, O Lord, and
received comfort" (ver. 52) ; or, as other copies
have it, " and I was exhorted," that is, I received
exhortation. For either might be rendered for
the Greek TrapeKk-qd-qv. " From the beginning
of the world," that is, from the birth of the
human race, " I was mindful of Thy judgments "
upon the vessels of wrath, which are fitted unto
perdition : " and I received comfort," since
through these also hast Thou shown the riches
of Thy glory on the vessels of Thy mercy.2
54. " Weariness hath held me ; for the ungodly
that forsake Thy law " (ver. 53). "Thy statutes
have been my songs in the house of my pilgrim-
age " (ver. 54). This is the low estate, in the
house of mortality, of the man who sojourneth
away from Paradise and the Jerusalem above,
whence one going down to Jericho fell among
robbers ; but, in consequence of the deed of
mercy which was done him by that Samaritan,3
the statutes of God became his song in the house
of his pilgrimage ; although he was weary for the
ungodly that forsook the law of God, since he
was compelled to converse with them for a
season in this life, until the floor be threshed.
But these two verses may be adapted to the two
clauses of the preceding verse, respectively.
55. " I have thought upon Thy Name, 6* Lord,
in the night-season, and have kept Thy law "
(ver. 55). Night is that low estate wherein is
the trouble of mortality ; night is in the proud
who deal exceeding wickedly ; night is the fear
for the ungodly who forsake the law of the Lord ;
night is, lastly, the house of this pilgrimage,
" until the Lord come, and bring to light the
hidden things of darkness, and will make mani-
fest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall
every man have praise of God." 4 In this night,
therefore, man ought to remember the Name of
the Lord ; " So that he who glorieth, may glory
in the Lord." 5
56. Considering this, he addeth, "This was
made unto me, because I sought out Thy right-
eousnesses " (ver. 56). " Thy " righteousnesses,
whereby Thou dost justify the ungodly; not
mine, which never make me godly, but proud.
For this man was not one of those who, " igno-
rant of God's righteousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not sub-
mitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God."6 Others have better interpreted these
righteousnesses, as those whereby men are
justified for nought through God's grace, though
1 Ps. cxxiv. 2.
4 1 Cor. iv. 5.
2 Rom. ix. 22, 23.
* 1 Cor. i. 31.
3 Luke x. 30, 37.
6 Rom. x. 3.
by themselves they cannot be righteous, "justifica-
tions." 7 But what meaneth, " This was made
unto me " ? What is " This " ? It is perhaps the
law? as he had said, " and I have kept Thy law ; "
to which he subjoins, " This was made unto me,"
meaning, " This was made my law." We must
therefore enquire first what was thus made
unto him, next in what manner, whatever
it may have been, was made unto him.
"This," he saith, "was made unto me:" not
"This law," for the Greek, as I have said,
refuseth this sense. Perhaps then, " This
night : " since the preceding sentence stands
thus : " I have thought upon Thy Name, O
Lord, in the night-season : " and the next words
are, " This was made unto me : " since then it
is not the law, it must truly be the night which
is thus spoken of. What then meaneth, " I had
the night-season : for I have sought out Thy
righteousnesses " ? Rather light had come unto
him than night, since he sought out the right-
eousnesses of God. And it is thus rightly
understood, " It was made unto me," as if it
were said, It became night for my sake, that is,
that it might profit me. For that low estate of
mortality is not absurdly understood as night,
where the hearts of mortals are hid to one
another, so that from such darkness innumerable
and heavy temptations arise. . . .
Cheth.
5 7. Let us hear what followeth : " I have prom-
ised to keep Thy law." What meaneth, " My
portion, O Lord : I have promised to keep Thy
law" (ver. 57) ; save because the Lord will be
each man's portion then, when he hath kept His
law? Consider therefore what he subjoineth :
" I entreated Thy face, with my whole heart : "
and saying in what manner he prayed : " O be
merciful," he saith, " unto me, according to
Thy word " (ver. 58). And as if he had been
heard and aided by Him whom he prayed unto,
" I thought," he saith, " on mine own ways, and
turned away my feet unto Thy testimonies "
(ver. 59). That is, I turned them away from
mine own ways, which displeased me, that they
might follow Thy testimonies, and there might
find a path. For most of the copies have not,
" Because I thought," as is read in some ; but
only, " I thought." But what is here written,
" and I turned away my feet : " some read,
" Because I thought, Thou also hast turned
away my feet : " that this may rather be ascribed
to the grace of God, according to the Apostle's
words, " For it is God who worketh in us." 8 . . .
7 [He says: " Since the Greek hath not tiiKaioavvai, that is, acts
of righteousness; but 6i«<uuiuaTa, acts of justification. . . . For the
Greek words whence these Latin words have been translated, suffi-
ciently declare that it could not have been said of the law, for the
word law is in Greek of the masculine gender, and the feminine pro-
noun is used m the Greek text as well.' — C.J
8 Philip, it. 13.
57Q
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
58. Lastly, when he had received this blessing
of grace, he saith, " I was ready, and was not
disturbed, that I may keep Thy command-
ments" (ver. 60). Which some have ren-
dered, " to keeping Thy commandments," some
" that I should keep," others " to keep," the
Greek being tov <t>vkd.$cur6ac.
59. But in what manner he was ready to keep
the divine commandments, he hath added, in
these words : " The bands of the ungodly have
surrounded me : but I have not forgotten Thy
law" (ver. 61). "The bands of the ungodly "
are the hindrances of our enemies, whether
spiritual, as the devil and his angels, or carnal,
the children of disobedience, in whom the devil
worketh." For this word peccatorum is not from
peccata, " sins;" but from peccatores, " sinners."
Therefore when they threaten evils, with which to
alarm the righteous, that they may not suffer for
the law of God, they, so to speak, entangle them
with bands, with a strong and tough cord of
their own. For " they draw iniquity like a long
rope," * and thus endeavour to entangle the holy,
and sometimes are allowed so to do.
60. "At midnight," he saith, " I rise to give
thanks unto Thee : because of Thy righteous
judgments" (ver. 62). This very fact, that the
bands of the ungodly surround the righteous, is
one of the righteous judgments of God. On
which account the Apostle Peter saith, " The time
is come when judgment must begin at the house
of the Lord." ' For he saith this of the persecu-
tions which the Church suffered, when the bands
of the ungodly surrounded them. I suppose,
therefore, that by " midnight " we should under-
stand the heavier seasons of tribulation. In
which he said, " I arose : " since He did not so
afflict him, as to cast him down ; but tried him,
so that he arose, that is, that through this very
tribulation he might advance unto a bolder
confession.
61. For I imagine that what followeth, " I am
a companion of all them that fear Thee, and keep
Thy commandments " (ver. 63), doth relate to
the Head Himself, as it is in the Epistle which
is inscribed to the Hebrews : " Both He that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of
one : for which cause He is not ashamed to call
them brethren." « . . . Therefore Jesus Himself
speaketh in this prophecy : some things in His
Members and in the Unity of His Body, as if in
one man diffused over the whole world, and
growing up in succession throughout the roll of
ages: and some things in Himself our Head.
And on this account, that since He became the
companion of His brethren, God of men, the
Immortal of the mortal, for this reason the seed
fell upon the earth, that by its death it might
1 Eph. ii. 2.
* Heb. ii. n, 14.
* 1». v. 18. a 1 p«. iv. i7.
produce much fruit ; he next addeth concerning
this very fruit, " The earth, O Lord, is full of
Thy mercy" (ver. 64). And whence this,
save when the ungodly is justified? That we
may make progress in the knowledge of this
grace, he addeth, " O teach me Thy righteous-
nesses ! "
Teth.
62. " Thou hast dealt in sweetness with Thy
servant : according unto Thy word ; " or rather,
"according unto Thine utterance" (ver. 65).
The Greek word xpwr°Tr)'> hath been variously
rendered by our translators by the words " sweet-
ness " and " goodness." But since sweetness
may exist also in evil, since all unlawful and
unclean things afford pleasure, and it may also
exist in that carnal pleasure which is permitted ;
we ought to understand the word " sweetness,"
which the Greeks termed ^p^oron??, of spiritual
blessings : for on this account our translators
have preferred to term it " goodness." I think
therefore that nothing else is meant by the words,
"Thou hast dealt in sweetness with Thy ser-
vant," than this, Thou hast made me feel delight
in that which is good. For when that which is good
delighteth, it is a great gift of God. But when
the good work which the law commandeth is done
from a fear of punishment, not from a delight
in righteousness, when God is dreaded, not loved ;
it is the act of a slave, not of a freeman.5
63. "O learn me sweetness, and understanding,
and knowledge," he saith, " for I have believed
Thy commandments" (ver. 66). He prayeth
these things may be increased and perfected. For
they who said, " Lord, increase our faith," 6 had
faith. And as long as we live in this world, these
are the words of those who are making progress.
But he addeth, "understanding," or, as most
copies read, " discipline." Now the word dis-
cipline, for which the Greeks use TraiSeto, is em-
ployed in Scripture, where instruction through
tribulation is to be understood : according to
the words, " Whom the Lord loveth He disci-
plineth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiv-
eth." ' In the literature of the Church this is
usually called discipline. For this word, irot8eia,8is
used in the Greek in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
where the Latin translator saith, " No discipline
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but griev-
ous," etc.9 He therefore toward whom the Lord
dealeth in sweetness, that is, he in whom He
mercifully inspires delight in that which is good,
ought to pray instantly, that this gift may be
so increased unto him, that he may not only
despise all other delights in comparison with it,
but also that he may endure any amount of suf-
' John viii. 35; 1 John iv. 18. • Luke xvii. 5.
7 Heb. xti. 6.
8 [See Clement, A. N. F. vol. ii. p. aij.1
9 Heb. xii. ii. F i '
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
571
ferings for its sake. Thus is discipline health-
fully added to sweetness. This discipline ought
not to be desired, and prayed for, for a small
measure of grace and goodness, that is, holy
love ; but for so great, as may not be extin-
guished by the weight of the chastening : ... so
much in fact as to enable him to endure with
the utmost patience the discipline. In the third
place is mentioned knowledge ; since, if knowl-
edge in its greatness outstrips the increase of
love, it doth not edify, but " puffeth up." ' . . .
64. But in that he saith, not, Give unto me ;
but, " O learn me ; " how is the sweetness
taught, if it be not given ? Since many know what
doth not delight them, and find no sweetness in
things of which they have knowledge. For
sweetness cannot be learnt, unless it please.
Also discipline, which signifieth the tribulation
which chasteneth, is learnt by receiving ; that is,
not by hearing, or reading, or thinking, but by
feeling. . . .
65. He addeth, " for I have believed Thy com-
mandments," and herein we may justly enquire,
why he said not, I obeyed, rather than, I believed.
For commandments are one thing, promises an-
other. We undertake to obey commandments,
that we may deserve to receive promises. We
therefore believe promises, obey command-
ments. . . . Teach me therefore sweetness by
inspiring charity, teach me discipline by giv-
ing patience, teach me knowledge by enlighten-
ing my understanding : " for I have believed
Thy commandments." I have believed that Thou
who art God, and who givest unto man whence
Thou mayest cause him to do what Thou com-
mandest, hast commanded these things.
66. "Before I was humbled, I went wrong;
wherefore I have kept Thy word" (ver. 67) ;
or, as some have it more closely, " Thy utter-
ance," that is, lest I should be humbled again.
This is better referred to that humiliation which
took place in Adam, in whom the whole human
creature, as it were, being corrupted at the root,
as it refused to be subject to truth, " was made
subject to vanity." 2 Which it was profitable to
the vessels of mercy to feel, that by throwing
down pride, obedience might be loved, and
misery perish, never again to return.
67. " Sweet art Thou, O Lord ; " or, as many
have it, " Sweet art Thou, even Thou, O Ix>rd "
(ver. 68). Some also, " Sweet art Thou," or,
" Good art Thou : " as we have before treated
of this word : " and in Thy sweetness teach me
Thy statutes." He truly desireth to do the
righteousnesses of God, since he desireth to
learn them in His sweetness from Him unto
whom he hath said, " Sweet art Thou, O Lord."
68. Next he saith, " The iniquity of the proud
hath been multiplied upon me" (ver. 69) : of
1 1 Cor. vni. 1.
2 Gen. iii. 17, etc.; Rom. viii. 20.
those, that is, whom it profited not that human
nature was humbled after it went wrong. " But
I will search Thy commandments with my whole
heart." Howsoever, he saith, iniquity shall
abound, love shall not grow cold in me.3 He,
as it were, saith this, who in His sweetness
learneth the righteousnesses of God. For in
proportion as the commandments of Him who
aideth us are the more sweet, so much the more
doth he who loveth Him search after them, that
he may perform them when known, and may learn
them by doing them ; because they are more per-
fectly understood when they are performed.
69. "Their heart is curdled as milk" (ver. 70).
Whose, save the proud, whose iniquity he hath
said hath been multiplied upon him ? But he
wisheth it to be understood by this word, and in
this passage, that their heart hath become hard.
It is used also in a good sense,'1 and is under-
stood to mean, full of grace : for this word, some
have also interpreted " curdled." . . .
70. " It is good forme that Thou hast humbled
me : that I might learn Thy righteousnesses "
(ver. 71). He hath said something kindred to
this above. For by the fruit itself he showeth
that it was a good thing for him to be humbled ;
but in the former passage he hath stated the
cause also, in that he had felt beforehand that
humiliation which resulted from his punishment,
when he went wrong. But in these words,
" Wherefore have I kept Thy word : " and again
in these, " That I might learn Thy righteous-
nesses : " he seemeth to me to have signified,
that to know these is the same thing as to keep
them, to keep them the same thing as to know
them. For Christ knew what He reproved ; and
yet He reproved sin, though it is said of Him
that " He knew not sin." s He knew therefore
by a kind of knowledge, and again He knew not
by a kind of ignorance. Thus also many learn
the righteousnesses of God, and learn them not.
For they know them in a certain way ; and
again do not know them from a kind of igno-
rance, since they do them not. In this sense
the Psalmist therefore is to be understood to
have said, That I might learn Thy righteous-
nesses," meaning that kind of knowledge where-
by they are performed.
71. But that this is not gained, save through
love, wherein he who doeth them hath delight,
on which account it is said, " In Thy sweetness
teach me Thy righteousnesses : " the following
verse showeth, wherein he saith, " The law of
Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands
of gold and silver" (ver. 72): so that love
loveth the law of God more than avarice loveth
thousands of .gold and silver.
* Matt. xxiv. 12.
* Ps. Ixviii. 15.
5 2 Cor. v. 21.
A hill that is cheesed, a rich hill."
572
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
Jod.
72. . . . "Thy hands have made me, and
fashioned me" (ver. 73). The hands of God
are the power of God. Or if the plural
number moveth them, since it is not said, Thy
hand, but, " Thy hands ; " let them understand
by the hands of God the power and wisdom
of God, both of which titles are given to one
Christ,' who is also understood under the fig-
ure, Arm of the Lord.2 Or let them under-
stand by the hands of God, the Son and the
Holy Spirit ; since the Holy Spirit worketh con-
jointly with the Father and the Son : whence
saith the Apostle, " But all these worketh that
one and the self-same Spirit : " 3 he said, " one
and the self-same ; " lest as many spirits as
works might be imagined, not that the Spirit
worketh without the Father and the Son. It
is easy therefore to see how the hands of God
are to be understood : provided, at the same
time, that He be not denied to do those things
through His Word which He doth by His hands :
nor be considered not to do those things with
His hands, which He doth through His word.
. . . But is this said in respect of Adam ? from
whom since all men were propagated, what man,
since Adam was made, may not say that he him-
self also was made by reason of procreation and
generation from Adam ? Or may it rightly be
said, in this sense, " Thy hands have made me,
and fashioned me," namely, that every man is
born even of his parents not without the work
of God, God creating, they generating ? Since,
if the creative4 power of God be withdrawn
from things, they perish : nor is anything at all,
either of the world's elements, or of parents, or
of seeds, produced, if God doth not create
it. . . .
73. The Greek version hath a more concise
expression for our, "Give me understanding,"
awtruroy /a, expressing "give understanding"
by the single word awinaov, which the Latin
cannot do ; as if one could not say, Heal me ;
and it were necessary to say, Give me health, as
it is here said, " Give me understanding ; " or,
make me whole, as here it may be said, make
me intelligent. This indeed an Angel could do :
for he said to Daniel, " I am come to give thee
understanding ; " s and this word is in the Greek,
as it is here also, oWrurot at ; as if the Latin
translator were to render Otpawevaai at by sani-
tatem dare tibi. For the Latin interpreter would
not make a circumlocution by saying, to give
thee understanding, if, as we say from health,
" to heal thee," so one could say from intellect,
" to intellectuate thee." But if an Angel could
do this, what reason is there that this man should
pray that this be done for him by God ? Is it
because God had commanded the Angel to do
it ? Just so : for Christ is understood to have
given this command to the Angel.6 . . .
74. " That I may learn Thy commandments."
Since Thou, saith he, hast formed me, do Thou
new form me ; that that may be done in Christ's
Body, which the Apostle speaks of, " Be trans-
formed by the renewing of your mind." >
75. "They that fear Thee," he saith, " will see
me, and be glad" (ver. 74) : or, as other copies
have it, " will be joyful : because I have hoped
in Thy word : " that is, in the things which Thou
hast promised, that they may be the sons of
promise, the seed of Abraham, in whom all
nations are blessed.3 Who are they who fear
God, and whom will they see and be glad, be-
cause he hath put his trust in the word of God ?
Whether it be the body of Christ, that is, the
Church, whose words these are through Christ,
or within it, and concerning it, these are as it
were the words of Christ concerning Himself;
are not they themselves among those who fear
God? . . . The same persons, who see the
Church and are glad, are the Church. But why
said he not, They who fear Thee see me, and
are glad : whereas he hath written, " fear Thee,"
in the present tense ; while the verbs " shall see,"
and shall " be glad," are futures? Is it because
in the present state there is fear, as long as
" man's life is a temptation upon earth ; " » but
the gladness which he desired to be understood,
will be then, when " the righteous shall shine in
the kingdom of their Father like the sun." '° . . .
76. " I know," she saith, " O Lord, that Thy
judgments are righteous, and that in Thy truth
Thou hast humbled me" (ver. 75). "O let
Thy merciful kindness be my comfort, according
to Thy word unto Thy servant" (ver. 76).
Mercy and truth are so spoken of in the Divine
Word, that, while they are found in many pas-
sages, especially in the Psalms, it is also so read
in one place, " All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth." " And here indeed he hath
placed truth first, whereby we are humbled unto
death, by the judgment of Him whose judgments
are righteousness : next mercy, whereby we are
renewed unto life, by the promise of Him whose
blessing is His grace. For this reason he saith,
" according to Thy word unto Thy servant : "
that is, according to that which Thou hast prom-
ised unto Thy servant. Whether therefore it be
regeneration whereby we are here adopted among
the sons of God, or faith and hope and charity,
which three are built up in us, although they
1 1 Cor. i. 24.
' Isa. liii. 1. " Where it is read, ' And unto whom hath the arm
of the Lord been revealed? ' "
' 1 Cor. xii. 11. 4 Operaloria. » Dan. x. 14.
* Dan. viii. 15, 16. 1 Rom. xii. a.
8 Gen. xii. 3 and xxvi. 4.
9 .Job vii. 1. [Here our author reasons against the idea of un-
conditional election to eternal life. — C.J
"> Matt. xiii. 43. « Ps. xxv. 10.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
573
come from the mercy of God ; nevertheless, in
this stonry and troublesome life they are the
consolations of the miserable, not the joys of
the blessed.
77. But since those things are destined to hap-
pen after and through these, he next saith, " O
let Thy loving mercies come upon me, and I
shall live" (ver. 77). For then indeed I shall
truly live, when I shall not be able to fear lest I
die. This is styled life absolutely and without
any addition ; nor is any life save that which is
everlasting and blessed understood, as though it
alone were to be called life, compared with which
that which we now lead ought rather to be called
death than life : according to those words in the
Gospel, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments." ' . . .
78. He then goeth on as follows : " Let the
proud be confounded, for they have unrighteous-
ly practised iniquity against me : but I will be
occupied in Thy commandments" (ver. 78).
Behold, what he saith, the meditation of the law
of God, or rather, his meditation the law of
God.
79. " Let such as fear Thee," he saith, " and
have known Thy testimonies, be turned unto
me " 2 (ver. 79). But who is he who saith this?
For no mortal will venture to say this, or if he
say it, should be listened to. Indeed, it is He
who above also hath interposed His own words,
saying, " I am a partaker with all them that fear
Thee." Because He was made sharer in our
mortal state, that we might also become par-
takers in His Divine Nature, we became sharers
in One unto life, He a sharer in many unto
death. He it is unto whom they that fear God
turn, and who know the testimonies of God,
so long before predicted of Him through the
Prophets, a little before displayed in His presence
through miracles.
80. " O let my heart," he saith, " be unspotted
in Thy righteousnesses, that I be not ashamed "
(ver. 80). He returneth to the words of His
body, that is, His holy people, and now prayeth
that his heart may be made unspotted, that is,
the heart of His members ; " in the righteous-
nesses of God," not in their own strength : for
He hath prayed for this, not presumed upon it.
In the words he hath added, " that I be not
ashamed," there is a resemblance to some of the
earlier verses of this Psalm.3 Whereas there, in
the words, " O that," he signifieth a wish, he
hath here expressed himself in the more open
words of one praying : " O let my heart be
sound : " so that in neither of these two sen-
tences, each of which is one and the same, there
1 Matt. xix. 17.
2 [He says: " In some copies, both Greek and Latin, we have
found convertantur mihit which I consider to mean just the same
as if it were, ad me." — C]
3 See vers. 5, 6.
is found the boldness of one who trusteth in his
own free will against grace. While he saith there,
" so shall I not be confounded : " he saith here,
" that I be not ashamed." The heart then of
the members and the body of Christ is made
unspotted, through the grace of God, by means
of the very Head of that Body, that is, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, by the " laverof regenera-
tion,"4 wherein all our past sins have been
blotted out ; through the aid of the Spirit, where-
by we lust against the flesh, that we be not over-
come in our fight ; 5 through the efficacy of the
Lord's Prayer, wherein we say, " Forgive us our
trespasses."6 Thus regeneration having been
given to us, our conflict having been aided,
prayer having been poured forth, our heart is
made unspotted, so that we be not ashamed.7
Caph.
81. " My soul hath failed for Thy salvation :
and I have hoped because of Thy word " (ver.
81). It is not every failing that should be sup-
posed to be blameable or deserving punishment :
there is also a failing that is laudable or desirable.
. . . For it is said of a good failing : " My soul
hath a desire and failing to enter into the courts
of the Lord." 8 So also here he saith not, faileth
away from Thy salvation, but " faileth for Thy
salvation," that is, towards Thy salvation. This
losing ground is therefore good : for it doth in-
dicate a longing after good, not as yet indeed
gained, but most eagerly and earnestly desired.
But who saith this, save the chosen generation,
the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the pecul-
iar people,' longing for Christ from the origin of
the human race even unto the end of this world,
in the persons of those who, each in his own
time, have lived, are living, or are to live here ?
. . . The first seasons of the Church, therefore,
had Saints, before the Virgin's delivery, who de-
sired the advent of His Incarnation : but these
times, since He hath ascended into heaven, have
Saints who desire His manifestation to judge the
quick and the dead. ..." And I have hoped
because of Thy word : " that is, of Thy promise ;
a hope which causeth us to await with patience
that which is not seen by those who believe.
Here also the Greek hath the word cVipAjrura,
which some of our translators have preferred
rendering by, " hoped-more ; " since beyond
doubt it will be greater than can be described.
82. " Mine eyes," he saith, " have failed for
Thy word, saying, O when wilt Thou comfort
me?" (ver. 82). Behold that praiseworthy
and blessed failing, in the eyes again, but his
inner eyes, not arising from infirmity of mind,
but from the strength of his longing for the
promise of God : for this he saith, " for Thy
* Tit. iii. 5. ' Gal. v. 17.
7 Luke vi. 37, 38. 8 Ps. lxxxiv. 3.
6 Matt. vi. la.
9 1 Pet. ii. 9.
574
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
word." But in what sense can such eyes say,
" When wilt Thou comfort me ? " save when we
pray and groan with such earnestness and ardent
expectation ? For the tongue, not the eyes, is
wont to speak : but in some sense the voice of
the eyes is the longing of prayer. But in the
words, " When wilt Thou comfort me ? " he
showeth that he endureth as it were delay.
Whence is this also, " How long, Lord, wilt
Thou punish me ? " ■ And this is done either
that the happiness may be the sweeter when
deferred, or this is the sentiment of those who
long, since the space of time, which may be
short to Him who cometh to their aid, is tedious
to the loving. But God knoweth what He doth
and when, for He " hath ordered all things in
measure and number and weight." 2
83. But when spiritual desires burn, carnal de-
sires without doubt cool : on this account follow-
eth, " Since I am become like a bottle in the frost,
I do not forget Thy righteousnesses" (ver. 83).
Truly he desireth this mortal flesh to be under-
stood by the bottle, the heavenly blessing by the
frost, whereby the lusts of the flesh as it were
by the binding of the frost become sluggish ;
and hence it ariseth that the righteousnesses
of God do not slip from the memory, as long
as we do not meditate apart from them ; since
what the Apostle saith is brought to pass :
" Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the
lusts thereof." • " And I do not forget Thy right-
eousness : " that is, I forget them not, because
I have become such. For the fervour of lust
hath cooled, that the memory of love might
glow.
84. " How many are the days of Thy servant?
when wilt Thou be avenged of them that perse-
cute me ? " (ver. 84). In the Apocalypse,4 these
are the words of the Martyrs, and long-suffering
is enjoined them until the number of their
brethren be fulfilled. The body of Christ then
is asking concerning its days, what they are to
be in this world, and that no man might suppose
that the Church would cease to exist here before
the end of the world came, and that some time
would elapse in this world, while the Church was
now no more on earth ; therefore, when he had
enquired concerning the days, he added also
respecting the judgment, showing indeed that the
Church would exist on earth until the judgment,
when vengeance shall fall upon Her persecutors.
But if any one wonder why he should ask that
question, to which when asked by the disciples,
their Master replied, " It is not for you to know
the times and the seasons ; " * why should we
not believe that in this passage of the Psalm it
was prophesied that they should ask this very
question, and that the words of the Church,
' P». vi. }
* Rev. vi. 10, 11.
2 Wisd. xi.
J Act* i. 7.
3 Rom. xiii. 14.
which were so long before uttered here, were
fulfilled in their question ?
85. In what followeth : "The wicked have
told me pleasant tales : but not like Thy law, O
Lord" (ver. 85): the Latin translators have
endeavoured to render the Greek d8oA«rxias,
which cannot be expressed in one Latin word,
so that some have rendered it " delights," and
others " fablings," so that we must understand to
be meant some kind of compositions, but in
discourse of a nature to give pleasure. Both
secular literature, and the Jewish book entitled
Deuterosis,6 containing besides the canon of
divine Scripture thousands of tales, comprise
these in their different sects and professions ;
the vain and wandering loquacity of heretics
holds them also. All these he wished to be
considered as wicked, by whom he saith that
dSoAco-x"" were related to him, that is, compo-
sitions which gave pleasure solely in their style :
" But not," he addeth, " as Thy law, O Lord j "
because truth, not words, pleases me therein.?
86. Lastly, he addeth, " All Thy command-
ments are truth : they have persecuted me un-
justly; O be Thou my help " (ver. 86). And
the whole sense dependeth upon the foregoing :
" How many are the days of Thy servant ; when
wilt Thou be avenged of them that persecute
me?"8 For that they may persecute me, they
have related to me these pleasant tales ; but I have
preferred Thy law to them, which on that account
hath pleased me more, because all Thy command-
ments are true ; not as in their discourses, where
vanity aboundeth. And for this reason " they
have persecuted me falsely," because in me they
have persecuted nothing save the truth. There-
fore help Thou me, that I may struggle for the
truth even unto death ; because this is at once
Thy commandment, and therefore it is also the
truth.
87. When the Church acted thus, She suffered
what he hath added, " They had almost made
an end of me upon earth " (ver. 87) : a great
slaughter of martyrs having been made, while
they confess and preach the truth. But since
it is not in vain said, " O help Thou me ; " he
addeth, "But I forsook not Thy command-
ments."
88. And that She might persevere unto the
end, " O quicken me," he saith, " after Thy lov-
ing mercy : and so shall I keep the testimonies
of Thy mouth " (ver. 88) ; where the Greek
hath Maprvpia. This was not to be passed over
in silence, on account of that sweetest name of
Martyrs, who beyond doubt when so great cruel-
ty of the persecutors was raging, that the Church
6 The Mishna. 5«uT«pu»(m is used, however, by St. Jerome for
tradition in general. See on Isa. lix. 12-15, m Catal. on Papias, and
elsewhere; cf. Ecclus. xlii. 1, LXX.
7 [Modern voracity for novel-reading is here rebuked. — C. j
* Ps. cxix. 84.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
575
was almost made an end of upon earth, would
never have kept the testimonies of God, unless
that had been vouchsafed them which is here
spoken of, " O quicken me after Thy loving-
kindness." For they were quickened, lest by
loving life, they should deny the life, and by
denying it, should lose it : and thus they who
for life refused to forsake the truth, lived by
dying for the truth.
Lamed.
89. The man who speaketh in this Psalm, as if
he were tired of human mutability, whence this
life is full of temptations, among his tribulations,
on account of which he had above said, " The
wicked have persecuted me ; " ' and, " They have
almost made an end of me upon earth " 2 (ver.
89) ; burning with longings for the heavenly
Jerusalem ; looked up to the realms above, and
said, " O Lord, Thy word endureth for ever in
heaven ; " that is, among Thy Angels who serve
everlastingly in Thine armies, without desertion.
90. But the next verse, after heaven, pertaineth
consequently to earth. For this is one verse of
the eight which relate to this letter. For eight
verses are appended to each of these Hebrew
letters,3 until this long Psalm be ended. " Thy
truth also remaineth from one generation to
the other : Thou hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and it abideth " (ver. 90). Beholding
therefore the earth next after heaven with the
gaze of a faithful mind, he findeth in it genera-
tions which are not in heaven, and saith, " Thy
truth remaineth from one generation to the
other : " signifying all generations by this expres-
sion, from which the Truth of God was never
absent in His saints, at one time fewer, at one
time more in number, according as the times
happened or shall happen to vary ; or wishing
two particular generations to be understood, one
pertaining to the Law and the Prophets, another
to the Gospel. . . .
91. " Day continueth according to Thy ordi-
nance " (ver. 91). For all these things are
day : " and this is the day which the Lord hath
made : let us rejoice and be glad in it : " 4 and
" let us walk honestly as in the day." 5 " For all
things serve Thee." He said all things of some :
" all " which belong to this day " serve Thee."
For the ungodly of whom it is said, " I have
compared thy mother unto the night," 6 do not
serve Thee.
92. He then looketh back towards the source
of this earth's deliverance, which caused it to
abide when founded ; and addeth, " If my delight
had not been in Thy law, I should perchance
have perished in my humiliation" (ver. 92).
This is the law of faith, not a vain faith, but that
1 Ps. cxix. 86.
* Ps. cxviii. 24.
Ps. cxix. 87
Rom. xiii. 13.
3 Apices.
<■ Hosca iv. 5, LXX.
which worketh through love.7 Through this grace
is gained, which maketh men courageous in
temporal tribulation, that they may not perish in
the humiliation of mortality.
93. "I will never forget," he saith, "Thy
righteousnesses, for with them Thou hast quick-
ened me" (ver. 93). Behold how it was that
he did not perish in his humiliation. For, save
God quickeneth, what is man, who can indeed
kill, but cannot quicken himself? •
94. He next addeth : " I am Thine : O save
me, for I have sought Thy righteousnesses "
(ver. 94). We must not understand lightly the
words, " I am Thine." For what is not His?8
Why then is it that the Psalmist hath com-
mended himself unto God somewhat in a more
familiar sense, in these words, " I am Thine : O
save me ; " save because he wished it to be
understood that he had desired to be his own
only to his harm, which is the first and the great-
est evil of disobedience ? and as if he should say,
I wished to be my own, and I lost myself: " I am
Thine," he saith, " O save me, for I have sought
Thy righteousnesses ; " not my own inclinations,
whereby I was my own, but " Thy righteous-
nesses," that I might now be Thine.
95. "The ungodly," he saith, "have awaited
me that they might destroy me ; but I have
understood Thy testimonies" (ver. 95). What
meaneth, " that they might destroy me " ? Did
he then fear that he should perish altogether
at the death of his body? God forbid ! and
what meaneth, " have awaited me," save that he
should consent with them unto iniquity? For
then they would destroy him. And he hath said
why he hath not perished : " I understood Thy
testimonies." The Greek word, Maprvpia,
soundeth more familiarly to the ears of the
Church. For though they should slay me not
consenting unto them, yet while I confessed Thy
testimonies {martyria) I should not perish ; but
they who, that they might destroy me, were
waiting till I should consent unto them, tortured
me even when I did confess them. Yet he did
not leave that which he had understood, looking
on it and seeing an end without end, if only he
should persevere unto the end.
96. Lastly, he next saith, " I have seen an end
of all consummation : but Thy commandment
is exceeding broad" (ver. 96). For hchad
entered into the sanctuary of God, and had
understood the end.' Now " all consummation "
appeareth to me in this place to signify, the striv-
ing even unto death for the truth,10 and the endur-
ance of every evil for the true and chief good :
the end of which consummation is to excel in the
kingdom of Christ, which hath no end ; and
there to have without death, without pain, and
7 Gal. v. 6.
10 Ecclus. iv. 28.
* s. xxtv. 1.
9 Ps. Ixxiii. 17.
576
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
with great honour, life, acquired by the death of
this life, and by sorrows and reproaches. But
in what he hath added, " Thy commandment is
exceeding broad ; " I understand only love.
For what would it have profited him, whatever
death impended over him, in the midst of what-
soever torment, to confess those testimonies, if
love were not in the confessor? . . . Broad
therefore is the commandment of charity, that
twofold commandment, whereby we are enjoined
to love God and our neighbour. But what is
broader than that, " on " which " hang all the
Law and the Prophets " ? '
Mem.
97. We have frequently admonished you, that
love was to be understood by that praiseworthy
breadth, by means of which, while we do the
commandments of God, we feel no straitness.
On this account also after saying above in this
great Psalm, " Thy commandment is exceeding
broad : " 2 in the following verse he showeth
wherefore it is broad : " what love have I unto
Thy law, O Lord ! " (ver. 97). Love is there-
fore the breadth of the commandment. For
how can it be that what God commandeth to be
loved, be loved, and yet the commandment itself
be not loved ? For this itself is the law ; " in all
the day," he saith, " is my study in it." Behold
how I have loved it, that in the whole day my
study is in it ; or rather, as the Greek hath it,
" all the day long," which more fully expresses
the continuance of meditation. Now that is to
be understood through all time ; which is, for
ever. By such love lust is driven out : lust,
which repeatedly opposeth our performing the
commandments of the law, when " the flesh lust-
eth against the spirit : " 3 against which the spirit
lusting, ought so to love the law of God, that it
be its study during the whole day. . . .
98. And he then addeth : " Thou hast made
me to understand Thy commandment above
mine enemies ; for it is ever with me " (ver.
98). For "they have indeed a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge," etc.4 But the
Psalmist, who understandeth the commandment
of God above these his enemies, wishes to be
found with the Apostle, " not having" his " own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is of the faith of Christ, which is of God ; " 5 not
that the Law which his enemies read is not of
God, but because they do not understand it, like
him who understandeth it above his enemies, by
clinging to the Stone upon which they stumbled.
For " Christ is the end of the law," etc.,6 " that they
may be justified freely through His grace ; " ' not
like those who imagine that they obey the law of
' Matt. xxii. 37-40.
* Rom. x. a, 3.
7 Rom. iii. 24.
' Ps. cxix. 96.
* Philip, iii. 9.
' Gal. v. 17.
6 Rom. x. 4.
their own strength, and are therefore, though by
God's law, yet still endeavouring to set up their
own righteousness ; but as the son of promise,
who hungering and athirst after it,8 by seeking, by
asking, by knocking,9 as it were begs it of the
Father, that being adopted he may receive it
through His only-begotten Son. . . . His enemies
sought from the same commandment temporal
rewards ; and therefore it was not unto them for
ever, as it was unto this man. For they who
have translated " for ever " have rendered better
than they who have written " for an age," since
at the end of time there can be no longer a com-
mandment of the law. . . .
99. But what meaneth the following verse, " I
have more understanding than my teachers"?
(ver. 99). Who is he who had more under-
standing than all his teachers? Who, I ask, is
he, who dareth to prefer himself in understand-
ing above all the Prophets, who not only by
speaking taught with so excellent authority those
who lived with them, but also their posterity by
writing? . . . What is here said, could not have
been spoken in Solomon's person. ... I recog-
nise plainly Him who had more understanding
than His teachers, since when He was a boy of
twelve years of age, Jesus remained behind in
Jerusalem, and was found by His parents after
three days' space, " sitting in the temple among
the doctors, hearing them and asking them ques-
tions." IO The Son Himself hath said, " As My
Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." "
It is very difficult to understand this of the
Person of the Word ; unless we can comprehend
that it is the same thing for the Son to be taught
as to be begotten of the Father. ..." He took
upon Himself the form of a servant ; " ,2 for when
He had assumed this form, men of more ad-
vanced age might think Him fit to be taught as
a boy; but He whom the Father taught, had
more understanding than all His teachers. " For
Thy testimonies," He saith, " are my study."
For this reason He had more understanding than
all His teachers, because He studied the testi-
monies of God, which, as concerning Himself,
He knew better than they, when He spoke these
words : " Ye sent unto John, and he bare wit-
ness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony
from man," etc.'3
100. But these teachers maybe understood very
reasonably to be those aged men, of whom he
presently saith, " I am wiser than mine elders "
(ver. 100). And this seemeth to me to be re-
peated here thus, that that age of His which is
well known to us in the Gospel might be called
to our remembrance ; the age of boyhood, dur-
ing which He was sitting among the aged, under-
standing more than all His teachers. For the
• Matt. v. 6.
11 John viii. 28.
9 Matt. vii. 7.
" Philip, li. 7.
10 Luke ii. 42-46.
H John v. 33-36.
Fsalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
577
smaller and the greater in age are wont to be
termed younger and elder, although neither of
them hath arrived at or approached old age ;
although if we are concerned to seek in the Gos-
pel the express term, elders, more than whom
He understood, we find it when the Scribes and
Pharisees said unto Him, " Why do Thy disciples
transgress the tradition of the elders? for they
wash not their hands when they eat bread." '
Behold the transgression cf the tradition of the
elders is objected to Him. But He who was
wiser than His elders, let us hear what answer
He made them. " Why do ye also, He asked,
" transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition?" 2 . . .
101. But what cometh next, doth not seem to
apply to the Head, but to the Body : " I have
refrained my feet from every evil way, that I
may keep Thy words" (ver. 101). For that
Head of ours, the Saviour of the Body Himself,
could not be borne by carnal lust into any evil
way, so that it should be needful for Him to re-
frain His feet, as though they would go thither of
their own accord ; which we do, when we refrain
our evil desires, which He had not, that they
may not follow evil ways. For thus we are able
to keep the word of God, if we " go not after
our evil lusts," 3 so that they attain unto the evils
desired ; but rather curb them with the spirit
which lusteth against the flesh,4 that they may
not drag us away, seduced and overthrown,
through evil ways.
102. "I have not shrunk," he saith, " from Thy
judgments : for Thou hast laid down a law for
me " (ver. 102). He hath stated what made him
fear, so that he refrained his feet from every evil
way. . . . Thou, more inward than my inmost
self, Thou hast laid down a law within my heart
by Thy Spirit, as it were by Thy fingers, that I
might not fear it as a slave without love, but
might love it with a chaste fear as a son, and
fear it with a chaste love.
103. Consider then what followeth : " O how
sweet are Thy words unto my throat !" (ver. 103).
Or, as it is more literally rendered from the
Greek, " Thy utterances, above honey and the
honeycomb unto my mouth." This is that
sweetness which the Lord giveth, " So that the
earth yield her increase : " 5 that we do good truly
in a good spirit, that is, not from the dread of
carnal evil, but from the gladness of spiritual
good. Some copies indeed do not read " hon-
eycomb : " but the majority do. Now the open
teaching of wisdom is like unto honey ; but that
is like the comb which is squeezed from the
more recondite mysteries, as if from cells of
wax, by the mouth of the teacher, as if he were
1 Matt. xv. 2.
3 Ecclus. xviii. 30.
* Ps. lxxxv. 12.
2 Matt. xv. 3,
* Gal. v. 17.
chewing it : but it is sweet to the mouth of the
heart, not to the mouth of the flesh.
104. But what mean the words, " Through Thy
commandments I get understanding " ? (ver.
104). For the expressions, I have understood
Thy commandments : and, " I get understanding
through Thy commandments/' are different.
Something else then he signifieth that he hath
understood from the commandments of God :
that is, as far as I can see, he saith, that by obey-
ing God's commandments he hath arrived at the
comprehension of those things which he had
longed to know. . . . These then are the words of
the spiritual members of Christ, " Through Thy
commandments I get understanding." For the
body of Christ rightly saith these words in those,
to whom, while they keep the commandments, a
richer knowledge of wisdom is given on account
of this very keeping of the commandments.
" Therefore," he addeth, " I hate all evil ways. "
For it is needful that the love of righteousness
should hate all iniquity : that love, which is so
much the stronger, in proportion as the sweetness
of a higher wisdom doth inspire it, a wisdom given
unto him who obeyeth God, and getteth under-
standing from His commandments.
Nun.
105. " Thy word is a lantern unto my feet, and
a light unto my paths " (ver. 105). The word
" lantern " appears in the word " light ; " " my
feet " are also repeated in " my paths ." What
then meaneth "Thy Word"?6 Is it He who
was in the beginning God with God, that is,
the Word by whom all things were made? It
is not thus. For that Word is a light, but is not
a lantern. For a lantern is a creature, not a crea-
tor ; and it is lighted by participation of an un-
changeable light. . . . For no creature, howsoever
rational and intellectual, is lighted by itself, but is
lighted by participation of eternal Truth : although
sometimes day is spoken of, not meaning the
Lord, but that " day which the Lord hath made," 1
and on account of which it is said, " Come unto
Him, and be lightened."8 On account of which
participation, inasmuch as the Mediator Himself
became Man, He is styled lantern in the Apoca-
lypse.9 But this sense is a solitary one ; for it
cannot be divinely spoken of any of the saints,
nor in any wise lawfully said of any, " The Word
was made flesh," IO save of the " one Mediator
between God and men." " Since therefore the
only-begotten Word, coequal with the Father, is
styled a light ; and man when enlightened by the
Word is also called a light, who is styled also a
lantern, as John, as the Apostles ; and since no
man of these is the Word, and that Word
by whom they were enlightened is not a lan-
6 John i. 1.
9 Rev. xxi. 23.
7 Ps. cxviii. 24.
10 John i. 14.
8 Ps. xxxiv. 5.
11 1 Tim. ii. 5.
578
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
tern ; what is this word, which is thus called
a light and a lantern at the same time, save
we understand the word which was sent unto
the Prophets, or which was preached through
the Apostles ; not Christ the Word, but the
word of Christ, of which it is written, " Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God " ? ' For the Apostle Peter also, comparing
the prophetical word to a lantern, saith, " where-
unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a
lantern, that shineth in a dark place." 2 What,
therefore, he here saith, "Thy word" is the word
which is contained in all the holy Scriptures.
106. " I have sworn, and am stedfastly pur-
posed to keep Thy righteous judgments " (ver.
106) : as one who walked aright in the light of that
lantern, and kept to straight paths. For he calleth
what he hath determined by a sacrament, an oath ;
because the mind ought to be so fixed in keep-
ing the righteous judgments of God, that its
determination should be in the place of an oath.
Now the righteous judgments of God are kept
by faith ; when, under the righteous judgment of
God, neither any good work is believed to be
fruitless, nor any sin unpunished ; but, because
the body of Christ hath suffered many most
grievous evils for this faith, he saith, " I was
humbled above measure " (ver. 107). He doth
not say, I have humbled myself, so that we must
needs understand that humiliation which is com-
manded ; but he saith, " I was humbled above-
measure ; " that is, suffered a very heavy perse-
cution, because he swore and was stedfasly pur-
posed to keep the righteous judgments of God.
And, lest in such trouble faith herself might faint
he addeth, " Quicken me, O Lord, according to
Thy word : " that is, according to Thy promise.
For the word of the promises of God is a lan-
tern to the feet, and a light to the paths. Thus
also above, in the humiliation of pesecution, he
prayed that God would quicken him.5 . . .
107. " Make the freewill offerings of my mouth
well pleasing, O Lord " (ver. 108) : that is, let
them please Thee ; do not reject, but approve
them. By the freewill offerings of the mouth
are well understood the sacrifices of praise,
offered up in the confession of love, not from
the fear of necessity ; whence it is said, " a free-
will offering will I offer Thee." * But what doth
he add ? " and teach me Thy judgments " ? Had
he not himself said above, " From Thy judgments
I have not swerved"? How could he have done
thus, if he knew them not? Moreover, if he
knew them, in what sense doth he here say,
" and teach me Thy judgments " ? Is it as in
a former passage, " Thou hast dealt in sweetness
with Thy servant : " presently after which we
find, " teach me sweetness " ? This passage we
1 Rom. x. 17.
< P%. liv. 6.
* 3 Pet. i. 19.
* Ps. cxix. 87, 88.
explained as the words of one who was gaining
in grace, and praying that he might receive in
addition to what he had received.
108. " My soul is alway in Thy hand " (ver.
109). Some copies read, "in my hand:" but
most, " in Thy hand ; " and this latter is indeed
easy. For " the souls of the righteous are in
God's hand : ' in whose hand are both we and
our words." 6 " And I do not forget Thy law : "
as if his memory were aided to remember God's
law by the hands of Him in whose hands is his
soul. But how the words, " My soul is in my
hands," can be understood, I know not. For
these are the words of the righteous, not of the
ungodly ; of one who is returning to the Father,
not departing from the Father.' ... Is it per-
haps said, " My soul is in my hands," in this
sense, as if he offered it to God to be quickened ?
Whence in another passage it is said, " Unto
Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul."8
Since here too he had said above, " Quicken
Thou me."
109. "The ungodly," he saith, "have laid a
snare for me : but yet I swerved not from Thy
commandments" (ver. no). Whence this, unless
because his soul is in the hands of God, or in his
own hands is offered to God to be quickened?
no. " Thy testimonies have I gained in herit-
age for ever" (ver. in). Some wishing to ex-
press in one word what is put in one word in the
Greek, have translated it hereditavi. Which
although it might be Latin, yet would rather
signify one who gave an inheritance than one
who received it, hereditavi being like ditavi.
Better, therefore, the whole sense is conveyed
in two words, whether we say, " I have possessed
in heritage," or, " I have gotten in heritage : "
not gotten heritage, but " gotten in heritage."
If it be asked, what he gained in heritage, he
he replieth, " Thy testimonies." What doth he
wish to be understood, save that he might be-
come a witness of God, and confess His testi-
monies, that is, that he might become a Martyr
of God, and might declare His testimonies, as
the Martyrs do, was a gift bestowed upon him
by the Father, of whom he is heir? . . . But
even their wish was prepared by the Lord. For
this reason he saith he hath gained them in
heritage, and this " for ever ; " because they
have not in them the temporal glory of men
who seek vain things, but the eternal glory of
those who suffer for a short season, and who
reign without end. Whence the next words,
" Because they are the very joy of my heart : "
although the affliction of the body, yet the very
joy of the heart.
m. He then addeth: "I have applied my
heart to fulfil Thy righteousness for ever, for my
s Wisd. hi. 1
8 Ps. XXV. X.
<■ Wisd. vii. 16.
7 Luke xv. 12, 24,
TSALM CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
579
reward" (ver. 112). He who saith, "I have
applied my heart," had before said, " Incline
my heart unto Thy testimonies : " ' so that we
may understand that it is at once a divine gift,
and an act of free will. But are we to fulfil the
righteousnesses of God for ever? Those works
which we perform in regard to the need of our
neighbours, cannot be everlasting, any more
than their need ; but if we do not do them from
love, there is no righteousness ; if we do them
from love, that love is everlasting, and an ever-
lasting reward is in store for it.
Samech.
112. "I have hated the unrighteous ; and Thy
law have I loved" (ver. 113). He saith not, I
hate the wicked, and love the righteous ; or, I
hate iniquity, and love Thy law ; but, after saying,
"I have hated the unrighteous," he explains
why, by adding, " and Thy law have I loved ; "
to show, that he did not hate human nature
in unrighteous men, but their unrighteousness,
whereby they are foes to the law, which he
loveth.
113. He next addeth : "Thou art my helper
and my taker up " (ver. 1 14) : " my helper," to
do good works : " my taker up," to escape evil
ones. In the next words, " I have hoped more
on Thy word," he speaketh as a son of promise.
114. But what is the meaning of the following
verse : " Away from me, ye wicked, and I will
search the commandments of my God"? (ver.
115). For he saith not, I will perform; but,
" I will search." In order, therefore, that he
may diligently and perfectly learn that law, he
bids the wicked depart from him, and even forci-
bly driveth them away from his company. For
the wicked exercise us in the fulfilment of the
commandments, but lead us away from searching
into them ; not only when they persecute, or
wish to litigate with us ; but even when they
court us, and honour us, and yet expect us to
occupy ourselves in aiding their own vicious and
busy desire, and to bestow our time upon them ;
or at least harass the weak, and compel them to
bring their causes before us : to whom we dare
not say, " Man, who made me a judge or a
divider over you ? " 2 For the Apostle instituted
ecclesiastical judges of such causes, forbidding
Christians to contend in the forum.3 . . . Cer-
tainly, on account of those who carry on law suits
pertinaciously with one another, and, when they
harass the good, scorn our judgments, and cause
us to lose the time that should be employed upon
things divine ; surely, I say, on account of these
men we also may exclaim in these words of the
Body of Christ, " Away from me, ye wicked !
and I will search the commandments of my
God."
115. "O stablish me according to Thy word
and I shall live : and let me not be disappointed
of my hope" (ver. 116). He who had before
said, " Thou art my taker up," prayeth that he
may be more and more borne up, and be led
unto that, for the sake of which he endureth so
many troubles ; trusting that he may there live
in a truer sense, than in these dreams of human
affairs. For it is said of the future, " and I shall
live," as if we did not live in this dead body.
While " we await the redemption of our body,
we are saved by hope, and hoping for that we
see not, we await with patience."4 But hope
disappointeth not, if the love of God be spread
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit
which is given unto us.5 And, as though it were
answered him in silence, Thou dost not wish to
be disappointed of thy hope? Cease not to
meditate upon My righteousnesses : and, feeling
that this meditation is usually hindered by the
weaknesses of the soul, "Help me," he saith,
" and I shall be safe ; yea, I will meditate in Thy
righteousnesses always " (ver. 117).
116. "Thou hast scorned all," or, as it seems
more closely translated from the Greek, " Thou
hast brought to nought all them that depart
from Thy righteousnesses : for their thought is
unrighteous" (ver. 118). For this reason he
exclaimed, " Help Thou me, and I shall be safe ;
yea, I will meditate in Thy righteousnesses al-
ways : " because God bringeth to nought all
those who depart from His righteousnesses. But
why do they depart? Because "their thought
is," he saith, "unrighteous." They advance in
that direction, while they depart from God.
All deeds, good or bad, proceed from the
thoughts : in his thoughts every man is innocent,
in his thoughts every man is guilty. . . .
1 1 7. The next words in the Psalm are, " I have
counted," or " thought," or " esteemed, all the
ungodly of the earth as transgressors " (ver.
119). In the Latin version many different ren-
derings are given of the Greek iXoyKTaix-qv ; but
this passage hath a deep meaning. For the fol-
lowing words, " Therefore have I ever loved
Thy testimonies : " make it far more profound.
For the Apostle saith, "The law worketh
wrath ; " and, explaining these words, he ad-
deth, " For where no law is, there is no trans-
gression : " 6 thereby showing that not all are
transgressors. For all have not the law. That
all have not the law, he declareth more explicit-
ly in another passage, " as many as have sinned
without law, shall also perish without law." »
What then meaneth, " I have held all the un-
godly of the earth as transgressors " ? " As trans-
gressors ; " or rather " transgressing," for the
Greek saith, TrapafialvovTas, not 7rapa/?aTas. . . .
1 Ps. Cxix. 36.
2 Luke xii. 14.
3 1 Cor. vi. 1-6.
* Rom. viii. 23-25.
6 Rom. iv. 15.
3 Rom. v. 5.
7 Rom. ii. xa.
58o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
" The law entered that sin might abound." But
since all sins are remitted through grace, not
only those which are committed without the law,
but those also which are committed in the law ;
he addeth, " But where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound." ' . . . But, indeed, when
the Apostle said, "As many as have sinned with-
out law, shall perish without law," he was speak-
ing of that law which God gave to His people
Israel through Moses His servant. . . . For
some even Catholic expositors, from a want of
sufficient heedfulness, have pronounced contrary
to the truth, that those who have sinned without
the law perish ; and that those who have sinned
in the law, are only judged, and do not perish, as
if they should be considered' destined to be
cleansed by means of transitory punishments, as
he of whom it is said, " he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire."2 . . . The Psalmist
also hath subjoined : " Therefore I loved Thy
testimonies." 3 As if he should say : Since the
law, whether given in paradise, or implanted by
nature, or promulgated in writing, hath made all
the sinners of the earth transgressors ; " There-
fore I loved Thy testimonies," which are in Thy
law, of Thy grace ; so that not my but Thy
righteousness is in me. For the law profiteth
unto this end, that it send us forward unto grace.
For not only because it testifieth towards the
manifestation of the righteousness of God, which
is without the law ; but also in this very point
that it rendereth men transgressors, so that the
letter even slayeth, it driveth us to fly unto the
quickening Spirit, through whom the whole of
our sins may be blotted out, and the love of
righteous deeds be inspired.4 . . .
118. The grace of God, then, being known,
which alone freeth from transgression, which is
committed through knowledge of the law, he
saith, in prayer, " Fix with nails my flesh in Thy
fear" (ver. 120). For this some Latin inter-
preters have literally rendered the Greek KaO-q-
Kuktov, which that language has expressed in one
word. Some have preferred to render by the
word confige, without adding clavis ; and while
they thus desire to construe one Latin by one
Greek word, have failed to express the full mean-
ing of the Greek nadr/Xmi-ov, because in confige
nails are not mentioned, but Kadr/Kuxrov cannot
be taken but of nails, nor can " fix with nails "
be expressed without using two words in Latin.
. . . Hath he added, " For I have feared Thy
judgments " ? What meaneth, " Fix me in Thy
fear : for I have feared " ? If he had already
feared, or if he was now fearing, why did he still
1 Rom. v. ao.
a [A fundamental objection to the doctrine of purgatory. — C]
• [The author adds: " Some copies read ' always^' some do not.
If it be correct, it must be understood to mean, during our present
Life on earth."— C]
* M Cor. iii. 6.
pray God to crucify his flesh in His fear? Did
he wish so much additional fear imparted to him
as would suffice for crucifying his flesh, that is, his
carnal lusts and affections ; as though he should
say, Perfect in me the fear of Thee ; for I have
feared Thy judgments ? But- there is here even
a higher sense, which must, as far as God allow-
eth, be derived from searching the recesses of
this Scripture : that is, in the chaste fear of Thee,
which abideth from age to age, let my carnal de-
sires be quenched ; 5 " For I have feared Thy
judgments," when the law, which could not give
me righteousness, threatened me punishment.
. . . For the inclination to sin liveth, and it
then appeareth in deed, when impunity may be
hoped for. But when punishment is considered
sure to follow, it liveth latently : nevertheless it
liveth. For it would rather it were lawful to sin,
and it grieveth that what the law forbiddeth, is
not lawful ; because it is not spiritually delighted
with the blessing of the law, but carnally feareth
the evil which it threateneth.6 But that love,
which casteth out this fear, feareth with a chaste
fear to sin, although no punishment follow; be-
cause it doth not even judge that impunity will
follow, since from love of righteousness it con-
sidered the very sin itself a punishment. With
such a fear the flesh is crucified ; since carnal
delights, which are forbidden rather than avoided
by the letter of the law, are overcome by the de-
light in spiritual blessings, and also when the
victory is perfected are destroyed.
Ain.
119. "I have dealt judgment and righteous-
ness ; 0 give me not over unto mine oppressors " 7
(ver. 121). It is not wonderful that he should
have dealt judgment and righteousness, since he
had above prayed for a chaste fear from God,
whereby to fix with nails his flesh, that is, his
carnal lusts, which are wont to hinder our judg-
ment from being right. But although in our cus-
tomary speech judgment is either right or wrong,
whence it is said unto men in the Gospel, " Judge
not according to the persons, but judge righteous
judgment : " 8 nevertheless in this passage judg-
ment is used as though, if it were not righteous,
it ought not to be called judgment ; otherwise it
would not be enough to say, " I have dealt judg-
ment," but it would be said, I have dealt righteous
judgment. . . .
* Ps. xix. p.
6 [Hence attrition " is not sufficient to obtain remission. — C]
7 [The author says: " For some copies read; to them that
persecute me: the Greek words rols avTi&iKoviri being variously in-
terpreted by the Latin noctntibus, persequentibus, and calumnian-
tiljus. I wonder, however, that I have never met with the version
adversantibus in any of the copies which I have read, since there is
no doubt that the Greek oeWSiico* is the same as the Latin advtr*
sarins. While he prays therefore that he may not be given up to
his adversaries by the Lord, what doth he pray, save what we pray,
when we say, ' Lead us not into temptation ? — C.J
• John vii. 24.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
581
120. Whoso therefore in the chaste fear of God
hath his flesh crucified, and corrupted by no car-
nal allurement, dealeth judgment and the work of
righteousness, ought to pray that he may not be
given up to his adversaries ; that is, that he may
not, through his dread of suffering evils, yield
unto his adversaries to do evil. For he receiv-
eth power of endurance, which guardeth him
from being overcome with pain, from Him from
whom he receiveth the victory over lust, which
preventeth his being seduced by pleasure.'
121. He next saith, " Take off Thy servant to
that which is good, that the proud calumniate me
not" (ver. 122). They drive me on, that I
may fall into evil ; do Thou take me off to that
which is good. They who rendered these words
by the Latin, calumnientur, have followed a
Greek expression, not commonly used in Latin.
Have the words, Let not the proud calumniate
me, the same force, as, Let them " not succeed
in calumniating me " ?
122. . . . To prefigure His Cross, Moses by
the merciful command of God raised aloft on a
pole the image of a serpent in the desert, that
the likeness of sinful flesh which must be cruci-
fied in Christ might be prefigured.2 By gazing
upon this healing Cross, we cast out all the poison
of the scandals of the proud : the Cross, which
the Psalmist intently looking upon, saith, " My
eyes have failed for Thy salvation, and for the
words of Thy righteousness" (ver. 123). For
God made Christ Himself " to be sin for us, on
account of the likeness of sinful flesh, that we
may be made the righteousness of God in Him." 3
For His utterance 4 of the righteousness of God
he therefore saith that his eyes have failed, from
gazing ardently and eagerly, while, remembering
human infirmity, he longeth for divine grace in
Christ.
123. In connection with this he goes on to say,
" O deal with Thy servant according to Thy lov-
ing mercy" (ver. 124) ; not according to my
righteousness. " And teach me," he saith, " Thy
righteousnesses ; " those beyond doubt, whereby
God rendereth men righteous, not they them-
selves.
124. " I am Thy servant. O grant me under-
standing, that I may know Thy testimonies"
(ver. 125). This petition must never be inter-
mitted. For it sufficeth not to have received
understanding, and to have learnt the testimo-
nies of God, unless it be evermore received, and
evermore in a manner quaffed from the fountain
of eternal light. For the testimonies of God are
the better and the better known, the more
understanding a man attaineth to.
125." It is time," he saith, " for the Lord to lay
1 Ps. lxxxv. is, lxii. 5.
3 Rom. viii. 3; a Cor. i
* Eloquium.
2 John iii. 14.
to His hand" (ver. 126). For this is the read-
ing of most copies : not as some have, " O Lord."
Now what is this, save the grace which was re-
vealed in Christ at its own time? Of which sea-
son the Apostle saith, " But when the fulness of
time was come, God sent His Son."5 . . . But
wherefore is it that, seemingly anxious to show
the Ixird that it was time to lay to His hand, he
hath subjoined, " They have scattered Thy law ; "
as if it were the season for the Lord to act, be-
cause the proud scattered His law. For what
meaneth this? In the wickedness of transgres-
sion, they have not guarded its integrity. It was
needful therefore that the Law should be given
to the proud and those presuming in the free-
dom of their own will, after a transgression of
which whosoever were contrite and humbled,
might run no longer by the I^aw, but by faith, to
aiding grace. When the Law therefore was scat-
tered, it was time that mercy should be sent
through the only-begotten Son of God.
1 26. " Therefore," he saith, " I love Thy com-
mandments above gold and topaz" (ver. 127).
Grace hath this object, that the commandments,
which could not be fulfilled by fear, may be ful-
filled by love. . . . Therefore, they are above
gold and topaz stones. For this is read in an-
other Psalm also, " Above gold and exceeding
precious stones."6 For topaz is a stone con-
sidered very precious. But they not understand-
ing the hidden grace which was in the Old Testa-
ment, screened as it were by the veil7 (this was
signified when they were unable to gaze upon the
face of Moses), endeavoured to obey the com-
mandments of God for the sake of an earthly
and carnal reward, but could not obey them ;
because they did not love them, but something
else. Whence these were not the works of the
willing, but rather the burdens of the unwilling.
But when the commandments are loved for their
own sake " above gold and exceeding precious
stones," all earthly reward compared with the
commandments themselves is vile ; nor are any
other goods of man comparable in any respect
with those goods whereby man himself is made
good.
127. "Therefore," he saith, "was I made
straight unto all Thy commandments" (ver. 128).
I was made straight, doubtless, because I loved
them ; and I clung by love to them, which were
straight, that I might also myself become straight.
Then what he addeth, naturally follows : " and
every unrighteous way I utterly abhor." For
how could it be that he who loved the straight
could do aught save abhor an unrighteous way?
For as, if he loved gold and precious stones, he
would abhor all that might bring loss of such
property : thus, since he loved the command-
I Gal. iv. 4.
7 Exod, xxxiv. 33-35; a Cor. iii. 13-15.
6 Ps. xix, 10.
582
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
ments of God, he abhorred the path of iniquity,
as one of the most savage rocks in the sailor's
track, whereon he must needs suffer shipwreck
of things so precious. That this may not be his
lot, he who saileth on the wood of the Cross with
the divine commandments as his freight, steer-
eth far from thence.
Pe.
128. " Thy testimonies are wonderful : there-
fore hath my soul searched them" (ver. 129).
Who counteth, even by their kinds, the testimonies
of God ? Heaven and earth, His visible and invisi-
ble works, declare in some manner the testimony
of His goodness and greatness ; and the very
ordinary and accustomed course of nature, where-
by the seasons are rapidly revolved, in all things
after their kinds, however temporal and perish-
able, however held cheap through our constant
experience of them, give, if a pious thinker give
heed to them, a testimony to the Creator. But
which of these is not wonderful, if we measure
each not by its habitual presence, but by reason ?
But if we venture to bring all nature within the
comprehensive view of one act of contemplation,
doth not that take place in us which the prophet
describeth, " I considered Thy works, and trem-
bled"?' Yet the Psalmist was not terrified in
his wonder at creation, but rather said that this
was the reason that he ought to search it, because
it was wonderful. For after saying, " Thy testi-
monies are wonderful," he addeth, "therefore
hath my soul searched them ;" as if he had be-
come more curious from the difficulty of thor-
oughly searching them. For the more abstruse
are the causes of anything, the more wonderful
it is. . . .
129. "When thy word goeth forth," he saith,
" it giveth light, and maketh His little ones to un-
derstand " (ver. 130). What is the little one save
the humble and weak ? Be not proud therefore,
presume not in thine own strength, which is
nought ; and thou wilt understand why a good
law was given by a good God, though it cannot
give life. For it was given for this end, that it
might make thee a little one instead of great,
that it might show that thou hadst not strength
to do the law of thine own power : and that
thus, wanting aid and destitute, thou mightest
fly unto grace, saying, " Have mercy upon me,
O Lord, for I am weak." * . . . Let all be little
ones, and let all the world be guilty before
Thee : because " by the deeds of the Law there
shall no flesh be justified " in Thy sight ; " for
by the Law is the knowledge of sin," etc.1 These
are Thy wonderful testimonies, which the soul
of this little one hath searched ; and hath there-
fore found, because he became humbled and a
> H*b. iii. >.
« Pt. vi. a.
3 Rom. iii. 19-31.
little one. For who doth Thy commandments
as they ought to be done, that is, by " faith which
worketh through love," 4 save love itself be shed
abroad in his heart through the Holy Spirit?5
130. This is confessed by this little one ; " I
opened my mouth," he saith, " and drew in the
spirit : for I longed for Thy commandments "
(ver. 131). What did he long for, save to obey
the divine commandments? But there was no
possibility of the weak doing hard things, the
little one great things : he opened his mouth,
confessing that he could not do them of him-
self : and drew in power to do them : he opened
his mouth, by seeking, asking, knocking ; 6 and
athirst drank in the good Spirit, which enabled
him to do what he could not do by himself,
" the commandment holy and just and good." t
Not that they themselves who " are led by the
Spirit of God," 8 do nothing ; but that they may
not do nothing good, they are moved to act by
the good Spirit. For so much the more is every
man made a good son, in proportion as the good
Spirit is given unto Him by the Father in a
greater measure.
131. He still prayeth. He hath opened his
mouth, and drawn in the Spirit ; but he still
knocketh in prayer unto the Father, and seeketh :
he drinketh, but the more sweet he findeth it,
the more eagerly doth he thirst. Hear the
words of him in his thirst. " O look Thou upon
me," he saith, "and be merciful unto me:
according to the judgment of those that love
Thy Name" (ver. 132) : that is, according to
the judgment Thou has dealt unto all who love
Thy Name ; since Thou hast first loved them,
to cause them to love Thee. For thus saith
the Apostle John, " We love God, because He
first loved us." 9
132. See what the Psalmist next most openly
saith : " Order my steps after Thy word : and so
shall no wickedness have dominion over me "
(ver. 133). Where what else doth he say than
this, Make me upright and free according to
Thy promise. But so much the more as the
love of God reigneth in every man, so much
the less hath wickedness dominion over him.
What else then doth he seek than that by the
gift of God he may love God? For by loving
God he loveth himself, so that he may healthily
love his neighbour also as himself : on which com-
mandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.10
What then doth he pray, save that God may
cause the fulfilment by His help of those com-
mandments which He imposeth by His bidding?
133. But what meaneth this that he saith, "O
deliver me from the calumnies of men : so shall
I keep Thy commandments "? (ver. 134). . . .
* Gal. v. 6. 1 Rom. v. 5. 6 Matt. vii. 7.
7 Rom. vii. is. 8 Rom. via. 14. 9 1 John iv. 19.
10 Matt, xxii, 37-40.
Psalm CXIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
583
Did not the holy people of God much the more
gloriously keep the commandments among these
very calumnies, when they were at their hottest
in the midst of tribulations, when they yielded
not to their persecutors to commit impieties?
But, in truth, the meaning of these words is
this : Do Thou, by pouring upon me Thy Spirit,
guard me from being overcome by the terrors
of human calumny, and from being drawn over
to their evil deeds away from Thy command-
ments. For if Thou hast thus dealt with me,
that is, if Thou hast in this manner delivered
me by the gift of patience from their calumnies,
so that I fear not the false charges they prefer
against me ; among those very calumnies I will
keep Thy commandments.
134. " Show the light of Thy countenance on
Thy servant, and teach me thy statutes" (ver.
135) : that is, manifest Thy presence, by suc-
couring and aiding me. " And teach me Thy
righteousnesses." Teach me to work them : as it
is more plainly expressed elsewhere, " Teach me
to do Thy will." ' For they who hear, although
they retain in their memories what they hear,
are by no means to be considered to have learnt,
unless they do. For it is the word of Truth :
" Every man that hath heard and hath learned
of the Father, cometh unto Me." 2 He there-
fore who obeyeth not in deed, that is, who
cometh not, hath not learnt.
135. "My eyes have descended streams of
waters, because they have not kept Thy law "
(ver. 136) : that is, my eyes. For in some cop-
ies there is this reading, " Because I have not
kept Thy law, streams of waters " therefore " de-
scended," that is, floods of tears.3 . . .
Tudze.
136. Thus, then, as if giving a reason why he
had cause to weep much, and to mourn deeply
for his sin, he saith, " Righteous art Thou, O
Lord, and true is Thy judgment" (ver. 137).
" Thou hast commanded Thy testimonies, right-
eousness, and Thy truth exceedingly" (ver. 138).
This righteousness of God and righteous judg-
ment and truth, is to be feared by every sinner :
for thereby all who are condemned are con-
demned of God ; nor is there one who can
righteously complain against the righteous God
of his own damnation. Therefore the tears of
the penitent are needful ; since if his impeni-
tent heart were condemned, he would be most
justly condemned. He indeed calleth the testi-
monies of God righteousness : for He proveth
himself righteous by giving righteous command-
1 Ps. cxliii. 10.
2 John vi. 45.
3 [He adds: " There are copies which do not read ' descended,'
but ' overpassed,' meaning that he said hyperbolically, that in weep-
ing he had overpast streams of waters, that is, by weeping more than
the waters flow in their streams." — C.J
ments. And this is truth also, that God may
become known by such testimonies.
137. But what is it that followeth : " My zeal
hath caused me to pine" (ver. 139); or, as
other copies read, Thy zeal ? Others have also,
" The zeal of Thy house : " and, " hath eaten me
up," instead of, " hath caused me to pine."
This, as it seems to me, has been considered as
an emendation to be introduced from another
Psalm, where it is written, " The zeal of Thy
house hath eaten me up : " 4 a text quoted also,
as we know, in the Gospel. The two words,
however, " hath caused me to pine," and " hath
eaten me up," are somewhat like. But the
words, "my zeal," which most of the copies
read, occasion no dispute : for what wonder is
it if every man pineth away from his own zeal ?
The words read in other copies, " Thy zeal,"
signify a man zealous for God, not for himself:
but there is no difficulty in using " my " in the
same sense. . . . The Psalmist's jealousy is
therefore also to be understood in a good sense :
for he addeth the cause, and saith, " Because
mine enemies have forgotten Thy words." . . .
138. Then considering with himself with what
a flame of love he burned for the commandments
of God : " Fiery," saith he, " is Thy word ex-
ceedingly, and Thy servant hath loved it " (ver.
140). Justly jealous was he of the impenitent
heart in His enemies, who had forgotten God's
word ; for he endeavoured to bring them unto
that which he himself most ardently loved.
139. " I am young, and of no reputation ; yet
do I not forget Thy righteousnesses : " not as my
enemies, who "have forgotten Thy words " (ver.
141). The younger seems to grieve for those
older than himself who had forgotten the right-
eousnesses of God, while he himself had not
forgotten. For what meaneth, " I am young,
yet do I not forget"? save this, Those older
than me have forgotten. For the Greek word
is wolirtpos, the same as that used in the words
above, " Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse
his way ? " 5 This is a comparative, and is there-
fore well understood in its relation to some one
older. Let us therefore here recognise the two
nations, who were striving even in Rebecca's
womb ; when it was said to her, not from works,
but of Him that calleth, " The elder shall serve
the younger." 6 But the younger saith here that
he is of no reputation : for this reason he hath
become greater : since " behold, they that were
first are last, and they that were last first." 7
140. It is no wonder that they have forgotten
the words of God, who have chosen to set up
their own righteousness, ignorant of the right-
eousness of God ; 8 but he, the younger, hath not
* Ps. Ixix. 9; John ii. 17. _ s Ps. cxix. 9.
6 Gen. xxv. 22, 23 ; Rom. ix . 12, 13. 7 Matt. XX. 16.
8 Rom. x. 3.
584
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[PSAI.M CXIX.
forgotten, for he hath not wished to have a right-
eousness of his own, but that of God, of which
he now also saith, " Thy righteousness is an ever-
lasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth "
(ver. 142). For how is not the law truth,
through which came the knowledge of sin, and
that which giveth testimony of the righteousness
of God ? For thus the Apostle saith : " The
righteousness of God is manifested, being wit-
nessed by the Law and the Prophets." '
141. On account of this law the younger suf-
fered persecution from the elder, so that the
younger saith what followeth : " Trouble and
hardship have taken hold upon me : yet is my
meditation in Thy commandments " (ver. 143).
Let them rage, let them persecute ; as long as
the commandments of God be not abandoned,
and, after those commandments, let even those
who rage be loved.
142. "Thy testimonies are righteousness unto
everlasting : O grant me understanding, and I
shall live" (ver. 144). This younger one pray-
eth for understanding ; which if he had not, he
would not be " wiser than the aged ; " 2 but he
prayeth for it in trouble and hardships, that he
may thereby understand how contemptible is all
that his persecuting enemies can take from him,
by whom he saith he hath been despised. There-
fore he hath said, " and I shall live : " be-
cause if trouble and heaviness reached such a
pitch, that his life should be terminated by the
hands of his persecuting enemies, he will live for
ever, who preferreth to temporal things, right-
eousness which remairieth for evermore. This
righteousness in trouble and hardship are the
Martyria Dei, that is, the testimonies of God,
for which Martyrs have been crowned.
Koph.
143. . . . He who singeth this Psalm, mention-
ed! such a prayer of his own : " I have called with
my whole heart ; hear me, O Lord !" (ver. 145).
For to what end his cry profiteth, he addeth :
" I will search out Thy righteousnesses." For
this purpose then he hath called with his whole
heart, and hath longed that this might be given
him by the Lord listening unto him, that he
may search out His righteousnesses. . . .
144. "I have called, save me" (ver. 146);
or as some copies, both Greek and Latin, have it,
" I have called to Thee." But what is, " I have
called to Thee," save that by calling I have in-
voked Thee ? But when he had said, " save me;"
what did he add ? " And I will keep Thy tes-
timonies : " that is, that I may not, through in-
firmity, deny Thee. For the health of the soul
causeth that to be done which it is known to be
our duty to do, and thus in striving even to the
death of the body, if the extremity of tempta-
1 Rom. iii. so, ai.
2 Ps. CXIX. 100.
tion demand this in defence of the truth of the
divine testimonies : but where there is not health
of the soul, weakness yieldeth, and truth is
deserted. . . .
145. " I have prevented in midnight," he saith,
" and have cried : In Thy words have I trusted "
(ver. 147). If we refer this to each of the faith-
ful, and to the literal character of the act ; it oft
happeneth that the love of God is awake in that
hour of the night, and, the love of prayer strongly
urging us, the time of prayer, which is wont to
be after the crowing of the cock, is not awaited,
but prevented. But if we understand night of
the whole of this world's duration ; we indeed
cry unto God at midnight, and prevent the ful-
ness of time in which He will restore us what He
hath promised, as is elsewhere read, " Let us
prevent His presence with confession."3 Al-
though if we choose to understand the unripe
season of this night, before the fulness of time
had come,4 that is, the ripe season when Christ
should be manifested in the flesh ; neither was
the Church then silent, but preventing this ful-
ness of time, in prophecy cried out, and trusted
in the words of God, who was able to do what
He promised, that in the seed of Abraham all
nations should be blessed.3
146. The Church saith also what followeth,
" Mine eyes have prevented the morning watch,
that I might meditate on Thy words " (ver. 148).
Let us suppose the morning to mean the season
when "a light arose for them that sat in the
shadow of death ; " 6 did not the eyes of the
Church prevent this morning watch, in those
Saints who before were on earth, because they
foresaw beforehand that this would come to pass,
so that they meditated on the words of God,
which then were, and announced these things to
be destined in the Law and the Prophets?
147. " Hear my voice, O Lord, according to
Thy loving-mercy ; and quicken Thou me ac-
cording to Thy judgment" (ver. 149). For first
God according to His loving-mercy taketh away
punishment from sinners, and will give them life
afterwards, when righteous, according to His
judgment ; for it is not without a meaning that
it is said unto Him, " My song shall be of mercy
and judgment : unto Thee, O Lord ;" ^ in this
order of the terms : although the season of mercy
itself be not without judgment, whereof the
Apostle saith, " If we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged of the Lord." 8 . . . And
the final season of judgment shall not be without
mercy, since as the Psalm saith, " He crowneth
thee with mercy and loving-kindness." But
"judgment shall be without mercy," but "unto
those " on the left, " who have not dealt mercy." »
3 Ps. xcv. a.
6 Isa. ix. s.
9 Jas. ii. X3.
* Gal. iv. 4.
» Ps. ci. 1.
J Gen. xii 3 and xxii. 18.
• 1 Cor. xi. 31.
Psalm CXIX]
ON THE PSALMS.
585
148. "They draw nigh, that of malice persecute
me : " or, as some copies read, " maliciously "
(ver. 150). Then they that persecute draw
nigh, when they go the length of torturing and
destroying the flesh : whence the twenty-first
Psalm, wherein the Lord's Passion is prophesied,
saith, "O go not from me, for trouble is hard at
hand ; " ' where those things are spoken of which
He suffered when His Passion was not imminent
upon Him, but actually realized. " And are far
from Thy law." The nearer they drew to the
persecuting the righteous, so much the farther
were they from righteousness. But what harm
did they do unto those, to whom they drew near
by persecution ; since the approach of their
Lord is nearer unto their souls, by whom they
no wise are forsaken ?
149. Lastly, it followeth, "Thou art nigh at hand,
O Lord, and all Thy ways are truth " (ver. 151).
Even in their troubles, it hath been a wonted
confession of the saints, to ascribe truth unto
God, because they suffer them not undeservedly.
So did Queen Esther,2 so did holy Daniel,3 so did
the three men in the furnace,4 so do other asso-
ciates in their sanctity confess. But it may be
asked, in what sense it is here said, " All Thy
ways are truth ; " since in another Psalm it is
read, " All the ways of the Lord are mercy and
truth." s But towards the saints, All the ways of
the Lord are at once mercy and truth : since
He aideth them even in judgment, and thus
mercy is not wanting ; and in having mercy upon
them, He performeth that which He hath prom-
ised, so that truth is not wanting. But towards
all, both those whom He freeth, and those whom
He condemneth, all the ways of the Lord are
mercy and truth ; because where He doth not
show mercy, the truth of His vengeance is dis-
played. For He freeth many who have not
deserved, but He condemneth none who hath
not deserved it.
150. " From the beginning I have known," he
saith, " as concerning Thy testimonies, that Thou
hast grounded them for ever"6 (ver. 152). . . .
What are these testimonies, save those wherein
God hath declared that He will give an everlast-
ing kingdom unto His sons? And since He
hath declared that He will give this in His only-
begotten Son, he said that the testimonies them-
selves were grounded for ever. For that which
God hath promised through them, was everlast-
ing. And for this reason the words, " Thou hast
1 Ps. xxii. 11. 2 Esth. xiv. 6, 7. 3 Dan. ix. 4, 16.
* Song of 3 Chil. 2-IO. * Ps. xxv. 10.
6 [Here the author says: " The Greek word KaTap^d? hath been
variously rendered by the Latin translators by ab initio, initio, and
111 iuitiis. Those who rendered it in the plural, have followed the
Greek phrase. But it is more usual in the Latin tongue to express
the idea conveyed by tfarapydv, which in Greek is used in the plural
or adverbially, by the words ab initio, or initio ; just as with us,
when we say. Otherwise I do this (alias hoc facio) , we seem to be
using the plural of the feminine gender, whereas the word is an ad-
verb, and signifies, at another time." — C]
grounded them," are rightly thus understood,
because they are shown to be true in Christ.7
Whence then did the Psalmist know this in the
beginning, save because the Church speaketh,
which was not wanting to the earth from the
commencement of the human race, the first-fruits
whereof was the holy Abel, himself sacrificed in
testimony of the future blood of the Mediator
that should be shed by a wicked brother ? 8 For
this also was at the beginning, " They two shall
be one flesh : " 9 which great mystery the Apostle
Paul expounding, saith, " I speak concerning
Christ and the Church." ,0
Resch.
151. Let no man, set in Christ's body, imagine
these words to be alien from himself, since in
truth it is the whole body of Christ placed in
this humble state that speaketh : " O consider
my humiliation, and deliver me : for I forget
not Thy law" (ver. 153). In this place we
cannot understand any law of God so suitably,
as that whereby it is immutably determined
that "every one that exalteth himself, shall be
abased ; and every one that humbleth himself,
shall be exalted." "
152. " Avenge Thou," he saith, " my cause, and
deliver me" (ver. 154). The former sentence
is here almost repeated. And what is there
said, " For I do not forget Thy law," agreeth
with what we read here, " Quicken me, accord-
ing to Thy word." For these words are the
law of God, which he hath not forgot, so that
he hath abased himself, and will therefore be
exalted. But the words, " Quicken me," pertain
to this very exaltation ;' for the exaltation of
the saints is everlasting life.
153. " Health," he saith, " is far from the un-
godly : for they regard not Thy righteous-
nesses" (ver. 155). This separateth thee, that
what they have not done, thou hast done, that
is, thou hast regarded the righteousnesses of
God. But " what hast thou that thou hast not
received ? " " Art thou not he who a little before
didst say, "I will keep Thy righteousnesses"?
Thou therefore hast received from Him, unto
whom thou didst call, the power to keep them.
He therefore doth Himself separate thee from
those from whom health is far, because they have
not regarded the righteousnesses of God. ..
154. This he saw himself also. For I should
not see it, save I saw it in Him, save I were in
Him. For these are the words of the Body of
Christ, whose members we are. He saw this, I
say, and at once added, " Great are Thy mercies,
O Lord" (ver. 156). Even our seeking out
Thy righteousnesses, then, cometh of Thy
7 1 Cor. Hi. 11.
10 Eph. v. 32.
12 1 Cor. iv. 7.
8 Gen. iv. 8. 9 Gen. ii. 34.
11 Luke xiv. 11 and xviii. 14.
586
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
mercies. " Quicken me according to Thy judg-
ment." For I know that Thy judgments will
not be upon me without Thy mercy.
155. " Many there are that trouble me, and
persecute me ; yet do I not swerve from Thy
testimonies" (ver. 157). This hath been
realized : we know it, we recollect it, we acknowl-
edge it. The whole earth has been crimsoned
by the blood of Martyrs ; heaven is flowery with
the crowns of Martyrs, the Churches are adorned
with the memorials of Martyrs, seasons distin-
guished by the birthdays of Martyrs, cures more
frequent ■ by the merits of Martyrs. Whence
this, save because that hath been fulfilled which
was prophesied2 of that Man who hath been
spread abroad around the whole world. We
recognise this, and render thanks to the Lord
our God. For thou, man, thou hast thyself said
in another Psalm, "If the Lord Himself had not
been on our side, they would have swallowed us
up quick." 3 Behold the reason why thou hast
not swerved from His testimonies, and hast won
the palm of thy heavenly calling amid the hands
of the many who persecuted and troubled thee.
156. " I have seen," he saith, " the foolish, and
I pined" (ver. 158) : or, as other copies read,
" I have seen them that keep not covenant : "
this is the reading of most. But who are they
who have not kept covenant, save they who have
swerved from the testimonies of God, not bearing
the tribulation of their many persecutors? Now
this is the covenant, that he who shall have con-
quered shall be crowned. They who, not bearing
persecution, have by denial swerved from the
testimonies of God, have not kept the covenant.
These then the Psalmist saw, and pined, for he
loved them. For that jealousy is good, springing
from love, not from envy. He addeth in what
respect they had failed to keep the covenant,
" Because they kept not Thy word." For this
they denied in their tribulations.
157. And he commendeth himself as differing
from them, and saith, " Behold, how I have loved
Thy commandments" (ver. 159). Hesaithnot,
I have not denied Thy words dr testimonies, as
the Martyrs were urged to do, and, when they
refused, suffered intolerable torments : but he
said this wherein is the fruit of all sufferings ; for,
" if I give up my body to be burned, and have
not charity, it profiteth me nothing."4 The
Psalmist, praising this virtue, saith, "Behold,
how I have loved Thy commandments." Then
he asketh his reward, "O Lord, quicken me,
according to Thy mercy." These put me to
death, do Thou quicken me. But if a reward be
asked of mercy, which justice is bound to give ;
how much greater is that mercy, which enabled
• Cribrttcunt tanitalti. De Civ. Dr. xxii. 8. [Vol. ii. p. 484,
ihit series. The miracles of post-apostolic times are not matter of
faith But see Newman's Flmry, Oxford, 184a. — C.)
' [In this verse. — C] » P». cxxiv. a, 3. * 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
him to gain the victory, on account of which the
reward was sought for?
158. "The beginning," he saith, " of Thy words
is truth ; all the judgments of Thy righteousness
endure for evermore " (ver. 160). From truth,
he saith, Thy words do proceed, and they are
therefore truthful, and deceive no man, for in
them life is announced to the righteous, punish-
ment to the ungodly. These are the everlasting
judgments of God's righteousness.
Schin.
159. We know what persecutions the body of
Christ, that is, the holy Church, suffered from
the kings of the earth. Let us therefore here
also recognise the words of the Church : " Princes
have persecuted me without a cause : and my
heart hath stood in awe of Thee " (ver. 161).
For how had the Christians injured the kingdoms
of the earth, although their King promised them
the kingdom of heaven? How, I ask, had they
injured the kingdoms of earth ? Did their King
forbid His soldiers to pay and to render due
service to the kings of the earth? Saith He not
to the Jews who were striving to calumniate Him,
" Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
and unto God the things that are God's "?s
Did He not even in His own Person pay tribute
from the mouth of a fish ?6 Did not His fore-
runner, when the soldiers of this kingdom were
seeking what they ought to do for their ever-
lasting salvation, instead of replying, Loose your
belts, throw away your arms, desert your king,
that ye may wage war for the Lord, answer, " Do
violence to no man : neither accuse any falsely :
and be content with your wages"?7 Did not
one of His soldiers, His most beloved compan-
ion,8 say to his fellow soldiers, the provincials,'
so to speak, of Christ, " Let every soul be subject
unto the higher powers " ? '° Does he not enjoin
the Church to pray for even kings themselves? "
How then have the Christians offended against
them ? What due have they not rendered ? in
what have not Christians obeyed the monarchs
of earth ? The kings of the earth therefore have
persecuted the Christians without a cause. They
too had their threatening words : I banish, I
proscribe, I slay, I torture with claws, I burn
with fires, I expose to beasts, I tear the limbs
piecemeal.'2 But heed what he hath subjoined :
" And my heart hath stood in awe of Thy word."
My heart hath stood in awe of these words,'J
" Fear not them that kill the body," etc. I
have scorned man who persecuteth me, and have
overcome the devil that would seduce me.
5 Matt. xxii. Ri 6 Matt. xvii. 24-26. 7 Luke iii. 14.
1 Comes (count or earl), a title of honour in the Imperial
Court.
9 See on Ps. xci. and on Ps. civ. 10 Also Rom. xiii. 1,7, 8.
» 1 Tim. ii. I, a. « [See A. N. F. vol. p. viii. 682. — C.J
'■> Matt. x. 28.
PSAI.M CXIX-1
ON THE PSALMS.
587
160. Then follows, " I am as glad of Thy word
as one that flndeth great spoils" (ver. 162).
By the same words he conquered, of which he
stood in awe. For spoils are stripped from the
conquered ; as he was overcome and despoiled
of whom it is said in the Gospel, " except he
first bind the strong man." ' But many spoils
were found, when, admiring the endurance of the
Martyrs, even the persecutors believed ; and
they who had plotted to injure our King by the
injury of His soldiers, were gained over by Him
in addition. Whoever therefore standeth in awe
of the words of God, fearing lest he be over-
come in the contest, rejoiceth as conqueror in
the same words.
161. "As for iniquity, I hate and abhor it; but
Thy law have I loved" (ver. 163). That awe,
therefore, of His word did not create hatred of
those words, but maintained his love unimpaired.
For the words of God are no other than the law
of God. Far be it therefore that love perish
through fear, where fear is chaste. Thus fathers
are at once feared and loved by affectionate
sons ; thus doth the chaste wife at once fear her
husband, lest she be forsaken by him, and loveth
him, that she may enjoy his love. If then the
human father and the human husband desire at
once to be feared and loved ; much more doth
our Father who is in heaven,2 and that Bride-
groom, " beautiful beyond the sons of men," ' not
in the flesh, but in goodness. For by whom is
the law of God loved, save by those by whom
God is loved? And what that is severe hath the
father's law to good sons ? 4 Let the Father's
judgments therefore be praised even in the
scourge, if His promises be loved in the reward.
162. Such was, assuredly, the conduct of the
Psalmist, who saith, " Seven times a day do I
praise Thee, because of Thy righteous judg-
ments" (ver. 164). The words "seven times
a day," signify " evermore." For this number is
wont to be a symbol of universality ; because
after six days of the divine work of creation, a
seventh of rest was added ; 5 and all times roll on
through a revolving cycle of seven days. For
no other reason it was said, " a just man falleth
seven times, and riseth up again : " 6 that is, the
just man perisheth not, though brought low in
every way, yet not induced to transgress, other-
wise he will not be just. For the words, " falleth
seven times," are employed to express every
kind of tribulation, whereby man is cast down
in the sight of men : and the words, " riseth up
again," signify that he profiteth from all these
tribulations. The following sentence in this pas-
sage sufficiently illustrates the foregoing words :
for it follows, " but the wicked shall fall into
mischief." Not to be deprived of strength in
1 Matt, xii 29.
4 Heb. xii. 6.
2 Matt. vi. o.
5 Gen. ii. a.
* Ps. xtv. ».
6 Prov. xxiv. 16.
any evils, is therefore the falling seven times, and
the rising again of the just man. Justly hath
the Church then praised God seven times in a
day for His righteous judgments ; because, when
it was time that judgment should begin at the
house of God,7 she did not faint in all her tribu-
lations, but was glorified with the crowns of
Martyrs.
163. " Great is the peace," he saith, " that they
have who love Thy law : and there is no offence
to them " (ver. 165). Doth this mean that the
law itself is not an offence to them that love it,
or that there is no offence from any source unto
them that love the law? But both senses are
rightly understood. For he who loveth the law
of God, honoureth in it even what he doth not
understand ; and what seemeth to him to sound
absurd, he judgeth rather that he doth not un-
derstand, and that there is some great meaning
hidden : thus the law of God is not an offence
to him. . . .
164. " I have waited," he saith, " for Thy sav-
ing health, O Lord, and have loved Thy com-
mandments" (ver. 166). For what would it
have profited the righteous of old to have loved
the commandments of God, save Christ, who
is the saving health of God, had freed them ; by
the gift of whose Spirit also they were able to
love the commandments of God? If therefore
they who loved God's commandments, waited
for His saving health ; how much more neces-
sary was Jesus, that is, the saving Health of God,
for the salvation of those that did not love His
commandments? This prophecy may suit also
the Saints of the period since the revelation of
grace, and the preaching of the Gospel, for they
that love God's commandments look for Christ,
that " when Christ, our life, shall appear, we "
may then " appear with Him in glory." 8
165. "My soul hath kept Thy testimonies, and
I have loved them exceedingly : " or, as some
copies read, " hath loved them," understanding,
" my soul " (ver. 167). The testimonies of God
are kept, while they are not denied. This is the
office of Martyrs, for testimonies are called Mar-
tyria in Greek. But since it profiteth nothing,
even to be burnt with flames without charity,9 he
addeth, " and I have loved them exceedingly."
. . . For he who loveth, keepeth them in the
Spirit of truth and faithfulness. But generally,
while the commandments of God are kept, they
against whose will they are kept become our
foes : then, indeed, His testimonies also must be
kept courageously, lest they be denied when the
enemy persecuteth. After the Psalmist, then,
had declared that he had done both these things,
he ascribeth unto God his having been enabled
to do so, by adding, " because all my ways are
' 1 Pet. iv. 17.
8 Col. iii. 4.
9 1 Cor.
588
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXIX.
in Thy sight." He saith therefore, "I have
kept Thy commandments and Thy testimonies ;
because all my ways are in Thy sight" (ver.
1 68). As much as to say, Hadst Thou turned
away Thy face from me, I should have been
confounded, nor could I keep Thy command-
ments and testimonies. " I have kept them,"
then, because " all my ways are in Thy sight."
With a look favouring and aiding man, he meant
it to be understood that God seeth his ways :
according to the prayer, " O hide not Thou Thy
face from me." "...
Tern.
1 66. Let us now hear the words of one praying :
since we know who is praying, and we recognise
ourselves, if we be not reprobate, among the
members of this one praying. " Let my prayer
come near in Thy sight, O Lord" (ver. 169) :
for, " The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a
contrite heart." * " Give me understanding,
according to Thy word." He claimeth a prom-
ise. For he saith, " according to Thy word,"
which is to say, according to Thy promise. For
the Lord promised this when He said, " I will
inform thee." 3
167. " Let my request come before Thy pres-
ence, O Lord : deliver me, according to Thy
word" (ver. 170). He repeateth what he hath
asked. For his former words, " Let my prayer
come near in Thy presence, O Lord : " are like
unto what he saith, " Let my request come before
Thy presence, O Lord : " and the words, " Give
me understanding according to Thy word,"
agree with these, " Deliver me according to Thy
word." For by receiving understanding he is
delivered, who of himself through want of under-
standing is deceived.
168. " My lips shall burst forth praise : when
Thou hast taught me Thy righteousnesses " (ver.
171). We know how God teacheth those who
are docile unto God. For every one who hath
heard from the Father and hath learned, comes
unto Him " who justifieth the ungodly : " * so
that he may keep the righteousnesses of God not
only by retaining them in his memory, but also
by doing them. Thus doth he who glorieth,
glory not in himself, but in the Lord,' and burst
forth praise.
169. But as he hath now learned, and praised
God his Teacher, he next wisheth to teach.
" Yea, my tongue shall declare Thy word : for
all 'Thy commandments are righteousness" (ver.
172). When he saith that he will declare these
things, he becometh a minister of the word.
For though God teach within, nevertheless
" faith cometh from hearing : and how do they
hear without a preacher ? " 6 For, because " God
■ P». xxvii. 9. 2 Pi. xxxiv. 18. • Ps. xxxii. 8.
* John vi. 45; Rom. iv. 5. » 1 Cor. i. 31.
6 Rom. x. 17, 14.
giveth the increase," * is no reason why we need
not plant and water.
1 70. " Let Thy hand be stretched forth {fiat,
be made) to save me, for I have chosen Thy
commandments" (ver. 173). That I might not
fear, and that not only might my heart hold fast,
but my tongue also utter Thy words : " I have
chosen Thy commandments," and have stifled
fear with love. Let Thy hand therefore be
stretched forth, to save me from another's hand.
Thus God saved the Martyrs, when He permitted
them not to be slain in their souls : for " vain is
the safety of man " 8 in the flesh. The words,
" Let Thy hand be made," may also be taken to
mean Christ the Hand of God. . . . Certainly
where we read the following words, " I have
longed for Thy salvation, O Lord " (ver. 174) :
even if all our foes be reluctant, let Christ the
Salvation of God occur to us : the righteous men
of old confess that they longed for Him, the
Church longed for His destined coming from
His mother's womb, the Church longeth for His
coming at His Father's right hand. Subjoined
to this sentence are the words, " And Thy law is
my meditation : " for the Law giveth testimony
unto Christ.
171. But in this faith, though the heathen rage
furiously, and the people imagine a vain thing : »
though the flesh be slain while it preacheth
Thee : " My soul shall live, and shall praise
Thee : and Thy judgments shall help me " (ver.
175). These are those judgments, which it was
time should begin at the house of the Lord.10
But "they will help me," he saith. And who
cannot see how much the blood of the Church
hath aided the Church? how great a harvest
hath risen in the whole world from that sow-
ing?
172. At last he openeth himself completely,
and showeth what person was speaking through-
out the whole Psalm. " 1 have gone astray," he
saith, "like a sheep that is lost: O seek" Thy
servant, for I do not forget Thy command-
ments" (ver. 176). Let the lost sheep be
sought, let the lost sheep be quickened, for
whose sake its Shepherd left the ninety and nine
in the wilderness,'2 and while seeking it, was torn
by Jewish thorns. But it is still being sought,
let it still be sought, partly found let it still be
sought. For as to that company, among whom
the Psalmist saith, " I do not forget Thy com-
mandments," it hath been found ; but through
those who choose the commandments of God,
7 1 Cor. iii. 7.
• Ps. Ix. 11.
I Ps. ii. 1.
10 1 Pet. iv. 17.
II [He says: "Some copies have not "seek," but "quicken."
For there is a difference only of one syllable between the corre-
sponding Greek words Criaov and ffrrwrarl whence the Greek copies
themselves derive the variation." — C]
12 Matt, xviii. 13, 13.
Psalm CXX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
589
gather them together, love them, it is still sought,
and by means of the blood of its Shepherd shed
and sprinkled abroad, it is found in all nations.'
PSALM CXX.'
1. The Psalm which we have just heard
chanted, and have responded to with our voices,
is short, and very profitable. Ye will not long
toil in hearing, nor will ye toil fruitlessly in
working. For it is, according to the title pre-
fixed to it, " A song of degrees." 3 Degrees
are either of ascent or of descent. But degrees,
as they are used in this Psalm, are of ascend-
ing. . . . There are therefore both those who
ascend and those who descend on that lad-
der.4 Who are they that ascend? They who
progress towards the understanding of things
spiritual. Who are they that descend? They
who, although, as far as men may, they enjoy
the comprehension of things spiritual : neverthe-
less, descend unto the infants, to say to them such
things as they can receive, so that, after being
nourished with milk, they may become fitted
and strong enough to take spiritual meat. . . .
2. When therefore a man hath commenced
thus to order his ascent ; to speak more plainly,
when a Christian hath begun to think of spirit-
ual amendment, he beginneth to suffer the
tongues of adversaries. Whoever hath not yet
suffered from them, hath not yet made progress ;
whoever suffereth them not, doth not. even
endeavour to improve. Doth he wish to know
what we mean? Let him at the same time
experience what is reported of us. Let him
begin to improve, let him begin to wish to
ascend, to wish to despise earthly, fragile, tem-
poral objects, to hold worldly happiness for
nothing, to think of God alone, not to rejoice in
gain, not to pine at losses, to wish even to sell all
his substance, and distribute it among the poor,
and to follow Christ ; let us see how he suffer-
eth the tongues of detractors and of constant
opponents, and — a still greater peril — of pre-
tended counsellors, who lead him astray from
1 [He adds: " As far as I have been able, as far as I have been
aided by the Lord, I have treated throughout, and expounded, this
great Ps"\lm, — a task which more able and learned expositors have
performed or will perform better; nevertheless, my services were not
to be withheld from it on that account, when my brethren earnestly
required it of me, to whom I owed this office. That I have said noth-
ing of the Hebrew alphabet, in which every eight verses are ranged
under a particular letter, and the whole Psalm arranged in this
manner, let no one wonder, since I found nothing that related espe-
cially to this Psalm: for it is not the only one which hath these
letters. Let those who cannot find it in the Latin and Greek versions,
since it is not adopted there, know that every set of eight verses in
the Hebrew copies beginneth with that letter which is prefixed to
them; as is indicated to us by those who are acquainted with the
Hebrew tongue. This is done with much more care than our writers
have shown in their Latin or Punic compo>itions of Psalms which
they style abecedarii. For they do not begin all the verses down to
the close of a period, but the first only with the same letter which
they prefix to it." It was the counsel of the learned general editor to
drop this Psalm entirely. For the sake of preserving the symmetry
of the work, I have retained as much as I could. — C]
2 Lat. CXIX. 3 In Greek it is written aka/Sa^ur.
* Gen. xxviii. 12.
salvation. . . . He then, who will ascend, first
of all prayeth God against these very tongues :
for he saith, " When I was in trouble, I called
on the Lord; and He heard me" (ver. 1).
Why did He hear him ? That He might now
place him at the steps of ascent.
3. " Deliver my soul, O Lord, from unrighteous
lips, and from a deceitful tongue " (ver. 2). What
is a deceitful tongue ? A treacherous tongue, one
that hath the semblance of counsel, and the bane
of real mischief. Such are those who say, And
wilt thou do this, that nobody doth? Wilt thou
be the only Christian ? . . . Some deter by dissua-
sion, others discourage yet more by their praise.
For since such is the life that haih for some
time been diffused over the world, so great is the
authority of Christ, that not even a pagan ventur-
eth to blame Christ.5 He who cannot be cen-
sured is read. They cannot contradict Christ,
they cannot contradict the Gospel, Christ cannot
be censured ; the deceitful tongue turneth itself
to praise as an hindrance. If thou praisest,
exhort. Why dost thou discourage with thy
praise? . . . Thou turnest thyself to another
mode of dissuasion, that by false praise thou
mayest turn me away from true praise ; 6 nay,
that by praising Christ thou mayest keep me
away from Christ, saying, What is this ? Behold
these men have done this : thou, perhaps, wilt
not be able : thou beginnest to ascend, thou fall-
est. It seemeth to warn thee : it is the serpent,
it is the deceitful tongue, it hath poison. Pray
against it, if thou wishest to ascend.
4. And thy Lord saith unto thee, " What shall
be given thee, or what shall be set before thee,
against the deceitful tongue?" (ver. 3). What
shall be given thee, that is, as a weapon to oppose
to the deceitful tongue, to guard thyself against
the deceitful tongue ? " Or what shall be set
before thee ? " He asketh to try thee : for He
will answer His own question. For He answers
following up his own inquiry, " even sharp arrows
of the Mighty One, with coals that desolate, or
that lay waste " (ver. 4). They that desolate, or
that lay waste (for it is variously written in dif-
ferent copies), are the same, because by laying
waste, as ye may observe, they easily lead unto
desolation. What are these coals? First, be-
loved brethren, understand what are arrows.
The " sharp arrows of the Mighty One," are the
words of God. . . . What then are the " coals that
lay waste?" It is not enough to plead with
words against a deceitful tongue and unrighteous
lips : it is not enough to plead with words ; we
must plead with examples also. . . . The word
coals, then, is used to express the examples of
many sinners converted to the Lord. Thou
' [Noteworthy. — C]
6 [1 'he stratagem of those who glorify Jesus as a man, to deny
His true character as Christ. — C]
59°
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXX.
hearest men wonder, and say, I knew that man,
how addicted he was to drinking, what a villain,
what a lover of the circus, or of the amphitheatre,
what a cheat : now how he serveth God, how
innocent he hath become ! Wonder not ; he is
a live coal. Thou rejoicest that he is alive,
whom thou wast mourning as dead. But when
thou praisest the living, if thou knowest how to
praise, apply him to the dead, that he may be
inflamed ; whosoever is still slow to follow God,
apply to him the coal which was extinguished,
and have the arrow of God's word, and the coal
that layeth waste, that thou mayest meet the
deceitful tongue and the lying lips.
5. "Alas, that my sojourning is become far
off! " (ver. 5). It hath departed far from Thee :
my pilgrimage hath become a far one. I have
not yet reached that country, where I shall live
with no wicked person ; I have not yet reached
that company of Angels, where I shall not fear
offences. But why am I not as yet there ?
Because sojourning is pilgrimage. He is called
a sojourner who dwells in a foreign land, not in
his own country. And when is it far off?
Sometimes, my brethren, when a man goeth
abroad, he liveth among better persons, than he
would perhaps live with in his own country :
but it is not thus, when we go afar from that
heavenly Jerusalem. For a man changeth his
country, and this foreign sojourn is sometimes
good for him ; in travelling he findeth faithful
friends, whom he could not find in his own
country. He had enemies, so that he was driven
from his country ; and when he travelled, he
found what he had not in his country. Such is
not that country Jerusalem, where all are good :
whoever travelleth away from thence, is among
the evil ; nor can he depart from the wicked,
save when he shall return to the company of
Angels, so as to be where he was before he
travelled. There all are righteous and holy,
who enjoy the word of God without reading,
without letters : for what is written to us through
pages,' they perceive there through the Face of
God. What a country ! A great country in-
deed, and wretched are the wanderers from
that country.
6. But what he saith, " My pilgrimage hath
been made distant," are the words of those, that
is, of the Church herself, who toileth on this
earth. It is her voice, which crieth out from
the ends of the earth in another Psalm, saying,
" From the ends of the earth have I cried unto
Thee.2 . . . Where then doth he groan, and
among whom doth he dwell ? "I have had
my habitation among the tents of Kedar."
Since this is a Hebrew word, beyond doubt ye
have not understood it. What meaneth, " I have
had my habitation among the tents of Kedar " ?
" Kedar," as far as we remember of the inter-
pretation of Hebrew words, signifieth darkness.
" Kedar " rendered into Latin is called tenebra.
Now ye know that Abraham had two sons,
whom indeed the Apostle mentioneth,3 and
declareth them to have been types of the two
covenants. . . . Ishmael therefore was in dark-
ness, Isaac in light. Whoever here also seek
earthly felicity in the Church, from God, shall
belong to Ishmael. These are the very persons
who gainsay the spiritual ones who are progress-
ing, and detract from them, and have deceitful
tongues and unrighteous lips. Against these
the Psalmist, when ascending, prayed, and hot
coals that lay waste, and swift and sharp arrows
of the Mighty One, were given him for his
defence. For among these he still liveth, until
the whole floor be winnowed : he therefore said,
" I have dwelt among the tents of Kedar."
The tents of Ishmael are called those of Kedar.
Thus the book of Genesis hath it : thus it hath,
that Kedar belongeth unto Ishmael.4 Isaac
therefore is with Ishmael : that is, they who
belong unto Isaac, live among those who belong
unto Ishmael.5 These wish to rise above, those
wish to press them downwards : these wish to
fly unto God, those endeavour to pluck their
wings. . . .
7. " My soul hath wandered much " (ver. 6).
Lest thou shouldest understand bodily wander-
ing, he hath said that the soul wandered. The
body wandereth in places, the soul wandereth in
its affections. If thou love the earth, thou wan-
derest from God : if thou lovest God, thou risest
unto God. Let us be exercised in the love of
God, and of our neighbour, that we may return
unto charity. If we fall towards the earth, we
wither and decay. But one descended unto this
one who had fallen, in order that he might arise.
Speaking of the time of his wandering, he said
that he wandered in the tents of Kedar. Where-
fore ? Because " my soul hath wandered much."
He wandereth there where he ascendeth. He
wandereth not in the body, he riseth not in the
body. But wherein doth he ascend? "The
ascent," he saith, " is in the heart." 6
8. " With them that hated peace, I was peace-
ful " (ver. 7) . But howsoever ye may hear, most
beloved brethren, ye will not be able to prove how
truly ye sing, unless ye have begun to do that
which ye sing. How much soever I say this, in
whatsoever ways I may expound it, in whatsoever
words I may turn it, it entereth not into the heart
of him in whom its operation is not. Begin to
act, and see what we speak. Then tears flow
forth at each word, then the Psalm is sung, and
the heart doeth what is sung in the Psalm. . . .
' [See p. 51a, note 4, tupra, — C]
* P». Ixi. 3.
3 Gal iv. 22, etc.
6 Ps. Ixxxiv. 5.
* Gen. xxv. 13.
5 Gal. iv. 29.
Psalm CXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
59i
Who are they who hate peace ? They who tear
asunder unity. For had they not hated peace,
they would have abode in unity. But they sep-
arated themselves, forsooth on this account, that
they might be righteous, that they might not
have the ungodly mixed with them. These
words are either ours or theirs : decide whose.
The Catholic Church saith, Unity must not be
lost, the Church of God must not be cut off.*
God will judge afterwards of the wicked and the
good. . . . This we also say: Love ye peace,
love ye Christ. For if they love peace, they love
Christ. When therefore we say, Love ye peace,
we say this, Love ye Christ. Wherefore ? For
the Apostle saith of Christ, " He is our peace,
who hath made both one." 2 If Christ is there-
fore peace, because He hath made both one : why
have ye made two of one ? How then are ye
peace-makers, if, when Christ maketh one of two,
ye make two of one? But since we say these
things, we are peace-makers with them that hate
peace ; and yet they who hate peace, when we
spake to them, made war on us for nought.
PSALM CXXI.3
i. . . . Let them " lift up their eyes to the hills,
whence cometh their help" (ver. i). What
meaneth, The hills have been lightehed? The
Sun of righteousness hath already risen, the
Gospel hath been already preached by the
Apostles, the Scriptures have been preached, all
the mysteries have been laid open, the veil hath
been rent, the secret place of the temple hath
been revealed : let them now at length lift their
eyes up to the hills, whence their help cometh.
..." Of His fulness have all we received," 4 he
saith. Thy help therefore is from Him, of whose
fulness the hills received, not from the hills ; 5
towards which,6 nevertheless, save thou lift thine
eyes through the Scriptures, thou wilt not ap-
proach, so as to be lighted by Him.7
2. Sing therefore what followeth ; if thou wish to
hear how thou mayest most securely set thy feet on
the steps, so that thou mayest not be fatigued in
that ascent, nor stumble and fall : pray in these
words : " Suffer not my foot to be moved ! "
(ver. 3). Whereby are feet moved; whereby
1 [Unity on Niccnc Constitutions, not those of the Decretals.
Augustin himself, to maintain unity, refused communion with the
See of Rome, and died in that position. — C.J
2 Eph. ii. 14.
s Lat. CXX. A sermon to the people on the day of St. Crispina.
* John i. 16.
* Here some earlier editions, as quoted by Ben., add, " Christ, the
Son of the supreme Father, is therelore our salvation, and our help,
and with the same Father He is God Almighty, and with Him ever
abiding in respect of that He is. To those mountains, therefore,
which I have mentioned, if thou lift not up thine eyes." There are
several other additions in the commentary on his Psalm, which how-
ever seem scarcely worthy of St. Augustin, and for whicjl no MS.
authority is given.
6 At. " by which thou wilt not be admonished "
7 f Familiarity with Scrioture is the Catholic principle, here
everywhere presupposed. — C.J
was the foot ef him who was in Paradise moved ?
But first consider whereby the feet of him who
was among the Angels were moved : who when
his feet were moved fell, and from an Angel be-
came a devil : for when his feet were moved he
fell. Seek whereby he fell : he fell through
pride. Nothing then moveth the feet, save pride :
nothing moveth the feet to a fall, save pride.
Charity moveth them to walk and to improve and
to ascend ; pride moveth them to fall. . . .
Rightly therefore the Psalmist, hearing how he
may ascend and may not fall, prayeth unto God
that he may profit from the vale of misery, and
may not fail in the swelling of pride, in these
words, " Suffer not my feet to be moved ! " And
He replieth unto him, " Let him that keepeth
thee not sleep." Attend, my beloved. It is as
if one thought were expressed in two sentences ;
the man while ascending and singing " the song
of degrees," saith, " Suffer not my foot to be
moved : " and it is as if God answered, Thou
sayest unto Me, Let not my feet be moved : say
also, " Let Him that keepeth thee not sleep," and
thy foot shall not be moved.
3. Choose for thyself Him, who will neither
sleep nor slumber, and thy foot shall not be
moved. God is never asleep : if thou dost wish
to have a keeper who never sleepeth, choose
God for thy keeper. " Suffer not my feet to be
moved," thou sayest : well, very well : but He
also saith unto thee, " Let not him that keepeth
thee slumber." Thou perhaps wast about to
turn thyself unto men as thy keepers, and to
say, whom shall I find who will not sleep? what
man will not slumber? whom do I find? whither
shall I go ? whither shall I return ? The Psalmist
telleth thee : " He that keepeth Israel, shall
neither slumber nor sleep " (ver. 4). Dost thou
wish to have a keeper who neither slumbereth
nor sleepeth ? Behold, " He that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep : " for Christ
keepeth Israel. Be thou then Israel. What
meaneth Israel? It is interpreted, Seeing God.
And how is God seen ? First by faith : after-
wards by sight. If thou canst not as yet see
Him by sight, see Him by faith. . . . Who is
there, who will neither slumber nor sleep ? when
thou seekest among men, thou art deceived ;
thou wilt never find one. Trust not then in
any man : every man slumbereth, and will .sleep.
When doth he slumber? When he beareth the
flesh of weakness. When will he sleep ? When
he is dead. Trust not then in man. A mortal
may slumber, he sleepeth in death. Seek not a
keeper among men.
4. And who, thou askest, shall help me, save
He who slumbereth not, nor sleepeth? Hear
what followeth : " The Lord Himself is thy
keeper" (ver. 5). It is not therefore man, that
slumbereth and sleepeth, but the Lord, that
592
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXI.
keepeth thee. How doth He keep thee ? " The
Lord is thy defence upon the hand of thy right
hand." ... It seemeth to me to have a hidden
sense : otherwise he would have simply said,
without qualification, " The Lord will keep thee,"
without adding, " on thy right hand." For how ?
Doth God keep our right hand, and not our
left? Did He not create the whole of us? Did
not He who made our right hand, make our left
hand also? Finally, if it pleased Him to speak
of the right hand alone, why said He, " on the
hand of thy right hand," and not at once " upon
thy right hand " ? Why should He say this, un-
less He were keeping somewhat here hidden for
us to arrive at by knocking? For He would
either say, " The Lord shall keep thee," and add
no more ; or if He would add the right hand,
" The Lord shall keep thee upon thy right hand ; "
or at least, as He added " hand," He would say,
" The Lord shall keep thee upon thy hand, even
thy right hand," ' not " upon the hand of thy
right hand." . . .
5. I ask you, how ye interpret what is said in
the Gospel, " Let not your left hand know what
your right hand doeth " ? 2 For if ye understand
this, ye will dircover what is your right hand,
and what is your left : at the same time ye will
also understand that God made both hands, the
left and the right; yet the left ought not to
know what the right doeth. By our left hand
is meant all that we have in a temporal way ;
by our right hand is meant, whatever our Lord
promiseth us that is immutable and eternal.
But if He who will give everlasting life, Himself
also consoleth our present life by these temporal
blessings, He hath Himself made our right hand
and our left. . . .
6. Let us now come to this verse of the
Psalm : " The Lord is thy defence upon the
hand of thy right hand" (ver. 5). By hand
he meaneth power. How do we prove this?
Because the power of God also is styled the
hand of God. . . . Whereof John saith, " He
gave unto them power to become the sons of
God." * Whence hast thou received this power ?
" To them," he saith, " that believe in His
Name." If then thou believest, this very power
is given thee, to be among the sons of God.
But to be among the sons of God, is to belong
to the right hand. Thy faith therefore is the
hand of thy right hand : that is, the power that
is given thee, to be among the sons of God, is
the hand of thy right hand. . . .
7. " May the Lord shield thee upon the hand
of thy right hand " (ver. 6). I have said, and I
believe ye have recognised it. For had ye not
recognised it, and that from the Scriptures, ye
would not signify your understanding of it by
1 Manum dexttram. a Matt. vi. 3. i John i. 12.
your voices.4 Since then ye have understood,
brethren, consider what followeth ; wherefore
the Lord shieldeth thee " upon the hand of
thy right hand," that is, in thy faith, where-
in we have received " power to become the
sons of God," and to be on His right hand :
wherefore should God shield us? On account
of offences. Whence come offences? Offences
are to be feared from two quarters, for there are
two precepts upon which the whole Law hangeth
and the Prophets, the love of God and of our
neighbour.* The Church is loved for the sake
of our neighbour, but God for the sake of God.
Of God, is understood the sun figuratively : of
the Church, is understood the moon figuratively.
Whoever can err, so as to think otherwise of
God than he ought, believing not the Father
and the Son and the Holy Ghost to be of one
Substance, has been deceived by the cunning of
heretics, chiefly of the Arians. If he hath be-
lieved anything less in the Son or in the Holy
Spirit than in the Father, he hath suffered an
offence in God ; he is scorched by the sun.
Whoever again believeth that the Church ex-
isteth in one province only,6 and not that she is
diffused over the whole world, and whoso believeth
them that say, " Lo here," and " Lo there, is
Christ," i as ye but now heard when the Gospel
was being read ; since He who gave so great a
price, purchased the whole world : he is offended,
so to speak, in his neighbour, and is burnt by the
moon. Whoever therefore erreth in the very
Substance of Truth, is burnt by the sun, and is
burnt through the day ; because he erreth in
Wisdom itself. . . . God therefore hath made
one sun, which riseth upon the good and the
evil, that sun which the good and the evil see ;
but that Sun is another one, not created, not
born, through whom all things were made ; 8
where is the intelligence of the Immutable
Truth : of this the ungodly say, " the Sun rose
not upon us." 9 Whosoever erreth not in Wis-
dom itself, is not burnt by the sun. Whosoever
erreth not in the Church, and in the Lord's
Flesh, and in those things which were done for
us in time, is not burnt by the moon. But every
man although he believeth in Christ, erreth either
in this or that respect, unless what is here prayed
for, " The Ixjrd is thy defence upon the hand of
* [See p. 418, note 8, supra. — C] 5 Matt. xxii. 37-40.
6 Donatists. [So in the Roman province, as asserted by the
modern dogma of the Trent schism. A. N. F. vol. viii. p. 643. — C ]
7 Matt. xxiv. 23. 8 Nicene Creed.
9 Wisd. v. 6. Here old editions add: "of this Sun Father
Athanasius, the Bishop, hath thus beautifully spoken. ' The Son of
God,' he saith, ' is of the Father alone, neither made, nor created,
but begotten; ' " whence Possevinus, Torrensis, and Bellarmine have
quoted St. Augustin as assigning the Athanasian Creed to St.
Athanasius. But Petavius, Theol. Dogm. de Trirt. I. vii. c. 8, note
7, says the words have been foisted into St. Augustin, and in fact
they are not in any of our mss. nor in the editions of Amsterdam,
of Erasmus, and of Louvain. — Ben. Some other additions are
mentioned in the Benedictine notes on this Psalm, but they seem
of later date than St. Augustin.
Psalm CXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
593
thy right hand," is realized in him. He goeth
on to say, " So that the sun shall not burn thee
by day, nor the moon by night" (ver. 6). Thy
defence, therefore, is upon the hand of thy right
hand for this reason, that the sun may not burn
thee by day, nor the moon by night. Under-
stand hence, brethren, that it is spoken figura-
tively. For, in truth, if we think of the visible
sun, it burnetii by day : doth the moon burn by
night? But what is burning? Offence. Hear
the Apostle's words : " Who is weak, and I am
not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?" '
8. " For the Lord shall preserve thee from
all evil" (ver. 7). From offences in the sun,
from offences in the moon, from all evil shall He
preserve thee, who is thy defence upon the
hand of thy right hand, who will not sleep nor
slumber. And for what reason? Because we
are amid temptations : " The Lord shall pre-
serve thee from all evil. The Lord preserve
thy soul:" even thy very soul. "The Lord
preserve thy going out and thy coming in,
from this time forth for evermore" (ver. 8).
Not thy body ; for the Martyrs were consumed
in the body : but " the Lord preserve thy soul ; "
for the Martyrs yielded not up their souls. The
persecutors raged against Crispina,2 whose
birthday we are to-day celebrating ; they were
raging against a rich and delicate woman : but
she was strong, for the Lord was her defence upon
the hand of her right hand. He was her Keeper.
Is there any one in Africa, my brethren, who
knoweth her not? For she was most illustrious,
noble in birth, abounding in wealth : but all
these things were in her left hand, beneath her
head. An enemy advanced to strike her head,
and the left hand was presented to him, which
was under her head. Her head was above, the
right hand embraced her from above.3 . . .
PSALM CXXII.*
1. As impure love inflames the mind, and
summons the soul destined to perish to lust for
earthly things, and to follow what is perishable,
and precipitates it into lowest places, and sinks
it into the abyss ; so holy love raiseth us to
heavenly things, and inflames us to what is
eternal, and excites the soul to those things
which do not pass away nor die, and from the
abyss of hell raiseth it to heaven. Yet all love
hath a power of its own, nor can love in the soul
1 2 Cor. xi. 29. * St. Crispina.
3 Song of Sol. li. 6. [He thus concludes: " Although the Psalm
is short, yet our exposition and discourse on it hath been long.
Imagine, my brethren, that owing to the birthday of the blessed
Crispina I have invited you, and have been immoderate in pro-
tracting the banquet.. Might not this have happened to you, if any
military officer had invited you, and compel you to drink at his
table without measure? May it be lawful for us to do this in a
sacred exposition, that ye may be inebriated and satisfied to the
full.-— C.l
4 Lat, CXXI. A discourse to the common people.
of the lover be idle ; it must needs draw it on.
But dost thou wish to know of what sort love is ?
See whither it leadeth. . . .
2. This Psalm is a " Song of degrees ; " 5 as
we have often said to you, for these degrees6
are not of descent, but of ascent. He there-
fore longeth to ascend. And whither doth he
wish to ascend, save into heaven ? What mean-
eth, into heaven? Doth he wish to ascend that
he may be with the sun, moon, and stars? Far
be it ! But there is in heaven the eternal Jeru-
salem, where are our fellow-citizens, the Angels :
we are wanderers on earth from these our fellow-
citizens. We sigh in our pilgrimage ; we shall
rejoice in the city. But we find companions in
this pilgrimage, who have already seen this city
herself; who summon us to run towards her.
At these he also rejoiceth, who saith, " I rejoiced
in them who said unto me, We will go into the
house of the Lord" (ver. 1). . . .
3. " Our feet were standing in the courts of
Jerusalem" (ver. 2). . . . Consider what thou
wilt be there ; and although thou art as yet on
the road, place this before thine eyes, as if thou
wert already standing, as if thou wert already
rejoicing without ceasing among the Angels ; as
if that which is written were realized in thee :
" Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house ; they
will be alway praising Thee." ? " Our feet
stood in the courts of Jerusalem." What Jeru-
salem ? This earthly Jerusalem also is wont to
be called by the name : though this Jerusalem is
but the shadow of that. And what great thing
is it to stand in this Jerusalem, since this Jerusa-
lem hath not been able to stand, but hath been
turned into a ruin? Doth then the Holy Spirit
pronounce this, out of the kindled heart of the
loving Psalmist, as a great thing? Is not it that
Jerusalem, unto whom the Lord said, " O Jerusa-
lem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets,"
etc.8 What great thing then did he desire ; to
stand among those who slew the Prophets, and
stoned them that were sent unto them? God
forbid that he should think of that Jerusalem,
who so loveth, who so burneth, who so longeth
to reach that Jerusalem, " our Mother," 9 of which
the Apostle saith, that She is " eternal in the
Heavens." '°
4. " Jerusalem that is being built as a city "
(ver. 3). Brethren, when David was uttering
these words, that city had been finished, it was
not being built. It is some city he speaketh of,
therefore, which is now being built, unto which
living stones run in faith, of whom Peter saith,
" Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house ; " " that is, the holy temple of God. What
meaneth, ye are built up as lively stones? Thou
J Sec on Ps. xxxix. p. 112, and on Ps. cxx. p. 589.
6 Or, " steps." 7 ps. lxxxiv. 4. 8 Matt, xxiit. 37,
9 Gal. iv. 26. »° 2 Cor. v. 1. » 1 Pet. it. 5.
594
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXII.
livest, if thou believest : but if thou believest,
thou art made a temple of God ; for the Apostle
Paul saith, " The temple of God is holy, which
temple are ye." ' This city is therefore now in
building ; stones are cut down from the hills by
the hands of those who preach truth, they are
squared that they may enter into an everlasting
structure. There are still many stones in the
hands of the Builder : let them not fall from His
hands, that they may be built perfect into the
structure of the temple. This, then, is the
"Jerusalem that is being built as a city : " Christ
is its foundation. The Apostle Paul saith, " Other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Christ Jesus." 2 When a foundation is
laid on earth, the walls are built above, and the
weight of the walls tends towards the lowest parts,
because the foundation is laid at the bottom.
But if our foundation be in heaven, let us be
built towards heaven. Bodies have built the
edifice of this basilica,3 the ample size of which
ye see ; and since bodies have built it, they
placed the foundation lowest : but since we are
spiritually built, our foundation is placed at the
highest point. Let us therefore run thither,
where we may be built. . . . But what Jerusalem
do I speak of? Is it that, he asketh, which ye
see standing, raised on the structure of its walls ?
No ; but the " Jerusalem which is being built as
a city." Why not, a city, instead of, "as a
city ; " save because those walls, so built in Jeru-
salem, were a visible city, as it is by all called a
city, literally ; but this is being built " as a city,"
for they who enter it are like living stones ; for
they are not literally stones ? Just as they are
called stones, and yet are not so : so the city
styled "as a city," is not a city; for he said,
"is being built." For by the word building, he
meant to be understood the structure, and co-
hesion of bodies and walls. For a city4 is prop-
erly understood of the men that inhabit there.
But in saying " is building," he showed us that
he meant a town. And since a spiritual building
hath some resemblance to a bodily building,
therefore it " is building as a city."
5. But let the following words remove all
doubt that we ought not to understand carnally
the words, " Whose partaking is in the same." s
. . . What meaneth, "the same"? What is
ever in the same state ; not what is now in one
state, now in another. What then is, "the
same," save that which is ? What is that which
is? That which is everlasting. . . . Behold
"The Same : I Am That I Am, I AM." Thou
canst not understand ; it is much to understand,
it is much to apprehend. Remember what He,
• 1 Cor. iii. 17. » 1 Cor. iii. 11.
3 J Note this proof of the costly Christian architecture of this age.
The Basilica, however, was originally an imperial court turned into
a church. — C.J
* Civitat. S In id if turn.
whom thou canst not comprehend, became for
thee. Remember the flesh of Christ, towards
which thou wast raised when sick, and when left
half dead from the wounds of robbers, that thou
mightest be brought to the Inn, and there might-
est be cured.6 Let us therefore run unto the
Lord's house, and reach the city where our feet
may stand ; the city " that is building as a city :
whose partaking is in The Same." . . .
6. That city " which partaketh in the same,"
partaketh in its stability : justly therefore, since
he is made a sharer in its stability, saith he who
runneth thither. For all things there stand
where nought passeth by. Dost thou too wish
to stand there and not to pass by ? Run thither.
Nobody hath " the same " from himself. . . .
7. " For thither the tribes went up " (ver. 4).
We were asking whither he ascendeth who hath
fallen ; for we said, it is the voice of a man who
is ascending, of the Church rising. Can we tell
whither it ascendeth ? whither it goeth ? whither
it is raised? "Thither," he saith, " the tribes went
up." Whither? To "partaking in the Same."
But what are the tribes? Many know, many
know not. For if we use the word " curies " in
its proper sense, we understand nothing, save
the " curies " which exist in each particular city,
whence the terms "curiales " and " decuriones,"
that is, the citizens of a curia or a decuria ; and
ye know that each city hath such curies. But
there are, or were at one time, curies of the
people in those cities, and one city hath many
curies, as Rome hath thirty-five curies of the
people.7 These are called tribes. The people
of Israel had twelve of these, according to the
sons of Jacob.
8. There were twelve tribes of the people of
Israel : but there were good, and there were bad
among them. For how evil were those tribes
which crucified our Lord ! How good those
who recognised the Lord ! Those tribes then
who crucified the Lord, were tribes of the devil.
When therefore he here said, " For thither the
tribes go up ; " that thou mightest not understand
all the tribes, he added, " even the tribes of the
Lord." . . . What are the tribes of the Lord?
"A testimony unto Israel." Hear, brethren,
what this meaneth. " A testimony to Israel : "
that is, whereby it may be known that it is truly
Israel. . . . He is such in whom there is no
guile. And what did the Lord say, when He
saw Nathanael? "Behold an Israelite indeed,
in whom is no guile." 8 If therefore he is a true
Israelite, in whom there is no guile, those tribes
go up to Jerusalem, in whom there is no guile.
6 Luke x. 30, 34.
7 Thirty, according to Liv. i. 13, Cic. De Rep. ii. 8: thirty-five
afterwards, according to Scxt. Pomp, in v. Curia, who seems to
confound them with the " Tribes." See Pollet, Hist. For. Rom. in
Poleni Supplem. t. i. p. 516.
8 John t. 47.
Psalm CXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
595
. . . Wherefore do they go up? "To confess
unto Thy Name, O Lord." It could not be
more nobly expressed. As pride presumeth, so
doth humility confess. As he is a presumer,
who wishes to appear what he is not, so is he a
confessor, who does not wish that to be seen
which himself is, and loves That which He is.
To this therefore do Israelites go up, in whom
is no guile, because they are truly Israelites,
because in them is the testimony of Israel.
9. " For there were seated seats for judg-
ment" (ver. 5). This is a wonderful riddle, a
wonderful question, if it be not understood.
He calleth those seats, which the Greeks call
thrones. The Greeks call chairs thrones, as a
term of honour. Therefore, my brethren, it
is not wonderful if even we should sit on seats,
or chairs ; but that these seats themselves should
sit, when shall we be able to understand this?
As if some one should say : let stools or chairs
sit here. We sit on chairs, we sit on seats,
we sit on stools ; the seats themselves sit not.
What then meaneth this, " For there were
seated seats for judgment " ? . . . If therefore
heaven be the seat of God, and the Apostles
are heaven ; they themselves are become the
seat of God, the throne of God. It is said
in another passage : ■ " The soul of the right-
eous is the throne of wisdom." A great truth,
a great truth, is declared ; the throne of wis-
dom is the soul of the righteous ; that is, wis-
dom sitteth in the soul of the righteous as it
were in her chair, in her throne, and thence
judgeth whatsoever she judgeth. There were
therefore thrones of wisdom, and therefore the
Lord said unto them, " Ye shall sit upon twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 2
So they also shall sit upon twelve seats, and they
are themselves the seats of God ; for of them it
is .said, " For there were seated seats." Who
sat? "Seats." And who are the seats? They
of whom it is said, " The soul of the righteous
is the seat of wisdom." Who are the seats?
The heavens. Who are the heavens ? Heaven.
What is heaven? That of which the Lord
saith, " Heaven is My seat."3 The righteous
then themselves are the seats ; and have seats ;
and seats shall be seated in that Jerusalem. For
what purpose? " For judgment." Ye shall sit,
He saith, on twelve thrones, O ye thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Judging
whom ? Those who are below on earth. Who
will judge? They who have become heaven.
But they who shall be judged, will be divided
into two bodies : one will be on the right hand,
the other on the left. . . .
10. He at once addeth, as unto the seats them-
1 [See p. 475, note 6. References there do not satisfy the Oxford
editor, and here he puts a mark of inquiry; thus, " — T — C]
3 Matt. xix. 28.
3 Isa. Ixvi. x.
selves, " Enquire ye the things that are for the
peace of Jerusalem " (ver. 6). O ye seats, who
now sit unto judgment, and are made the seats
of the Lord who judgeth (since they who judge,
enquire ; they who are judged, are enquired of),
" Enquire ye," he saith, " the things that are for
the peace of Jerusalem." What will they find
by asking? That some have done deeds of
charity, that others have not. Those whom they
shall find to have done deeds of charity, they
will summon them unto Jerusalem ; for these
deeds are " for the peace of Jerusalem." Love
is a powerful thing, my brethren, love is a pow-
erful thing. Do ye wish to see how powerful a
thing love is? ... If charity be destitute of
means, so that it cannot find what to bestow upon
the poor, let it love : let it give " one cup of cold
water ;" * as much shall be laid to its account,
as to Zaccheus who gave half his patrimony to
the poor.s Wherefore this? The one gave so
little, the other so much, and shall so much be
imputed to the former? Just so much. For
though his resources are unequal, his charity is
not unequal.
n. . . . " And plenteousness," he addeth, "for
them that love thee." He addresses Jerusalem
herself, They have plenteousness who love her.
Plenteousness after want : here they are desti-
tute, there they are affluent ; here they are weak,
there they are strong ; here they want, there
they are rich. How have they become rich ?
Because they gave here what they received from
God for a season, and received there what God
will afterwards pay back for evermore. Here,
my brethren, even rich men are poor. It is a
good thing for a rich man to acknowledge him-
self poor : for if he think himself full, that is
mere puffing, not plenteousness. Let him own
himself empty, that he may be filled. What
hath he ? Gold. What hath he not yet ? Ever-
lasting life. Let him consider what he hath, and
see what he hath not. Brethren, of that which
he hath, let him give, that he may receive what
he hath not ; let him purchase out of that which
he hath, that which he hath not, " and plen-
teousness for them that love thee."
12. "Peace be in thy strength" (ver. 7). O
Jerusalem, O city, who art being built as a city,
whose partaking is in " The Same : " " Peace be
in thy strength : " peace be in thy love ; for. thy
strength is thy love. Hear the Song of songs :
" Love is strong as death." 6 A great saying
that, brethren, " Love is strong as death." The
strength of charity could not be expressed in
grander terms than these, " Love is strong as
death." l For who resisteth death, my brethren?
Consider, my brethren. Fire, waves, the sword,
are resisted : we resist principalities, we resist
4 Matt. x. 42.
s Luke xix. 8.
6 Cant. viii. 6.
596
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXIII.
kings; death cometh alone, who resisteth it?
There is nought more powerful than it. Charity
therefore is compared with its strength, in the
words, " Love is strong as death." And since
this love slayeth what we have been, that we
may be what we were not ; love createth a sort
of death in us. This death he had died who
said, "The world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world : " ' this death they had died unto
whom he said, " Ye are dead, and your life is
hid with Christ in God."2 Love is strong as
death. . . .
13. Thus as he was here speaking of charity,
he addeth, " For my brethren and companions'
sake, I spoke peace of thee " (ver. 8). O Jeru-
salem, thou city whose partaking is in The Same,
I in this life and on this earth, I poor, he saith,
I a stranger and groaning, not as yet enjoying
to the full thy peace, and preaching thy peace ;
preach it not for my own sake, as the heretics,
who seeking their own glory, say, Peace be with
you : and have not the peace which they preach
to the people. For if they had peace, they
would not tear asunder unity. " I," he saith,
" spoke peace of thee." But wherefore ? " For
my brethren and companions' sake : " not for
my own honour, not for my own money, not
for my life ; for, " To me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain." But, " I spoke peace of thee,
for my brethren and companions' sakes." For
he wished to depart, and to be with Christ : but,
since he must preach these things to his com-
panions and his brethren, to abide in the flesh,
he addeth, is more needful for you.3
14. " Because of the house of the Lord my
God, I have sought good things for thee " (ver.
9). Not on my own account have sought good
things, for then I should not seek for thee, but
for myself; and so should I not have them, be-
cause I should not seek them for thee ; but,
" Because of the house of the Lord my God,"
because of the Church, because of the Saints,
because of the pilgrims ; because of the poor,
that they may go up ; because we say to them,
we will go into the house of the Lord : because
of the house of the Lord my God itself, I have
sought good things for Thee. These long and
needful words gather ye, brethren, eat them,
drink them, and grow strong, run, and seize.
PSALM CXXIII.t
1. . . . Let this singer ascend ; and let this
man sing from the heart of each of you, and let
each of you be this man, for when each of you
saith this, since ye are all one in Christ, one man
saith this ; and saith not, " Unto Thee, O Lord,
have " we " lift up " our " eyes ; " but, " Unto
• Gal. vi. u. » Col. iii. 3. > Philip, i n. 33. it.
* Lu. CXXII. [Oa - Degrwi," fee p. 593, ,ufra. - C.]
Thee, O Lord, have I lift up mine eyes " (ver.
1). Ye ought indeed to imagine that every one
of you is speaking ; but that One in an especial
sense speaketh, who is also spread abroad over
the whole world. . . .
What maketh the heart of a Christian heavy?
Because he is a pilgrim, and longeth for his
country. If thy heart be heavy on this score,
although thou hast been prosperous in the world,
still thou dost groan : and if all things combine
to render thee prosperous, and this world smile
upon thee on every side, thou nevertheless
groanest, because thou seest that thou art set in
a pilgrimage ; and feelest that thou hast indeed
happiness in the eyes of fools, but not as yet
after the promise of Christ : this thou seekest
with groans, this thou seekest with longings, and
by longing ascendest, and while thou ascendest
dost sing the Song of Degrees.
2. . . . Where then are the ladders ? For we
behold so great an interval between heaven and
earth, there is so wide a separation, and so great
a space of regions between : we wish to climb
thither, we see no ladder ; do we deceive our-
selves, because we sing the Song of Degrees,
that is, the Song of ascent? We ascend unto
heaven, if we think of God, who hath made
ascending steps in the heart. What is to ascend
in heart? To advance towards God. As every
man who faileth, doth not descend, but falleth :
so every one who profiteth doth ascend : but if
he so profit, as to avoid pride : if he so ascend
as not to fall : but if while he profiteth he be-
come proud, in ascending he again falleth. But
that he may not be proud, what ought he to do ?
Let him lift up his eyes unto Him who dwelleth
ih heaven, let him not heed himself. . . .
3. If, my brethren, we understand by heaven
the firmament which we see with our bodily eyes,
we shall indeed so err, as to imagine that we
cannot ascend thither without ladders, or some
scaling machines : but if we ascend spiritually,
we ought to understand heaven spiritually : if
the ascent be in affection, heaven is in righteous-
ness. What is then the heaven of God? All
holy souls, all righteous souls. For the Apostles
also, although they were on earth in the flesh,
were heaven ; for the Lord, enthroned in them,
traversed the whole world. He then dwelleth
in heaven. How? . . . How long are they the
temple according to faith? As long as Christ
dwelleth in them through faith ; as the Apostle
saith, " That Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith." But they are already heaven in
whom God already dwelleth visibly, who see
Him face to face ; all the holy Apostles, all the
holy Virtues, Powers, Thrones, Lordships, that
heavenly Jerusalem, wanderers from whence we
groan, and for which we pray with longing ; and
there God dwelleth. Thither hath the Psalmist
Psalm CXXIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
597
lifted up his faith, thither he riseth in affection,
with longing hopes : and this very longing causeth
the soul to purge off1 the filth of sins, and to be
cleansed from every stain, that itself also may
become heaven ; because it hath lifted up its eyes
unto Him who dwelleth in heaven. For if we
have determined that that heaven which we see
with our bodily eyes is the dwelling of God, the
dwelling of God will pass away ; for " heaven
and earth will pass away." 2 Then, before God
created heaven and earth, where did He dwell ?
But some one saith : and before God made the
Saints, where did He dwell? God dwelt in
Himself, he dwelt with Himself, and God is with
Himself. And when He deigneth to dwell in
the Saints, the Saints are not the house of God
in such wise, as that God should fall when it is
withdrawn. For we dwell in a house in one
way, in another way God dwelleth in the Saints.
Thou dwellest in a house : if it be withdrawn,
thou fallest : but God so dwelleth in the Saints,
that if He should Himself depart, they fall. . . .
4. What then followeth, since he hath said,
"Unto Thee do I lift up mine eyes"? (ver. 2).
How hast thou lifted up thine eyes? " Behold,
even as the eyes of servants look unto the hand
of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto
the hand of her mistress : even so our eyes wait
upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy
upon us." We are both servants, and a hand-
maiden : He is both our Master and our Mis-
tress. What do these words mean ? What do
these similitudes mean? It is not wonderful if
we are servants, and He our Master ; but it is
wonderful if we are a maiden, and He our Mis-
tress. But not even our being a maiden is won-
derful ; for we are the Church : nor is it wonder-
ful that He is our Mistress ; for He is the Power
and the Wisdom of God. . . . When therefore
thou hearest Christ, lift up thine eyes to the
hands of thy Master ; when thou hearest the
Power of God and the Wisdom of God, lift
up thine eyes to the hands of thy Mistress ; for
thou art both servant and handmaiden ; servant,
for thou art a people ; 3 handmaiden,4 for thou
art the Church. But this maiden hath found
great dignity with God ; she hath been made a
wife. But until she come unto those spiritual
embraces, where she may without apprehension
enjoy Him whom she hath loved, and for whom
she hath sighed in this tedious pilgrimage, she
is betrothed : and hath received a mighty pledge,
the blood of the Spouse for whom she sigheth
without fear. Nor is it said unto her, Do not
love ; as it is sometimes said to any betrothed
virgin, not as yet married : and is justly said,
Do not love ; when thou hast become a wife,
then love : it is rightly said, because it is a pre-
1 Desudare.
* Ecclesia (fem.).
3 Matt. xxiv. 35
3 Popului (maso).
cipitate and preposterous thing, and not a chaste
desire, to love one whom she knoweth not
whether she shall marry. For it may happen
that one man may be betrothed to her, and
another man marry her. But as there is no one
else who can be preferred to Christ, let her love
without apprehension : and before she is joined
unto Him, let her love, and sigh from a distance
and from her far pilgrimage. . . .
5. " For we have been much filled with con-
tempt" (ver. 3). All that will live piously ac-
cording tp Christ, must needs suffer reproof,5
must needs be despised by those who do not
choose to live piously, all whose happiness is
earthly. They are derided who call that hap-
piness which they cannot see with their eyes, and
it is said to them, What believest thou, madman?
Dost thou see what thou believest? Hath any
one returned from the world below, and reported
to thee what is going on there ? Behold I see
and enjoy what I love. Thou art scorned, be-
cause thou dost hope for what thou seest not ;
and he who seemeth to hold what he seeth,
scorneth thee. Consider well if he doth really
hold it. ... I have my house, he hath boasted
himself. Thou askest, what house of his own?
That which my father left me. And whence did
he derive this house? My grandfather left it
him. Go back even to his great grandfather,
then to his great grandfather's father, and he can
no longer tell their names. Art thou not rather
terrified by this thought, that thou seest many
have passed through this house, and that none
of them hath carried it away with him to his
everlasting home ? Thy father left it : he passed
through it : thus thou also wilt pass by. If
therefore thou hast a mere passing stay in thy
house, it is an inn for passing guests, not an
habitation for permanent abode. Yet since we
hope for those things which are to come, and
sigh for future happiness, and since it hath mot
yet appeared what we shall be, although we are
already " sons of God ; " 6 for " our life is hidden
with Christ in God -." 7 " We are utterly despised,"
by those who seek or enjoy happiness in this
world.
6. " Our soul is filled exceedingly ; a reproach
to the wealthy, and a contempt to the proud "
(ver. 4). We were asking who were "the
wealthy : " he hath expounded to thee, in that
he hath said, " the proud." " Reproach " and
" contempt " are the same : and " wealthy " is the
same with " proud." It is a repetition of the
sentence, " a reproach to the wealthy,' and a
contempt to the proud." Why are the proud
wealthy? Because they wish to be happy here.
Why? since they themselves too are miserable,
are they wealthy ? But perhaps when they are
i a Tim. iii. la.
6 1 John iii. a.
? Col. iii. 3.
598
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXIV.
miserable, they do not mock us. Listen, my
beloved. Then perchance they mock when they
are happy, when they boast themselves in the
pomp of their riches ! when they boast them-
selves in the inflated state of false honours : then
they mock us, and seem to say, Behold, it is well
with me : I enjoy the good things before me :
let those who promise what they cannot show
depart from me : what I see, I hold ; what I
see, I enjoy ; may I fare well in this life. Be
thou more secure ; for Christ hath risen again,
and hath taught ihee what He will give in another
life : be assured that He giveth it. But that
man mocketh thee, because he holdeth what he
hath. Bear with his mockeries, and thou wilt
laugh at his groans : for afterwards there will
come a season when these very persons will say,
" This was he whom we had sometimes in de-
rision." ' . . .
7. To this we must add, that sometimes those
also who are beneath the scourge of temporal
unhappiness, mock us. . . . Did not the robber 2
mock, who was crucified with our crucified
Lord? If therefore they who are not wealthy
mock us, why doth the Psalm say, " A reproach
to the wealthy " ? If we carefully sift the matter,
even these (the unfortunate) are wealthy. How
are they wealthy ? Yea ; for if they were not
wealthy, they would not be proud. For one
man is wealthy in money, and proud on that
score : another is wealthy in honours, and is
proud on that account : another imagines him-
self wealthy in righteousness, and hence his
pride, which is worse. They who seem not to
be wealthy in money, seem to themselves to be
wealthy in righteousness towards God ; and when
calamity overtakes them, they justify themselves,
accuse God, and say, What wrong have I been
guilty of, or, what have I done ? Thou repliest :
Look back, call to mind thy sins, see if thou
hast done nothing. He is somewhat touched in
conscience, and returneth to himself, and think-
eth of his evil deeds ; and when he hath thought
of his evil deeds, not even .then doth he choose
to confess that he deserves his sufferings ; but
saith, Behold, I have clearly done many things ;
but I see that many have done worse, and suffer
no evil. He is righteous against God. He also
therefore is wealthy : he hath his breast puffed
out with righteousness; since God seemeth to
him to do ill, and he seemeth to himself to
suffer unjustly. And if thou gavest him a vessel
to pilot, he would be shipwrecked with it : yet
he wishes to deprive God of the government of
this world, and himself to hold the helm of Cre-
ation, and to distribute among all men pains and
pleasures, punishments and rewards. Miserable
soul I yet why do ye wonder? He is wealthy,
but wealthy in iniquity, wealthy in malignity ;
but is more wealthy in iniquity, in proportion as
he seemeth to himself to be wealthy in right-
eousness.
8. But a Christian ought not to be wealthy,
but ought to acknowledge himself poor ; and if
he hath riches, he ought to know that they are
not true riches, so that he may desire others.
. . . And what is the wealth of our righteous-
ness? How much soever righteousness there
may be in us, it is a sort of dew compared to
that fountain : 3 compared to that plenteousness it
is as a few drops, which may soften our life, and
relax our hard iniquity. Let us only desire to
be filled with the full fountain of righteousness,
let us long to be filled with that abundant rich-
ness, of which it is said in the Psalm, "They
shall be satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy
house : and Thou shalt give them drink out of
the torrent of Thy pleasure." * But while we are
here, let us understand ourselves to be' destitute
and in want ; not only in respect of those riches
which are not the true riches, but of salvation
itself. And when we are whole, let us under-
stand that we are weak. For as long as this
body hungers and thirsts, as long as this body is
weary with watching, weary with standing, weary
with walking, weary with sitting, weary with
eating ; whithersoever it turneth itself for a relief
from weariness, there it discovereth another
I source of fatigue : there is therefore no perfect
I soundness, not even in the body itself. Those
riches are then not riches, but beggary ; for the
more they abound, the more doth destitution
and avarice increase. . . . Let then our whole
hunger, our whole thirst, be for true riches, and
true health, and true righteousness. What are
true riches? That heavenly abode in Jerusalem.
For who is called rich on this earth ? When a
rich man is praised, what is meant ? He is very
rich : nothing is wanting to him. That surely is
the praise of him that praiseth the other : for it
is not this, when it is said, He wants nothing.
Consider if he really want nothing. If he desires
nothing, he wants nothing : but if he still desires
more than what he hath, his riches have increased
in such wise, that his wants have increased also.
But in that City there will be true riches, because
there will be nothing wanting to us there ; for
we shall not be in need of anything, and there
will be true health. . . .
PSALM CXXIV.s
1. Ye already well know, dearest brethren,
that a " Song of Degrees," is a song of our
ascent : and that this ascent is not effected by
« Wild. T. J.
* Luke xxiii. 39.
\ [What would our author have said of the merits of canonired
' saints " applied to the remission of sins and purgatorial pains? — C.J
* Pi. xxxvi. 8. > Lat. CXXHI. A sermon to the people.
Fsalm CXXIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
599
the feet of the body, but by the affections of the
heart. This we have repeatedly reminded you
of: and we need not repeat it too often, that
there may be room for saying what hath not yet
been said. This Psalm, therefore, which ye have
now heard sung for you,' is inscribed, " A Song
of Degrees." This is its title. They sing there-
fore while ascending : and sometimes as it were
one man singeth, sometimes as it were many ;
because many are one, since Christ is One, and
in Christ the members of Christ constitute one
with Christ, and the Head of all these members
is in heaven. But although the body toileth on
earth, it is not cut off from its Head ; for the
Head looketh down from above, and regardeth
the body.2 . . . VVhether therefore one or many
sing ; many men are one man, because it is
unity ; and Christ, as we have said, is One, and
all Christians are members of Christ.
2. . . . Certain members indeed of that body
of which we also are, which can sing in truth,
have gone before us. And this the holy Martyrs
have sung : for they have already escaped, and
are with Christ in joy about to receive at last
incorruptible bodies, the very same which were
at first corruptible, wherein they have suffered
pains ; of the same there will be made for them
ornaments of righteousness. Therefore whether
they in reality, or we in hope, joining our affec-
tions with their crowns, and longing for such a
life as we have not here, and shall never gain
unless we have longed for it here, let us all sing
together, and say, " If the Lord Himself had not
been in us." . . .
3. " If the Lord Himself had not been in us,
now may Israel say " (ver. 1 ) . . . . When ? " When
men rose up against us" (ver. 2). Marvel not:
they have been subdued : for they were men ; but
the Lord was in us, man was not in us : for men
rose up against us. Nevertheless men would
crush other men, unless in those men who could
not be crushed, there were not man, but the Lord.
For what could men do to you, while ye re-
joiced, and sang, and securely held everlasting
bliss ? what could men do to you when they rose
against you, if the Lord had not been on your
side ? what could they do ? " Perchance they had
swallowed us up quick " (ver. 3). "Swallowed
us up : " 3 they would not first have slain us, and
so have swallowed us up. O inhuman, O cruel
men"! The Church swalloweth not thus.4 To
Peter it was said, " Kill and eat : " 5 not, Swallow
quick. Because no man entereth into the body
of the Church, save he be slain first.6 What he
was dieth, that he may be what he was not.
Otherwise, he who is not slain, and is not eaten
1 [" Unto you," in Oxford ed,, which is not necessarily the sense
of the original: guem nunc nobis ccintatum nudist is. — C.]
2 Acts ix. 4. 3 [i.e., alive: vivos absorbuissent . — C ]
* [Compare Ps. xxxv. 25, p. 86, supra. — C.J
J Acts x. 13. ' [" Ye are dead," Col. iii. j. — C]
by the Church, may be in the visible number of
the people : but he cannot be in the number of
the people which is known to God, whereof the
Apostle saith, " The Lord knoweth who are His," 7
save he be eaten ; and eaten he cannot be, save
he first be slain. The Pagan cometh, still in him
idolatry liveth ; he must be grafted among the
members of Christ : that he may be engrafted,
he must needs be eaten ; but he cannot be eaten
by the Church, save first he be slain. Let him
renounce the world, then is he slain ; let him
believe in God, then is he eaten. . . . But they
in whom the Lord is, are slain and die not. But
they who consent 8 and live, are swallowed quick,
when swallowed up they die. But they who have
suffered, and have not yielded to tribulations,
rejoice and say, " If the Lord had not been i:i
us," etc.
4. . . . "When their fury was enraged upon us."
They are now in anger, they now openly rage :
" perchance the water had drowned us" (ver. 4).
By water he meaneth ungodly nations : and we
shall see what sort of water in the following verses.
Whoever had consented unto them, water would
have overwhelmed him. For he would die by
the death of the Egyptians, he would not pass
through after the example of the Israelites. For
ye know, brethren, that the people of Israel
passed through the water, by which the Egyptians
were overwhelmed.9 But what sort of water is
this? It is a torrent, it flows with violence,
but it will pass by. . . . Hence He, our Head,
first drinketh, of whom it is said in the Psalms,
" He shall drink of the torrent in the way :
therefore shall He lift up His head." For our
Head is already exalted, because He drank of
the torrent by the way ; for our Lord hath suf-
fered. If therefore our Head hath been already
raised up, why doth the body fear the torrent?
Without doubt, because the Head hath been
raised, the body also will say hereafter, " Our
soul hath passed over the torrent. Perhaps our
soul hath passed over the water without sub-
stance" (ver. 5). Behold, what sort of water
he was speaking of, " The water perchance had
overwhelmed us." But what meaneth, " without
substance " ?
5. In the first place, what meaneth,10 " Per-
7 2 Tim. ii. 19. 8 [i e., to sacrifice to idols. — C.J
9 Exod. xiv. 22-29.
10 Gesenius, Monnm. Photn. p. 390, thinks both may be from the
first root, signifying " difficulty: " or the Litter possibly ■ K"V, fcO'
"let one see." f Our author says: " The Latin interpreters have thus
rendered as far as they were able the Greek word dan. For thus the
Greek copies have it; do«: .and as it is an expression of doubt, it is
rendered by an expression of doubt, the word ' perchance ' (/ortasse) :
but this is not the exact sense. We may express this Greek word by
one not so Latin in its use, but adapted to your comprehension. The
Punic word, iar, I mean not that which signifieth a wood, but the
expression of dpubt, is the Greek dpa. This the Latins may or
usually do express by Pittas : as in this instance, Dost thou think
(ftutas) I have escaped this? If we say, Perchance I have escaped,
ye see that it hath not this meaning: but the word, Thinkest thou, is
commonly used: but not in Latin in this sense. Although 1 may use
it, when expounding to you; for I often use words that are not Latin,
6oo
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXV.
chance our soul hath passed over"? (ver. 5).
Understand however the meaning to be this :
" Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over? " and
why do they say, "Thinkest thou"? Because
the greatness of the danger maketh it hardly
credible that he hath escaped. They have en-
dured a great death : they have been in great
dangers ; they have been so much oppressed,
that they almost gave consent while alive, and
were all but swallowed up alive : now therefore
that they have escaped, now that they are secure,
but still remember the danger, the great danger,
say, " Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over
the water without substance ? "
6. What is the water without substance, save
the water of sins without substance? For sins
have not substance : they have destitution, not
substance ; they have want, not substance. In
that water without substance, the younger son
lost the whole of his substance. . . . Dost thou
wish to see how the water is without substance ?
Take away with thee to the world below what
thou hast acquired : what wilt thou do ? Thou
hast acquired gold : thou hast lost thy faith : after
a few days thou leavest this life ; thou canst not
take away with thee the gold thou hast acquired
by the loss of thy good faith ; thy heart, desti-
tute of faith, goeth forth into punishment — thy
heart, which if full of faith, would go forth unto
a crown. Behold, what thou hast done is noth-
ing : and thou hast offended God for nothing.
7. Men hear that common proverb ; and the
proverbs of God slumber in them. What prov-
erb? "Better in hand than in hope."' Un-
happy man, what hast thou in hand? Thou
sayest, " Better in hand." Hold it so as not to
lose it, and then say, " Better in hand." But
if thou holdest it not, why dost thou not hold
fast that which thou canst not lose? What then
hast thou in hand? Gold. Keep it in hand,
therefore : if thou hast it in hand, let it not be
taken away without thy consent. But if through
gold also thou art carried where thou wishest not,
and if a more powerful robber seeketh thee,
because he findeth thee a less powerful robber ;
if a stronger eagle pursue thee, because thou
hast carried off a hare before him : the lesser
was thy prey, thou wilt be a prey unto the greater.
Men see not these things in human affairs : by
so much avarice are they blinded. . . .
8. Let them escape the water without substance,
and say, " Blessed be the Lord, who hath not
given us over for a prey unto their teeth " (ver. 6 ).
For the hunters were following, and had placed
a bait in their trap. What bait ? The sweetness
of this life, so that each man for the sake of the
thai ye m«y understand. But in Scripture thin could not be used,
because it wai not Latin; and as Latin failed, that was used for it
which had not thii meaning." — C]
« Malo quad Unto, quam quod tfert. [Eng. " A bird in the
band, etc. — C]
sweetness of this life may thrust his head into
iniquity, and be caught in the trap. Not they,
in whom the Lord was, they who say, " If the
Lord Himself had not been in us ; " they have
not been taken in the trap. Let the Lord be in
thee, and- thou wilt not be taken in the trap.
9. " Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out
of the snare of the fowlers" (ver. 7). Because
the Lord was in the soul itself, therefore hath
that soul escaped, even as a bird out of the
snare of the fowler. Why like a bird ? Because
it had fallen heedlessly, like a bird ; and it could
say afterwards, God will forgive me. Unstable
bird, rather set thy feet firm upon the rock : go
not into the trap. Thou wilt be taken, con-
sumed, crushed. Let the Lord be in thee, and
He will deliver thee from greater threats, from
the snare of the fowlers. As if thou wert to see
a bird about to fall into a snare, thou makest a
greater noise that it may fly away from the net ;
so also, when perhaps some even of the Martyrs
were stretching out their neck after the enjoy-
ment of this life, the Lord, who was in them,
made the noise of hell, and the bird was deliv-
ered from the snare of the fowlers. The snare
was the sweetness of this life : they were not en-
tangled in the snare, and were slain ; by their
slaughter the net was- broken ; no longer did the
sweetness of this life remain, that they might
again be entangled by it, but it was crushed.
Was the bird also crushed ? Far be it ! for it
was not in the snare : " The snare is broken, and
we are delivered."
10. ... " Our help standeth in the Name of
the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth "
(ver. 8). For if this were not our help, the
snare would not indeed remain for ever ; but
when the bird was once taken, it would be
crushed. For this life will pass away ; and they
who shall have been taken in by its pleasures,
and through these pleasures have offended God,
will pass away with this life. For the snare will
be broken ; be ye assured of this : all the sweet-
ness of this present life will no longer exist,
when the lot assigned to it hath been fulfilled ;
but we must not be enthralled by it, so that
when the net is broken, thou mayest then rejoice
and say, " The snare is broken, and we are de-
livered." But lest thou think that thou canst do
this of thy own strength, consider whose work
thy deliverance is (for if thou art proud, thou
fallest into the snare), and say, " Our help
standeth in the Name of the Lord, who hath
made heaven and earth." . . .
PSALM CXXV.'
1. This Psalm, belonging to the number of
the Songs of Degrees, teacheth us, while we as-
3 Lat. CXXIV. A discourse to the people.
Psalm CXXV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
60 1
cend and raise our minds unto the Lord our
God in loving charity and piety, not to fix our
gaze upon men who are prosperous in this world,
with a happiness that is false and unstable, and
altogether seductive ; where they cherish noth-
ing save pride, and their heart freezeth up against
God, and is made hard against the shower of
His grace, so that it beareth not fruit. . . .
2. "They that put their trust in the Lord
shall be even as the mount Sion : they shall not
be removed for ever " (ver. 1).
3. Who are these? "They shall stand fast
for ever, who dwell in Jerusalem " (ver. 2). If
we understand this earthly Jerusalem, all who
dwelt therein have been excluded by wars and
by the destruction of the city : thou now seekest
a Jew in the city of Jerusalem, and findest him
not. Why then will " they that dwell in Jeru-
salem not be moved for ever," save because there
is another Jerusalem, of which ye are wont to
hear much? She is our mother, for whom we
sigh and groan in this pilgrimage, that we may
return unto her. . . . They then who dwell
therein " shall never be moved." But they who
dwelt in that earthly Jerusalem, have been
moved ; first in heart, afterwards by exile.
When they were moved in heart and fell, then
they crucified the King of the heavenly Jerusa-
lem herself; they were already spiritually with-
out, and shut out of doors their very King.
For they cast Him out without their city, and
crucified Him without.1 He too cast them out
of His city, that is, of the everlasting Jerusalem,
the Mother of us all, who is in Heaven.
4. What is this Jerusalem? He briefly de-
scribes it. " The mountains stand around Jeru-
salem " (ver. 2). Is it anything great, that we
are in a city surrounded by mountains? Is this
the whole of our happiness, that we shall have a
city which mountains surround? Do we not
know what mountains are? or what are moun-
tains save swellings of the earth? Different
then from these are those mountains that we
love, lofty mountains, preachers of truth, whether
Angels, or Apostles, or Prophets. They stand
around Jerusalem ; they surround her, and, as it
were, form a wall for her. Of these lovely and
delightful mountains Scripture constantly speak-
eth. . . . They are the mountains of whom we
sing : " I lifted up mine eyes unto the moun-
tains, from whence my help shall come : " 2 be-
cause in this life we have help from the holy
Scriptures.3 And through the mountains that
receive peace, the little hills received righteous-
ness : for what saith he of the mountains them-
selves ? He said not, they have peace from them-
1 John xix. 17, 18. 2 Ps. cxxi. I, 2.
3 [Observe in our author passim this implication that the laity
as well as the clergy were rilled with the knowledge and comfort of
the Scriptures
clergy
-C]
selves, or they make peace, or generate peace ;
but, they receive peace. The Lord is the source,
whence they receive peace. So therefore lift up
thine eyes to the mountains for the sake of
peace, that thy help may come from the Lord,
who hath made heaven and earth. Again, the
Holy Spirit mentioning these mountains saith
this : " Thou dost light them wonderfully from
Thy everlasting mountains." 4 He said not, the
mountains light them : but, Thou lightest them
from Thy everlasting mountains : through those
mountains whom Thou hast willed to be ever-
lasting, preaching the Gospel, Thou lighting
them, not the mountains. Such then are the
" mountains that stand around Jerusalem."
5. And that ye may know what sort of moun-
tains these be that stand around Jerusalem ;
where Scripture hath mentioned good moun-
tains, very rarely, and hardly, and perhaps never,
doth it fail instantly to mention the Lord also,
or allude to Him at the same moment, that our
hopes rest not in the mountains. . . . Lest thou
again shouldest tarry in the mountains, he at
once addeth, " Even so the Lord standeth round
about His people : " that thy hope might not lie
in the mountains, but in Him who lighteth the
mountains.5 For when He dwelleth in the
mountains, that is, in the Saints, He Himself is
round about His people ; and He hath Himself
walled His people with a spiritual fortification,
that it may not be moved for evermore. But
when Scripture speaketh of evil mountains, it
addeth not the Lord unto them. Such moun-
tains, we have already told you often, signify
certain mighty, but evil, souls. For ye are not
to suppose, brethren, that heresies could be pro-
duced through any little souls. None save great
men have been the authors of heresies ; but in
proportion as they were mighty, so were they
evil, mountains. For they were not such moun-
tains as would receive peace, that the hills might
receive righteousness ; but they received dissen-
sion from their father the devil. There were
therefore mountains : beware thou fly not to
such mountains. For men will come, and say
unto thee, There is a great hero, there is a great
man ! How great was that Donatus ! How
great is Maximian ! and a certain Photinus, what
a great man he was ! And Arius too, how illus-
trious he was ! All these I have mentioned are
mountains, but mountains that cause ship-
wreck.5 . . .
6. But love such mountains, in whom the
Lord is. Then do those very mountains love
thee, if thou hast not placed hope in them.5 See,
brethren, what the mountains of God are.
Thence they are so called in another passage :
"Thy righteousness is like the mountains of
4 Ps Ixxvi. 4. 5 [Evidence against saint-worship. — C.]
6 [So Jude 16. — C.J Vine. Lir. Common. §§ 17-20.
602
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXV.
God." ' Not their righteousness, but " Thy right-
eousness." Hear that great mountain the
Apostle. " That I may be found in Him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ." 2 But they who have chosen to be moun-
tains through their own righteousness, as certain
Jews or Pharisees their rulers, are thus blamed :
" Being ignorant of God's righteousness, and go-
ing about to establish their own righteousness,
they have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God." } But they who have
submitted themselves are exalted in such a man-
ner as to be humble. In that they are great,
they are mountains ; in that they submit them-
selves unto God, they are valleys : and in that
they have the capacity of piety, they receive the
plenteousness of peace, and transmit the copious
irrigation to the hills, only beware, at present,
what mountains thou lovest. If thou wish to be
loved by good mountains, place not thy trust
even in good mountains. For how great a moun-
tain was Paul? whe're is one like him found? We
speak of the greatness of men. Can any one
readily be found of so great grace? Neverthe-
less, he feared lest that bird should place trust in
him : and what doth he say : " Was Paul cruci-
fied for you?" * But lift up your eyes unto the
mountains, whence help may come unto you :
for, " I have planted, Apollos hath watered : "
but, your help cometh from the Lord, who hath
made Heaven and earth ; for, " God gave the
increase." 5 " The mountains," therefore, " stand
around Jerusalem." But as " the mountains
stand around Jerusalem, even so standeth the
Lord round about His people, from this time
forth for evermore." If therefore the moun-
tains stand around Jerusalem, and the Lord
standeth round about His people, the Ix>rd bind-
eth His people into one bond of love and peace,
so that they who trust in the Lord, like the
mount Sion, may not be moved for evermore :
and this is, " from this time. forth for evermore."
7. " For the Lord will not leave the rod of the
ungodly upon the lot of the righteous, lest the
righteous put forth their hands unto wicked-
ness" (ver. 3). At present indeed the righteous
suffer in some measure, and at present the un-
righteous sometimes tyrannize over the righteous.
In what ways? Sometimes the unrighteous
arrive at worldly honours : when they have
arrived at them, and have been made either
judges or kings ; for God doth this for the dis-
cipline of His folk, for the discipline of His peo-
ple ; the honour due to their power must needs
be shown them. For thus hath God ordained
His Church, that every power ordained in the
world may have honour, and sometimes from
those who are better than those in power. For
the sake of illustration I take one instance ;
hence calculate the grades of all powers. The
primary and every day relation of authority be-
tween man and man is that between master and
slave. Almost all houses have a power of this
sort. There are masters, there are also slaves ;
these are different names, but men and men are
equal names.6 And what saith the Apostle,
teaching that slaves are subject to their mas-
ters ? " Servants, be obedient to them that are
your masters according to the flesh : " for there
is a Master according to the Spirit. He is the
true and everlasting Master ; but those temporal
masters are for a time only. When thou walkest
in the way, when thou livest in this life, Christ
doth not wish to make thee proud. It hath
been thy lot to become a Christian, and to have a
man for thy master : thou wast not made a Chris-
tian, that thou mightest disdain to be a servant.
For when by Christ's command thou servest a
man, thou servest not the man, but Him who
commanded thee. He saith this also : " Ser-
vants, be obedient to them that are your mas-
ters according to the flesh." 7 Behold, he hath
not made men free from being servants, but good
servants from bad servants. How much do the
rich owe to Christ, who orders their house for
them ! so that if thou hast had an unbelieving ser-
vant, suppose Christ convert him, and say not to
him, Leave thy master, thou hast now known1
Him who is thy true Master : he perhaps is
ungodly and unjust, thou art now faithful and
righteous : it is unworthy that a righteous and
faithful man should serve an unjust and un-
believing master. He spoke not thus unto him,
but rather, Serve him : and to confirm the ser-
vant, added, Serve as I served ; I before thee
served the unjust. ... If the Ix>rd of heaven
and earth, through whom all things were created,
served the unworthy, asked mercy for His furious
persecutors, and, as it were, showed Himself as
their Physician at His Advent (for physicians
also, better both in art arid health, serve the
sick) : how much more ought not a man to dis-
dain, with his whole mind, and his whole good
will, with his whole love to serve even a bad mas-
ter ! Behold, a better serveth an inferior, but for
a season. Understand what I have said of the
master and slave, to be true also of powers and
kings, of all the exalted stations of this world.
For sometimes they are good powers, and fear
God ; sometimes they fear not God. Julian was
an infidel Emperor, an apostate, a wicked man,
an idolater ; Christian soldiers served an infidel
Emperor ; when they came to the cause of Christ,
they acknowledged Him only who was in
1 P». xxxvi. 6.
* t Cor. i. 13.
2 Philip, iii. 0.
* 1 Cor. iii. 0.
3 Rom. x. 3.
» [The Epistle to Philemon is here reflected. See A. N. F. vol.
viii. p. 783, note if and p. 784; also vol. vii. p. 425. — C]
7 Eph. vi. 5.
Psalm CXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
603
heaven. If he called upon them at any time to
worship idols, to offer incense ; they preferred
God to him : but whenever he commanded them
to deploy into line, to march against this or that
nation, they at once obeyed. They distin-
guished their everlasting from their temporal
master ; and yet they were, for the sake of their
everlasting Master, submissive to their temporal
master.
8. But will it be thus always, that the ungodly
have power over the righteous ? It will not be
so. The rod of the ungodly is felt for a season
upon the lot of the righteous ; but it is not left
there, it will not be there for ever. A time will
come, when Christ, appearing in his glory, shall
gather all nations before Him.' And thou wilt
see there many slaves among the sheep, and
many masters among the goats ; and again many
masters among the sheep, many slaves among
the goats. For all slaves are not good — do not
infer this from the consolation we have given to
servants — nor are all masters evil, because we
have thus repressed the pride of masters. There
are good masters who believe, and there are evil :
there are good servants who believe, and there
are evil. But as long as good servants serve
evil masters, let them endure for a season.
" For God will not leave the rod of the ungodly
upon the lot of the righteous." Why will He
not ? " Lest the righteous put forth their hand
unto wickedness : " that the righteous may en-
dure for a season the domination of the ungodly,
and may understand that this is not for ever, but
may prepare themselves to possess their ever-
lasting heritage. . . .
9. And he therefore addeth, " Do well, O Lord,
unto those that are good and true of heart " (ver.
4). They who are right in heart,. of whom I was
speaking a little before, — they who follow the
will of God, not their own will, — reflect upon
this. But they who wish to follow God, allow
Him to go before, and themselves to follow ; not
themselves to go before, and Him to follow ; and
in all things they find Him good, whether chas-
tening, or consoling, or exercising, or crowning,
or cleansing, or enlightening; as the Apostle
saith, " We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God." 2
to. Whence the Psalmist at once addeth : " As
for such as turn aside, the Lord shall lead them
forth unto strangling with the workers of un-
righteousness" (ver. s) : that is, those whose
deeds they have imitated ; because they took
delight in their present pleasures, and did not
believe in their punishments to come. What
then shall they have, who are righteous in heart,
and who turn not back ? Let us now come to
the heritage itself, brethren, for we are sons.
1 Matt. xxv. 3a, 33.
3 Rom. viii. 28.
What shall we possess ? What is our heritage ?
what is our country : what is it called ? Peace.
In this we salute you, this we announce to you,
this the mountains receive, and the little hills
receive as righteousness.3 Peace is Christ : " for
He is our peace, who hath made both one, and
hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us." * Since we are sons, we shall have
an inheritance. And what shall this inheritance
be called, but peace ? And consider that they
who love not peace are disinherited. Now they
who divide unity, love not peace. Peace is the
possession of the pious, the possession of heirs.
And who are heirs? Sons. . . . Since then
Christ the Son of God is peace, He therefore
came to gather together His own, and to sepa-
rate them from the wicked. From what wicked
men? P'rom those who hate Jerusalem, who
hate peace, who wish to tear unity asunder, who
believe not peace, who preach a false peace to
the people, and have it not. To whom answer
is made, when they say,5 " Peace be with you,"
" And with thy spirit : " but they speak falsely,
and they hear. falsely. Unto whom do they say,
Peace be with you ? To those whom they sepa-
rate from the peace of the whole earth. And
unto whom is it said, " And with thy spirit " ?
To those who embrace dissensions, and who hate
peace. For if peace were in their spirit, would
they not love unity, and leave dissensions?
Speaking then false words, they hear false words.
Let us speak true words, and hear true words.
Let us be Israel, and let us embrace peace ; for
Jerusalem is a vision of peace, and we are Israel,
" and peace is upon Israel."
PSALM CXXVI.6
1. . . . How man had come into captivity, let
us ask the Apostle Paul. . . . For he saith : " For
we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am car-
nal, sold under sin." ' Behold whence we be-
came captives ; because we were sold under sin.
Who sold us? We ourselves, who consented to
the seducer. We could sell ourselves ; we could
not redeem ourselves. We sold ourselves by
consent of sin, we are redeemed in the faith of
righteousness. For innocent blood was given
for us, that we might be redeemed. Whatsoever
blood he shed in persecuting the righteous, what
kind of blood did he shed? Righteous men's
blood, indeed, he shed ; they were Prophets,
righteous men, our fathers, and Martyrs. Whose
blood he shed, yet all coming of the offspring of
sin. One blood he shed of- Him who was not
justified,8 but born righteous : by shedding that
blood, he lost those whom he held. For they
' Ps. lxxii. 3. < Eph. ii. 14. 5 [In the Liturgy. — C]
6 Lat. CXXV. A song of degrees. A sermon to the people.
7 Rom. vii. 14. 8 Or, " made righteous.'*
6o4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXVI
for whom innocent blood was given were re-
deemed, and, turned back from their captivity,
they sing this Psalm.
2. " When the Lord turned back the captivity
of Sion, we became as those that are comforted "
(ver. i). He meant by this to say, we became
joyful. When? " When the Lord turned back
the captivity of Sion." What is Sion? Jerusa-
lem, the same is also the eternal Sion. How is
Sion eternal, how is Sion captive? In angels
eternal, in men captive. For not all the citizens
of that city are captives, but those who are away
from thence, they are captives. Man was a citi-
aen of Jerusalem, but sold under sin he became
a pilgrim. Of his progeny was born the human
race, and the captivity of Sion filled all lands.
And how is this captivity of Sion a shadow of
that Jerusalem ? The shadow of that Sion, which
was granted to the Jews, in an image, in a figure,
was in captivity in Babylonia, and after seventy
years that people turned back to its own city.' . . .
But when all time is past, then we return to our
country, as after seventy years that people re-
turned from the Babylonish captivity, for Babylon
is this world ; since Babylon is interpreted " con-
fusion." ... So then this whole life of human
affairs is confusion, which belongeth not unto
God. In this confusion, in this Babylonish land,
Sion is held captive. But " the Lord hath
turned back the captivity of Sion." " And we
became," he saith, " as those that are comforted."
That is, we rejoiced as receiving consolation.
Consolation is not save for the unhappy, consola-
tion is not save for them that groan, that mourn.
Wherefore, " as those that are comforted," except
because we are still mourning? We mourn for
our present lot, we are comforted in hope : when
the present is passed by, of our mourning will
come everlasting joy, when there will be no need
of consolation, because we shall be wounded
with no distress. But wherefore saith he " as "
those that are comforted, and saith not com-
forted? This word "as," is not always put for
likeness : when we say " As," it sometimes refers
to the actual case, sometimes to likeness : here it
is with reference to the actual case. . . . Walk
therefore in Christ, and sing rejoicing, sing as
one that is comforted ; because He went before
thee who hath commanded thee to follow Him.
3. "Then was our mouth filled with joy, and
our tongue with exultation" (ver. 2). That
mouth, brethren, which we have in our body,
how is it " filled with joy "? It useth not to be
" filled," save with meat, or drink, or some such
thing put into the mouth. Sometimes our mouth
is filled ; and it is more that we say to your
holiness," when we have our mouth full, we can-
not speak. But we have a mouth within, that is,
1 Jer. jtxv. 11. xxix. 10,
' I A bi»!
hop fteemi to have been present. — C.J
in the heart, whence whatsoever proceedeth, if
it is evil, defileth us, if it is good, cleanseth us.
For concerning this very mouth ye heard when
the Gospel was read. For the Jews reproached
the Lord, because His disciples ate with unwash-
en hands.3 They reproached who had cleanness
without ; and within were full of stains. They
reproached, whose righteousness was only in the
eyes of men. But the Lord sought our inward
cleanness, which if we have, the outside must
needs be clean also. " Cleanse," He saith,
" the inside," and " the outside shall be clean
also."4 . . .
4. But let us return to what was just now read
from the Gospel, relating to the verse before us,
" Our mouth was filled with joy, and our tongue
with delight : " for we are inquiring what mouth
and what tongue. Listen, beloved brethren.
The Lord was scoffed at, because His disciples
ate with unwashed hands. The Lord answered
them as was fitting, and said unto the crowds
whom He had called unto Him, " Hear ye all,
and understand : not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man ; but that which cometh
out of the mouth, this defileth a man." 5 What
is this? when He said, what goeth into the
mouth, He meant only the mouth of the body.
For meat goeth in, and meats defile not a man ;
because, " All things are clean to the clean ; "
and, " every creature of God is good, and none
to be refused, if it be received with thanks-
giving."6 . . .
5. Guard the mouth of thy heart from evil,
and thou wilt be innocent : the tongue of thy
body will be innocent, thy hands will be inno-
cent ; even thy feet will be innocent, thy eyes,
thy ears, will be innocent ; all thy members will
serve under righteousness, because a righteous
commander hath thy heart. " Then shall they
say among the heathen, the Lord hath done great
things for them."
6. " Yea, the Lord hath done great things for us
already, whereof we rejoice" (ver. 3). Consider,
my brethren, if Sion doth not at present say this
among the heathen, throughout the whole world ;
consider if men are not running unto the Church.
In the whole world our redemption is received ;
Amen is answered. The dwellers in Jerusalem,
therefore, captive, destined to return, pilgrims,
sighing for their country, speak thus among the
heathen. What do they say ? " The Lord hath
done great things for us, whereof we rejoice."
Have they done anything for themselves? They
have done ill with themselves, for they have sold
themselves under sin. The Redeemer came,
and did the good things for them.
7. "Turn our captivity, O Lord, as the tor-
rents in the south" (ver. 4). Consider, my
3 Matt. xv. I, etc.
5 Matt. xv. 10, 11.
4 Matt, xxiii. 26.
6 x Tim. iv. 4.
Psalm CXXVI.l
ON THE PSALMS.
605
brethren, what this meaneth. . . . As torrents are
turned in the south, so turn our captivity. In a
certain passage Scripture saith, in admonishing
us concerning good works, " Thy sins also shall
melt away, even as the ice in fair warm weather." ■
Our sins therefore bound us. How? As the
cold bindeth the water that it run not. Bound
with the frost of our sins, we have frozen. But
the south wind is a warm wind : when the south
wind blows, the ice melts, and the torrents are
filled. Now winter streams are called torrents ;
for filled with sudden rains they run with great
force. We had therefore become frozen in cap-
tivity ; our sins bound us : the south wind the
Holy Spirit hath blown : our sins are forgiven us,
we are released from the frost of iniquity ; as
the ice in fair weather, our sins are melted. Let
us run unto our country, as the torrents in the
south. . . .
8. For the next words are, "They that sow
in tears, shall reap in joy" (ver. 5). In this
life, which is full of tears, let us sow. What
shall we sow? Good works. Works of mercy
are our seeds : of which seeds the Apostle saith,
" Let us not be weary in well doing ; for in due
season we shall reap if we faint not." 2 Speaking
therefore of almsgiving itself, what saith he?
" This I say ; he that soweth sparingly, shall reap
also sparingly." 3 He therefore who soweth
plentifully, shall reap plentifully : he who soweth
sparingly, shall reap also sparingly : and he that
soweth nothing, shall reap nothing. Why do ye
long for ample estates, where ye may sow plenti-
fully ? There is not a wider field on which ye
can sow than Christ, who hath willed that we
should sow in Himself. Your soil is the Church ;
sow as much as ye can. But thou hast not
enough to do this. Hast thou the will?'* As
what thou hadst would be nothing, if thou hadst
not a good will ; so do not despond, because
thou hast not, if thou hast a good will. For
what dost thou sow? Mercy. And what wilt
thou reap? Peace. Said the Angels, Peace on
earth unto rich men? No, but, " Peace on
earth unto men of a good will." 5 Zacchaeus had
a strong will, Zacchaeus had great charity.5 . . .
Did then that widow who cast her two farthings
into the treasury, sow little? Nay, as much as
Zacchaeus. For she had narrower means, but an
equal will. She gave her two mites7 with as good
a will as Zacchaeus gave the half of his patri-
mony. If thou consider what they gave, thou
wilt find their gifts different ; if thou look to the
source, thou wilt find them equal ; she gave
whatever she had, and he gave what he had. . . .
But if they are beggars whose profession is ask-
ing alms, in trouble they also have what to
1 Ecclus iii. 17. 2 Gal. vi. 9. 3 2 Cor. ix. 6.
* Oxf. mss. " have a good will." _ 5 Luke ii. 14.
6 Luke xix. 8. 7 Luke xxi. 1-4.
bestow upon one another. God hath not so
forsaken them, but that they have wherein they
may be tried by their bestowing of alms. This
man cannot walk ; he who can walk, lendeth his
feet to the lame ; he who seeth, lendeth his eyes
to the blind ; and he who is young and sound,
lendeth his strength to the old or the infirm, h'»
carrieth him : the one is poor, the other is rich.
9. Sometimes also the rich man is found to
be poor, and something is bestowed upon him
by the poor. Somebody cometh to a river, so
much the more delicate as he is more rich ; he
cannot pass over : if he were to pass over with
bare limbs, he would catch cold, would be ill,
would die : a poor man more active in body
cometh up : he carries the rich man over ; he
giveth alms unto the rich. Think not therefore
those only poor, who have not money. . . . Thus
love ye, thus be ye affectioned unto one another.
Attend not solely to yourselves : but to those who
are in want around you. But because these
things take place in this life with troubles and
cares, faint not. Ye sow in tears, ye shall reap
in joy.
10. How, my brethren? When the farmer
goeth forth with the plough, carrying seed, is not
the wind sometimes keen, and doth not the
shower sometimes deter him ? He looketh to
the sky, seeth it lowering, shivers with cold,
nevertheless goeth forth, and soweth. For he
feareth lest while he is observing the foul weather,
and awaiting sunshine, the time may pass away,
and he may not find anything to reap. Put not
off, my brethren ; sow in wintry weather, sow
good works, even while ye weep ; for, " They
that sow in tears, shall reap in joy." They sow
their seed, good will, and good works. "They
went on their way and wept, casting their seed "
(ver. 6). Why did they weep? Because they
were among the miserable, and were themselves
miserable. It is better, my brethren, that no
man should be miserable, than that thou should-
est do alms. . . . Nevertheless, as long as there
are objects for its exercise, let us not fail amid
those troubles to sow our seed. Although we
sow in tears, yet shall we reap in joy. For in
that resurrection of the dead, each man shall
receive his own sheaves, that is, the produce of
his seed, the crown of joys and of delight. Then
will there be a joyous triumph, when we shall
laugh at death, wherein we groaned before : then
shall they say to death, " O death, where is thy
strife ? O death, where is thy sting? " 8 But why
do they now rejoice ? Because " they bring their
sheaves with them."
11. In this Psalm we have chiefly exhorted
you to do deeds of alms, because it is thence
that we ascend ; and ye see that he who ascend-
• 1 Cor. xv. 55.
6o6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXVII.
eth, singeth the song of steps. Remember : do
not love to descend, instead of to ascend, but
reflect upon your ascent : because he who de-
scended from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among
thieves." . . . The Samaritan as He passed by
slighted us not : He healed us, He raised us
upon His beast, upon His flesh ; He led us to
the inn, that is, the Church ; He entrusted us
to the host, that is, to the Apostle ; He gave two
pence, whereby we might be healed,2 the love
of God, and the love of our neighbour. The
Apostle spent more ; for, though it was allowed
unto all the Apostles to receive, as Christ's
soldiers, pay from Christ's subjects,3 that Apostle,
nevertheless, toiled with his own hands, and ex-
cused the subjects the maintenance owing to him.4
All this hath already happened : if we have
descended, and have been wounded ; let us as-
scend, let us sing, and make progress, in order
that we may arrive.
PSALM CXXVII.'
i. Among all the Songs entitled the Song of
degrees, this Psalm hath a further addition in
the title, that it is "Solomon's." For thus it
is entitled, " A Song of degrees of Solomon. It
hath therefore aroused our attention, and caused
us to enquire the reason of this addition, "of
Solomon." For it is needless to repeat explana-
tions of the other words, Song of degrees. . . .
Solomon was in his time David's son, a great
man, through whom many holy precepts and
healthful admonitions and divine mysteries have
been wrought by the Holy Spirit in the Scrip-
tures. Solomon himself was a lover of women,
and was rejected by God : and this lust was so
great a snare unto him, that he was induced by
women even to sacrifice to idols,6 as Scripture
witnesseth concerning him. But if, by his fall
what was delivered through him were blotted out,
it would be judged that he had himself delivered
these precepts, and not that they were delivered
through him. The mercy of God, therefore,
and His Spirit, excellently wrought that what-
ever of good was declared through Solomon,
might be attributed unto God ; and the man's
sin, unto the man. What marvel that Solomon
fell among God's people? Did not Adam fall in
Paradise? Did not an angel fall from heaven,
and become the devil ? We are thereby taught,
that no hope must be placed in any among men.
. . . The name of Solomon is interpreted to
mean peacemaker: now Christ is the True
Peacemaker, of whom the Apostle saith, " He
is our Peace, who hath made both one."' . . .
1 Luke x. jo. » Luke x. 35, 37.
* Prcvincialibui. I Cor. iv. a.
* 1 Thew. ii. 7, 9; a Thess. iii. g, o.
» Lat. CXXVI. A tcrmon to the common people.
* 1 Kioga «i. 7, 8. J gph. ii. 14.
Since, therefore, He is the true Solomon ; for
that Solomon was the figure of this Peace
maker, when he built the temple ; that thou
mayest not think he who built the house unto
God was the true Solomon, Scripture showing
unto thee another Solomon, thus commences
this Psalm : " Except the Lord build the house,
their labour is but lost that build it" (ver. i).
The Lord, therefore, buildeth the house, the
Lord Jesus Christ buildeth His own house.
Many toil in building : but, except He build,
" their labour is but lost that build it." Who are
they who toil in building it? All who preach
the word of God in the Church, the ministers
of God's mysteries. We are all running, we are
all toiling, we are all building now ; and before
us others have run, toiled, and built : but " except
the Lord build, their labour is but lost." Thus
the Apostles seeing some fall bewailed these
men, in that they had laboured in vain for them.8
We, therefore, speak without, He buildeth within.
We can observe with what attention ye hear us ;
He alone who knoweth your thoughts, knoweth
what ye think. He Himself buildeth, He Him-
self admonisheth, He Himself openeth the
understanding, He Himself kindleth your un-
derstanding unto faith ; nevertheless, we also toil
like workmen ; but, " except the Lord build,"
etc.
2. But that which is the house of God is also
a city. For the house of God is the people of
God ; for the house of God is the temple of God.
. . . This is Jerusalem : she hath guards : as she
hath builders, labouring at her building up, so
also hath she guards. To this guardianship these
words of the Apostle relate : " I fear, lest by any
means your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity which is in Christ." ' He was guarding
the Church. He kept watch, to the utmost of
his power, over those over whom he was set.
The Bishops also do this. For a higher place
was for this reason given the Bishops, that they
might be themselves the superintendents and as
it were the guardians of the people. For the
Greek word Episcopus, and the vernacular
Superintendent, are the same ; for the Bishop
superintends, in that he looks over. As a higher
place is assigned to the vinedresser in the charge
of the vineyard, so also to the Bishops a more
exalted station is alloted. And a perilous ac-
count is rendered of this high station, except we
stand here with a heart that causeth us to stand
beneath your feet in humility, and pray for you,
that He who knoweth your minds may be Him-
self your keeper. Since we can see you both
coming in and going out ; but we are so unable
to see what are the thoughts of your hearts, that
we cannot even see what ye do in your houses.
* Gal. iv. 10, xi.
9 a Cor. xi. 3.
Psalm CXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
607
How then can we guard you ? As men : as far
as we are able, as far as we have received power.
And because we guard you like men, and cannot
guard you perfectly, shall ye therefore remain
without a keeper? Far be it ! For where is He
of whom it is said, " Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain?" (ver. 1).
We are watchful on our guard, but vain in our
watchfulness, except He who seeth your thoughts
guard you. He keepeth guard while ye are
awake, He keepeth guard also whilst ye are
asleep. For He hath once slept on the Cross,
and hath risen again ;' He no longer sleepeth.
Be ye Israel : for " the Keeper of Israel neither
sleepeth nor slumbereth." ' Yea, brethren, if we
wish to be kept beneath the shadow of God's
wings, let us be Israel. For we guard you in
our office of stewards ; but we wish to be guarded
together with you. We are as it were shepherds
unto you ; but beneath that Shepherd we are
fellow-sheep with you. We are as it were your
teachers from this station ; but beneath Him,
the One Master, we are schoolfellows with you
in this school.
3. If we wish to be guarded by Him who was
humbled for our sakes, and who was exalted to
keep us, let us be humble. Let no one assume
anything unto himself. No man hath any good, |
except he hath received it from Him who alone ,
is good. But he who chooseth to arrogate wis-
dom unto himself, is a fool. Let him be humble,
that wisdom may come, and may enlighten him.
But if, before wisdom cometh unto him, he
imagine that he is wise ; he riseth before light,
and walketh in darkness. What doth he hear in
this Psalm ? " It is but lost labour that ye haste
to rise up before dawn" (ver. 2). What mean-
eth this? If ye arise before light ariseth, ye
must needs lose your labour, because ye will be
in the dark. Our light, Christ, hath arisen ; it
is good for thee to rise after Christ, not to rise
before Christ. Who rise before Christ? They
who choose to prefer themselves to Christ. And
who are they who wish to prefer themselves to
Christ? They who wish to be exalted here,
where He was humble. I^et them, therefore, be
humble here, if they wish to be exalted there, j
where Christ is exalted. . . . The Lord recalled
the sons of Zebedee to humility, and said unto
them, " Are ye able to drink of the cup that I
shall drink of? " 2 I came to be humble : and
are ye wishing to be exalted before Me ? The
way I go, do ye follow, He saith. For if ye
choose to go this way where I do not go, your
labour is lost, in rising before dawn. Peter too
had risen before the light, when he wished to give
the Lord advice, deterring Him from suffering for
us. . . . But what did our Lord do ? He caused
x Pi. cxxi. 4.
* Mitt. xx. u, aa.
him to rise after the Light : " Get thee behind
Me, Satan." » He was Satan, because he wished
to rise before Light. " Get thee behind Me : "
that I may precede, thou mayest follow : where
I go, there thou mayest go ; and mayest not
wish to lead Me, where thou wouldest go. . . .
4. And as if thou shouldest say, When shall we
rise? we are ordered now to sit: when will be
our rising? When the Lord's was. Look unto
Him, who went before thee : for if thou heedest
not Him, " it is lost labour for thee to rise before
dawn." When was He raised? When He had
died. Hope therefore for thine uplifting after
thy death : have hope in the resurrection of the
dead, because He rose again and ascended.
But where did He sleep? On the Cross. When
He slept on the Cross, He bore a sign, yea, He
fulfilled what had been signified in Adam : for
when Adam was asleep, a rib was drawn from
him, and Eve was created ; 4 so also while the
Lord slept on the Cross, His side was transfixed
with a spear, and the Sacraments flowed forth,'
whence the Church was born. For the Church
the Lord's Bride was created from His side, as
Eve was created from the side of Adam. But
as she was made from his side no otherwise than
while sleeping, so the Church was created from
His side no otherwise than while dying. If
therefore He rose not from the dead save when
He had died, dost thou hope for exaltation save
after this life? But that this Psalm might teach
thee, in case thou shouldest ask, When shall I
rise ? perhaps before I have sat down ? he addeth,
" When He hath given His beloved sleep " ( ver. 3 ) .
God giveth this when His beloved have fallen
asleep ; then His beloved, that is, Christ's, shall
rise. For all indeed shall rise, but not as His be-
loved. There is a resurrection of all the dead ; but
what saith the Apostle ? " We shall all rise, but
we shall not all be changed." 6 They rise unto
punishment : we rise as our Lord rose, that we
may follow our Head, if we are members of Him.
. . . Hope for such a resurrection ; and for the
sake of this be a Christian, not for the sake of
this world's happiness. For if thou wish to be a
Christian for the sake of this world's happiness,
since He thy Light sought not worldly happi-
ness ; thou art wishing to rise before the light ;
thou must needs continue in darkness. Be
changed, follow thy Light ; rise where 7 He rose
again : first sit down, and thus rise, " when He
giveth His beloved sleep."
5. As if thou shouldest ask again, who are the
beloved ? " Lo, children, the reward of the
fruit of the womb, are an heritage of the Lord "8
5 John xix. 34.
3 Matt. xvi. 33. * Gen. ii. at, a:
6 1 Cor. xv. 51.
7 So Oxf. MSS. qua resurrexit. Ben. quart surrexit.
8 Perhaps he intends to read it; " Lo, children, the heritage of
the Lord, is the reward of the fruit of the womb; " making Jiiii
vocative.
6o8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXVII.
(ver. 3). Since he saith, "fruit of the womb,"
these children have been born in travail. There
is a certain woman, in whom what was said unto
Eve, " in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,"
is shown after a spiritual manner. The Church
beareth children, the Bride of Christ; and if
she beareth them, she travaileth of them. In
figure of her, Eve was called also " the Mother
of all living." ' He who said, " My little chil-
dren, of whom I travail in birth again, until
Christ be formed in you,"2 was amongst the
members of her who travaileth. But she trav-
ailed not in vain, nor brought forth in vain :
there will be a holy seed at the resurrection of
the dead : the righteous who are at present
scattered over the whole world shall abound.
The Church groaneth for them, the Church trav-
aileth of them ; but in that resurrection of the
dead, the offspring of the Church shall appear,
pain and groaning shall pass away. . . .
6. " Like as the arrows in the hand of the
mighty one, even so are the children of those
that are shot out" (ver. 4). Whence hath
sprung this heritage, brethren? Whence hath
sprung so numerous a heritage? Some have
been shot out from the Lord's hand, as arrows,
and have gone far, and have filled the whole
earth, whence the Saints spring. For this
is the heritage whereof it is said, " Desire of
Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession." ' And how doth this posses-
sion extend and increase unto the world's utter-
most parts? Because, "like as the arrows in
the hand of the mighty one," etc. Arrows are
shot forth from the bow, and the stronger the
arm which hath sent it forth, the farther flieth
the arrow. But what is stronger than the dart-
ing of the Lord? From His bow He sendeth
forth His Apostles : there could not be a spot
left where an arrow shot by so strong an arm
would not reach ; it hath reached unto the
uttermost parts of the earth. The reason it
went no farther was, that there were no more of
the human race beyond. For He hath such
strength, that even if there were a spot beyond,
whither the arrow could fly, He would dart the
arrow thither. Such are the children of those
who are shot forth as they that are shot forth.4 . . .
7. Perhaps the Apostles themselves are styled
the sons of those who have been shaken out,
the sons of the Prophets. For the Prophets
comprised closed and covered mysteries : they
were shaken, that they might come forth thence
manifestly. . . . Except the prophecy involved
were sifted with diligence, would the concealed
meanings come forth unto us ? All these mean-
* Gen. iii. 16, ao. * Gal. iv. 19.
« [A/, "shaken forth." — C.J
« Ps. ii. I.
ings were therefore closed before the Lord's
advent. The Lord came, and shook out these
hidden meanings, and they were made manifest ;
the Prophets were shaken out, and the Apostles
were born. Since then they were born of the
Prophets who had been shaken out, the Apostles
are sons of those that were shaken out. They,
placed as the arrows in the hand of the giant,
have reached the uttermost parts of the earth. . . .
The Apostles the sons of the Prophets have
been like as the arrows in the hand of a mighty
one. If He is mighty, He hath shaken them out
with a mighty hand ; if He hath shaken them
out with a mighty hand, they whom He hath
shaken forth have arrived even at the uttermost
parts of the earth.
8. " Blessed is the man who hath filled his de-
sire from them" (ver. 5). Well, my brethren,
who filleth his desire from them? Who loveth
not the world. He who is filled with the desire
of the world, hath no room for that to enter
which they have preached. Pour forth what
thou earnest, and become fit for that which thou
hast not. That is, thou desirest riches : thou
canst not fill thy desire from them : thou de-
sirest honours upon earth, thou desirest those
things which God hath given even unto beasts
of burden, that is, temporal pleasure, bodily
health, and the like; thou wilt not fulfil thy
desire from them. ..." He shall not be
ashamed, when he speaketh with his enemies
in the gate." Brethren, let us speak in the
gate, that is, let all know what we speak. For
he who chooseth not to speak in the gate, wish-
eth what he speaketh to be hidden, and perhaps
wisheth it to be hidden for this reason, that it is
evil. If he be confident, let him speak in the
gate ; as it is said of Wisdom, " She crieth at
the gates, at the entry of the city."* As long
as they hold unto righteousness in innocency,
they shall not be ashamed : this is to preach at
the gate. And who is he who preacheth at the
gate? He who preacheth in Christ; because
Christ is the gate whereby we enter into that
city.6 . . . They, therefore, who speak against
Christ, are without the gate ; because they seek
their own honours, not those of Christ. But he
who preacheth in the gate, seeketh Christ's hon-
our, not his own : and, therefore, he who preach-
eth in the gate, saith, Trust not in me ; for ye
will not enter through me, but through the gate.
While they who wish men to trust in themselves,
wish them not to enter through the gate : it is
no marvel if the gate be closed against them,
and if they vainly knock for it to be opened.'
3 Prov. viii. 3.
6 John x. 9.
7 [He concludes by asking their prayers, and promising to
preach the next day on " the Gospel of the Dove." Tract iv. on St.
John i. 31, 32, § 16, vol. vii. p. 31, this series; and compare Tractates
v. and vi. This reference is from ed. Oxford. — C]
rs\L.\i cxxviii.]
ON THE PSALMS.
609
PSALM CXXVIII.-
1. Felix the Martyr,2 truly Felix, i.e. " Hap-
py " both in his name and his crown, whose
birthday this is, despised the world. Was he,
because he feared the Lord, thence happy, thence
blessed, because his wife was as a fruitful vine
upon the earth, and his children stood around
his table ? All these blessings he hath perfect-
ly, but in the Body of Him who is here de-
scribed; and, because he understood them in
this sense, he scorned things present, that he
might receive things future. Ye are aware,
brethren, that he suffered not the death that
other martyrs suffered. For he confessed, and
was set aside for torments ; on another day his
body was discovered lifeless. They had closed
the prison to his body, not to his spirit. The
executioners found him gone ; when they were
preparing to torture, they spent their rage for
nought. He was lying dead, without sense to
them, that he might not be tortured ; with sense
with God, that lie might be crowned. Whence
was he also happy, brethren, not only in name,
but in the reward of everlasting life, if he loved
these things.
2. " Blessed are all they that fear the Lord,
and walk in His ways " (ver. 1). He speaketh
to many; but since these many are one in
Christ, in the next words he speaketh in the
singular: "For thou shalt eat the labours of
thy fruits." . . . When I speak of Christians in
the plural, I understand one in the One Christ.
Ye are therefore many, and ye are one ; we are
many, and we are one. How are we many, and
yet one? Because we cling unto Him whose
members we are ; and since our Head is in
heaven, that His members may follow.
Let us therefore so hear this Psalm, as consid-
ering it to be spoken of Christ : and all of us
who cling unto the Body of Christ, and have
been made members of Christ, walk in the ways
of the Lord ; and let us fear the Lord with a
chaste fear, with a fear that abideth for ever.
3. " Thou shalt eat the labours of thy fruits "
(ver. 2). And ye, O thou, ye many who are
One, •' Thou shalt eat of the labours of thy
fruits." He seemeth to speak perversely to
those who understand not : for he should have
said, thou shalt eat the fruit of thy labours.
For many eat the fruit of their labours. They
labour in the vineyard; they eat not the toil
itself; but what ariseth from their labour they
eat. They labour about trees that bear fruit ■
who would eat labours? But the fruit of these
labours, the produce of these trees; it is
this that delighteth the husbandman. What
f 1' ka,'«fXXVIIr, LA sermon <o 'he people, on the day of St
Felix the Martyr. [I have transposed the first paragraph. - C 1
■ He ,s sn.d to have suffered martyrdom at Thinissa, or Thimisa
hal iS] PP°' °" 'he 6'h °f November. - Bin. (Mart Rom.
meaneth, "Thou shalt eat the labours of thy
fruits " ? At present we have toils : the fruits
will come afterwards. But since their labours
themselves are not without joy, on account of
the hope whereof we have a little before spoken,
" Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation ; "> at
present those very labours delight us, and make
us joyful in hope. If therefore our toil has
been what could be eaten, and could also de-
light us ; what will be the fruit of our labour
when eaten ? " They who went weeping on their
way, scattering their seed,"" did eat their labours ;
with how much greater pleasure will they eat the
fruits of their labours, who " shall come again
with joy, bearing their sheaves with them " ?
..." Blessed art thou, and well shall it be with
thee." " Blessed art thou," is of the present :
" well shall it be with 'hee," is of the future.
When thou eatest the labours of thy fruits,
" blessed art thou ;" when thou hast reached the
fruit of thy labours, •" well shall it be with thee."
What hath he said ? For if it be well with thee,
thou wilt be happy : and if thou wilt be happy'
thou wilt also have all well with thee. But there
is a difference between hope and attainment. If
hope be so sweet, how much sweeter will reality
be?
4. Let us now come to the words, "Thy wife"
(ver. 3) : it is said unto Christ. His wife
therefore, is the Church: His Church, His
wife, we ourselves are. " As a fruitful vineyard."
But in whom is the vineyard fruitful ? For we
see many barren ones entering those walls ; we
see that many intemperate, usurious persons,
slave dealers, enter these walls, and such as resort
to fortune-tellers, go to enchanters and enchant-
resses when they have a headache. Is this the
fruitfulness of the vine ? Is this the fecundity of
the wife? It is not. These are thorns, but the
vineyard is not everywhere thorny. It hath a
certain fruitfulness, and is a fruitful vine ; but in
whom ? " Upon the sides of thy house." Not
all are called the sides of the house. For I ask
what are the sides. What shall I say? Are
they walls, strong stones, as it were? If he
were speaking of this bodily tenement, we should
perhaps understand this by sides. We mean by
the sides of the house, those who cling unto
Christ. ; . .
5. " Thy children." The wife and the chil-
dren are the same. In these carnal marriages
and wedlocks, the wife is one, the children
other : in the Church, she who is the wife, is the
children also. For the Apostles belonged to
the Church, and were among the members of the
Church. They were therefore in His wife, and
were His wife according to their own portion
which they held in His members. Why then is
3 Rom. xii. la.
* Ps. cxxvi. 6.
6io
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXIX.
it said concerning them, " When the Bridegroom
shall be taken from them, then shall the chil-
dren of the Bridegroom fast"?' She who is
the wife, then, is the children also. I speak a
wonderful thing, my brethren. In the words of
the Lord, we find the Church to be both His
brethren, and His sisters, and His mother.2 . . .
For Mary was among the sides of His House,
and His relatives coming of the kindred of
the Virgin Mary, who believed on Him, were
among the sides of His House ; not in respect
of their carnal consanguinity, but inasmuch as
they heard the Word of God, and obeyed it.
. . . He added ; " For whosoever shall do the
will of My Father which is in heaven, the
same is My brother, and sister, and mother." 3
" Brother," perhaps, on account of the male sex
whom the Church hath : " sister," on account
of the women whom Christ hath here in His
members. How "mother," save that Christ
Himself is in those Christians, whom the Church
daily bringeth forth Christians through baptism?
In those therefore in whom thou understandest
the wife, in them thou understandest the mother,
in them the children.
6. . . . Such children ought therefore to be
"around " the Lord's" table, like olive-branches."4
A complete Vine it is, a great bliss : who would
now refuse to be there ? When thou seest any
blasphemer have a wife, children, grandchildren,
and thyself perchance without them, envy them
not ; discern that the promise hath been fulfilled
in thee also, but spiritually. If therefore we
have, why have we ? Because we fear the Lord.
" Lo, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth
the Lord " (ver. 4). He is the man, who is also
the men ; and the men are one man ; because
many are one, because Christ is One.
7. " The Lord from out of Sion bless thee :
and mayest thou see the good things that are of
Jerusalem" (ver. 5). Even to the birds was it
said, "Be fruitful and multiply."' Dost thou
wish to hold as a great blessing what was given
unto birds? Who can be ignorant, that it was
given indeed by the voice of God? But use
these goods, if thou receive them ; and rather
think how thou mayest nourish those who have
been born, than that others may be born. For
it is not happiness to have children, but to have
good ones. Labour in the task of nourishing
them, if they be born ; but if they be not born,
give thanks unto God. . . . Thy children are
infants : thou dost caress the infants : the infants
caress thee : do they abide thus ? But thou
wishest Cey may grow, thou wishest that their
age may increase. But consider that when one
age cometh, another dieth. When boyhood
cometh, infancy dieth ; when youth cometh,
boyhood dieth : when manhood cometh, youth
dieth ; when old age cometh, manhood dieth :
when death cometh, all age dieth. As many
successions of ages as thou wishest for, so many
deaths of ages dost thou wish for. These things
therefore " are " not. Finally, are children born
unto thee to share life with thee on earth, or
rather to shut thee out and to succeed thee?
Rejoicest thou in those born to exclude thee ?
Boys when born speak somewhat like this to
their parents : " Now then, begin to think of
removing hence, let us too play our parts on the
stage." For the whole life of temptation in the
human race is a stage play ; 6 for it is said,
" Every man living is altogether vanity." 7 Never-
theless, if we rejoice in children who will succeed
us ; how much must we rejoice in children with
whom we shall remain, and in that Father for
whom we are born, who will not die, but that we
may evermore live with Him? These are the
good things of Jerusalem : for they " are." And
how long shall I see the good things of Jeru-
salem? "All thy life long." If thy life be for
ever, thou wilt see the good things of Jerusalem
for evermore. . . .
8. For, " if in this life only," saith the Apostle,
" we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable." 8 For what reason were the Martyrs
condemned to beasts? What is that good? Can
it be declared ? by what means, or what tongue
can tell it? or what ears can hear it? That
indeed, " Neither ear hath heard, nor hath it
entered into man's heart : " 9 only let us love,
only let us grow in grace : ye see, then, that
battles are not wanting, and that we fight with
our lusts. We fight outwardly with unbelieving
and disobedient men; we fight inwardly with
carnal suggestions and perturbations : we every-
where as yet fight. . . . What sort of peace
then is this ? One from Jerusalem, for Jerusalem
is interpreted, A vision of Peace. Thus then
" mayest thou see the good things that are of
Jerusalem," and that, "all thy life long — and
mayest thou see," not only thy children, but,
" thy children's children." What meaneth, Thy
children? Thy works which thou here dost.
Who are thy children's children? The fruits of
thy works. Thou givest alms : these are thy
children : for the sake of thine alms thou re-
ceivest everlasting life, these are thy children's
children. " Mayest thou see thy children's chil-
dren ; " and there shall be " peace upon Israel "
(ver. 6), the last words of the Psalm. . . .
PSALM CXXIX.'°
1. The Psalm which we have sung is short :
but as it is written in the Gospel of Zacchseus
■ Mall, ix ij. * Malt. xii. 46, etc.
* Pa. cxxxviu. 3.
3 Matt. xii. 48-50.
* Gen. i. 32.
6 [A text illustrated by our great English dramalist, — C]
7 Ps. xxxix. 5. ■ 1 Cor. xv. 19. 9 1 Cor. ii. 9.
10 Lat. CXXV11I. A sermon to the people.
tsalm cxxix.]
ON THE PSALMS.
611
that he was " little of stature," ' but mighty in
works ; as it is written of that widow who cast
two mites into the treasury, little was the money,
but great was her charity ; 2 thus also this Psalm,
if thou count the words, is short ; if thou weigh
the sentiments, is great. . . . Let the Spirit of
God speak, let It speak to us, let It sing to us ;
whether we wish or wish not to dance, let It
sing. For as he who danceth, moveth his limbs
to the time ; so they who dance according to ]
the commandment of God, in their works obey
the sound. What therefore saith the Lord in
the Gospel to those who refuse to do this ? " We
have piped unto you, and ye have not danced :
we have mourned unto you, and ye have not
lamented." 3 Let Him therefore sing ; we trust
in God's mercy, for there will be those by whom
He consoleth us. For they who are obstinate,
continuing in wickedness, although they hear the
Word of God, by their offences daily disturb the
Church. Of such this Psalm speaketh ; for
thus it beginneth.
2. " Many a time have they fought against me
from my youth up " (ver. i ) . The Church
speaketh of those whom She endureth : and as
if it were asked, "Is it now?" The Church is
of ancient birth : since saints have been so
called, the Church hath been on earth. At one
time the Church was in Abel only, and he was
fought against by his wicked and lost brother
Cain.4 At one time the Church was in Enoch
alone : and he was translated from the unright-
eous.5 At one time the Church was in the house
of Noah alone, and endured all who perished by
the flood, and the ark alone swam upon the
waves, and escaped to shore.6 At one time the
Church was in Abraham alone, and we know
what he endured from the wicked. The Church
was in his brother's son, Lot, alone, and in his
house, in Sodom, and he endured the iniquities
and perversities of Sodom, until God freed him
from amidst them.' The Church also began to
exist in the people of Israel : She endured
Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The number of
the saints began to be also in the Church, that
is, in die people of Israel ; Moses and the rest
of the saints endured the wicked Jews, the peo-
ple of Israel. We come unto our Lord Jesus
Christ : the Gospel was preached in the Psalms.8
. . . For this reason, lest the Church wonder
now, or lest any one wonder in the Church, who
wisheth to be a good member of the Church,
let him hear the Church herself his Mother say-
ing to him, Marvel not. at these things, my son :
" Many a time have they fought against me from
my youth up."
3. " Now may Israel say." She now seemeth
1 Luke xix. 2-9, 2 Mark xii 42, 44. 3 Matt. xi. 17.
* Gen. iv. 8. 3 Gen. v. 24. *> Gen. vi.-viii.
1 Gen. xiii.-xx. » Ps. xl. 5. [Heb. iv. 2. — C.J
to be speaking of herself : for she seemed not to
have commenced herself, but to have answered.
But to whom hath she replied? To them that
think and say, How great evils do we endure,
how great are the scandals that every day thick-
en, as the wicked enter into the Church, and we
have to endure them? But let the Church reply
through some, that is, through the voice of the
stronger, let her reply to the complaints of the
weak, and let the stable confirm the unstable,
and the full-grown the infant, and let the Church
say, " Many a time have they vexed me from my
youth up" (ver. 2). Let the Church say this:
let her not fear it. For what is the meaning of
this addition, " From my youth up," after the
words, " Many a time have they fought against
me " ? At present the old age of the Church is
assailed : but let her not fear. Hath she then
failed to arrive at old age, because they have not
ceased to fight against her from her youth up?
have they been able to blot her out? Let Israel
comfort herself, let the Church console herself
with past examples. Why have they fought
against me? "For they could not prevail
against me."
4. " Upon my back have sinners built ; they
have done their iniquity afar off" (ver. 3).
Why have they fought against me? Because
" they could not prevail upon me." What is
this? They could not build upon me. I con-
sented not with them unto sin. For every
wicked man persecuteth the good on this ac-
count, because the good man consenteth not
with him to evil. Suppose he do some evil, and
the Bishop censure him not, the Bishop is a good
man : suppose the Bishop censure him, the
Bishop is a bad man. Suppose he carry off any-
thing, let the man robbed be silent, he is a good
man : let him only speak and rebuke, even
though he doth not reclaim his goods, he is every-
thing bad. He is bad then who blameth the
robber, and he is good who robbeth ! . . . Heed
not that such an one speaketh to thee : it is a
wicked man through whom It speaketh to thee ;
but the word of God, that speaketh to thee, is
not wicked.' Accuse God : accuse Him, if
thou canst !
5. Thou accusest a man of avarice, and he
accuseth God on the ground that He made gold.
Be not covetous. And God, thou repliest, should
not make gold. This now remaineth, because
thou canst not restrain thine evil deeds, thou
accusest the good works of God : the Creator
and Architect of the world displeaseth thee. He
ought not to make the sun either ; for many con-
tend concerning the lights of their windows, and
9 Oxf. mss. " Heed not through whom It speaketh to thee, but
take heed that it is That which speaketh to thee. He is evil through
whom It speaketh to thee, but the Word of God that speaketh to
thee is not evil."
6l2
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXIX.
drag each other before courts of law. 0 if we
could restrain our vices ! for all things are good,
because a good God made all things : and His
works praise Him, when their goodness is con-
sidered by him who hath the spirit of considering
them, the spirit of piety and wisdom.' . . .
6. Lend not money at interest. Thou accusest
Scripture which saith, " He that hath not given
his money upon usury." * I wrote not this : it
went not forth first from my mouth : hear God.
He replieth : let not the clergy lend upon usury.
Perchance he who speaketh to thee, lendeth not
at interest : but if he do so lend, suppose that
he doth so lend ; doth He who speaketh through
him lend at interest? If he doth what he enjoin-
eth thee, and thou dost it not ; thou wilt go into
the flame, he into the kingdom. If he doth not
what he enjoineth thee, and equally with thee
doth evil deeds, and preaches duties which he
doth not ; ye will both equally go into the flames.
The hay will burn ; but " the word of the Lord
abideth for evermore." 3 . . .
7. " The righteous Lord shall hew the necks of
the sinners" (ver. 4). . . . Which of us doth not
fix his eyes upon the earth, like the Publican, and
say, " Lord, be merciful unto me a sinner " ? 4 If
therefore all are sinners, and none is found with-
out sin ; all must fear the sword that hangs above
their neck, because " the righteous Lord shall
hew the necks of the sinners." I do not im-
agine, my brethren, of all sinners ; but in the
member which He striketh, He marks what sin-
ners He striketh. For it is not said, The right-
eous Lord will hew the hands of the sinners ; or
their feet ; but because proud sinners were
meant to be understood, and all proud men
carry lofty necks, and not only do evil deeds, but
even refuse to acknowledge them to be such,
and when they are rebuked, justify themselves : 5
... as it is written in Job (he was speaking of
an ungodly sinner), "he runneth against God,
even upon his neck, upon the thick bosses of his
bucklers ; " 6 so he here nameth the neck, because
it is thus thou exaltest thyself, and dost not fix
thine eyes upon the ground, and beat thy breast.
Thou shouldest cry unto Him, as it is cried in
another Psalm, " I said, Lord, be merciful unto
me, for I have sinned against Thee." » Since thou
dost not choose ' to say this, but justifiest thy
deeds against the Word of God ; what followeth
in Scripture cometh upon thee : the righteous
Lord shall hew the necks of sinners.
8. " Let them be confounded and turned
backward, as many as have evil will at Sion "
• Song of Three Children, ver. 35, etc. * Ps. xv. 5.
» Isa. xl. 8. [On ihii subject see p. 90, note a, supra. But it is
well to study this and other Fathers patttm on this most perplexing
Blatter. Comp. Acts xv. a8, ao; Deut. xxiii. ao; Matt. xxv. vj. — C. J
• T.uke xviii. 13.
> Oxf. M'«. add, " I did not this, but the sure."
• Job xv. ao. 7 p,. xii. 4,
(ver. 5). They who hate Sion, hate the Church :
Sion is the Church. And they who hypocritically
enter into the Church, hate the Church. They
who refuse to keep the Word of God, hate the
Church : " Upon my back have they built : "
what will the Church do, save endure the burden
even unto the end ?
9. But what saith he of them? The next
words are, " Let them be even as the grass of
the house tops : that withereth before it be
plucked up" (ver. 6). The grass of the house
tops is that which groweth on house tops, on a
tiled roof: it is seen on high, and hath not a
root. How much better would it be if it grew
lower, and how much more joyfully would it
bloom ? As it is, it riseth higher to a quicker
withering. It hath not yet been plucked up, yet
hath it withered : not yet have they received
sentence from the judgment of God, and already
they have not the sap of bloom. Observe their
works, and see that they have withered. . . .
The reapers will come, but they fill not their
sheaves from these. For the reapers will come,
and will gather the wheat into the barn, and will
bind the tares together, and cast them into the
fire. Thus also is the grass of the house tops
cleared off, and whatever is plucked from it, is
thrown into the fire ; because it had withered
even before it was plucked up. The reaper
filleth not his hands thence. His next words are,
" Whereof the reaper filleth not his hand ;
neither he that bindeth up the sheaves his
bosom" (ver. 7). And, "the reapers are the
angels," 8 the Lord saith.
10. "So that they who go by say not so much
as, The blessing of the Lord be upon you : we
have blessed you in the name of the Lord "
(ver. 8). For ye know, brethren, when men
pass by others at work, it is customary to address
them, " The blessing of the Lord be upon you." »
And this was especially the custom in the Jewish
nation. No one passed by and saw any one
doing any work in the field, or in the vineyard,
or in harvest, or anything of the sort ; it was not
lawful to pass by without a blessing. . . . Who
are the passers by? They who have already
passed hence to their country through this road,
that is, through this life : the Apostles were
passers by in this life, the Prophets were passers
by. Whom did the Prophets and Apostles bless ?
Those in whom they saw the root of charity?
But those whom they found lifted on high on
their house tops, and proud in the bosses of
their bucklers, they declared against these what
they were doomed to become, but they gave
them no blessing. Ye therefore who read in the
Scriptures, find all those wicked men whom the
8 Matt. xiii. 30.
S [Note this Christian usage of the fifth century. — C]
Psalm CXXX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
613
Church beareth, who are declared cursed, per-
tain unto Antichrist, pertain unto the devil,
pertain to the chaff, pertain to the tares. . . .
But they who say, None save God sanctifieth,
nor is any man good save by the gift of God ;
they bless in the name of the Lord, not in their
own name : because they are the friends of the
bridegroom,' they refuse to be adulterers of the
bride.
PSALM CXXX.1
1. "Out of the deep have I called unto
Thee, O Lord : Lord, hear my voice " (ver. 1).
Jonas cried from the deep ; from the whale's
belly.3 He was not only beneath the waves,
but also in the entrails of the beast ; neverthe-
less, those waves and that body prevented not
his prayer from reaching God, and the beast's
belly could not contain the voice of his prayer.
It penetrated all things, it burst through all
things, it reached the ears of God : if indeed
we ought to say that, bursting through all things,
it reached the ears of God, since the ears of
God were in the heart of him who prayed.
For where hath not he God present, whose voice
is faithful ? Nevertheless, we also ought to un-
derstand from what deep we cry unto the Lord.
For this mortal life is our deep. Whoever hath
understood himself to be in the deep, crieth out,
groaneth, sigheth, until he be delivered from the
deep, and come unto Him who sitteth above all
the deeps. . . . For they are very deep in the
deep, who do not even cry from the deep. The
Scripture saith, " When the wicked hath reached
the depth of evils, he despiseth." 4 Now con-
sider, brethren, what sort of deep that is, where
God is despised. When each man seeth him-
self overwhelmed with daily sins, pressed down
by heaps and weights, so to speak, of iniquities :
if it be said unto him, Pray unto God, he laughs.
In what manner? He first saith, If crimes were
displeasing unto God, should I live? If God
regarded human affairs, considering the great
crimes which I have committed, should I not
only live, but be prosperous? For this is wont
to happen to those who are far in the deep, and
are prosperous in their iniquities : and they are
the more plunged in the deep, in proportion as
they seem to be more happy ; for a deceitful
happiness is itself a greater unhappiness. . . .
2. " Lord, hear my voice. O let Thine ears
consider well the voice of my complaint " (ver.
2). Whence doth he cry? From the deep.
Who is it then who crieth? A sinner. And
with what hope doth he cry? Because He who
came to absolve from sins, gave hope even to
the sinner down in the deep. What therefore
x John in. 20.
a Lat. CXXIX. A song o! degrees. A sermon to the people.
* Jonah ii. 2. * Prov. xviii. 3.
followeth after these words : " If Thou, Lord,
wilt be extreme to mark what is amiss, O Lord,
who may abide it?" (ver. 3). So, he hath dis-
closed from what deep he cried out. For he
crieth beneath the weights and billows of his
iniquities. . . . He said not, I may not abide it :
but, "who may abide it?" For he saw that
nigh the whole of human life on every side, was
ever bayed at by its sins, that all consciences
were accused by their thoughts, that a clean
heart trusting in its own righteousness could not
be found.
3. But wherefore is there hope ? " For there
is propitiation with Thee" (ver. 4). And what
is this propitiation, except sacrifice ? And what is
sacrifice, save that which hath been offered for
us? The pouring forth of innocent blood blotted
out all the sins of the guilty : so great a price
paid down redeemed all captives from the hand
of the enemy who captured them. " With Thee,"
then, " there is propitiation." For if there were
not mercy with Thee, if Thou chosest to be
Judge only, and didst refuse to be merciful, Thou
wouldest mark all our iniquities, and search after
them. Who could abide this ? Who could stand
before Thee, and say, I am innocent? Who
could stand in Thy judgment? There is there-
fore one hope : " for the sake of Thy law have
I borne Thee, O Lord." What law? That which
made men guilty. For a " law, holy, just, and
good," 5 was given to the Jews ; but its effect
was to make them guilty. A law was not given
that could give life,6 but which might show his
sins to the sinner. For the sinner had forgotten
himself, and saw not himself; the law was given
him, that he might see himself. The law made
him guilty, the Lawgiver freed him : for the Law-
giver is the Supreme Power.7 . . . There is there-
fore a law of the mercy of God, a law of the
propitiation of God.8 The one was a law of fear,
the other is a law of love. The law of love
giveth forgiveness to sins, blotteth out the past,
warneth concerning the future ; forsaketh not its
companion by the way, becometh a companion
to him whom it leadeth on the way. But it is
needful to agree with the adversary, whilst thou
art with him in the way.9 For the Word of God
is thine adversary, as long as thou dost not agree
with it. But thou agreest, when it has begun to
be thy delight to do what God's Word com-
mandeth. Then he who was thine adversary
becometh thy friend : so, when the way is fin-
ished, there will be none to deliver thee .to the
Judge. Therefore, " For the sake of Thy law I
have waited for Thee, O Lord," because thou
hast condescended to bring in a law of mercy, to
forgive me all my sins, to give me for the future
warnings that I may not offend. ..." For the
* Rom. vii. 12. * Gal. iii. 21.
• [Note (Grtek) Luke xviii. 13. — C]
? Imperator,
» Matt. v. 25.
6i4
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXI.
sake," therefore, " of" this " law I have waited for
Thee, O Lord." I have waited until Thou mayest
come and free me from all need, for in my very
need Thou hast not forsaken the law of mercy.
. . . ""My soul hath waited for Thy word." . . .
4. We therefore trust without fear on the word
of Him who cannot deceive. " My soul hath
trusted in the Lord, from the morning watch even
unto night" (ver. 5). This morning watch is
the end of night. We must therefore understand
it so that we may not suppose we are to trust in
the Lord for one day only. What do you con-
ceive to be the sense, then, brethren? The
words mean this : that the Lord, through whom
our sins have been remitted, arose from the dead
at the morning watch, so that we may hope that
what went before in the Lord will take place in
us. For our sins have been already forgiven :
but we have not yet risen again : if we have not
risen again, not as yet hath that taken place in
us which went before in our Head. What went
before in our Head? Because the flesh of that
Head rose again ; did the Spirit of that Head
die? What had died in Him, rose again. Now
He arose on the third day ; and the Lord as it
were thus speaketh to us : What ye have seen in
Me, hope for in yourselves ; that is, because I
have risen from the dead, ye also shall rise again.
5. But there are who say, Behold, the Ix>rd
hath risen again ; but must I hope on that ac-
count that I also may rise again? Certainly, on
that account : for the Lord rose again in that
which He assumed from thee. For He would
not rise again, save He had died ; and He could
riot have died, except He bore the flesh. What
did the Lord assume from thee? The flesh.
What was He that came Himself? The Word
of God, who was before all things, through whom
all things were made. But that He might re-
ceive something from thee, "The Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us." ' He received from
thee, what He might offer for thee ; as the priest
receiveth from thee, what he may offer for thee,
when thou wishest to appease God for thy sins.
It hath already been done, it hath been done
thus. Our Priest received from us what He
might offer for us : for He received flesh from
us, in the flesh itself He was made a victim, He
was made a holocaust, He was made a sacrifice.
In the Passion He was made a sacrifice ; in the
Resurrection He renewed that which was slain,
and offered it as His first-fruits unto God, and
saith unto thee, All that is thine is now conse-
crated : since such first-fruits have been offered
unto God from thee ; hope therefore that that
will take place in thyself which went before in
thy first-fruits.
6. Since He then rose with the morning watch,
• John i. j, 3, 14.
our soul began to hope from hence : and how
far? " Even unto night ; " until we die ; for all
our carnal death is as it were sleep. . . .
7. And he returns to this, " From the morning
watch let Israel hope in the Lord." Not only
" let Israel hope," but " from the morning watch
let Israel hope." Do I then blame the hope of
the world, when it is placed in the Lord? No ;
but there is another hope belonging to Israel.
Let not Israel hope for riches as his highest
good, not for health of body, not for abundance
of earthly things : he will indeed have to suffer
tribulation here, if it should be his lot to suffer
any troubles for the sake of the truth. . . .
8. " For with the Lord there is mercy, and
with Him is plenteous redemption" (ver. 7).
Admirable ! This could not have been better
said in its own place, on account of the words,
" From the morning watch." Wherefore? Be-
cause the Ix)rd rose again from the morning
watch ; and the body ought to hope for that
which went before in the Head. But, lest this
thought should be suggested : The Head might
rise again, because It was not weighed down
with sins, there was no sin in Him ; what shall
we do? Shall we hope for such a resurrection,
as went before in the Lord, whilst we are weighed
down by our sins ? But see what followeth :
" And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins "
(ver. 8). Though therefore he was weighed
down with his sins, the mercy of God is present
to him. For this reason, He went before with-
out sin, that He may blot out the sins of those
that follow Him. Trust not in yourselves, but
trust from the morning watch. . . .
PSALM CXXXI.1
1. In this Psalm, the humility of one that is a
servant of God and faithful is commended unto
us, by whose voice it is sung ; which is the whole
body of Christ.3 For we have often warned you,
beloved, that it ought not to be received as the
voice of one man singing, but of all who are in
Christ's Body. And since all are in His Body,
as it were one man speaketh : and he is one
who also is many. . . . Now he prayeth in the
temple of God, who prayeth in the peace of the
Church, in the unity of Christ's Body; which
Body of Christ consisteth of many who believe
in the whole world : and therefore he who pray-
eth in the temple, is heard. For he prayeth in
the spirit and in truth,4 who prayeth in the peace
of the Church ; not in that temple, wherein was
the figure. . . .
2. " Lord, my heart is not lifted up" (ver. 1).
He hath offered a sacrifice. Whence do we
2 Lat. CXXX. A sermon to the common people.
' [On this principle the Magnificat and the Nunc dtmittis are
perpetuated as the ceaseless song of the Church. — C.j
* John iv. 21-34.
Psalm CXXXI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
615
prove that he hath offered a sacrifice? Because
humility of heart is a sacrifice. ... If there is
no sacrifice, there is no Priest. But if we have
a High Priest in Heaven, who intercedeth with
the Father for us (for He hath entered into the
Holy of Holies, -within the veil), ... we are
safe, for we have a Priest ; let us offer our sacri-
fice there. Let us consider what sacrifice we
ought to offer; for God is not pleased with
burnt-offerings, as ye have heard in the Psalm.
But in that place he next showeth what he
offereth : " The sacrifice of God is a troubled
spirit : a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
shalt Thou not despise.'
3. " Lord, my heart was not lifted up, neither
were mine eyes raised on high" (ver. 1) ; "I
have not exercised myself in great matters, nor
in wonderful things which are too high for me "
(ver. 2). Let this be more plainly spoken and
heard. I have not been proud : I have not
wished to be known among men as for wondrous
powers ; nor have I sought anything beyond my
strength, whereby I might boast myself among
the ignorant. As that Simon the sorcerer wished
to advance into wonders above himself, on that
account the power of the Apostles more pleased
him, than the righteousness of Christians. . . .
What is above my strength, he saith, I have not
sought ; I have not stretched myself out there,
I have not chosen to be magnified there. How
deeply this self-exaltation in the abundance of
graces is to be feared, that no man may pride
himself in the gift of God, but may rather pre-
serve humility, and may do what is written :
"The greater thou art, the more humble thyself,
and thou shalt find favour before the Lord : " 2
how deeply pride in God's gift should be feared,
we must again and again impress upon you. . . .
4. " If I had not lowly thoughts, but have
lifted up my soul, as one taken from his mother's
breast, such the reward for my soul " (ver. 2).
He seemeth as it were to have bound himself by
a curse : ... as though he had been going to
say, Let it so happen to me. "As one taken
away from his mother's breast, may be my soul's
reward." Ye know that the Apostle saith to
some weak brethren, " I have fed you with milk,
and not with meat ; for hitherto ye were not able
to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." 3 There
are weak persons who are not fit for strong meat ;
they wish to grasp at that which they cannot re-
ceive : and if they ever do receive, or seem to
themselves to receive what they have not re-
ceived, they are puffed up thereby, and become
proud thereupon ; they seem to themselves wise
men. Now this happeneth to all heretics ; who
since they were animal and carnal, by defending
their depraved opinions, which they could not
« P.. U. 17.
' Ecclus. iii. 18.
J 1 Cor. iii. a.
see to be false, were shut out of the Catholic
Church. . . .
5. Another opinion indeed hath been enter-
tained, and another sense in these words. . . .
It has been evidently explained, my brethren,
where God would have us to be humble, where
lofty. Humble, in order to provide against
pride ; lofty, to take in wisdom. Feed upon
milk, that thou mayest be nourished ; be nour-
ished, so that thou mayest grow ; grow, so that
thou mayest eat bread. But when thou hast be-
gun to eat bread, thou wilt be weaned, that is,
thou wilt no longer have need of milk, but of
solid food. This he seemeth to have meant :
" If I had not lowly thoughts, but have lifted up
my soul : " that is, if I was not an infant in mind,
I was in wickedness. In this sense, he said be-
fore, " Lord, my heart was not lifted up, nor
mine eyes raised on high : I do not exercise my-
self in great matters, nor in wonderful things
above me." Behold, in wickedness I am an
infant. But since I am not an infant in under-
standing, "If I had not lowly thoughts, but have
lifted up my soul," may that reward be mine
which is given unto the infant that is weaned
from his mother, that I may at length be able to
eat bread.
6. This interpretation, also, brethren, dis-
pleaseth me not, since it doth not militate against
the faith. Yet I cannot but remark that it is
not only said, " As one taken away from milk,
such may be my soul's reward ; " but with this
addition, " As one taken away from milk when
upon his mother's breast, such may be my soul's
reward." Here there is somewhat that induces
me to consider it a curse. For it is not an in-
fant, but a grown child that is taken away from
milk ; he who is weak in his earliest infancy,
which is his true infancy, is upon his mother's
breast : if perchance he hath been taken away
from the milk, he perisheth. It is not without
a reason then that it is added, " Upon his
mother's breast." For all may be weaned by
growing. He who groweth, and is thus taken
away from milk, it is good for him ; but hurtful
for him who is still upon his mother's breast.
We must therefore beware, my brethren, and be
fearful, lest any one be taken away from milk be-
fore his time. . . . Let him not therefore wish to
lift up his soul, when perchance he is not fit to
take meat, but let him fulfil the commandments
of humility. He hath wherein he may exercise
himself: let him believe in Christ, that he may
understand Christ. He cannot see the Word,
he cannot understand the equality of the Word
with the Father, he cannot as yet see the equal-
ity of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the
Word ; let him believe this, and suck it. He is
safe, because, when he hath grown, he will eat,
which he could not do before he grew by suck-
6i6
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXII.
ing : and he hath a point to stretch towards.
Seek not out the things that are too hard for
thee, and search not the things that are above
thy strength ; that is, things which thou art not
a< yet fit to understand. And what am I to do ?
thou repliest. Shall I remain thus? " But what
things the Lord hath commanded thee, think
thereupon always." ' What hath the Lord com-
manded thee? Do works of mercy, part not
with the peace of the Church, place not thy
trust in man, tempt not God by longing for
miracles. . . .
7. For if ye be not exalted, if ye raise not your
heart on high, if ye tread not in great matters
that are too high for you, but preserve humility,
God will reveal unto you what ye are otherwise
minded in.2 But if ye choose to defend this
very thing, which ye are otherwise minded about,
and with pertinacity assert it, and against the
peace of the Church ; this curse which he hath
described is entailed upon you ; when ye are
upon your mother's breast, and are removed
away from the milk, ye shall die of hunger apart
from your mother's breast. But if ye continue
in Catholic peace, if perchance ye are in any-
thing otherwise minded than ye ought to be, God
will reveal it to you, if ye be humble. Where-
fore? Because "God resisteth the proud, and
giveth grace unto the humble." 3
8. This Psalm therefore concludeth to this
purpose : " O Israel, trust in the Lord, from this
time forth and even unto eternity"4 (ver. 3).
But the word seculum doth not always mean
this world, but sometimes eternity ; since eternity
is understood in two ways ; until eternity, that
is, either evermore without end, or until we arrive
at eternity. How then is it to be understood
here ? Until we arrive at eternity, let us trust in
the Lord God ; because when we have reached
eternity, there will be no longer hope, but the
thing itself will be ours.
PSALM CXXXII.s
1. It was right indeed, most beloved, that
we should rather hear our Brother,6 my col-
league, when present before all of us. And
just now he refused not, but put us off; for he
extorted from me that he might now listen to
me, on the condition that I also may listen to
him, for in charity itself we are all listening unto
Him, who is our One Master in heaven. Attend
therefore to the Psalm, entitled A Song of De-
grees ; considerably longer than the rest under
the same title. Let us not therefore linger, save
1 Ecclus. iii. 23.
3 Jas iv. 6 and i Pet. v. 5.
*" *k w
■ Philip, iii. 15.
* I He adds: " The Greek words, inb rov vvv Ka\ fut tou atwvos,
are rendered in the Latin, ex hoc nunc et usque in seculum." — C.J
s I -at. CXXXI. A sermon to the common people.
* Ed Bco. supposes this to be Severus, Bishop of Milevis; and
refers to Exp of rs. xcvi. Jj 1, p. 470, supra.
where necessity shall compel us : that we may,
if the Lord permit, explain the whole. For ye
also ought not to hear everything as men un-
taught ; ye ought in some degree to aid us from
your past listenings, so that it may not be need-
ful that everything should be declared to you as
though new.'
2. " Lord, remember David, and all his meek-
ness " (ver. 1). David according to the truth
of history was one man, king of Israel, son of
Jesse. He was indeed meek, as the Divine
Scriptures themselves mark and command him,
and so meek that he did not even render evil for
evil to his persecutor Saul. He preserved tow-
ards him so great humility, that he acknowl-
edged him a king, and himself a dog : and
answered the king not proudly nor rudely,
though he was more powerful in God ; but he
rather endeavoured to appease him by humility,
than to provoke him by pride. Saul was even
given into his power, and this by the Lord God,
that he might do to him what he listed : but
since he was not commanded to slay him, but
had it only placed in his power (now a man
is permitted to use his power), he rather
turned towards mercy what God gave him. . . .
The humility of David is therefore commended,
the meekness of David is commended ; and it
is said to God, " Lord, remember David, and
all his meekness." For what purpose ? " How
he sware unto the Lord, and vowed a vow unto
the Almighty God of Jacob " (ver. 2). There-
fore remember for this, that he may fulfil what
he hath promised. David himself vowed as
though he had it in his power, and he prayeth
God to fulfil his vow : there is devotion in
the vow, but there is humility in the prayer.
Let no one presume to think he fulfilled by
his own strength what he hath vowed. He
who exhorteth thee to vow, Himself aideth
thee to fulfil. \jt\. us therefore see what he vowed,
and hence we comprehend how David should
be understood in a figure. " David " is inter-
preted, " Strong of hand," for he was a great
warrior. Trusting indeed in the Lord his God,
he despatched all wars, he laid low all his
enemies, God helping him, according to the dis-
pensation of that kingdom ; prefiguring never-
theless some One strong of hand to destroy His
enemies, the devil and his angels. These ene-
mies the Church warreth against, and conquer-
eth. . . . What then doth he mean, " How he
sware," etc. ? Let us see what vow is this. We
can offer God nothing more pleasing than to
swear.8 Now to swear is to promise firmly.'
7 [On this principle, 1 have been forced to sacrifice many repeti-
tions excellent in themselves. — C]
8 Ben. thinks these words are repeated by mistake from above, in
some MSA. ; but they are also in our copies, and come in very much
after the manner of St. Auzustin.
9 [ This sufficiently modifies and expounds what he means. — C.J
Psalm CXXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
617
Consider this vow, that is, with what ardour he
vowed what he vowed, with what love, with what
longing ; nevertheless, he prayeth the Lord to
fulfil it in these words, " O Lord, remember
David, and all his meekness." In this temper
he vowed his vow, and there should be a house
of God : " I will not come within the tabernacle
of mine house, nor climb up into my bed " (ver.
3). "I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor
mine eyelids to slumber" (ver. 4). This seem-
eth not enough ; he adds, " Neither the temples
of my head to take any rest, until I find out a
place for the Lord ; an habitation for the God
of Jacob " (ver. 5). Where did he seek a place
for the Lord? If he was meek, he sought it in
himself. For how is one a place for the Lord?
Hear the Prophet : " Upon whom shall My
Spirit rest? Even upon him that is poor and of
a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My words." '
Dost thou wish to be a place for the Lord ? Be
thou poor in spirit, and contrite, and trembling
at the word of God, and thou wilt thyself be
made what thou seekest. For if what thou seek-
est be not realized in thyself, what doth it profit
thee in another. . . .
3. How many thousands believed, my breth-
ren, when they laid down the price of their pos-
sessions at the Apostles' feet ! But what saith
Scripture of them ? Surely they are become a
temple of God ; not only each respectively a
temple of God, but also all a temple of God
together. They have therefore become a place
for the Lord. And that ye may know that one
place is made for the Lord in all, Scripture saith,
They were of one heart and one soul toward
God.2 But many, so as not to make a place for
the Lord, seek their own things, love their own
things, delight in their own power, are greedy for
their private interests. Whereas he who wisheth
to make a place for the Lord, should rejoice not
in his private, but the common good. . . .
4. Let us therefore, brethren, abstain from the
possession of private property ; or from the love
of it, if we may not from its possession ; and we
make a place for the Lord. It is too much for
me, saith some one. But consider who thou art,
who art about to make a place for the Lord. If
any senator wished to be entertained at your
house, I say not senator, the deputy of some
great man of this world, and should say, some-
thing offends me in thy house ; though thou
shouldest love it, thou wouldest remove it, never-
theless, lest thou shouldest offend him, whose
friendship thou wast courting. And what doth
man's friendship profit thee? . . . Desire the
friendship of Christ without fear : He wishes to
be entertained at thy house ; make room for
Him. What is, make room for Him? Love not
1 Isa. lxvi. 2.
* Acts iv. 4, 32, 35.
thyself, love Him. If thou love thyself, thou
shuttest the door against Him ; if thou love
Him, thou openest unto Him : and if thou open
and He enter, thou shalt not be lost by loving
thyself, but shalt find thyself with Him who
loveth thee. . . .
5. " Lo, we heard of the same at Ephrata "
(ver. 6). What? A place for the Lord. "We
heard of it at Ephrata : and found it in the
plains of the forests." 3 Did he hear it where
he found it? or did he hear it in one place, find
it in another? Let us therefore enquire what
Ephrata is, where he heard it ; let us also en-
quire what mean the plains of the forests, where
he found it. Ephrata, a Hebrew word, is ren-
dered in Latin by Speculum* as the translators
of Hebrew words in the Scriptures have handed
down to us, that we might understand them.
They have translated from Hebrew into Greek,
and from Greek we have versions into Latin.
For there have been who watched in the Scrip-
tures. If therefore Ephrata meaneth a mirror,
that house which was found in the woodland
plains, was heard of in a mirror. A mirror hath
an image : all prophecy is an image of things
future. The future house of God, therefore, was
declared in the image of prophecy. " We have
found it in the plains of the forests." What are
the " plains of the forests " ? 5 Saltus is not
here used in its common sense, as a plot of
ground of so many hundred acres ; 6 saltus prop-
erly signifies a spot as yet untitled and woody.
For some copies read, in the plains of the wood.
What then were the woodland plains, save nations
yet untitled ? what were they, save regions yet cov-
ered with the thorns of idolatry ? Thus, though
there were thorns of idolatry there, still we find
a place for the Lord there, a tabernacle for the
God of Jacob. What was declared in the im-
age to the Jews, was manifested in the faith of
the Gentiles.
6. " We will go into His tabernacles " (ver.
7). Whose? Those of the Lord God of Jacob.
They who enter to dwell therein, are the very
same who enter that they may be dwelt in.
Thou enterest into thy house, that thou mayest
dwell therein ; into the house of God, that thou
mayest be dwelt in. For the Lord is better, and
when He hath begun to dwell in thee, He will
make thee happy. For if thou be not dwelt in
by Him, thou wilt be miserable. That son who
said, " Father, give me the portion of the goods,"
etc.,' wished to be his own master. vIt was
well kept in his father's hands, that it might not
be wasted with harlots. He received it, it was
given into his own power ; going to a far country,
3 Oxf. MSS add these words: " We hear those things in Ephrata,
we find them in the woodland plains." [Note I Kings vi. 7. — C.]
« Mirror. 5 Saltuum.
6 Centuriarum — then 200 acres. See Isid. Etym, xv. c. 15, % 7.
7 Luke xv. 12-20.
6i8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXII.
he squandered it all with harlots. At length he
suffered hunger, he remembered his father ; he
returned, that he might be satisfied with bread.
Enter therefore, that thou mayest be dwelt in ;
and mayest be not thine own, so to speak, but
His : " We will go into His tabernacles. We
will worship on the spot where His feet stood."
Whose feet ? The Lord's, or those of the house
of the Lord itself? For that is the Lord's
house, wherein he saith He ought to be wor-
shipped. Beside His house, the Lord heareth
not unto eternal life ; for he belongeth to God's
house, who hath in charity been built in with
living stones. But he who hath not charity, fall-
eth ; and while he falls, the house stands. . . .
7. But if ye incline to understand it of the
house itself, where the feet of that house have
stood ; let thy feet stand in Christ. They will
then stand, if thou shalt persevere in Christ.
For what is said of the devil ? " He was a mur-
derer from the beginning, and stood not in the
truth." ' The feet of the devil therefore stood
not. Also what saith he of the proud ? " O
let not the foot of pride come against me ; and
let not the hand of the ungodly cast me down.
There are they fallen, all that work wickedness :
they are cast down, and were not able to stand." 2
That then is the house of God, whose feet stand.
Whence John rejoicing, saith : what? " He that
hath the bride is the bridegroom : but the friend
of the bridegroom standeth and heareth him."
If he stand not, he heareth him not. Justly he
standeth, because " he rejoiceth on account of
the bridegroom's voice." Now therefore ye
see why .they fell, who rejoice because of their
own voice.* That friend of the Bridegroom
said, " The same is He which baptizeth." «
Some say, We baptize : rejoicing in their own
voice, they could not stand ; and belong not to
that house of which it is said, " where His feet
stood."
8. " Arise, O Lord, into Thy resting place "
(ver. 8). He saith unto the Lord sleeping,
" Arise." Ye know already who slept, and who
rose again. . . . "Thou, and the ark of Thy
sanctification : " that is, Arise, that the ark of
Thy sanctification, which Thou hast sanctified,
may arise also. He is our Head ; His ark is
His Church : He arose first, the Church will arise
also. The body would not dare to promise itself
resurrection, save the Head arose first. The Body
of Christ, that was born of Mary, hath been
understood by some to be the ark of sanctifica-
tion ; so that the words mean, Arise with Thy
Body, that they who believe not may handle.
9. " Let Thy priests be clothed with right-
eousness, and let Thy saints sing with joyful-
ness" (ver. 9). When Thou risest from the
1 John viii. 44.
* John i 33.
* P». xxxri. 11, u. J Donatisu.
dead, and goest unto Thy Father, let that royal
Priesthood be clothed with faith, since " the
righteous liveth by faith ; " 5 and, receiving the
pledge of the Holy Spirit, let the members re-
joice in the hope of resurrection, which went
before in the Head : for to them the Apostle
saith, " Rejoicing in hope." 6
10. "For Thy servant David's sake, turn not
away the face of Thine Anointed" (ver. 10).
These words are addressed unto God the Father.
" For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away
the face of Thine Anointed." The Lord was
crucified in Judaea ; He was crucified by the
Jews ; harassed by them, He slept. He arose
to judge those among whose savage hands He
slept : and He saith elsewhere, " Raise Thou Me
up again, and I shall reward them." 7 He both
hath rewarded them, and will reward them.
The Jews well know themselves how great were
their sufferings after the Lord's death. They
were all expelled from the very city, where they
slew Him. What then ? have all perished even
from the root of David and from the tribe of
Judah ? No : for some of that stock believed,
and in fact many thousands of men of that
stock believed, and this after the Lord's resur-
rection. They raged and crucified Him : and
afterwards began to see miracles wrought in the
Name of Him Crucified ; and they trembled
still more that His Name should have so much
power, since when in their hands He seemed
unable to work any ; and pricked at heart, at
length believing that there was some hidden
divinity in Him whom they had believed like
other men, and asking counsel of the Apostles,
they were answered, " Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ."8 Since then Christ arose to
judge those by whom He had been crucified,
and turned away His Presence from the Jews,
turning His Presence towards the Gentiles ;
God is, as it seemeth, besought in behalf of the
remnant of Israel; and it is said unto Him,
" For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away
the presence of Thine Anointed." If the chaff
be condemned, let the wheat be gathered to-
gether. May the remnant be saved, as Isaiah
saith, " And the remnant hath " clearly " been
saved : " 9 for out of them were the twelve Apos-
tles, out of thenj more than five hundred breth-
ren, to whom the Lord showed Himself after
His Resurrection : '° out of their number were so
many thousands baptized," who laid the price of
their possessions at the Apostles' feet. Thus
then was fulfilled the prayer here made to God :
" For Thy servant David's sake, turn not away
the presence of Thine Anointed."
5 Rom. i. 17.
• Acts ii. 38.
11 Acts ii. 41.
6 Rom. xii. 12.
9 Isa. x. at, 32.
» Pi. xli. 10.
10 1 Cor. xv. 6.
Psalm CXXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
619
11. "The Lord hath made a faithful oath
unto David, and He shall not repent "(ver. 11).
What meaneth, " hath made an oath " ? Hath
confirmed a promise through Himself. What
meaneth, " He shall not repent "? He will not
change. For God suffereth not the pain of re-
pentance, nor is He deceived in any matter, so
that He would wish to correct that wherein He
hath erred. But as when a man repents of any-
thing, he wisheth to change what he hath done ;
thus where thou hearest that God repenteth,
look for an actual change. God doth it differ-
ently from thee, although He calleth it by the
name of repentance ; for thou dost it, because
thou hadst erred ; while He doth it, because He
avengeth, or freeth. He changed Saul's king-
dom, when He repented, as it is said : and in
the very passage where the Scripture saith, " It
repented Him ; " it is said a little after, " for
He is not a man that He should repent." ' When
therefore He changeth His works through His
immutable counsel, He is said to repent on ac-
count of this very change, not of His counsel,
but of His work. But He promised this so as
not to change it. Just as this passage also
saith : " The Lord sware, and will not repent,
Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedec ; " 2 so also since this was promised
so that it should not be changed, because it
must needs happen and be permanent ; he saith,
" The Ix)rd hath made a faithful oath unto
David, and He shall not repent ; Of the fruit
of thy body shall I set upon thy seat." He
might have said, '• of the fruit of thy loins,"
wherefore did He choose to say, " Of the fruit
of thy body " ? Had He said that also, it
would have been true ; but He chose to say
with a further meaning, Ex fructu ventris, be-
cause Christ was born of a woman without the
man.
12. What then? "The Lord hath made a
faithful oath unto David, and He shall not
shrink from it ; Of the fruit of thy body shall
I set upon thy seat. If thy children will keep
My covenant and My testimonies that I shall
learn them, their children also shall sit upon thy
seat for evermore" (ver. 12). If thy children
keep My covenant, their children also shall sit
for evermore. The parents establish a desert
on behalf of their children. What if his chil-
dren should keep the covenant, and their chil-
dren should not keep it? Why is the happiness
of the children promised in relation to their
parents' deservings? For what saith He, "If
thy children will keep My covenant, their chil-
dren also shall sit for evermore" — He saith
not, if thy children keep My covenant, they
shall sit upon thy seat ; and if their children
I keep My covenant, they also shall sit upon thy
seat : but he saith, " If thy children keep My
' covenant, their children also shall sit upon thy
I seat for evermore " — except because He here
wished their fruit to be understood by their
children? " If thy children," He saith, " will
keep My covenant, and if thy children shall
keep My testimonies that I shall learn them ;
their children also shall sit upon thy seat : " that
is, this will be their fruit, that they sit upon thy
seat. For in this life, brethren, do all of us
who labour in Christ, all of us who tremble at
His words, who in any way endeavour to exe-
cute His will, and groan while we pray His help
j that we may fulfil what He commandeth ; do
j we already sit in those seats of bliss which are
promised us? No: but holding His command-
ments, we hope this will come to pass. This
hope is spoken of under the figure of sons ;
j because sons are the hope of man living in this
[ life, sons are his fruit. For this reason also
men, when excusing their avarice, allege that
they are reserving for their children what they
j hoard up ; and, unwilling to give to the desti-
tute, excuse themselves under the name of
! piety, because their children are their hope.
For all men who live according to this world,
declare it to be their hope, to be fathers of
children they may leave behind them. Thus
then He describes hope generally under the
name of children, and saith, " If thy children
will keep My covenant and My testimonies that
I shall learn them, their children also shall sit
upon thy seat for evermore : " that is, they shall
have such fruits, that their hope shall not de-
ceive them, that they may come there where
they hope to come. At present therefore they
are as fathers, men of hope for the future ; but
when they have attained what they hope, they
are children ; because they have brought forth
and produced in their works that which they
gain. And this is preserved unto them for the
future,3 because futurity * itself commonly signi-
fied! children.
13. Or if thou understand actual men to be
meant by children, the words, " If thy children
will keep My covenant and My testimonies that
I shall teach them," may mean, " If thy chil-
dren will keep My covenant and testimonies that
I shall teach them, and their children also ; "
that is, if they too keep My covenant ; so that
here thou must make a slight pause, and then
infer that " they shall sit upon thy seat for ever-
more ; " that is, both thy children and their chil-
dien, but all if they keep My covenant. What
then, if they keep it not? Hath the promise of
God failed ? No : but it is said and promised for
this reason, that God foresaw : what, save that
1 1 Sam. xv. 11, 29.
' Ps. ex. 4.
3 Ih posterum.
* Postcrita*.
620
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXII.
they would believe ? But that no man should as
it were threaten God's promises, and prefer to
place in his own power the fulfilment of what
God promised : for this reason he saith, " He
made an oath : " whereby he showeth that it
will without doubt take place. How then hath
He said here, " If they will keep My covenant " ?
Glory not in the promises, and leave out thy
failing to keep the covenant. Then wilt thou
be the son of David, if thou shalt keep the cov-
enant ; but if thou dost not keep it, thou wilt
not be David's son. God promised to the sons
of David. Say not, I am David's son if thou
degenerate. If the Jews, who were born of this
very stock, say not this (nay, they say it, but
they are under a delusion. For the Lord saith
openly, " If ye were Abraham's children, ye
would do the works of Abraham." • He thereby
denied them to be children, because they did not
the works), how do we call ourselves David's
children, who are not of his race according to
the flesh? It follows then that we are not
children, save by imitating his faith, save by
worshipping God, as he worshipped. If there-
fore what thou hopest not through descent,
thou wilt not endeavour to obtain by works ;
how shall the sitting upon David's seat be
fulfilled in thee? And if it shall not be ful-
filled in thee, thinkest thou that it shall not be
fulfilled at all ? And how hath He found it in
the woodland tracts? and how did His feet
stand? Whatsoever then thou mayest be, that
house will stand.
14. " For the Lord hath chosen Sion to be an
habitation for Himself" (ver. 13). Sion is the
Church Herself; She is also that Jerusalem unto
whose peace we are running, who is in pilgrim-
age not in the Angels, but in us, who in her bet-
ter part waiteth for the part that will' return ;
whence letters have come unto us, which are
every day read. This city is that very Sion,
whom the Lord hath chosen.
15. ■" This shall be My rest forever" (ver. 14).
These are the words of God. " My rest : " I
rest there. How greatly doth God love us,
brethren, since, because we rest, He saith that
He also resteth ! For He is not sometimes
Himself disturbed, nor doth He rest as we do ;
but He saith that He resteth there, because we
shall have rest in Him. " Here will I dwell :
for I have a delight therein."
1 6. "I will bless her widow with blessings,
and will satisfy her poor with bread " (ver. 15).
Every soul that is aware that it is bereft of all
help, save of Gdd alone, is widowed. For how
doth the Apostle describe a widow ? " She that
is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God." 2
He was speaking of those whom we all call
Widows in the Church. He saith, "She that
liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth ; "
and he numbereth her not among the widows.
But in describing true widows, what saith he?
" She that is a widow indeed and desolate, trust-
eth in God, and continueth in supplications and
prayers night and day." Here he addeth, " but
she that iiveth in pleasure, is dead while she liv-
eth." What then makes a widow? That she
hath no aid from any other source, save from
God alone. They that have husbands, take
pride in the protection of their husbands : wid-
ows seem desolate, and their aid is a stronger
one. The whole Church therefore is one widow,
whether in men or in women, in married men or
married women, in young men or in old, or in
virgins : the whole Church is one widow, deso-
late in this world, if she feel this, if she is aware
of her widowhood : for then is help at hand for
her. Do ye not recognise this widow in the
Gospel, my brethren, when the Lord declared
" that men ought always to pray and not to faint " ?
"There was in a city a judge," He said, " which
feared not God, neither regarded man. And
there was a widow in that city ; and she came
I unto him day by day, saying, Avenge me of mine
I adversary." The widow, by daily importunity,
I prevailed with him : for the judge said within
! himself, "Though I fear not God, neither regard
! man, yet because this woman troubleth me, I
I will avenge her." 3 If the wicked judge heard
j the widow, that he might not be molested ;
i heareth not God His Church, whom He exhorteth
! to pray ?
1 7. Also, " I will satisfy her poor with bread ; "
j what meaneth this, brethren ? Let us be poor,
I and we shall then be satisfied. Many who trust
in the world, and are proud, are Christians ; they
worship Christ, but are not satisfied ; for they
have been satisfied, and abound in their pride.
Of such it is said, " Our soul is filled with the
scornful reproof of the wealthy, and with the de-
spitefulness of the proud : " 4 these have abun-
dance, and therefore eat, but are not satisfied.
And what is said of them in the Psalm ? " All
such as be fat upon the earth have eaten and
worshipped." 5 They worship Christ, they ven-
erate Christ, they pray unto Christ ; but they are
not satisfied with His wisdom and righteousness.
Wherefore? Because they are not poor. For
the poor, that is the humble in heart, the more
they hunger, the more they eat ; and the more
empty they are of the world, the more hungry
they are. He who- is full refuseth whatsoever
thou wilt give him, because he is full. Give me
one who hungereth ; give me one of whom it is
said, " Blessed are they that hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled : " 5
1 John viii. 39.
* 1 Tim. v. 5, 6
3 Luke xviii. 1-8.
6 Matt. v. 6.
< Ps. CXX'H. 4.
5 Ps. xxii. 29.
Psalm CXXXII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
621
and these will be the poor of whom he hath just
said, " And will satisfy her poor with bread." For
in the very Psalm where it is said, " All such as be
fat upon the earth have eaten and worshipped ; "
this is said of the poor also, and exactly in the
same manner as in this Psalm, "The poor shall
eat, and be satisfied : they that seek after the
Lord shall praise Him." ' Where it is said, "All
such as be fat upon earth have eaten and wor-
shipped : " it is said, " the poor shall eat, and be
satisfied." Why, when the. rich are said to have
worshipped, are they not said to be satisfied ;
yet when the poor are mentioned, they are said
to be satisfied? And whence are they satisfied?
What is the nature, brethren, of this satisfying ?
God Himself is their bread. The bread came
down upon the earth, that He might become
milk unto us ; and said to His own, " I am the
Living Bread which came down from heaven." 2
Hence these words in the Psalm, " The poor
shall eat, and be satisfied." From what source
shall they be satisfied ? Hear what followeth :
" And they that seek after the Lord shall praise
Him."
18. Be ye therefore poor, be ye among the
members of that widow, let your help be solely
in God alone. Money is nought ; not thence
will ye have aid. Many have been cast head-
long down for money's sake, many have perished
on account of money ; many for the sake of
their riches have been marked out by plunder-
ers ; they would have been safe, had they not
had what made men hunt for them. Many have
presumed in their more powerful friends : they
in whom they presumed have fallen, and have
involved in their ruin those who trusted in them.
Look back upon the instances to be seen in the
human race. Is it anything singular that I am
telling you? We speak these things not only
from these Scriptures ; read them in the whole
world. Take heed that ye presume not in
money, in a friend, in the honour and the boast-
ing of the world. Take away all these things :
but if thou hast them, thank God if thou despis-
est them. But if thou art puffed up by them ;
think not when thou wilt be the prey of men ;
already art thou the Devil's prey. But if thou
hast not trusted in these things, thou wilt be
among the members of that widow, who is the
Church, of whom it is said, " I will bless her
widow with blessings ; " thou wilt also be poor,
and one of those of whom it is said, " And will
satisfy her poor with bread."
19. Sometimes, however, and we must not
pass over this without mention, thou findest a
poor man proud, and a rich man humble : we
daily endure such persons. Thou hearest a poor
man groaning beneath a rich man, and when the
more powerful rich man presseth upon him, then
Ps. xxii. 29, 26.
2 John yi. 51.
thou seest him humble : sometimes not even
then, but even then proud ; whence thou seest
what he would have been, had he any property.
God's poor one is therefore poor in spirit, not
in his purse. Sometimes a man goeth forth
having a full house, rich lands, many estates,
much gold and silver ; he knoweth that he must
not trust in these, he humbleth himself before
God, he doth good with them ; thus his heart is
raised unto God, so that he is aware that not
only do riches themselves profit him nothing,
but that they even impede his feet, save He rule
them, and aid them : and he is counted among
the poor who are satisfied with bread. Thou
findest another a proud beggar, or not proud
only because he hath nothing, nevertheless seek-
ing whereby he may be puffed up. God doth
not heed the means a man hath, but the wish he
hath, and judgeth him according to his wish for
temporal blessings, not according to the means
which it is not his lot to have. Whence the
Apostle saith of the rich, " Charge them that are
rich in this world, that they be not highminded,
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living
God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."
What therefore should they do with their riches?
He goeth on to say : " That they be rich in
good works, ready to distribute, willing to com-
municate." And see that they are poor in this
world : " Laying up in store for themselves," he
addeth, " a good foundation against the time to
come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."3
When they have laid hold of eternal life, then
will they be rich ; but since they have it not as
yet, they should know that they are poor. Thus
it is that God counteth among His poor all the
humble in heart, who are established in that
twofold charity,4 whatever they may have in this
world — among His poor, whom He satisfieth
with bread.
20. " I will clothe her priests with salvation,
and her saints shall rejoice and sing " (ver. 16).
We are now at the end of the Psalm ; attend for
a short space, Beloved. " I will clothe her
priests with salvation, and her saints shall rejoice
and sing." Who is our salvation, save our
Christ ? What meaneth, therefore, " I will clothe
her priests with salvation " ? " As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ, have put on
Christ." 5 " And her saints shall rejoice and
sing." Whence shall they rejoice and sing?
Because they have been clothed with salvation :
not in themselves. For they have become^ light,
but in the Lord ; for they were darkness before.5
Therefore he hath added, " There will I raise up
the horn of David" (ver. 17): this will be
David's height, that trust be put in Christ. For
horn signifieth height: and what sort of height?
3 1 Tim. vi. 17-19.
' Eph. v. 8.
* Matt. xxii. 37-39. » Gal. iii. 27.
622
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXIII.
Not carnal. Therefore, while all the bones are
wrapped up in flesh, the horn goeth beyond the
flesh. Spiritual altitude is a horn. But what is
spiritual loftiness, save to trust in Christ ? not to
say, It is my work, I baptize ; ' but, " He it is
who baptizeth." ' There is the horn of David :
and that ye may know that there is the horn of
David, heed what followeth : " I have ordained
a lantern for mine Anointed." What is a lan-
tern? Ye already know the Lord's words con-
cerning John : " He was a burning and a shining
light."3 And what saith John ? " He it is who
baptizeth." Herein therefore shall the saints
rejoice, herein the priests shall rejoice : because
all that is good in themselves, is not of them-
selves, but of Him who hath the power of bap-
tizing. Fearlessly therefore doth every one who
hath received baptism come unto His temple ;
because it is not man's, but His who made the
horn of David to flourish.
21. "Upon Him shall My sanctification flour-
ish" (ver. 18). Upon whom? Upon Mine
Anointed. For when He saith, " Mine anointed,"
it is the voice of the Father, who saith, " I will
bless her widow with blessings, and will satisfy her
poor with bread. I will clothe her priests with
salvation, and her saints shall rejoice and sing."
He who saith, " There will I raise up the horn
of David," is God. He Himself saith, " I have
ordained a lantern for Mine Anointed," because
Christ is both ours and the Father's : He is
our Christ, when> He saveth us and ruleth us, as
He is also our Lord : He is the Son of the
Father, but both our Christ and the Father's.
For if He were not the Father's Christ, it would
not be said above, " For Thy servant David's
sake, turn not Thou away the presence of Thine
Anointed." " Upon Him shall My sanctification
flourish." It flourisheth upon Christ. Let none
of men assume this to himself, that he himself
sanctifieth : otherwise it will not be true, " Upon
Him shall My sanctification flourish." The
glory of sanctification shall flourish. The sancti-
fication of Christ therefore in Christ Himself, is
the power of the sanctification of God in Christ.
In that he saith, " shall flourish," he refers to
His glory : for when trees flourish, then are they
beautiful. Sanctification therefore is in Bap-
tism : thence it flourisheth, and is brightened.
Why hath the world yielded to this beauty?
Because it flourisheth in Christ ; for, put it in
man's power, and how doth it then flourish?
since " all flesh in grass, and all the goodliness
thereof as the flower of the grass."
PSALM CXXXIII/
i . This is a short Psalm, but one well known
and quoted. " Behold, how good and how
1 Donatists. 3 John i. 33. * John v. 35.
4 Lat. CXXXII. A public discourse, in which he defends the
Monks agauut the Donatists.
pleasant is it, that brethren should dwell together
in unity " (ver. i). So sweet is that sound, that
even they who know not the Psalter, sing that
verse. . . .
2. For these same words of the Psalter, this
sweet sound, that honeyed melody, as well of
the mind as of the hymn, did even beget the
Monasteries. By this sound were stirred up the
brethren who longed to dwell together. This
verse was their trumpet. It sounded through
the whole earth, and they who had been divided,
were gathered together. The summons of God,
the summons of the Holy Spirit, the summons
of the Prophets, were not heard in Judah, yet
were heard through the whole world. They
were deaf to that sound, amid whom it was
sung ; they were found with their ears open, of
whom it was said, " They shall see him, who
were not told of him ; they shall understand
who heard not."5 Yet, most beloved, if we
reflect, the very blessing hath sprung from that
wall6 of circumcision. For have all the Jews
perished? and whence were the Apostles, the
sons of the Prophets, the sons of the exiles?'
He speaks as to them who know. Whence
those five hundred, who saw the Lord after His
resurrection, whom the Apostle Paul commem-
orates?8 Whence those hundred and twenty,9
who were together in one place after the resur-
rection of the Lord, and His ascension into
heaven, on whom when gathered into one place
the Holy Spirit descended on the day of Pente-
cost, sent down from heaven, sent, even as He
was promised ? '° All were from thence, and they
first dwelt together in unity ; who sold all they
had, and laid the price of their goods at the
Apostles' feet, as is read in the Acts of the
Apostles." And distribution was made to each
one as he had need,'2 and none called anything
his own, but they had all things common. And
what is "together in unity"? They had, he
says, one mind and one heart God-wards.'3 So
they were the first who heard, Behold how good
and how pleasant is it, that brethren dwell
together. They were the first to hear, but heard
it not alone. . . .
3. From the words of this Psalm was taken
the name of Monks, that no one may reproach
you who are Catholics by reason of the name.
When you with justice reproach heretics by
reason of the Circelliones,'4 that they may be
s Isa. lxv. 1.
6 Alluding to the two wall*, Jewish and Gentile, meeting in the
corner. See on Ps. lix. § 5, p. 243, and on Ps. xcv. § 6, p. 468.
7 Ps. exxvii. 4. Excussi, a literal translation of the Greek LXX.
€<ct«tii"iym«i'Oi. This translation of the ambiguous Hebrew root
1J,*3 which means to shake out, or expel, and ~>y 1 a young man, is
preferred by the LXX. to the "young men " of our version. St.
Augustin's interpretation see on Ps. exxvii. § 7, p. 608.
^ 1 Cor. xv. 6. v Acts i. 15.
10 Acts ii. 1-4. n Acts iv. 34, 35. i2 Acts ii. 45.
t* Acts iv. 39.
t* The Circumcelliones were a wandering kind of Anchorites, who
lived under no rule, and were guilty of various irregularities, and who
tsalm cxxxiii.i
ON THE PSALMS.
623
saved by shame, they reproach you on the score
of the Monks. . . .
4. Moreover, beloved, there are they who are
false Monks, and we know men of this kind ; but
the pious brotherhood is not annulled, because
of them who profess to be what they are not.
There are false Monks, as there are false men
among the Clergy, and among the faithful.' . . .
5. Since the Psalm says, "Behold, how good
and how pleasant is it, that brethren should dwell
together in one," why then should we not call
Monks so ? for Monos * is one. Not one in any
manner, for a man in a crowd is one, but though
he can be called one along with others, he can-
not be Monos, that is, alone, for Monos means
" one alone." They then who thus live together
as to make one man, so that they really possess
what is written, " one mind and one heart," 3
many bodies, but not many minds ; many bodies,
but not many hearts ; can rightly be called
Monos, that is, one alone.4 . . .
6. Let the Psalm tell us what they are like.
" As the ointment on the head, which descended
to the beard, to Aaron's beard, which descended
to the fringe of his garment" (ver. 2). What
was Aaron ? A priest. Who is a priest, except
that one Priest, who entered into the Holy of
Holies? Who is that priest, save Him, who was
at once Victim and Priest? save Him who when
he found nothing clean in the world to offer,
offered Himself? The ointment is on his head,
because Christ is one whole with the Church,
but the ointment comes from the head. Our
Head is Christ crucified and buried ; He rose
again, and ascended into heaven ; and the Holy
Spirit came from the head. Whither? To the
beard. The beard signifies the courageous ; the
beard distinguishes the grown men, the earnest,
the active, the vigorous. So that when we
describe such, we say, he is a bearded man.
Thus that ointment descended first upon the
Apostles, descended upon those who bore the
first assaults of the world, and therefore the Holy
Spirit descended on them. For they who first
began to dwell together in unity, suffered per-
secution, but because the ointment descended
were censured by the forty-second Canon of the Council of Trullo.
Confer also Papias: St. Jerome, Efi. 22, § 34; Hunneric's Edict.
Vict. Vitens. lib. 3. A number of these, in Africa, took up the cause
of Donatus in a fanatical manner, and perpetrated various acts of
violence under pretence of religion, robbing and beating whom they
would, sending threatening notices, etc., and sometimes seeking
death, or even committing suicide under the name of Martyrdom.
See on Ps. xi. p. 42, note 4, on Ps. lv. p. 218, note t, on Fs. xcvi.
p. 473, note 3, and S. Oplatus. b. iii. c. iv. p. 50, where a historical
account is given. Ducange refers to St. Augustin, Efi. 48, 50, 61, 68;
Contra Parmenian, b. i. cap. 11 ; Contra Crescon. b. iii. c. 42, 47:
Collat. Cart/tag. 3, cap. 174, 281; Possidius, Life of St. Aug-ttttH,
c. to, it; Auctor l>rtzdt..tinati, b. i. haeres 69, etc. Also Cod.
Theod. Cen. 52, De Nojret/cis, but doubtfully as to its application.
(See Gibbon, D. and F. cap. xxi. note 1S7, ed. Milman. — C.]
1 [See A. N. F. vol. vi. p. 279. — C]
2 «ni"K, Or. _ 3 Acts iv. 32.
* [The institution has perished even in many parts of unreformed
Europe, only because of the intolerable evils of their corrupt and
degenerate condition. — C.J
to the beard, they suffered, but were not con-
quered. . . .
7. " As the dew of Hermon, which fell upon
the hills of Sion " (ver. 3). He would have it
understood, my brethren, that it is of God's grace
that brethren dwell together in unity. . . .
8. But ye should know what Hermon is. It is
a mountain far distant from Jerusalem, that is,
from Sion. And so it is strange that he says
thus : As the dew of Hermon, which fell upon
the mountains of Sion, since mount Hermon is
far distant from Jerusalem, for it is said to be
over Jordan. Let us then seek out some inter-
pretation of Hermon. The word is Hebrew, and
we learn its meaning from them who know that
language. Hermon is said to mean, a light set
on a high place. For from Christ comes the
dew. No light is set on a high place, save
Christ. How is He set on high? First on the
cross, afterwards in heaven. Set on high on
the cross when He was humbled ; humbled, but
His humiliation could not but be high. The min-
istry of man grew less and less, as was signified in
John ; the ministry of God in our Lord Jesus
Christ increased, as was shown at their birth.
The former was born, as the tradition of the
Church shows, on the 24th of June, when the
days begin to shorten. The Lord was born on
the 25th of December, when the days begin to
lengthen. Here John himself confessing, " He
must increase, but I must decrease." 5 And the
passion of each shows this. The Lord was ex-
alted on the cross ; John was diminished by
beheading. Thus the light set on high is Christ,
whence is the dew of Hermon. . . . But if he
have the dew of Hermon, which fell on the hill
of Sion, he is quiet, peaceable, humble, submis-
sive, pouring forth prayer in place of murmuring.
For murmurers are admirably described in a
certain passage of the Scriptures, " The heart of
a fool is as the wheel of a cart." 6 What is the
meaning of " the heart of a fool is as the wheel
of a cart"? It carries hay, and creaks. The
wheel of a cart cannot cease from creaking. Thus
there are many brethren, who do not dwell to:
gether, save in the body. But who are they who
dwell together? They of whom it is said, " And
they had one mind and one heart towards God." J
9. " Because there the Lord commanded
blessing." Where did He command it? Among
the brethren who dwell together. There He en-
joined blessing, there they who dwell with one
heart bless God. For thou blessest not God in
division of heart. . . . Art thou straitened on
earth? Depart, have thy habitation in heaven.
How shall I, a man clothed in flesh, enslaved
to the flesh, thou wilt say, have my habitation in
heaven. First go in heart, whither thou wouldest
5 John iii. 30.
6 Ecclus. xxxiii. 5.
624
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
I Psalm CXXXV.
follow in the body. Do not hear, " Lift up your
hearts," with a deaf ear. Keep thy heart lifted
up, and no one will straiten thee in heaven.
psalm cxxxrw
i. "Behold, now, bless ye the Lord, all ye
servants of the Lord " (ver. I ), " who stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house
of our God " (ver. 2). Why has he added, " in
the courts " ? Courts mean the wider spaces of
a house. He who stands in the courts is not
straitened, is not confined, in some fashion is
enlarged. Remain in this enlargement, and thou
canst love thy enemy, because thou lovest not
things in which an enemy could straiten thee.
How canst thou be understood to stand in the
courts? Stand in charity, and thou standest in
the courts. Breadth lies in charity, straitness
in hatred.
2. " Lift up your hands by night in the sanc-
tuary, and bless the Lord" (ver. 2). It is easy
to bless by day. What is " by day " ? In pros-
perity. For night is a sad thing, day a cheer-
ful. When it is well with thee, thou dost bless
the Lord. Thy son was sick, and he is made
whole, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was
sick, perchance thou hast sought an astrologer, a
soothsayer, perchance a curse against the Lord
has come, not from thy tongue, but from thy
deeds, from thy deeds and thy life. Boast not,
because thou blessest with thy tongue, if thou
cursest with thy life. Wherefore bless ye the
Lord. When? By night. When did Job bless ?
When it was a sad night. All was taken away
which he possessed ; the children for whom his
goods were stored were taken away. How sad
was his night ! Let us however see whether he
blesseth not in the night. " The Lord gave, the
Lord hath taken away ; it is as the Lord willed ;
blessed be the name of the Lord." 2 And black
was the night. . . .
3. "The Lord out of Zion bless thee, who
made heaven and earth" (ver. 3). He exhorts
many to bless, and Himself blesseth one, be-
cause He maketh one out of many, since " it is
good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together
in one." 3 It is a plural number, brethren, and
yet singular, to dwell together in one. Let none
of you say, It cometh not to me. Knowest
thou of whom he speaks, " the Lord bless thee
out of Zion." He blessed one. Be one,4 and
the blessing cometh to thee.
PSALM CXXXV.5
1. Very pleasant ought it be to us, and we
should rejoice because it is pleasant, to which
this Psalm exhorteth us. For it says, " Praise
the name of the Lord" (ver. 1). And it forth-
with appends the reason, why it is just to praise
the name of the Lord. " Praise the Lord, ye
servants." What more just? what more worthy?
what more thankful? . . . For if He teaches
His own servants who have deserved well of
Him, the preachers of His Word, the rulers
of His Church, the worshippers of His name,
the obeyers of His command, that in their own
conscience they should possess the sweetness of
their life, lest they be corrupted by the praise or
disheartened by the reproach of men ; how much
the more is He above all, the unchangeable One,
who teacheth these things, neither the greater if
thou praisest, or the less if thou reproachest.
. . . For ye will do nothing out of place, by
praising your Lord, as servants. And if ye were
to be for ever only servants, ye ought to praise
the Lord ; how much more ought ye servants to
praise the Lord, that ye may hereafter gain the
privilege of sons?
2. . . . Therefore, ""Ye who stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house
of our God, praise the Lord" (ver. 2). Be
thankful ; ye were without, and ye stand within.
Since then ye stand, is it a small thing for you
to think where He should be praised, who raised
you when you were cast down, and caused you
to stand in His house, to know Him, and to
praise Him? Is it a small boon, that we stand
in the house of the Lord? ... If one thinks
of this, and is not unthankful, he will utterly de-
spise himself in comparison with the love of his
Lord, who hath done so great things for him.
And since he hath nothing wherewith to repay
God for so great benefits, what remains for him
but to give Him thanks, not to repay Him? It
belongs to the very act of thanksgiving, to " re-
ceive the cup of the Lord, and to call upon His
name."6 For what can the servant repay the
Lord for all that He hath given him?7
3. What reason shall I give why you should
praise Him ? " Because the Lord is good "
(ver. 3). Briefly in one word is here explained
the praise of the Lord our God. " The Lord is
good ; " good, not in the same manner as the
things which He here made are good. For
God made all things very good ; 8 not only good,
but also very good. He made the sky and earth,
and all things which are in them good, and He
made them very good. If He made all these
things good, of what sort is He who made
them? . . .
4. How far can we speak of His goodness?
Who can conceive in his heart, or apprehend
how good the Lord is ? Let us however return
to ourselves, and in us recognise Him, and praise
» Lat. CXXXIII. ' Job i. at
* P*. cxxxiii. 1. * uttum.
> Lat. CXXX1V. A discount to the people.
* P«. cxvL 13.
7 Ps. cxvi. 12.
8 Gen. i. 31.
Tsalm cxxxv.]
ON THE PSALMS.
625
the Maker in His works, because we are not fit
to contemplate Him Himself. And in hope that
we may be able to contemplate Him, when our
heart hath been purified by faith, that hereafter
it may rejoice in the Truth ; now as He cannot
be seen by us, let us look at His works, that we
may not live without praising Him. So I ' have
said, " Praise the Lord, for He is good ; sing
praises unto His Name, for He is sweet. . . .
He is Mediator, and thereupon is sweet. What
is sweeter than angels' food ? How can God
not be sweet, since man ate angels' food ? For
men and angels live not on different meat.
That is truth, that is wisdom, that is the good-
ness of God, but thou canst not enjoy it in like
wise with the angels. . . . That man might eat
angels' food, the Creator of the angels was made
man.2 If ye taste, sing praises ; if ye have
tasted how sweet the Lord is, sing praises ; if
that which ye have tasted has a good savour,
praise it ; who is so unthankful to cook or pur-
veyor, as not to return thanks by praising what
he tastes, if he be pleased by any food. If we
are not silent on such occasions, shall we be
silent concerning Him, who has given us all
things? . . .
5. " For the Lord hath chosen Jacob to Him-
self, Israel for His own possession " (ver. 4). . . .
Let not Jacob therefore extol himself, let him not
boast himself, or ascribe it to his own merits. He
was known before, predestinated before, elected
before, not elected for his own merits, but found
out, and gifted with life by the grace of God.
So with all the Gentiles ; for how did the wild-
olive deserve, that it should be grafted in, from
the bitterness of its berries, the barrenness of its
wildness? It was the wood of the wilderness,
not of the Lord's field, and yet He of His
mercy grafted the wild-olive into the (true)
olive. But up to this time the wild-olive was
not grafted in.
6. . . . " Because," says he, " I know that the
Lord is great, and our God is above all gods "
(ver. 5). If we should say to him, we ask thee,
explain to us His greatness ; would he not per-
chance answer us, He whom I see is not so very
great, if He be able to be expounded by me.
Let him then return to His works, and tell us.
Let him hold in his conscience the greatness of
God, which he has seen, which he has committed
to our faith, whither he could not lead our eyes,
and enumerate some of the things which the
Lord hath done here ; that unto us, who cannot
see His greatness as he can, He may become
sweet through the works of His which we can
comprehend. . . .
7. " All whatsoever the Lord willed, He made
in the heaven, and in the earth, in the sea, and
1 " He hath said," Oxf. mss.
2 Ps- lxxviii. 25.
in all its deep places" (ver. 6). Who can com-
prehend these things? Who can enumerate the
works of the Lord in the heaven and earth, in
the sea, and in all deep places? Yet if we can-
not comprehend them all, we should believe and
hold them without question, because whatever
creature is in heaven, whatever is in earth, what-
ever is in the sea and in all deep places, has
been made by the Lord. . . .
8. " Raising the clouds from the ends of the
earth " (ver. 7 ) . We see these works of God
in His creation. For the clouds come from the
ends of the earth to the midst thereof, and rain ;
thou scannest not whence they arise. Hence
the prophet signifies this, from " the ends of the
earth," whether it be from the bottom, or from
the circumference of the ends of the earth,
whencesoever He wills He raises the clouds,
only from the earth. " He hath made lightnings
into rain." For lightnings without rain would
frighten thee, and bestow nothing on thee. "" He
maketh lightnings unto rain." It lightens, and
thou tremblest ; it rains, thou rejoicest. " He
hath made lightnings unto rain." He who terri-
fied thee, Himself causest that thou shouldest
rejoice. " Who bringeth the winds out of His
treasures," their causes are hidden, thou knowest
not whence they come. When the wind blows,
thou feelest it ; why it blows, or from what
treasure of His wisdom it is brought forth, thou
knowest not ;3 yet thou owest to God the worship
of faith, for it would not blow unless He had
bidden who made it, unless He had brought it
forth who created it.
9. We see therefore these things in that work
of His ; we praise, we marvel at, we bless God ;
let us see what He has done among men for
His people. " Who smote the first-born of
Egypt" (ver. 8). But withal those divine doings
are told which thou mightest love, those are not
told which thou mightest fear. Attend, and see
that also when He is angry, He doeth what
He willeth. " From man even unto beast. He
sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee,
O Egypt!" (ver. 9). Ye know, ye have read
what the hand of the Lord did by Moses in
Egypt, to crush and cast down the proud Egyp-
tians, "on Pharaoh and on all his servants."
Little did He in Egypt : what did He after His
people was led out thence? " Who smote many
nations" (ver. 10), who possessed that land,
which God willed to give His people. "And
slew mighty kings, Sehon king of the Amorites,
and Og the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms
of Canaan" (ver. n). All these things which
the Psalm records simply, do we read likewise
in others of the Lord's books, and there the
hand of the Lord is great. When thou seest
3 John iii. 8.
626
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXV.
what has been done to the wicked, take heed
lest it be done to thee. . . . But when the good
man sees what the wicked has suffered, let him
cleanse himself from all iniquity, lest he fall into
a like punishment, a like chastisement. Then
ye have thoroughly understood these things.
What did God then ? He drove out the wicked,
" And he gave their land for an inheritance, even
an inheritance to Israel His servant" (ver. 12)..
10. Then follows the loud cry of His praise.
" Thy Name, O Lord, is for ever and ever "
(ver. 13), after all these things which Thou hast
done. For what do I see that Thou hast done ?
I behold Thy creation which Thou hast made in
heaven, I behold this lower part, where we dwell,
and here I see Thy gifts of clouds, and winds,
and rain. I regard Thy people ; Thou leddest
them from the house of bondage, and didst signs
and wonders upon their enemies. Thou pun-
ishedst those who caused them trouble, Thou
dravest the wicked from their land, Thou killedst
their kings, Thou gavest their land to Thy peo-
ple : I have ssen all these things, and filled with
joy have said, " Lord, Thy Name is for ever and
ever." . . .
11. All these things then did God overthrow,
in the body at that time, when our fathers were
led out of the land of Egypt, in the spirit now.
Nor does His Hand cease until the end.
Therefore deem not that these mighty deeds of
God were then finished and have ceased. "Thy
Name, O Lord," he says, " is for ever." ' That
is, Thy loving-kindness ceaseth not, Thy hand
ceaseth not for ever from doing these things,
which then Thou didst afore declare in a figure.
" But they are written for our admonition, on
whom the end of the ages is come."2 One
generation and another generation ; the genera-
tion by which we are made the faithful, and are
born again by baptism ; the generation by which
we shall rise again from the dead, and shall live
with the Angels for ever. Thy Memorial, O
Lord, is above this generation, and above that;
for neither doth He now forget to call us, nor
then will He forget to crown us.
12. "The Lord hath judged His people, and
will be called upon among His servants " (ver.
14). Already hath He judged the people.
Save the final judgment, the people of the Jews
is judged. What is " judged " ? The just are
taken away, the unjust are left. But if I lie, or
am thought to lie, because I have said, it is
already judged, hear the Lord saying, " I have
come for judgment into this world, that they who
see not may see, and they who see may be made
blind." 3 The proud are made blind, the lowly
are enlightened. Therefore, " He hath judged
His people." Isaiah spake the judgment. " And
now, thou house of Jacob, come ye, let us walk in
the light of the Lord." 4 This is a small matter ;
but what follows ? " For He hath put away His
people, the house of Israel." The house of Jacob
is the house of Israel j for he who is Jacob, the
same is Israel. . . . Therefore God had judged
His people, by separating the evil and the good ;
that is to say, " He shall be called upon among
His servants." By whom? By the Gentiles.
For how vast are the nations who have come in
by faith. How many farms and desert places
now come in to us ? They come thence no one
can tell how numerously ; they would believe.
We say to them, What will ye? They answer,
To know the glory of God. Believe, my breth-
ren, that we wonder and rejoice at such a claim
of these rustic people. They come I know not
whither, roused up by I know not whom. How
shall I say, I know not by whom? I know
indeed by whom, because He says, " No one
cometh to Me, save whom the Father draweth." s
They come suddenly from the woods, the desert,
the most distant and lofty mountains, to the
Church ; and many of them, nay, near all hold
this language, so that we see of a truth that God
teacheth them within.5 The prophecy of Scrip-
ture is fulfilled, when it says, " And they shall all
be taught of God." 1 We say to them, What do ye
long for ? And they answer, To see the glory of
God.8 " For all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God." * They believe, they are
sanctified, they will to have clergy ordained for
them. Is it not fulfilled, "and He will be
called upon among His servants " ?
13. Lastly, after all that arrangement and dis-
pensation, the Spirit of God turns itself to
reproaching and ridiculing those idols, which are
now ridiculed by their very worshippers. " The
idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold " (ver.
15). As God made all these things, who made
whatever He would in heaven and earth, what can
anything that man maketh be, but an object of
ridicule, not adoration? Was He perchance
about to speak of " the idols of the Gentiles,"
that we might despise them all? was He about
to speak of the idols of the heathen, stones and
wood, plaster and pottery ? I say not these, they
are mean materials. I speak of that which they
specially love, that which they specially honour.
" The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands." Surely it is gold,
surely it is silver : because silver glitters, and
gold glitters, have they therefore eyes, or do they
see ? . . . But as these things are senseless, why
make ye men of silver and gold to be gods?
See ye not that the gods which ye make see not?
Pt. cxxxv. 13.
* I Cor. x. 11.
3 John ix. 39.
* Isa. ii. 5. 3 John vi. 44.
6 [These rustics are the pagani living in hamlets: he thus notes
the rarity of Paganism in cities. — C]
1 lsa. liv. 13. 8 John vi. 45. 9 Rom. iii. 23.
Psalm CXXXVIJ
ON THE PSALMS.
627
" They have a mouth, and will not speak ; they
have eyes-, and will not see" (ver. 16) ; "they
have ears, and will not hear ; neither is there any
breath in their mouth" (ver. 17) ; "they have
nostrils, and will not smell ; they have hands,
and will not work : they have feet, and will not
walk." All these things could the carpenter,
the silversmith, the goldsmith make, both eyes,
and ears, and nostrils, and mouth, and hands,
and feet, but he could give neither sight to the
eyes, nor hearing to the ears, nor speech to
the mouth, nor smell to the nostrils, nor motion
to the hands, or going to the feet.
14. And man, thou laughest doubtless at what
thou hast made, if thou knowest by whom thou
art made. But of them who know not, what is
said ? " All they who make them, and all they
who trust in them, are like them" (ver. 18).
And ye believe, brethren, that there is a likeness
to these idols expressed not in their flesh, but in
their inner man. For " they have ears, and hear
not." God calls to them indeed, " He who
hath ears to hear, let him hear." ' They have
eyes, and see not, for they have the eyes of the
body, and not the eyes of faith. Lastly, this
prophecy is fulfilled among all the nations. . . .
Is it not fulfilled ? Is it not seen, as it is written ?
And they who remain have eyes, and see not ;
have nostrils, and smell not. They perceive not
that savour. " We are a good savour of Christ," 2
as the apostle says everywhere. What profiteth
it, that they have nostrils, and smell not that so
sweet savour of Christ? Truly it is done in
them, and truly it is said of them, "All they
who make them," etc.
15. But daily do men believe through the
miracles of Christ our Lord ; daily the eyes of
the blind, the ears of the deaf are opened, the
nostrils of the senseless are breathed into, the
tongues of the dumb are loosed, the hands of
the palsied are strengthened, the feet of the lame
are guided ; sons of Abraham are raised up of
these stones,3 to all of whom be it said, " Bless
the Lord, ye house of Israel " (ver. 19). All are
sons of Abraham; and if sons of Abraham are
raised up from these stones, it is plain that they
are rather the house of Israel who belong to the
house of Israel, the seed of Abraham, not by
the flesh, but by faith. But even granting that it
is said of that house, and the people of Israel is
meant, from thence did the Apostles and thou-
sands of the circumcised believe ? " Bless the
Lord, ye house of Aaron. Bless the Lord, ye
house of Levi" (ver. 20). Bless the Lord, ye
nations, this is, the " house of Israel " generally ;
bless Him, ye leaders, this is, the " house of
Aaron ; " bless Him, ye servants, this- is, the
" house of Levi." What of the other nations ?
" Ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord."
> Matt, xi 15.
1 Cor.
' Matt, iii. 9.
16. Let us also with one voice say what fol-
lows : " Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, who
dwelleth in Jerusalem" (ver. 21). Out of Zion
is Jerusalem too. Zion is " watching," Jerusalem
the " vision of peace." In what Jerusalem will
He dwell now? In that which has fallen? Nay,
but in that which is our mother, which is in the
heavens, of which it is said, " The desolate hath
more children than she which hath a husband." ♦
For now the Lotd is from Zion, because we
watch when He will come ; now as long as we
live in hope, we are in Zion. When our way is
ended, we shall dwell in that city which will
never fall, because the Lord dwelleth in her, and
keepeth her, which is the vision of peace, the
eternal Jerusalem ; for the praise of which, my
brethren, language sufficeth not ; where we shall
find no enemy, either within the Church or with-
out the Church, neither in our flesh, nor in our
thoughts. For "death shall be swallowed up
in victory," s and we shall be free to see God in
eternal peace, being made citizens of Jerusalem,
the city of God.
PSALM CXXXVI.6
1. "Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is
good, for His mercy endureth for ever " (ver. 1 ).
This Psalm contains the praise of God, and all
its verses finish in the' same way. Wherefore
although many things are related here in praise
of God, yet His mercy is most commended ; 7 for
without this plain commendation, he, whom the
Holy Spirit used to utter this Psalm, would have
no verse be ended. Although after the judg-
ment, by which at the end of the world the quick
and the dead must be judged, the just being sent
into life eternal, the unjust into everlasting fire,8
there will not afterwards be those, whom God
will have mercy on, yet rightly may His future
mercy be understood to be for ever, which He
bestows on His saints and faithful ones, not be-
cause they will be miserable for ever, and there-
fore will need His mercy for ever, but because
that very blessedness, which He mercifully be-
stows on the miserable, that they cease to be
miserable, and begin to be happy, will have no
.end, and therefore " His mercy is for ever." For
that we shall be just from being unjust, whole
from being unsound, alive from being dead,
immortal from being mortal, happy from being
wretched, is of His mercy. But this that we
* Isa. liv. 1 : Gal. iv. 27. 5 1 Cor. xv «u. *
* Lat. CXXXV.
1 (He says: " I remember, in the hundred and sixth Psalm, which
begins in the same way, because the manuscript which I read had
not ' forever,' but, ' for ages ' (i'« stzculum), ' His mercy,' that I en-
quired what we had better understand. For, in the Greek language,
it is written, «»* toi* atutka, which may be interpreted, ' for ages
and {in aternum) ' for ever.' But it would be tedious to renew the
enquiries I made as best I could in that place. But in this Psalm
the same manuscript has not ' for ages,' which most have, but, ' for
ever His mercy.' " — C.J
8 Matt. xxv. 46.
628
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXVI.
shall be, will be for ever, and therefore "His
mercy is for ever." Wherefore, " give thanks to
the Lord ; " that is, praise the Lord by giving
thanks, " for He is good : " nor is it any tem-
poral good you will gain from this confession,
for, " His mercy endureth for ever ; " that is, the
benefit which He bestows mercifully upon you,
is for ever.'
2. Then follows, " Give thanks to the God of
gods, for His mercy endureth for ever" (ver. 2).
" Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy
endureth for ever" (ver. 3). We may well en-
quire, Who are these gods and lords, of whom
He who is the true God is God and Lord ? And
we find written in another Psalm, that even men
are called gods.2 The Lord even takes note of
this testimony in the Gospel, saying, " Is it not
written in your Law, I have said, Ye are gods? "3
... It is not therefore because they are all good,
but because " the word of God came to them,"
that they were called gods. For were it because
they are all good, He would not thus distinguish
between them. He saith, " He judgeth between
the gods." Then follows, " How long do ye
judge iniquity ! " 4 and the rest, which He says
certainly not to all, but to some, because He
saith it in distinguishing, and yet He distinguish-
eth between the gods.
3. But it is asked, If men are called gods to
whom the word of the Lord came, are the Angels
to be called gods, when the greatest reward
which is promised to just and holy men is the
being equal to Angels ? In the Scriptures I know
not whether it can, at least easily, be found, that
the Angels are openly called gods ; but when it
had been said of the Lord God, " He is terrible,
above all gods," he adds, as by way of expo-
sition why he says this, " for the gods of the
heathen are devils," 5 that we might understand
what had been expressed in the Hebrew, " the
gods of the Gentiles are idols," meaning rather
the devils which dwell in the idols.6 For as re-
gards images, which in Greek are called idols, a
name we now use in Latin, they have eyes and
see not, and all the other things which are said
of them, because they are utterly without sense ;
wherefore they cannot be frightened, for nothing
which has no sense can be frightened. How
then can it be said of the Lord, " He is terrible
above all gods, because the gods of the Gentiles
are idols," if the devils which may be terrified
are not understood to be in these images.
Whence also the Apostle says, " We know that
an idol is nothing." ? This refers to its earthy
1 [He adds: "The expression, * for He is good,' in the Greek
it ayotfot; not as in the hundred and sixth Psalm, for there ' He is
good,' in Greek is vp^oros. And so some have expounded the former.
Since He is sweet/ For a-yaflo* is not good anyhow, but good
most excellently." — C]
1 Ps. Ixxxii. 1, vi. 1. > John x. 34. < Ps. lxxxii. a.
* Ps. xcvi. 4 teg. 6 Simulacrum; ci£wAof.
1 1 Cor. viu 4.
senseless material. But that no one may think,
that there is no living and sentient nature, which
delights in the Gentile sacrifices, he adds, " But
what the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to
devils, and not to God : I would not have you
partakers with devils." 8 If therefore we never
find in the divine words that the holy Angels are
called gods, I think the best reason is, that men
may not be induced by the name to pay that
ministry and service of religion (which in Greek
is called Xurovpyia. or karpia) to the holy Angels,
which neither would they have paid by man at
all, save to that God, who is the God of them-
selves and men.9 Hence they are much more
correctly called Angels, which in Latin is
Nuntii, that by the name of their function,
not their substance, we may plainly understand
that they would have us worship the God, whom
they announce. The whole then of that question
the Apostle has briefly expounded, when he says,
" For though there be who are called gods,
whether in heaven or in earth, as there are gods
many and lords many ; yet we have one God the
Father, from whom are all, and we in Him ; and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,
and we by Him." '°
4. Let us therefore "give thanks to the God
of gods, and the Lord of lords, for His mercy,"
etc. " Who alone did wonderful things " (ver. 4) .
As at the last part of every verse, it is written,
" For His mercy endureth for ever," so we must
understand at the beginning of each, though it
be not written, " Give thanks." Which indeed
in the Greek is very plain. It would be so in
Latin, if our translators had been able to make
use of that expression. Which indeed they could
have done in this verse, if they had said, "To
Him who doeth " wonderful things." For where
we have, " who did wonderful things," the Greek
has t<3 Trnnqa-avTi, where we must necessarily
understand, " give thanks." And I would they
had added the pronoun, and said to Him, "who
did," or to Him "who doeth," or to Him "who
made sure ; " because then one might easily un-
derstand, "let us give thanks." For now it is so
obscurely rendered, that he who either knows
not or cares not to examine a Greek manuscript
may think, " who made the heavens, who matle
sure the earth, who made the luminaries, for
His mercy endureth forever," '2 has been so said,
because He did these things for this reason, " be-
cause His mercy endureth for ever : " whereas
they, whom He has freed from misery, belong to
His Mercy : but not that we should believe that
8 1 Cor. x. 20.
9 [The Roman dogma makes a verbal distinction as to worship
of angels and saints, to meet the case as our author puts it here. But
the vulgar cannot so distinguish; and everywhere, practically, this
latria is offered. See Pius IX., the bull Ineffabtlis. — C]
10 1 Cor. viii; s, 6. Il Facientt mirabilia.
18 Ps. cxxxvi. 5.
Psalm CXXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
629
He makes sky, earth, and luminaries, of His
Mercy ; since they are marks of His Goodness,
who created all things very good.1 For He
created all things, that they might have their
being ; 2 but it is the work of His Mercy, to
cleanse us from our sins, and deliver us from ever-
lasting misery. And so the Psalm thus addresses
us, " Give thanks unto the God of gods, give
thanks unto the Lord of lords." Give thanks to
Him, " who alone doeth great wonders ; " give
thanks to Him, "who by His wisdom made the
heavens;" give thanks to Him, "who stretched
out the earth above the waters ; " give thanks to
Him, "who alone made great lights." But why
we are to praise, he setteth down at the end of
all the verses, " for His mercy endureth for ever."
5. But what meaneth, " who alone do3th great
wonders " ? Is it because many wonderful things
He hath done by means of angels and men?
Some wonderful things there are which God doeth
alone, and these he enumerates, saying, " who
by His wisdom made the heavens" (ver. 5),
"who stretched out the earth above the waters "
(ver. 6), "who alone made great lights" (ver.
7). For this reason did he add " alone " in this
verse also, because the other wonders which he
is about to tell of, God did by means of man.
For having said, " who alone made great lights,"
he goes on to explain what these are, " the sun
to rule the day " (ver. 8), " the moon and stars to
govern the night " (ver. 9) ; then he begins to
tell the wonders which He did by means of
angels and men : " who smote Egypt with their
first-born" (ver. 10), and the rest. The whole
creation then God manifestly made, not by
means of any creature, but "alone ; " and of this
creation he hath mentioned certain more emi-
nent parts, that they might make us think on the
whole ; the heavens we can understand,3 and the
earth we see. And as there are visible heavens
too, by mentioning the lights in them, he has bid
us look on the whole body of the heavens as
made by Him.
6. However, whether by what he saith, " who
made the heavens in understanding," or, as others
have rendered it, " in intelligence," he meant to
signify, the heavens we can understand, or that
He in His understanding or intelligence, that is,
in His wisdom made the heavens (as it is else-
where written, " in wisdom hast Thou made them
all " 4), implying thereby the only-begotten Word,
may be a question. But if it be so, that we are
to understand that " God by His wisdom made
the heavens," why saith He this only of the
heavens, whereas God made all things by the
same wisdom? It is that it needed only to
be expressed there, so that in the rest it might be
understood without being written. How then
1 G<n. i.- 3:.
3 Inteliigibiles coelos.
* Wisd. i. 14.
4 Fa. civ. 24.
could it be " alone," if " in understanding " or
" in intelligence " means " by His wisdom," that
is, by the only-begotten Word ? Is it that, inas-
much as the Trinity is not three Gods, but one
God, he states that God made these things alone,
because He made not creation by means of any
creature ?
7. But what is, " who laid out the earth above
the waters " ? For it is a difficult question, be-
cause the earth seemeth to be the heavier, so
that it should be believed not so much to be
borne on the waters, as to bear the waters. And
that we may not seem contentiously to maintain
our Scriptures against those who think that they
have discovered these matters on sure principles,
we have a second interpretation to give, that the
earth which is inhabited by men, and contains
the living creatures of the earth, is " laid out
above the waters " because it stands out above
the waters which surround it. For when we
speak of a city on the sea being built " above
the waters," it is not meant that the sea is under
it in the same way as the waters are under the
chambers of caverns, or under ships sailing over
them ; but it is said to be "above " the sea, be-
cause it stands up above the sea below it.
8. But if these words further signify something
else which more closely concerns us, God " by
His wisdom made the heavens," that is, His
saints, spiritual men, to whom He has given not
only to believe, but also to understand things
divine ; those who cannot yet attain to this, and
only hold their faith firmly, as being beneath the
heavens, are figured by the name of earth. And
because they abide with unshaken belief upon
the baptism they have received, therefore it is
said, " He laid out the earth above the waters."
Further, since it is written of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that " in Him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge," 5 and that these two,
wisdom and knowledge, differ somewhat from
one another is testified by other utterances of
Scripture, especially in the words of holy Job,6
where both are in a manner defined ; not unsuit-
ably then do we understand wisdom to consist
in the knowledge and love of That which ever is
and abideth unchangeable, which is God. For
where he saith, " piety 7 is wisdom," in Greek is
deoo-tfiaa, and to express the whole of this in
Latin, we may call it worship of God.8 But to
depart from evil, which he calls knowledge, what
else is it but to walk cautiously and heedfully " in
the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," »
in the night, as it were, of this world, that each
one by keeping himself from iniquity may avoid
being confounded with the darkness, distinguished
by the light of his proper gift. . . .
9. " Who brought out Israel from the midst
J Col. ii. 3.
* Dti cultut.
» [Tobxxviii. 38. — C]
9 Philip, ii. 15.
1 Pietai, Vulg.
630
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXVII.
of them" (ver. 11). He brought out also His
saints and faithful ones from the midst of the
wicked. " With a mighty Hand and stretched-
out Arm " (ver. 12). What more powerful, what
more out-stretched, than that of which is said,
"To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? " '
" Who divided the Red Sea in two parts " (ver.
13). He divided also in such wise, that the
same baptism should be to some unto life, to
others unto death. "And brought out Israel
through the midst of it" (ver. 14). So too He
brings out His renewed people through the laver
of regeneration. " And overthrew Pharaoh and
his power in the Red Sea" (ver. 15). He
quickly destroyeth both the sin of His people
and the guilt thereof by baptism. "Who led
His people through the wilderness" (ver. 16).
Us too He leadeth through the drought and bar-
renness of this world, that we perish not therein.
" Who smote great kings " (ver. 17), " and slew
famous kings" (ver. 18). From us too He
smites and slays the deadly powers of the devil.
"Sehon king of the Amorites " (ver. 19), an
" useless shoot," or " fiery temptation," for so is
Sehon interpreted : the king of " them who cause
bitterness," for such is the meaning of Amorites.
"And Og, the king of Basan" (ver. 20). The
" heaper-together," such is the meaning of Og,
and, king of " confusion," which Basan signifies.
For what else doth the devil heap together but
confusion ? " And gave away their land for an
heritage" (ver. 21), "even an heritage unto
Israel His servant" (ver. 22). For He giveth
them, whom once the devil owned, for an hei itage
to the seed of Abraham, that is, Christ. " Who
remembered us in our low estate " (ver. 23), "and
redeemed us from our enemies " (ver. 24) by
the Blood of His only-begotten Son. " Who
giveth food to all flesh " (ver. 25), that is, to the
whole race of mankind, not Israelites only, but
Gentiles too ; and of this Food is said, " My
Flesh is meat indeed." " Give thanks unto the
God of Heaven" (ver 26). " Give thanks unto
the Lord of lords " (ver. 27). For what he here
says, " the God of Heaven," I suppose that he
meant to express in other words what He had
before said, " the God of gods." For what
there he subjoined, he has here also repeated.
"Give thanks unto the Lord of lords." " But to
us there is but one God," etc., " and one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by
Him ; "* to whom we confess that " His mercy
endureth for ever."
PSALM CXXXVII.3
1. . . . But to-day we have sung, "By the
waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when
we remembered Sion" (ver. 1). . . .
' 1». liii. 1.
• LM.CXXXVI.
' 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
Atermontoiht people.
2. Observe "the waters of Babylon." "The
waters of Babylon " are all things which here
are loved, and pass away. One man, for exam-
ple, loveth to practise husbandry, to grow rich
thereby, to employ his mind therein, thence to
gain pleasure : let him observe the issue, and
see that what he hath loved is not a foundation
of Jerusalem, but a stream of Babylon. Another
saith, It is a grand thing to be a soldier : all
husbandmen fear those who are soldiers. . . .
3. But then other citizens of the holy Jeru-
salem, understanding their captivity, mark how
the natural wishes and the various lusts of men
hurry and drag them hither and thither, and
drive them into the sea ; they see this, and they
throw not themselves into the waters of Baby-
lon, but "sit down and weep," either for those
who are being carried away by them, or them-
selves whose deserts have placed them in Baby-
lon, but sitting, that is, humbling themselves.
O holy Sion, where all stands firm and nothing
flows ! Who hath thrown us headlong into this ?
Why have we left thy Founder and thy society?
Behold, placed where all things are flowing and
gliding away, scarce one, if he can grasp the
tree, shall be snatched from the stream and
escape. Humbling ourselves then in our cap-
tivity, let us " sit by the waters of Babylon," let
us not dare to plunge ourselves in those streams,
nor to be proud and lifted up in the evil and
sadness of our captivity, but let us sit, and so
weep. Let us sit " by " the waters, not beneath
the waters, of Babylon ; such be our humility,
that it overwhelm us not. Sit " by " the waters,
not " in " the waters, not " under " the w?.ters ;
but yet sit, in humble fashion, talk not as thou
wouldest in Jerusalem. . . .
4. For many weep with the weeping of Babylon,
because they rejoice also with the joy of Babylon.
When men rejoice at gains and weep at losses,
both are of Babylon. Thou oughtest to weep, but
in the remembrance of Sion. If thou weepest in
the remembrance of Sion, thou oughtest to weep
even when it is well with thee in Babylon. . . .
5. " On the willows in the midst thereof we
hung up our instruments of music" (ver. 2).
The citizens of Jerusalem have their " instru-
ments of music," God's Scriptures, God's com-
mands, God's promises, meditation on the life
to come ; but while they are dwelling " in Baby-
lon," they "hang up their instruments." Wil-
lows are unfruitful trees, and here so placed,
that no good whatever can be understood of
them : elsewhere perhaps there may. Here
understand barren trees, growing by the waters
of Babylon. These trees are watered by the
waters of Babylon, and bring forth no fruit ; just
as there are men greedy, covetous, barren in
good works, citizens of Babylon in such wise,
that they are even trees of that region ; they are
Psalm CXXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
631
fed there by these pleasures of transitory things,
as though watered by " the waters of Babylon."
Thou seekest fruit of them, and nowhere findest
it. . . . Therefore by deferring to apply the
Scriptures to them, " we hang up our instruments
of music upon the willows." For we hold them
not worthy to carry our instruments. We do
not therefore insert our instruments into them
and bind them to them, but defer to use them, and
so hang them up. For the willows are the un-
fruitful trees of Babylon, fed by temporal pleas-
ures, as by the " waters of Babylon."
6. " For there they that led us captive de-
manded of us words of songs, and they that led us
away, an hymn" (ver. 3). They demanded of
us words of songs and an hymn, who led us cap-
tive. . . . We are tempted by the delights of
earthly things, and we struggle daily with the
suggestions of unlawful pleasures ; scarce do we
breathe freely even in prayer : we understand
that we are captives. But who led us captive ?
what men? what race? what king? If we are
redeemed, we once were captives. Who hath
redeemed us? Christ. From whom hath He re-
deemed us? From the devil. The devil then
and his angels led us captive : and they would
not lead us, unless we consented. . . .
7. " Those " then " who have led us captive,"
the devil and his angels, when have they spoken
unto us : " Sing us one of the songs of Sion " ?
What answer we ? Babylon beareth thee, Baby-
lon containeth thee, Babylon nourisheth thee,
Babylon speaks by thy mouth, thou knowest not
to take in save what glitters for the present, thou
knowest not how to meditate on things of eter-
nity, thou takest not in what thou askest. " How
shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ? "
(ver. 4). Truly, brethren, so it is. Begin to
wish to preach the truth in such measure as ye
know it, and see how needful it is for you to
endure such mockers, persecutors of the truth,
full of falsehood. Reply to them, when they ask
of you what they cannot take in, and say in full
confidence of your holy song, " How shall we
sing the Lord's song in a strange land ! "
8. But take heed how thou dwellest among
them, O people of God, O body of Christ, O
high-born band of wanderers (for thy home is
not here, but elsewhere), lest when thou lovest
them, strivest for their friendship, and fearest to
displease such men, Babylon begin to delight
thee and thou forget Jerusalem. In fear then
of this, see what the Psalmist subjoins, see
what follows. " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem "
(ver. 5), amid the speeches of those who hold
me captive, amid the speeches of treacherous
men, amid the speeches of men who ask with ill
intent, asking, yet unwilling to learn. . . . What
then? "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget me."
9. " Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I
remember not thee" (ver. 6). That is, let me
be dumb, he saith, if I remember not thee. For
what word, what sound doth he utter, who utter-
eth not songs of Sion ? That is our tongue, the
song of Jerusalem. The song of the love of this
world is a strange tongue, a barbarous tongue,
which we have learnt in our captivity. Dumb
then will he be to God, who forgetteth Jerusalem.
And it is not enough to remember : for her ene-
mies too remember her, desiring to overthrow
her. " What is that city ? " say they ; " who are
the Christians? what sort of men are the Chris-
tians? would they were not Christians." Now
the captive band hath conquered its capturers ;
still they murmur, and rage, and desire to slay
the holy city that dwells as a stranger among
them. Not enough then is it to remember :
take heed how thou rememberest. For some
things we remember in hate, some in love. And
so, when he had said, " If I forget thee, O Jeru-
salem," etc., he added at once, " if I prefer not
Jerusalem in the height of my joy." For there
is the height of joy where we enjoy God, where
we are safe of united brotherhood, and the union
of citizenship. There no tempter shall assail us,
no one be able so much as to urge us on to any
allurement : there nought will delight us but
good : there all want will die, there perfect bliss
will dawn on us.
10. Then he turneth to God in prayer against
the enemies of that city. " Remember, O Lord,
the children of Edom " (ver. 7). Edom is the
same who is also called Esau : for ye heard just
now the words of the Apostle read, " Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." "... Esau
then signifieth all the carnal, Jacob all the spir-
itual. ... All carnal persons are enemies to
spiritual persons, for all such, desiring present
things, persecute those whom they see to long
for things eternal. Against these the Psalmist,
looking back to Jerusalem, and beseeching God
that he may be delivered from captivity, saith —
what? "Remember, O Lord, the children of
Edom." Deliver us from carnal men, from
those who imitate Esau, who are elder brethren,
yet enemies. They were first-born, but the last-
bom have won the pre-eminence, for the lust of
the flesh hath cast down the former, the contempt
of lust hath lifted up the latter. The other live,
and envy, and persecute. " In the day of Jeru-
salem." The day of Jerusalem, wherein it was
tried, wherein it was held captive, or the day of
Jerusalem's happiness, wherein it is freed, where-
in it reaches its goal, wherein it is made partaker
of eternity? "Remember," saith he, "O Lord,"
forget not those " who said, Rase it, rase it, even
to the foundation thereof." Remember then, it
1 Rom. ix. 13.
632
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXVIII.
means, that day wherein they willed to overthrow
Jerusalem. For how great persecutions hath
the Church suffered 1 How did the children of
Edom, that is, carnal men, servants of the devil
and his angels, who worshipped stocks and
stones, and followed the lusts of the flesh, how
did they say, " Extirpate the Christians, destroy
the Christians, let not one remain, overthrow
them even to the foundation ! " Have not these
things been said? And when they were said,
the persecutors were rejected, the martyrs
crowned. . . .
11. Then he turneth himself to her, "O
daughter of Babylon, unhappy ; " unhappy in
thy very exulting, thy presumption, thine enmity ;
"unhappy daughter of Babylon!" (ver. 8)..
The city is called both Babylon, and daughter
of Babylon : just as they speak of " Jerusalem "
and " the daughter of Jerusalem," " Sion " and
"the daughter of Sion," "the Church" and
" the daughter of the Church." As it succeed-
eth the other, it is called " daughter ; " as it is
preferred before the other, it is called " mother."
There was a former Babylon ; did the people
remain in it? Because it succeedeth to Baby-
lon, it is called daughter of Babylon. O daugh-
ter of Babylon, " unhappy " thou ! . . .
12. " Happy shall he be that repayeth thee, as
thou hast served us." What repayment meaneth
he? Herewith the Psalm closeth, " Happy, that
taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the
rock" (ver. 9). Her he calleth unhappy, but
him happy who payeth her as she hath served
us. Do we ask, what reward ? This is the re-
payment. For what hath that Babylon done
to us? We have already sung in another Psalm,
" The words of the wicked have prevailed against
us." ' For when we were born, the confusion
of this world found us, and choked us while yet
infants with the empty notions of divers errors.
The infant that is born destined to be a citizen
of Jerusalem, and in God's predestination already
a citizen, but meanwhile a prisoner for a time,
when learneth he to love ought, save what his
parents have whispered into his ears? They
teach him and train him in avarice, robbery,
daily lying, the worship of divers idols and dev-
ils, the unlawful remedies of enchantments and
amulets. What shall one yet an infant do, a
tender soul, observing what its elders do, save
follow that which it seeth them doing. Babylon
then has persecuted us when little, but God hath
given us when grown up knowledge of ourselves,
that we should not follow the errors of our par-
ents. . . . How shall they repay her ? As she
hath served us. Let her little ones be choked
in turn : yea let her little ones in turn be dashed,
and die. What are the little ones of Babylon?
« P». u». 3.
Evil desires at their birth. For there are, who
have to fight with inveterate lusts. When lust is
born, before evil habit giveth it strength against
thee, when lust is little, by no means let it gain
the strength of evil habit ; when it is little, dash
it. But thou fearest, lest though dashed it die
not ; " Dash it against the Rock ; and that Rock
is Christ." 2
13. Brethren, let not your instruments of
music rest in your work : sing one to another
songs of Sion. Readily have ye heard ; the
more readily do what ye have heard, if ye wish
not to be willows of Babylon fed by its streams,
and bringing no fruit. But sigh for the ever-
lasting Jerusalem : whither your hope goeth
before, let your life follow ; there we shall be
with Christ. Christ now is our Head ; now He
ruleth us from above ; in that city He will fold
us to Himself; we shall be equal to the Angels
of God. We should not dare to imagine this of
ourselves, did not the Truth promise it. This
then desire, brethren, this day and night think
on. Howsoever the world shine happily on you,
presume not, parley not willingly with your lusts.
Is it a grown-up enemy ? let it be slain upon the
Rock. Is it a little enemy? let it be dashed
against the Rock. Slay the grown-up ones on
the Rock, and dash the little ones against the
Rock. Let the Rock conquer. Be built upon
the Rock, if ye desire not to be swept away
either by the stream, or the winds, or the rain.
If ye wish to be armed against temptations in
this world, let longing for the everlasting Jeru-
salem grow and be strengthened in your hearts.
Your captivity will pass away, your happiness
will come ; the last enemy shall be destroyed,
and we shall triumph with our King, without
death.
PSALM CXXXVIII.3
1. The title of this Psalm is brief and simple,
and need not detain us ; since we know whose
resemblance David wore, and since in him we
recognise ourselves also, for we too are mem-
bers of that Body. The whole title is, "To
David himself." Let us see then, what is to
David himself. The title of the Psalm is wont to
tell us what is treated of within it : but in this,
since the title informs us not of this, but tells us
only to Whom it is chanted, the first verse tells
us what is treated of in the whole Psalm, " I will
confess to Thee." This confession then let us
hear. But first I remind you, that the term con-
fession in Scripture, when we speak of confession
to God, is used in two senses, of sin, and of
praise. But confession of sin all know, confession
of praise few attend to. So well known is con-
fession of sin, that, wherever in Scripture we hear
the words, " I will confess to Thee, O Lord," or,
» 1 Cor. x. 4.
3 Lat. CXXXVII.
Psalm CXXXVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
633
" we will confess to Thee," forthwith, through
habitually understanding in this way, our hands
hurry to beating our breast : so entirely are men
wont not to understand confession to be of aught,
save of sin. But was then our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself too a sinner, who saith in the Gospel,
" I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth"?' He goeth on to say what He
confesseth, that we might understand His con-
fession to be. of praise, not of sin, " I confess
to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes." He praised the Father, he
praised God, because He despiseth not the
humble, but the proud. And such confession
are we now going to hear, of praise of God, of
thanksgiving. " With my whole heart." My
whole heart I. lay upon the altar of Thy praise,
an whole burnt-offering2 of praise I offer to Thee.
..." I will confess to Thee, O Lord, with my
whole heart : for Thou hast heard the words of
my mouth" (ver. 1). What mouth, save my
heart ? For there have we the voice which God
heareth, which ear of man knoweth not at all.
We have then a mouth within, there do we
ask, thence do we ask, and if we have prepared
a lodging or an house for God, there do we
speak, there are we heard. " For He is not far
from every one of us, for in Him we live, and
move, and have our being." ' Nought maketh
thee far off from God, save sin only. Cast down
the middle wall of sin, and thou art with Him
whom thou askest.
2. "And before the Angels will I sing unto
Thee." Not before men will I sing, but before
the Angels. My song is my joy ; but my joy in
things below is before men, my joy in things
above before the Angels. For the wicked know-
eth not the joy of the just : " There is no joy,
saith my God, to the wicked." 4 The wicked
rejoiceth in his tavern, the martyr in his chain.
In what did that holy Crispina rejoice, whose
festival is kept to-day? She rejoiced when she
was being seized, when she was being carried
before the judge, when she was being put into
prison, when she was being brought forth bound,
when she was being lifted up on the scaffold,5
when she was being heard, when she was being
condemned : in all these things she rejoiced ;
and the wretches thought her wretched, when
she was rejoicing before the Angels.
3. " I will worship toward Thy holy Temple "
(ver. 2). What holy Temple? That where
we shall dwell, where we shall worship. For we
1 ConfiUor Tibi. Matt. xi. 25.
2 [He adds: "A whole burnt offering is a sacrifice where the
whole is burnt, for the Greek word oKovt (holocaustum, Lat.) mean-
eth ' whole.' " — C]
3 Acts xvii. 27, 28. * Isa, xlviii. 22, lvii. ax.
3 Catasia.
hasten that we may adore. Our heart is preg-
nant and cometh to the birth, and seeketh where
it may bring forth. What is the place where
God is to be worshipped ? . . . " The Temple
of God is holy," saith the Apostle, " which
Temple ye are." 6 But assuredly, as is manifest,
God dwelleth in the Angels. Therefore when
our joy, being in spiritual things, not in earthly,
taketh up a song to God, to sing before the
Angels, that very assembly of Angels is the
Temple of God, we worship toward God's Temple.
There is a Church below, there is a Church above
also ; the Church below, in all the faithful ; the
Church above, in all the Angels. But the God
of Angels came down to the Church below, and
Angels ministered to Him on earth,7 while He
ministered to us ; for, " I came not," saith He,
" to be ministered unto, but to minister." 8 . . .
The Lord of Angels died for man. Therefore,
" I will worship toward Thy holy Temple ; " I
mean, not the temple made with hands, but that
which Thou hast made for Thyself.
4. " And I will confess to Thy Name in Thy
mercy and Thy truth." . . . These also which
Thou hast given to me, do I according to my
power give to Thee in return : mercy, in aiding
others ; truth, in judging. By these God aideth
us, by these we win God's favour. Rightly,
therefore, " All the ways of the Lord are mercy
and truth." No other ways are there whereby
He can come to us, no other whereby we can
come to Him. " For Thou hast magnified Thy
holy Name over everything." What sort of
thanksgiving is this, brethren? He hath mag-
nified His holy Name over Abraham. Of
Abraham was born Isaac ; over that house God
was magnified ; then Jacob ; God was magnified,
who said, " I am the God of Abraham, and the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then
came his twelve sons. The name of the
Lord was magnified over Israel. Then came the
Virgin Mary. Then Christ our Lord, " dying for
our sins, rising again for our justification," ">
filling the faithful with His Holy Spirit, sending
forth men to proclaim throughout the Gentiles,
"Repent ye," etc.'° Behold, "He hath magni-
fied His holy Name above all things."
5. "In what day soever I call upon Thee, do
Thou quickly hear me" (ver. 3). Wherefore,
"quickly"? Because Thou hast said, "While
yet thou art speaking I will say, Lo, here I am." "
Wherefore, "quickly"? Because now I seek
not earthly happiness, I have learnt holy ..long-
ings from the New Testament. I seek not
earth, nor earthly abundance, nor temporal
health, nor the overthrow of my enemies, nor
riches, nor rank : nought of these do I seek :
6 1 Cor. iii. 17.
9 Rom. iv. 25.
7 Matt. iv. 11.
10 Matt. iii. a.
8 Matt. xx. 28.
11 Isa. lviii. 9.
634
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXVIII.
therefore " quickly hear me." Since Thou hast
taught me what to seek, grant what I seek. . . .
6. Let us see then what he seeketh, with what
right he hath said, "quickly hear me." For
what seekest thou, that thou shouldest quickly
be heard ? " Thou shalt multiply me." In many
ways may multiplication be understood. . . .
For men are multiplied in their soul with cares :
a man seemeth to be multiplied in soul, in whom
vices even are multiplied. That is the mul-
tiplication of want, not of fulness. What then
dost thou desire, thou who hast said, " quickly
hear me," and hast withdrawn thyself entirely
from the body, from every earthly thing, from
every earthly desire, so as to say to God, " Thou
shalt multiply me in my soul " ? Explain yet
further what thou desirest. Thou shalt multiply
me, saith he, in my soul " with virtue." . . .
7. " Let all the kings of the earth confess to
Thee, O Lord " (ver. 4). So shall it be, and
so it is, and that daily ; and it is shown that it
was not said in vain, save that it was future. But
neither let them, when they confess to Thee,
when they praise Thee, desire earthly things of
Thee. For what shall the kings of the earth
desire? Have they not already sovereignty?
Whatever more a man desire on earth, sovereignty
is the highest point of his desire. What more can
he desire ? It must needs be some loftier emi-
nence. But perhaps the loftier it is, the more
dangerous. And therefore the more exalted
kings are in earthly eminence, the more ought
they to humble themselves before God. What
do they do ? " Because they have heard all the
words of Thy mouth." In a certain nation were
hidden the Law and the Prophets, " all the
words of Thy mouth : " in the Jewish nation
alone were " all the words of Thy mouth," the
nation which the Apostle praiseth, saying, " What
advantage hath the Jew ? Much every way ;
chiefly because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God." These were the words of
God.1 . . . What meant Gideon's fleece? It is like
the nation of the Jews in the midst of the world,
whicli had the grace of sacraments, not indeed
openly manifested, but hidden in a cloud, or in
a veil, like the dew in the fleece.2 The time
came when the dew was to be manifested in
the floor ; it was manifested, no longer hid-
den. Christ alone is the sweetness of dew :
Him alone thou recognisest not in Scripture, for
whom Scripture was written. But yet, " they
have heard all the words of thy mouth."
8. " And let them sing in the paths of the
Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord " (ver.
5). Let all the kings of the earth sing in the
paths of the Lord. In what paths ? Those that
are spoken of above, " in Thy mercy and Thy
1 Rom. iii. 1, a.
• Judg. vi. 37, 39.
truth." Let not then the kings of the earth be
proud, let them be humble. Then let them
sing in the ways of the Lord, if they be humble :
let them love, and they shall sing. We know
travellers that sing; they sing, and hasten to
reach the end of their journey. There are evil
songs, such as belong to the old man ; to the
new man belongeth a new song. Let then the
kings of the earth too walk in Thy paths, let
them walk and sing in Thy paths. Sing what ?
that " great is the glory of the Lord," not of
kings.
9. See how he willed that kings should sing
on their way, humbly bearing the Lord, not lift-
ing themselves up against the Lord. For if they
lift themselves up, what follows? " For the
Lord is high, and hath respect unto the lowly "
(ver. 6). Do kings then desire that He have re-
spect unto them ? Let them be humble. What
then? if they lift themselves up to pride, can
they escape His eyes ? Lest perchance, because
thou hast heard, " He hath respect unto the
lowly," thou choose to be proud, and say in thy
soul, God hath respect unto the lowly, He hath
not respect unto me, I will do what I will.
O foolish one ! wouldest thou say this, if thou
knewest what thou oughtest to love ? Behold,
even if God willeth not to see thee, dost thou
not fear this very thing, that He willeth not to
see thee? . . . The lofty then, it seemeth, He
hath not respect unto, for it is the lowly He
respecteth. "The lofty" — what? " He con-
sidered from afar." What then gaineth the
proud? To be seen from afar, not to escape
being seen. And think not that thou must needs
be safe on that account, for that He seeth less
clearly, who seeth thee from afar. For thou
indeed seest not clearly, what thou seest from
afar ; God, although He see thee from afar,
seeth thee perfectly, yet is He not with thee.
This thou gainest, not that thou art less perfectly
seen, but that thou art not with Him by whom
thou art seen. But what doth the lowly gain?
" The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a
contrite heart." Let the proud then lift him-
self up as much as he will, certainly God dwelleth
on high, God is in heaven : wishest thou that
He come nigh to thee ? Humble thyself. For
the higher will He be above thee, the more thou
liftest thyself up.
10. " If I walk in the midst of tribulation,
Thou shalt revive me" (ver. 7). True it is:
whatsoever tribulation thou art in, confess, call
on Him ; He freeth thee, He reviveth thee. . . .
Love the other life, and thou shalt see that this
life is tribulation, whatever prosperity it shine
with, whatever delights it abound and over-
flow with ; since not yet have we that joy most
safe and free from all temptation, which God
reserveth for us in the end, without doubt it is
Psalm C XX XIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
635
tribulation. Let us understand then what trib-
ulation he meaneth here too, brethren. Not
as though he said, " If perchance there shall
any tribulation have befallen me, Thou shalt free
me therefrom." But how saith he? " If I walk,"
etc. ; that is, otherwise Thou wilt not revive me,
umVss I walk in the midst of tribulation.
11. "Thou hast stretched forth Thine hand
over the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right
hand hath made me safe." Let mine enemies
rage : what can they do ? They can take my
money, strip, proscribe, banish me ; afflict me
with grief and tortures ; at last, if they be al-
lowed, even kill me: can they do aught more?
But over that which mine enemies can do, Thou
hast stretched forth Thine hand. For mine
enemies cannot separate me from Thee : but
Thou avengest me the more, the more Thou as
yet delayest. . . . Yet not to make me despair ;
for it follows, " and Thy right hand hath made
me safe."
12. "Thou, Lord, shalt recompense for me"
(ver. 8). I recompense not: Thou shalt rec-
ompense. Let mine enemies rage their full :
Thou shalt recompense what I cannot. . . .
" Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves," saith
the Apostle, " but rather give place unto wrath ;
for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will
repay, saith the Lord." ' There is here another
sense not to be neglected, perhaps even to be
preferred. " Lord " Christ, " Thou shalt repay
for me." For I, if I repay, have seized ; Thou
hast paid what Thou hast not seized. Lord,
Thou shalt " repay for me." Behold Him re-
paying for us. They came to Him, who exacted
tribute : * they used to demand as tribute a
didrachma, that is, two drachmas for one man ;
they came to the Lord to pay tribute ; or rather,
not to Him, but to His disciples, and they said
to them, " Doth not your Master pay tribute?"
They came and told Him. He saith unto Peter,
" lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea,
and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first
cometh up : and when thou hast opened his
mouth, thou shalt find a stater : 3 that take, and
give for Me and thee." The first that riseth from
the sea, is the First-begotten from the dead.
In His mouth we find two didrachmas, that is,
four drachmas : in His mouth we find the four
Gospels. By those four drachmas we are free
from the claims of this world, by the four Evan-
gelists we remain no longer debtors ; for there
the debt of all our sins is paid. He then hath
repaid for us, thanks to His mercy. He owed
nothing : He repaid not for Himself: He repaid
for us. . . .
13. " Lord, Thy mercy is for everlasting." . . .
Not for a time only do I desire to be freed.
" Thy mercy is for everlasting," wherewith Thou
hast freed the martyrs, and so hast quickly taken
them from this life. " Despise not Thou the
works of Thine own hands." I say not, Lord,
" despise not the works of my hands : " of mine
own works I boast not. " I sought," indeed,
" the Lord with my hands in the night season
before Him, and have not been deceived ; " but
yet I praise not the works of mine own hands ;
I fear lest, when Thou shalt look into them,
Thou find more sins in them than deserts. Be-
hold in me Thy Work, not mine : for mine if
Thou seest, Thou condemnest ; Thine, if Thou
seest, Thou crownest. For whatever good works
there be of mine, from Thee are they to me ;
and so they are more Thine than mine.4
Therefore whether in regard that we are men, or
in regard that we have been changed and justi-
fied from our iniquity, Lord, " despise not Thou
the works of Thine own hands."
PSALM CXXXIX.s
1. . . . Our Lord Jesus Christ speaketh in
the Prophets, sometimes in His own Name,
sometimes in ours, because He maketh Him-
self one with us ; as it is said, " they twain shall
be one flesh." Wherefore also the Lord saith
in the Gospel, speaking of marriage, " therefore
they are no more twain, but one flesh." One
flesh, because of our mortality He took flesh ;
not one divinity, for He is the Creator, we the
creature. Whatsoever then our Lord speaketh
in the person of the Flesh He took upon Him,
belongeth both to that Head which hath already
ascended into heaven, and to those members
which still toil in their earthly wandering. Let
us hear then our Lord Jesus Christ speaking in
prophecy. For the Psalms were sung long
before the Lord was born of Mary, yet not
before He was Lord ; for from everlasting He
was the Creator of all things, but in time He was
born of His creature. Let us believe that God-
head, and, so far as we can, understand Him to
be equal to the Father. But that Godhead equal
to the Father, was made partaker of our mortal
nature, not of His own store, but of ours ; that
we too might be made partakers of His Divine
Nature, not of our store, but of His.
2. " Lord, Thou hast tried me, and known
me" (ver. 1). Let the Lord Jesus Christ Him-
self say this ; let Him too say, " Lord," to the
Father. For His Father is not His Lord, .save
because He hath deigned to be born according
1 Rom. xii. 19.
J That is, two didrachmas.
3 Matt. xvii. 24-26.
4 Eph. ii. 8-to.
5 l.at. CXXXVI1I. Sermon to the people. [The author says:
" We had prepared us a short Psalm, and had desired the reader to
chant it: but he, through confusion at the time, as it seems, has
substituted another for it. We have chosen to follow the will of God
in the reader's mistake, rather than our own will by keeping our
purpose." — C.J
636
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXIX.
to the flesh. He is Father of the God, Lord of
the Man. Wouldest thou know to whom He is
Father? To the coequal Son. The Apostle
saith, " Who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God." ' To this
" Form " God is Father, the " Form " equal to
Himself, the only-begotten Son, begotten of His
Substance. But forasmuch as for our sakes,
that we might be re-made, and made partakers
of His Divine Nature, being renewed unto life
eternal, He was made partaker of our mortal
nature, what saith the Apostle of Him? He
saith, " yet He emptied Himself, and took upon
Him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a
man." He was in the Form of God, equal to
the Father; He took upon Him the form of
a servant, so as therein to be less than the
Father. . . .
3. " Thou hast known My down-sitting and
Mine up- rising " (ver. 2). What here is " down-
sitting," what "up-rising"? He who sitteth,
humbleth himself. The Lord then " sat " in His
Passion, "up-rose" inHis Resurrection. "Thou,"
he saith, hast known this ; that is, Thou hast
willed, Thou hast approved ; according to Thy
will was it done. But if thou choosest to take the
words of the Head in the person of the Body : man
sitteth when he humbleth himself in penitence,
he riseth up when his sins are forgiven, and he
is lifted up to the hope of everlasting life.
Lift not up yourselves, unless ye have first been
humbled. For many wish to rise before they
have sat down, they wish to appear righteous,
before they have confessed that they are
sinners. . . .
4. " Thou hast understood my thoughts from
afar ; Thou hast tracked out my path and my
limit " (ver. 3) ; " and all my ways Thou hast
seen beforehand" (ver. 4). What is, "from
afar " ? While I am yet in my pilgrimage, be-
fore I reach that, my true country, Thou hast
known my thoughts. . . . The younger son went
into a far country. After his toil and suffer-
ing and tribulation and want, he thought on his
father, and desired to return, and said, " I will
arise, and go to my father." " I will arise," said
he, for before he had sat. Here then thou may-
est recognise him saying, " Thou hast known my
down-sitting and up-rising." I sat, in want ; I
arose, in longing for Thy Bread. "Thou hast
understood my thoughts from afar." For far
indeed had I gone ; but where is not He whom
I had left? Wherefore the Lord saith in the
Gospel, that his father met him as he was com-
ing. Truly; for "he had understood his
thoughts from afar." " My path," he saith ;
what, but a bad path, the path he had walked to
1 Philip, ii. 6, 7.
leave his father? . . . What is, "my path"? that
by which I have gone. What is, " my limit " ?
that whereunto I have reached. "Thou hast
tracked out my path and my limit." That limit
of mine, far distant as it was, was not far from
Thine eyes. Far had I gone, and yet Thou
wast there. " And all my ways Thou hast seen
beforehand." He said not, " hast seen," but,
" hast seen beforehand." Before I went by
them, before I walked in them, Thou didst see
them beforehand ; and Thou didst permit me in
toil to go my own ways, that, if I desired not to
toil, I might return into Thy ways. " For there
is no deceit in my tongue." 2 What meant he
by this? Lo, I confess to Thee, I have walked
in my own way, I am become far from Thee,
I have departed from Thee, with whom it was
well with me, and to my good it was ill with
me without Thee. . . .
5. " Behold Thou, Lord, hast known all my
last doings, and the ancient ones" (ver. 5).
Thou hast known my latest doings, when I fed
swine ; Thou hast known my ancient doings,
when I asked of Thee my portion of goods.
Ancient doings were the beginnings to me of
latest ills : ancient sin, when we fell ; latest
punishment, when we came into this toilsome
and dangerous mortality. And would that this
may be " latest " to us ; it will be, if now we will
to return. For there is another " latest " for cer-
tain wicked ones, to whom it shall be said,
" Go ye into everlasting fire." 3 . . . " Thou hast
fashioned me, and hast laid Thine hand upon me."
" Fashioned me," where ? In this mortality ;
now, to the toils whereunto we all are born.
For none is born, but God has fashioned him
in his mother's womb ; nor is there any creature,
whereof God is not the Fashioner. But " Thou
hast fashioned me " in this toil, " and laid Thine
hand upon me," Thine avenging hand, putting
down the proud. For thus healthfully hath He
cast down the proud, that He may lift him up
humble.
6. "Thy skill hath displayed itself wonder-
fully in me : it hath waxed mighty : I shall not
be able to attain unto it" (ver. 6). Listen now
and hear somewhat, which is obscure indeed, yet
bringeth no small pleasure in the understanding
thereoi. Moses, the holy servant of God, with
whom God spake by a cloud, for, speaking
after human fashion, He must needs speak to
His servant through some work of His hands
which He assumed, . . . longed and desired
to see the true appearance of God, and said to
God, who was conversing with him, " If now I
have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thy-
self." * When this he desired vehemently, and
would extort from God in that sort of friendly
2 Ps. cxxxix. 4.
3 Matt. xxv. 41.
* Exod. xxxiii. 13.
tsalm cxxxix.]
ON THE PSALMS.
637
familiarity, if we may so speak, wherewith God
deigned to treat him, that he might see His
Glory and His Face, in such wise as we -can
speak of God's Face, He said unto him, " Thou
canst not see My Face ; for no one hath seen
My Face, and lived ; " ' but I will place thee in
a clift of the rock, and will pass by, and will set
My hand upon thee ; and when I have passed
by, thou shalt see My back parts. And from
these words there ariseth another enigma, that is,
an obscure figure of the truth. " When I have
passed by," saith God, " thou shalt see My back
parts ; " as though He hath on one side His face,
on another His back. Far be it from us to have
any such thoughts of that Majesty ! For whoso
hath such thoughts of God, what advantageth it
him that the temples are closed? He is build-
ing an idol in his own heart. In these words
then are mighty mysteries. . . . They who raged
against the Lord, whom they saw, now seek
counsel how they may be saved ; and it is said
to them, " Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the Name of Jesus Christ, and your sins
shall be forgiven you." 2 Behold, they saw the
back parts of Him, whose face they could not
see. For His Hand was upon their eyes, not
for ever, but while He passed by. After He had
passed He took away His Hand from their eyes.
When the hand was taken from their eyes, they
say to the disciples, " What shall we do? " At
first they are fierce, afterwards loving ; at first
angry, afterwards fearful ; at first hard, then
pleasant ; at first blind, then enlightened. . . .
7. Behold thou findest that the runaway in a
far country cannot escape His eyes, from whom
he fleeth. And whither can he go now, whose
" limit is tracked out " ? Behold, what saith he ?
" Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?" (ver. 7).
Who can in the world flee from that Spirit, with
whom the world is filled? 3 " And whither shall
1 flee from Thy Face?" He seeketh a place
whither to flee from the wrath of God. What
place will shelter God's runaway? Men who
shelter runaways, ask them from whom they
have fled ; and when they find any one a slave
of some master less powerful than themselves,
him they shelter as it were without any fear, say-
ing in their hearts, " he hath not a master by
whom he can be tracked out." But when they
are told of a powerful master, they either shelter
not, or they shelter with great fear, because even
a powerful man can be deceived. Where is God
not? Who can deceive God? Whom doth not
God see ? From whom doth not God demand
His runaway? Whither then shall that runaway
go from the Face of God? He turneth him
hither and thither, as though seeking a spot to
flee to.
Exod.
xxxiti. 20.
2 Acts ii. 38.
3 Wisd. i. 7.
8. " If I go up," saith he, " to heaven, Thou
art there : if I go down to Hades, Thou art pres-
ent " (ver. 8). At length, miserable runaway,
thou hast learnt, that by no means canst thou
make thyself far from Him, from whom thou
hast wished to remove far away. Behold, He is
everywhere; thou, whither wilt thou go? He
hath found counsel, and that inspired by Him,
who now deigneth to recall him. ... If by sin-
ning I go down to the depths of wickednesses,
and spurn to confess, saying, " Who seeth me "
(for " in Hades who shall confess to Thee?" *)
there also Thou art present, to punish. Whither
then shall I go that I may flee from Thy pres-
ence, that is, not find Thee angry? This plan
he found : So will I flee, saith he, from Thy Face,
so will I flee from Thy Spirit ; from Thy aven-
ging Spirit, Thy avenging Face thus will I flee.
How? " If I take again my wings right forward,
and abide in the utmost parts of the sea " (ver.
9). So can I flee from Thy Face. If he will
flee to the utmost part of the sea from the Face
of God, will not He from whom he fleeth be
there ? . . . For what are " the utmost parts of
the sea," but the end of the world ?' Thither let
us now flee in hope and longing, with the wings
of twofold love ; let us have no rest, save in " the
utmost parts of the sea." For if elsewhere we
wish for rest, we shall be hurled headlong into
the sea. Let us fly even to the ends of the sea,
let us bear ourselves aloft on the wings of two-
fold love ; meanwhile let us flee to God in hope,
and in faithful hope let us meditate on that " end
of the sea."
9. Now listen who may bring us thither.
The very same One whose face in wrath we wish
to flee from. For what followeth? "Even
thither shall Thy hand conduct me, and Thy
right hand lead me" (ver. 10). This let us
meditate on, beloved brethren, let this be our
hope, this our consolation. Let us take again
through love the wings we lost through lust.
For lust was the lime of our wings, it dashed us
down from the freedom of our sky, that is, the
free breezes of the Spirit of God. Thence
dashed down we lost our wings, and were, so to
speak, imprisoned in the power of the fowler ;
thence " He " redeemed us with His Blood, whom
we fled from to be caught. He maketh us wings
of His commandments ; we raise them aloft now
free from lime. . . . Needs then must we have
wings, and needs must He conduct us, for He is
our Helper. We have free-will ; but even -with
that free-will what can we do, unless He help us
who commandeth us?
10. And considering the length of the way,
what said he to himself? " And I said, Perad-
venture the darkness shall overwhelm me " (ver.
«Ps.vi.s.
638
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXIX.
11). Lo, now I have believed in Christ, now
am I wafted aloft on the wings of twofold love.
. . . Regarding the length of the way, 1 said to
myself, " And the night was light in my delight."
The night was made to me light, because in the
night I despaired of being able to cross so great
a sea, to surmount so long a journey, to reach
the utmost parts by persevering to the end.
Thanks to Him who sought me when a runaway,
who smote my back with strokes of the scourge,
who by calling me re-called me from destruc-
tion, who made my night light. For it is night so
long as we are passing through this life. How
was the night made light? Because Christ came
down into the night. . . .
11." For darkness shall not be darkened by
Thee " (ver. 12). Do not thou then darken thy
darkness ; God darkeneth it not, but enlighteneth
it yet more ; for to Him is said in another Psalm,
" Thou, Lord, shalt light my candle : my God
shall enlighten my darkness." ' But who are
they who " darken their darkness," which God
darkeneth not ? Evil men, perverse men ; when
they sin, verily they are darkness ; when they
confess not their sins which they have committed,
but go on to defend them, they " darken their
darkness." Wherefore now if thou hast sinned,
thou art in darkness, but by confessing thy dark-
ness thou shalt obtain to have thy darkness
lightened ; by defending thy darkness, thou shalt
" darken thy darkness." And where wilt thou
escape from double darkness, who wast in diffi-
culty in single darkness? .. . . Let us not " darken
our darkness " by defending our sins, and " the
night shall be light in our delight."
12. "And night shall be lightened as the day."
" Night, as the day." " Day " to us is worldly
prosperity, night adversity in this world : but, if
we learn that it is by the desert of our sins that
we suffer adversities, and our Father's scourges
are sweet to us, that the Judge's sentence may
not be bitter to us, so shall we find the darkness
of this night to be, as it were, the light of this
night. . . . But when Christ our Lord has come,
and has dwelt in the soul by faith, and promised
other light, and inspired and given patience,
and warned a man not to delight in prosperity or
to be crushed by adversity, the man, being faith-
ful, begins to treat this world with indifference ;
not to be lifted up when prosperity befalls him,
nor crushed when adversity, but in all things to
praise God, not only when he aboundeth, but
also when he loseth ; not only when he is in
health, but also when he is sick.2 . . . "As is His
darkness, so is also His light." His darkness
overwhelms me not, because His light lifts me
not up.
13. " For Thou, O Lord, hast possessed my
' P». xviii. 38.
8 Pi. xxxiv. x.
reins" (ver. 13). The Possessor is within ; He
occupieth not only the heart, but also the reins ;
not only the thoughts, but also the delights : He
then possesseth that whence I should feel delight
at any light in this world : He occupieth my
reins : I know not delight, save from the inward
light of His Wisdom. What then? Dost thou
not delight that thy affairs are very prosperous,
times fortunate to thee? dost thou not delight
in honour, in riches, in thy family? "I do not,"
saith he. Wherefore? Because "Thou hast
possessed my reins, O Lord ; Thou hast taken
me up from my mother's womb." While I was
in my mother's womb, I did not regard with
indifference the darkness of that night and the
light of that night. . . . Now, having been taken
up from the womb of that our mother, we look
on them with indifference, and say, " As is His
darkness, so is also His light." Neither doth
earthly prosperity make us happy, nor earthly
adversity wretched. We must maintain right-
eousness, love faith, hope in God, love God, love
our neighbours also. After these toils we shall
have unfailing light, day without setting. Fleet-
ing is all the light and darkness of this night.
14. "I will confess to Thee, O Lord, for terribly
hast Thou been made wonderful : wondrous are
Thy works, and my soul knoweth it right well "
(ver. 14). Aforetime "Thy knowledge was
made wonderful from me, it had waxed great,
nor could I attain unto it." From me then " it
had waxed great." Whence doth "my soul"
now " know right well," save because the " night
is light in my delight ? " save because Thy grace
hath come unto me, and enlightened my dark-
ness? save because Thou hast possessed my
reins ? save because Thou hast taken me up from
my mother's womb?
15. "My bone is not hid from Thee, which
Thou hast made in secret" (ver. 15). "His
bone," he saith. What the people call ossum,
is in Latin called os. This is the word in the
Greek.3 For we might think the word os is here
the one which makes in the plural ora, not os
(short), which makes ossa. He saith then, I
have a certain bone (ossum) in secret. For
this word let us prefer to use ; better is it that
scholars find fault with us, than that the people
understand us not. " There is then," saith he,
" a certain bone of mine, within, hidden ; Thou
hast made within a bone for me in secret, yet is it
not hidden from Thee. In secret hast Thou made
it, but hast Thou therefore hidden it from Thyself?
This my bone made by Thee in secret men see
not, men know not: Thou knowest, who hast
made. What " bone " then meaneth he, brethren?
Let us seek it, it is " in secret." But because as
Christians we are speaking in the Name of the
3 Gr. barouv.
Psalm CXXXIX-1
ON THE PSALMS.
639
Lord to Christians, now we find what bone is of
this kind. It is a sort of inward strength ; for
strength and fortitude are understood to be in
the bones. There is then a sort of inward
strength of the soul, wherein it is not broken.
Whatever tortures, whatever tribulations, what-
ever adversities rage around, that which God
hath made strong in secret in us, cannot be
broken, yieldeth not. For by God is made a
certain strength of patience, of which is said in
another Psalm, " But my soul shall be subjected to
God, for of Him is my patience." "... Wherein
dost thou glory ? " In tribulations, knowing that
tribulation worketh patience." 2 See how that
strength is fashioned within in his heart : " because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." So is
fashioned and made strong that hidden bone,
that it maketh us even to glory in tribulations.
But to men we seem wretched, because that
which we have within is hidden from them.
" And my substance is in the lower parts of the
earth." Behold, in flesh is my substance, yet
have I a bone within, which Thou hast fashioned,
such as to cause me never to yield to any perse-
cutions of this lower region, where still my sub-
stance is. For what great matter is it, if an
Angel be brave ? This is a great matter, if flesh
is brave. And whence is flesh brave, whence is
an earthen vessel brave, save because in it is
made a bone in secret?
16. . . . "Thine eyes did see Mine imperfect
one, and in Thy book shall all be written " (ver.
16), not only the perfect, but also the imperfect.
Let not the imperfect fear, only let them advance.
Nor yet, because I have said, " let them not
fear," let them love their imperfection, and
remain there, where they are found. Let them
advance, as far as in them lieth. Daily let
them add, daily let them approach ; yet let them
not fall back from the Body of the Lord : that,
compacted in one Body and among these mem-
bers, they may be counted worthy to have that
said of them. " By day shall they wander, and
none among them." " The Day " was yet on
earth, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Whence He
said, " Walk while ye have the day." 3 But " by
day shall " His imperfect ones " wander."
They too thought that our Lord Jesus Christ was
only man, that He had not within Him the hid-
den Godhead, that He was not secretly God,
but that He was that only which was seen : this
they too thought. . . . But what is, " In the
day they shall wander " ? Shall they perish ?
Where then is, " In Thy book shall all be writ-
ten"? When then did they "wander in the
day " ? When they understood not the Lord
set upon earth. And what followeth? " But to
» Ps. Ixii. 5.
a Rom. iv. 5.
• John xii. 35.
me Thy friends are made very honourable, O
God" (ver. 17); those very ones, who "wan-
dered in the day, and none was in them,"
became Thy friends, and were made very hon-
ourable to me. That bone was made in them
in secret after the resurrection of the Lord, and
they suffered for His Name, at whose death they
had been amazed. " Mightily strengthened were
their chieftainships." They became Apostles,
they became leaders of the Church, they became
rams leading their flocks, " mightily strength-
ened."
17. "I will number them, and they shall be
multiplied above the sand" (ver. 18). By
means of them, who " wandered in the day,"
lo ! there has been born all this great multitude,
which now is like the sand innumerable, save by
God. For He said, " they shall be multiplied
above the sand," and yet He had said, " I will
number them." The very same who are num-
bered, " shall be multiplied above the sand."
For by Him is the sand numbered, by whom
" the very hairs of our head are numbered." *
" I have risen, and yet am I with Thee." Already
have I suffered, saith He, already have I been
buried ; lo ! I have risen, and not yet do they
understand that I am with them. "Yet am I
with Thee," that is, not yet with them, for not
yet do they recognise Me. For thus do we read
in the Gospel, that after the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, when He appeared to them,
they did not at once know Him. There is
another meaning also : " I have risen, and yet
am I with Thee," as though He would signify
this present time, wherein He is as yet hidden
at the right hand of the Father, before He is
revealed in the brightness, wherein He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead.
18. And then He telleth what meanwhile,
during this whole time when He already has
risen, and remaineth still with the Father, He
suffereth by the intermixture of sinners in His
Body, the Church, and by the separation of
heretics. " If Thou, O God, shalt slay the sin-
ners (since Thou shalt say in Thy thought, De-
part from Me, ye men of blood), they shall
receive in vanity their cities" (ver. 19, 20).
The words seem to be connected in this order ;
" If Thou, O God, shalt slay the sinners, they
shall receive in vanity their cities." Thus are
sinners slain, because, "having their under-
standings darkened, they are alienated from the
life of God." s For on account of elation ihey
lose confession, and so they are slain, and in
them is fulfilled what Scripture saith, " Confes-
sion perisheth from the dead, as from one that
is not." 5 And so " they receive in vanity their
cities," that is, their vain peoples, who follow
« Matt. x. 30.
5 Eph. iv. 18.
6 Ecclus. xvii. 28.
640
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXXXIX.
their vanity; when, puffed up by the name of
righteousness, they ' persuade men to burst the
bond of unity, and blindly and ignorantly follow
them, as being more righteous. . . . But now
the Body of Christ, the Church, saith, Why do
the proud speak falsely against me, as though I
were stained by other men's sins, and so, by
separating themselves, " receive in vanity their
cities " ? " Have not I hated those who hated
Thee, Lord ? " (ver. 21). Why do those who
are worse themselves require of me to separate
myself in body as well as spirit from the
wicked, so as to root up the wheat, together
with the tares, before the time of harvest, that
before the time of winnowing I lose my power
of enduring the chaff; that before all the differ-
ent sorts of fishes are brought to the end of the
world, as to the shore, to be separated, I tear
the nets of peace and unity? Are the sacra-
ments which I receive, those of evil men? Do
I, by consent, communicate in their life and
deeds ? . . . But where is, " Love your ene-
mies"? Is it because He said "yours," not
" God's " ? " Do good to them that hate you." 2
He saith not, " who hate God." So he followeth
the pattern, and saith, " Have not I hated those
who hated Thee, Lord ? " He saith not, " Who
have hated me." " And at Thine enemies did I
waste away." " Thine," he said, not " mine."
But those who hate us and are enemies unto us,
only because we serve Him, what else do they
but hate Him, and are His enemies. Ought we
then to love such enemies as these ? Or do not
they suffer persecution for God's sake, to whom
it is said, " Pray for them that persecute you " ?
Observe then what followeth. " With a perfect
hatred did I hate them" (ver. 22). What is,
" with a perfect hatred " ? I hated in them
their iniquities, I loved Thy creation. This it
is to hate with a perfect hatred, that neither on
account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on
account of the men love the vices. For see
what he addeth, " They became mine enemies."
Not only as God's enemies, but as his own too
doth he now describe them. How then will he
fulfil in them both his own saying, " Have not I
hated those that hated Thee, Lord," and the
Lord's command, " Love your enemies " ? How
will he fulfil this, save with that" perfect hatred,"
that he hate in them that they are wicked, and
love that they are men ? For in the time even
of the Old Testament, when the carnal people
was restrained by visible punishments, how did
Moses, the servant of God, who by understand-
ing belonged to the New Testament, how did
he hate sinners when he prayed for them, or how
did he not hate them when he slew them,
save that he " hated them with a perfect
■ Dona«i»u.
' Matt. v. 44.
hatred " ? For with such perfection did he hate
the iniquity which he punished, as to love the
manhood for which he prayed.
19. Since then the Body of Christ is in
the end to be severed in body also from the
unholy and wicked, but now meanwhile groan-
eth among them, what doeth the " love of
Christ among the daughters, as the lily among
thorns"?3 What are her words? what her
conscience ? what is the " appearance of the
king's daughter within "? 4 Lo, hear what she
saith. " Prove me, O God, and know my
heart" (ver. 23). Do Thou, O God, Thou
prove me, Thou know ; not man, not an heretic,
who neither knoweth how to prove, nor can know
my heart, whereas Thou provest, and knowest
that I consent not to the deeds of the wicked,
while they think that I can be defiled by the sins
of others ; so that, while I in my long wander-
ing do what I mourn in another Psalm, that is,
while I " labour for peace among them that hate
peace,"' until I come to that Vision of peace,
which is called Jerusalem, " which is the mother
of us all," the city " eternal in the heavens ; "
they, contending, and falsely accusing and sepa-
rating themselves, may " receive," not, evidently,
in eternity, but " in vanity, their cities." Why
this ? Observe what followeth.
20. " And see," saith he, " if there be any
way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting" (ver. 24). "Search," he
saith, " my paths," that is, my counsels and
thoughts. What else saith he, but " lead me in
Christ"? For who is "the way everlasting,"
save He that is the life everlasting? For ever-
lasting is He who said, " I am the Way, and the
Truth, and the Life."6 If then thou findest
anything in my way which displeaseth Thine
eyes, since my way is mortal, do Thou " lead me
in the way everlasting," wherein is no iniquity ;
for even " if any man sin, we have an Advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and
He is the propitiation for our sins ; " 7 He is
" the Way everlasting " without sin ; He is the
Life everlasting without punishment.
21. These are great mysteries, brethren.
How doth the Spirit of God speak with us?
how doth it make us delights in this night?
What is this, we ask you, brethren, whence are
they sweeter, the darker they are ? He mixeth
us our potion after His love, in certain wondrous
ways. He maketh His own sayings wondrous,
so that while we were speaking what ye already
knew, yet forasmuch as it was dug out of pas-
sages which seemed obscure, the knowledge it-
self seemed to be made new. Did ye not know,
brethren, that the wicked are to be tolerated in
the Church, and schisms not to be made ? Did
3 Cant. ii. a.
6 John xiv. 6.
* Ps. xlv. 13.
7 1 John ii. i, a.
3 Ps. cxx. 7.
TSALM CXL]
ON THE PSALMS.
641
ye not already know, that within those nets
which hold both good and bad fishes, we must
abide even to the shore, nor must the nets be
burst, because on the shore the good shall be
separated into vessels, and the bad thrown
away? Ye know this already; but these verses
of this Psalm ye did not understand : that which
ye did not understand is explained ; that which
ye knew has been renewed.
PSALM CXL.'
1. Our Lords have bidden me, brethren, and
in them the Lord of all, to bring this Psalm to
your understanding, so far as God giveth me to.
May He help your prayers, that I may say those
things which I ought to say, ye to hear, that to
all of us the Word of God may be profitable.
For all it doth not profit, for " all have not
faith."2 . . .
2. What this Psalm containeth, I believe that
ye perceived when it was being chanted ;■ for
therein the Church of Christ, set in the midst
of the wicked, complaineth and groaneth, and
poureth out prayer to God. For her voice is in
every such prophecy the voice of one in need
and want, not yet satisfied, " hungering and
thirsting after righteousness," 3 for whom a cer-
tain fulness in the end hath been promised, and
is reserved. . . .
3. " To the end, a Psalm to David himself."
No other end mayest thou look to, than is laid
down for thee by the Apostle himself. For
" Christ is the end." 4 . . . He was of the seed
of David, not after His Godhead, whereby He
is the Creator of David, but after the flesh ;
therefore He deigned to be called David in
prophecy : look to this " end," for the Psalm is
chanted " to David Himself; " hear the voice of
His Body ; be in His Body. Let the voice
which thou hast heard be thine, and pray, and
say what followeth.
4. " Deliver me, O Lord, from the wicked
man" (ver. 1). Not from one only, but from
the class ; not from the vessels only, but from
their prince himself, that is, the devil. Why
"from man," if he meaneth from the devil?
Because he too is called a man in a figure.5 . . .
Now then being made light, not in ourselves, but
in the Lord,6 let us pray not only against dark-
ness, that is, against sinners, whom still the devil
possesseth, but also against their prince, the devil
himself, who worketh in the children of disobe-
dience. " Deliver me from the unrighteous
man." The same as " from the wicked man."
For he called him wicked because unrighteous,
1 Lat CXXXIX. Sermon to the people, in the presence of an
assembly of bishops.
2 1 Thess. iii. 2. 3 Matt. v. 6. 4 Rom. x. 4.
5 Matt. xiii. 24-28. <• Eph. v. 8.
lest perchance thou shouldest think that any un-
righteous man could be a good man. For many
unrighteous men seem to be harmless ; they are
not fierce, are not savage, do not persecute nor
oppress ; yet are they unrighteous, because, fol-
lowing some other habit, they are luxurious,
drunkards, given to pleasure. . . . Wicked then
is every unrighteous man, who must needs be
harmful, whether he be gentle or fierce. Who-
ever falls in his way, whoever is taken by his
snares, will find how harmful is that which he
thought harmless. For, brethren, even thorns
prick not with their roots. Pull up thorns from
the ground, handle their roots, and see whether
thou feelest pain. Yet that in the upgrowth
which causeth thee pain, proceeded from that
root. Let not then men please you who seem
gentle and kind, yet are lovers of carrfal pleas-
ure, followers of polluted lusts, let them not
please you. Though as yet they seem gentle,
they are roots of thorns. . . . And so, my breth-
ren, body of Christ, members of Christ groan-
ing among such wicked men, whomsoever ye
find hurrying headlong into evil lusts and deadly
pleasures, at once chide, at once punish, at once
burn. Let the root be burnt, and there remain-
eth not whence the thorn may grow up. If ye
cannot, be sure that ye will have them as ene-
mies. They may be silent, they may hide their
enmity, but they cannot love you. But since
they cannot love you, and since they who hate
you must needs seek your harm, let not your
tongue and heart be slow to say to God, " De-
liver me, O Lord, from the unrighteous man."
5. "Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in
their heart" (ver. 2). . . . From them free me,
from them let Thy hand be most powerful to
deliver me. For easy is it to avoid open en-
mities, easy is it to turn aside from an enemy
declared and manifest, while iniquity is in his
lips as well as his heart ; he is a troublesome
enemy, he is secret, he is with difficulty avoided,
who beareth good things in his lips, while in his
heart he concealeth evil things. " All the day
long did they make war." What is, " war " ?
They made for me what I was to fight against
all the day. For from thence, from such hearts
as these, ariseth all that the Christian fighteth
against. Be it sedition, be it schism, be it
heresy, be it turbulent opposition, it springeth
not save from these imaginings which were con-
cealed, and while they spake good words with
their lips, " all the day long did they make war."
Ye hear words of peace, yet making war de-
parteth not from their thoughts. For the words,
" all the day long," signify without intermission,
throughout the whole time. " They have sharp-
ened their tongues like serpents" (ver. 3). If
still thou seekest to make out the man, behold a
comparison. In the serpent above all beasts is
642
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXL.
there cunning and craft to hurt ; for therefore
does it creep.' It hath not even feet, so that its
footsteps when it cometh may be heard. In its
progress it draweth itself, as it were, gently along,
yet not straightly. Thus then do they creep
and crawl to hurt, having poison hidden even
under a gentle touch. And so it followeth, " the
poison of asps is under their lips." Behold, it
is " under " their lips, that we may perceive one
thing under their lips, another in their lips. . . .
6. " Preserve me, O Lord, from the hand of
the sinner, from unrighteous men deliver me "
(ver. 4). Here they wear their real colours, they
are known ; here we have no need to under-
stand, but to act : we have need to pray, not to
ask who they are. But how thou shouldest pray
against such men, he explaineth in what follow-
eth. For many pray unskilfully against wicked
men. " Who have imagined," saith he, " to trip
up my steps." Thus far it may be understood
carnally. Every one has enemies, who seek to
cheat him in trade, to rob him of money, where
they are engaged together in business ; every one
has some neighbour his enemy, who deviseth how
to bring mischief upon his family, to injure in
some way his property : and surely he deviseth
this by deceit, by fraud, by devilish devices he
endeavoureth to accomplish this : no one can
doubt it. Yet not for these reasons are they to
be guarded against, but lest they lay in wait for
thee and draw thee to themselves, that is, sepa-
rate thee from the Body of Christ, and make
thee of their body. For as Christ is the Head
of the, good, so is the devil their head. What is,
"to trip up my steps"? Not as though thou
shouldest be deceived in the business thou hast
with him, or he cheat thee in a case which thou
hast with him in the law courts. He hath
" tripped up thy steps," if he have hindered
thee in the way of God ; so that what thou didst
direct aright may stumble, or fall from the way,
or fall in the way, or draw back from the way,
or stop on the way, or go back to the place from
whence it had come. Whatsoever hath done
this to thee, hath tripped thee up, hath deceived
thee. Against such snares as these pray thou,
lest thou lose thy heavenly inheritance, lest thou
lose Christ thy Joint-heir, for thou art destined
to live for ever with Him, who hath made thee
an heir. For thou art made an heir, not by
one whom thou art to succeed after his death,
but One together with whom thou art to live for
ever.
7. " The proud have hidden a trap for me "
(ver. 5). He hath briefly described the whole
body of the devil, when he saith, " the proud."
Hence is it that for the most part they call
themselves righteous when they are unrighteous.
" Strfit.
Hence is it that nothing is so grievous to them as
to confess their sins. They are men who, being
falsely righteous, must needs envy the truly right-
eous. For none envieth another in that which
he wisheth not either to be or to seem. . . .
Hence come all allurings and trippings up of
others. This the devil first wished, when falling
himself he envied man who stood. . . .
8. But those " proud ones have hidden a trap
for me ; " they have sought to trip up my steps.
And what have they done ? " And have stretched
out cords as traps." What cords? The word
is well known in holy Scripture, and elsewhere
we find what " cords " signify. For " each one
is holden with the cords of his sins," ' saith
Scripture. And Esaias saith openly, "Woe to
them that draw sin like a long rope." 3 And
why is it called a " cord " ? Because every sin-
ner who persevereth in his sins, addeth sin to
sin ; and when he ought by accusing his sins to
amend, by defending he doubleth what by con-
fession he might have removed, and often seeketh
to fortify himself by other sins, on account of
the sins he hath already co.-imitted. . . . But
these their sins they " spread " for the righteous,
when they persuade them to do the evils which
they themselves do. Therefore he said, " they
spread cords and traps ; " that is, by their sins
they desired to overthrow me. And where did
they this? "Beside the paths have they laid a
stumbling-block for me : " not in the paths,"
but, " beside the paths." Thy " paths " are the
commandments of God. They have " laid stum-
bling-blocks beside the paths ; " do not thou
withdraw out of the paths, and thou wilt not
rush upon stumbling-blocks. Yet will I not that
thou shouldest say, " God should prevent them
from laying stumbling-blocks beside my paths,
and then they would not lay them." Nay, rather,
God permitted them to " lay stumbling-blocks
beside thy paths," that thou shouldest not leave
the paths.
9. And what remaineth ? what remedy amid
such ills, in such temptations, such dangers? " I
said unto the Lord, Thou art my God " (ver. 6).
Loud is the voice of prayer, it exciteth confidence.
Is He not the God of the others? Of whom is
not He God, who is the true God? Yet is He
specially theirs, who enjoy Him, who serve Him,
who willingly submit to Him. For the wicked
too, though unwillingly, are subject to Him. . . .
" Hear with Thine ears the voice of my prayer."
He did not say, " Hear with Thine ears my
prayer ; " but, as though expressing more plainly
the affection of his heart, "the voice of my
prayer," the life of my prayer, the soul of my
prayer, not that which soundeth in my words,
but that which giveth life to my words. For all
a Prov. v. 22.
3 Isa. v. 1
Psalm CXL.]
ON THE PSALMS.
643
other noises without life may be called sounds,
but not words. Words belong to those that have
souls, to the living. But how many pray to God,
yet have neither perception of God, nor right
thoughts concerning God ! These may have the
sound of prayer, the voice they cannot, for there
is no life in them. This was the voice of the
prayer of one who was alive, forasmuch as he
understood that God was his God, saw by Whom
he was freed, perceived from whom he was freed.
10. Commending this to the ears of God, let
him say, " Lord, Lord." Thou Lord-Lord, that is,
most truly Lord, not like unto the lords-men, not
like the lords who buy with money-bags, but the
Lord who buyeth with His Blood. " Lord, Lord,
Thou strength of my health " (ver. 7), that is, who
givest strength to my health. What is the mean-
ing of " strength of my health " ? He complained
of the stumbling-blocks and snares of sinners, of
wicked men, vessels of the devil, that barked
around him and laid snares around him, of the
proud that envy the righteous. But He forth-
with added a comfort, " He that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved." This
he observed and feared, and, distressed at the
abundance of iniquities, turned himself to hope.
Verily I shall be saved, if I endure unto the end :
but endurance, so as to win salvation, pertain-
eth unto strength ; Thou art " the strength of my
salvation ; " Thou makest me to endure, that I
may attain salvation. . . . Toiling then in this
warfare, he looked back to the grace of God ;
and because already he had begun to be heated
and parched, he found, as it were, a shade,
whereunder to live. " Thou hast overshadowed
my head in the day of battle : " that is, in the
heat, lest I be heated, lest I be parched.
11. "Deliver me not over, O Lord, by my
own longing to the sinner" (ver. 8). Behold to
what end Thy overshadowing shall avail for me,
that I suffer not heat from myself. And what
could that " sinner " do to me, rage as he would ?
For wicked men raged against the martyrs,
dragged them away, bound them with chains,
shut them up in prisons, slew them with the
sword, exposed them to wild beasts, consumed
them with fire : all this they did ; yet did not
God deliver them over to the sinners, because
they were not delivered over by their own long-
ing. This then pray with all thy might, that
God " delivered thee not over by thine own
longing to the sinner." For thou by thine own
longing givest place to the devil. For lo, the
devil hath set before thee gain, invited thee to
dishonesty ; thou canst not have the gain, unless
thou commit the dishonesty : the gain is the bait,
dishonesty the snare : do thou so look on the bait,
that thou see the snare also ; for thou canst not
obtain the gain, unless thou commit the dis-
honesty ; and if thou commit the dishonesty, thou
wilt be caught. . . . Hence is thine head over-
shadowed in the day of battle. For longing caus-
eth heat, but the overshadowing of the Lord
tempers longing, that we may be able to bridle
that whereby we were being hurried away, that
we be not so heated as to be drawn to the snare.
" They have thought against me ; leave me not,
lest perchance they be exalted." Thou hast in
another place, "They that oppress me will
exult if I be moved." ' Such are they, because
such is the devil also himself. . . .
12. "The head of their going about, the toil
of their own lips shall cover them" (ver. 9).
Me, he saith, the shadow of Thy wings shall
cover : for, " Thou hast covered me in the day
of battle." Them what shall cover? "The
head of their going about ; " that is, pride.
What is, " their going about " ? How they go
about and stand not, how they go in the circle
of error, where is journeying without end. He
who goeth in a straight line, beginneth from
some point, endeth at some point : he who goeth
in a circle, never endeth. That is the toil of the
wicked, which is set forth yet more plainly in
another Psalm, "The wicked walk in a circle."2
But " the head of their going about " is pride,
for pride is the beginning of every sin. But
whence is pride " the toil of their own lips " ?
Every proud man is false, and every false man is
a liar. Men toil in speaking falsehood ; for
truth they could speak with entire facility. For
he toileth, who maketh what he saith : he who
wisheth to speak the truth, toileth not, for truth
herself speaketh without toil. . . .
13. "Coals of fire shall fall upon them upon
earth, and Thou shalt cast them down " (ver.
10). What is, "upon earth"? Here, even in
this life, here " coals of fire shall fall upon
them." What are, " coals of fire " ? We know
these coals. Are they different from those of
which we are about to speak? For these I see
avail for punishment, those that I am about to
speak of, for salvation. For we have spoken of
certain coals, when man was seeking aid against
a treacherous tongue. . . . The examples of the
" coals " are added to the wound of the arrows
(for I need not fear to say "the wound," when
the Spouse herself saith, "I am wounded with
love " 3), and then the hay is consumed, and so
they are called " devouring coals." The hay is
devoured, but the gold is purified, and the man
exchanges death for life, and begins to be himself
too a burning coal ; such a coal as was the
Apostle, "who before was a blasphemer and a
persecutor and injurious," a coal black and
extinguished ; but when he had obtained mercy,
he was set on fire from heaven, the voice of
Christ set him on fire, all the blackness in him
1 Ps. xiii. 4.
* Ps. xii. 8.
3 Cant. ii. 5) LXX.
644
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLI.
perished, he began to be fervent in spirit, to set
others on fire with that wherewith he was set on
fire himself. . . .
14. " A man full of words shall not be guided
upon earth " ( ver. 11). "A man full of words "
loveth lies. For what pleasure hath he, save in
speaking? He careth not what he speaketh, so
long as he speaks. It cannot be that he will be
guided. What then ought the servant of God
to do, who is kindled with these " coals," and
himself made a coal of salvation, what should he
do? He should wish rather to hear than to
speak ; as it is written, " Let every man be swift
to hear, slow to speak." ■ And if it may be so,
let him desire this, not to be obliged to speak
and talk and teach. ... I can quickly tell you
wherein each one may prove himself, not by
never speaking, but by requiring a case where it
is his duty to speak ; let him be glad to be
silent, in will, let him speak to teach, when he
must. For when must thou needs speak and
teach? When thou meetest with one ignorant,
when thou meetest with one unlearned. If it
delight thee always to teach, thou wishest always
to have some ignorant one to teach. ..." Evil
shall hunt the unrighteous man to destruction."
Evils come, and he standeth not ; therefore said
he, " they shall hunt him to destruction." For
many good men, many righteous men evils have
befallen, evils have, as it were, found them.
Therefore when the evil pursued the good, that
is, our martyrs, when they seized them, they
" hunted " them, but not " to destruction." For
the flesh was pressed down, the spirit was
crowned ; the spirit was cast out from the body,
yet was nought done to the flesh which might
hinder it for the future. Let the flesh be burned,
scourged, mangled ; is it therefore withdrawn
from its Creator, because it is given into the
hands of its persecutor? Will not He who cre-
ated it from nothing, re-make it better than it
was?
15. "I know that the Lord will maintain the
right of the needy" (ver. 12). This "needy"
one is not " full of words ; " for he that is full
of words, wisheth to abound, knoweth not to
hunger. He is "needy" of whom it is said,
" Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled."2
They groan among the stumbling-blocks of the
wicked, they pray to their Head, " to be deliv-
ered from the wicked man. " And the cause of
the poor." These then are they whose cause the
Lord will not neglect ; although now they suffer
hardships, their glory shall appear, when their
Head appeareth. For to such while placed here
it is said, " Ye are dead, and your life is hid
with Christ in God."' So then we are poor,
■ Jat. i. 19.
• Matt. v. 6.
» Col. iii. 3.
our life is hid ; let us cry to Him that is our
Bread.* . . .
16. " But the just shall confess to Thy Name "
(ver. 13). Both when Thou shalt plead their
cause, and when Thou shalt maintain their right,
they " shall confess to Thy Name ; " nought
shall they attribute to their own merits, all they
shall attribute to nought save to Thy mercy. . . .
Therefore see what followeth, see wherewith he
concludeth. " The upright shall dwell with Thy
Countenance." For ill was it with them in their
own countenance ; well will it be with them
with Thy Countenance. For when they loved
their own countenance, " In the sweat of their
countenance did they eat bread."5 Thy Counte-
nance shall come to them with abundance to
satisfy them. Nought more shall they seek, for
nought better have they ; no more shall they
abandon Thee, nor be abandoned by Thee.
For after His Resurrection, what was said of the
Lord ? " Thou shalt fill me with joy with Thy
Countenance." 6 Without His Countenance He
would not give us joy. For this do we cleanse
our countenance, that we may rejoice in His
Countenance.7 . . . Because too, " blessed are
the poor in heart, for they shall see God ; " 8 He
gave the Form of Man both to good and evil,
the Form of God He preserved for the pure
and good, that we may rejoice in Him, and it
may be well with us for ever with His Counte-
nance.
PSALM CXLI.'
1. . . . The Psalm which we have just sung is
in many parts somewhat obscure. When by the
help of the Lord what has been said shall begin
to be expounded and explained, ye will see that
ye are hearing things which ye knew already.
But for this cause are they said in manifold
ways, that variety of expression may remove all
weariness of the truth. . . .
2. " Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hear Thou
me" (ver. 1). This we all can say. This not
I alone say : whole Christ saith it. But it is
said rather in the name of the Body : for He
too, when He was here and bore our flesh,
prayed ; and when He prayed, drops of blood
streamed down from His whole Body. So is it
written in the Gospel : " Jesus prayed earnestly,
and His sweat was as it were great drops of
blood." ,0 What is this flowing of sweat from
His whole Body, but the suffering of martyrs
from the whole Church ? " Listen unto the
voice of my prayer, while I cry unto Thee."
Thou thoughtest the business of crying already
finished, when thou saidst, '• I have cried unto
Thee." Thou hast cried ; yet think not thyself
« John vi. 51. 5 Gen. iii. 19. 6 Ps. xvi. la.
7 1 John iii. a. 8 Matt. v. 8.
9 Lat. CXL. Sermon to the people. I0 Luke xxii. .
Psalm CXLI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
645
safe. If tribulation be finished, crying is fin-
ished : but if tribulation remain for the Church,
for the Body of Christ, even to the end of the
world, let it not only say, " I have cried unto
Thee," but also, " Listen unto the voice of my
prayer."
3. " Let my prayer be set forth in Thy sight
as incense, and the lifting up of my hands an
evening sacrifice " (ver. 2). That this is wont
to be understood of the Head Himself, every
Christian acknowledged. For when the day
was now sinking towards evening, the Lord upon
the Cross " laid down His life to take it again," '
did not lose it against His will. Still we too are
figured there. For what of Him hung upon
the tree, save what He took of us? And how
can it be that the Father should leave and aban-
don His only begotten Son, especially when He
is one God with Him? Yet, fixing our weak-
ness upon the Cross, where, as the Apostle saith,
" our old man is crucified with Him,"2 He cried
out in the voice of that our " old man," " Why
hast Thou forsaken Me?"3 That then is the
" evening sacrifice," the Passion of the Lord,
the Cross of the Lord, the offering of a salutary
Victim, the whole burnt-offering acceptable to
God. That " evening sacrifice " produced, in
His Resurrection, a morning offering. Prayer
then, purely directed from a faithful heart, riseth
like incense from a hallowed altar. Nought is
more delightful than the odour of the Lord :
such odour let all have who believe.
4. . . . " Set, O Lord, a watch before my
mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips "
(ver. 3). He said not a barrier of restraint, but
" a door of restraint." A door is opened as well
as shut. If then it be a " door," let it be both
opened and shut ; opened, to confession of sin ;
closed, to excusing sin. So will it be a " door
of restraint," not of ruin. For what doth this
"door of restraint" profit us? What doth
Christ pray in the name of His Body? "That
Thou turn not aside My heart to wicked words "
(ver. 4). What is, " My heart"? The heart of
My Church ; the heart, that is, of My Body. . . .
5. But when thine heart hath not been turned
aside, O member of Christ, when thy heart hath
not been turned aside " to wicked words, to
making excuses in sins, with men that work in
iniquity," thou shalt also not unite with their
elect. For this followeth, " And I will not unite
with their elect." Who are "their elect"?
Those who justify themselves. Who are their
elect? Those "who trust in themselves that
they are righteous, and despise others," as the
Pharisee said in the temple, " Lord, I thank
Thee that I am not as other men are." 4 Who
are their elect? "This Man, if He were a
1 John x. 17.
3 Ps. xxii. 1 ; Matt, xxvii. 46.
* Rom. vi. 6.
* Luke xv iii. zx.
prophet, would know what manner of woman
this is that touched His feet." 5 Here thou rec-
ognisest the words of that other Pharisee, who
invited our Lord to his house ; when the woman
of that city, who was a sinner, came and ap-
proached His Feet. . . .
For even this woman herself, " if her heart
had turned aside to wicked words," would not
have lacked wherewith to defend her sins. Do
not women daily, her equals in defilement, but
not her equals in confession, harlots, adulteresses,
doers of shameful deeds, defend their sins? If
they have not been seen, they deny them : if
they have been caught and convicted, or have
done their deeds openly, they defend them.
And how easy is their defence, how ready, yet
how headlong ; how common, yet how blas-
phemous ! " Had God not willed it, I had not
done it : God willed it : fortune willed it : fate
willed it." . . . These are the defences of " the
elect " of this world. But let the members of
Christ, the Body of Christ, say, let Christ say in
the name of His Body, " Turn not Thou aside,
My Heart, to wicked words," etc., "and I will
not unite with their elect." . . .
6. " With men that work wickedness." What
wickedness? Let me mention some sinful wick-
edness of theirs. Let me tell you one open sin-
ful wickedness, which they acknowledge. They
say, it is better for a man to be an usurer than a
husbandman. Thou askest the reason, and they
assign one. . . . He vexeth the members of
Christ, who cleanseth the earth with a furrow :
he vexeth the members of Christ, who pulleth
grass from the earth : he vexeth the members of
Christ, who plucketh an apple from a tree. To
avoid committing their imaginary murders in
the farm, he committeth real murders in usury.
He dealeth no bread to the needy. See whether
there can be greater unrighteousness than this
righteousness.6 He dealeth not bread to the
hungry. Thou askest, wherefore ? Lest the beg-
gar receive the life which is in the bread, which
they call a member of God, the substance of
God, and bind it in flesh. What then do ye?
why do ye eat ? Have ye not flesh ? Yes ; but
we, they say, forasmuch as we are enlightened
by faith in Manes,7 by our prayers and our Psalms,
forasmuch as we are elect, we cleanse thereby
that bread, and transmit it into the treasure-
house of the heavens. Such are the elect, that
they are not to be saved by God, but saviours of
God. And this is Christ, they say, crucified in
the whole universe. I received in the Gospel
Christ a Saviour, but ye are in your books the
saviours of Christ. Plainly ye are blasphemers
of Christ, and therefore not to be saved by
3 Luke vii. 39. 6 i.t. as they consider it.
1 [See Confessions, vol. i. p. 76, note 8, this series; also A. N.
F. vol. vi. p. 175. — C.J
646
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLI.
Christ. Therefore lest a crumb be given to the
hungry, and in the crumb a member of Christ
suffer, is the hungry to die of hunger? False
mercy to a crumb causeth true murder of a man.
But who are their elect ? " Turn not thou aside,
my heart, to wicked words, and I will not unite
with their elect."
7. "The righteous One shall amend me in
mercy, and convict me " (ver. 5). Behold the
sinner confessing. He desireth to be amended
in mercy, rather than praised deceitfully. . . .
" Shall convict me," but " in mercy : " shall con-
vict, yet hateth not : yea, shall all the more
convict, because He hateth not. And why doth
he therefore give thanks ? Because, " rebuke a
wise man, and he will love thee." ■ "The righteous
One shall amend me." Because He persecuteth
thee ? God forbid. He requireth rather amend-
ing himself, who amendeth in hate. Wherefore
then doth He amend ? " In mercy. And shall
convict me." Wherein? " In mercy. For the
oil of a sinner shall not enrich my head." My
head shall not grow by flattery. Undue praise is
flattery : undue praise of a flatterer is " the oil
of a sinner." Therefore men too, when they
have mocked any one with false praise, say, " I
have anointed his head." Love then to be
" convicted by the righteous One in mercy ; "
love not to be praised by a sinner in mockery.
Have oil in yourselves, and ye shall not seek the
" oil of a sinner."2 . . .
8. Thou sayest to me, What am I doing? I
am beset with flatterers ; they cease not to be-
siege me ; they praise in me what I would not,
that praise in me what I hold in little esteem ;
what I hold dear they blame in me ; flatterers,
treacherous, deceivers. For instance, " Gaius-
eius 3 is a great man, great, learned, wise ; but
why is he a Christian? For great is his learning,
great his reading, great his wisdom." If great is
his wisdom, approve of his being a Christian ; if
great his learning, learnedly hath he chosen. In
fine, what thou revilest, that pleaseth him whom
thou praisest. But what? That praise sweeten-
eth not : it is " the oil of a sinner." Yet ceaseth
he not to speak so. Let him not therewith
" fatten thy head ; " that is, rejoice not in such
things ; agree not to such things ; consent not to
such things ; rejoice not in such things ; and
then, if he have applied to thee the oil of flat-
tery, yet hath thy head remained as it was, it has
not been puffed up, it hath not swollen. . . .
" For still shall My word be well-pleasing to
1 Prov. ix. 8. a Malt. xxv. 4, etc.
* This is probably taken from Teruillian, Apol. c. 3: " What when
the generality run upon an hatred of this name with eyes so closed,
that, in bearing favourable testimony to any one, they mingle with it
the reproach of the name. ' A good man Cais Seitit, only he is a
Christian.' So another, ' I marvel that that wise man Lucius Titius
hath suddenly become a Christian.' No one reflected whether Caius
be not therefore good and Lucius wise, because a Christian, or there-
fore a Christian because wise and good." [See A. N. F. vol. iii. p.
•0. — C.]
them." Wait awhile : now they revile Me, saith
Christ. In the early times of the Christians, the
Christians were blamed on all sides. Wait as
yet ; and " My word shall be well-pleasing to
them." The time shall come when they shall
conquer thousands of men, who shall beat their
breasts, and say, " Forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors." Even now, how many re-
main who blush to beat their breasts? Let them
then blame us : let us bear it. Let them blame ;
let them hate, accuse, detract ; " still shall My
word be well-pleasing to them ; " the time shall
come when My word shall please them. . . . O
wordy defence of iniquity ! Verily now whole
nations say this, and the thunder of nations beat-
ing their breasts ceaseth not. Rightly do the
clouds thunder, wherein now God dwelleth.
Where is now that wordiness, where that boast-
ing, " I am righteous ; nought of ill have I done " ?
Verily, when thou hast contemplated in Holy
Scripture the law of righteousness, how far soever
thou hast advanced, thou shalt find thyself a sin-
ner.- . . . What sort of man am I now speaking
of, brethren? I speak of him who worshippeth.
God alone, who confesseth Christ, who knoweth
the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to
be one God ; who committeth not fornication
against Him ; who worshippeth not devils ; who
seeketh him not aid from the devil ; who holdeth
the Catholic Church ; whom no one complaineth
of as cheating ; under whose oppression no weak
neighbour groaneth ; who assaileth not another's
wife ; who is content with his own, or even with-
out his own, in such wise as is lawful, and as
Apostolical discipline permitteth, with consent of
both,4 or when she is not yet married. Even he
who is such as this, is yet overtaken in such
things as I have mentioned. For all these daily
sins then what is our hope, save to say with
humble heart in the Lord's Prayer, while we de-
fend not our sins, but confess them, " Forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors ; " 5 and to
" have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous," that He may be " the propitia-
tion for our sins"?6 See what followeth : "their
judges have been swallowed up beside the Rock "
(ver. 6). What is, "swallowed up beside the
Rock ? That Rock was Christ.? They have been
swallowed up beside the Rock." " Beside,"
that is, compared, as judges, as mighty, power-
ful, learned : they are called " their judges," as
judging about morals, and laying down their
opinions. This Aristotle said. Set him beside
the Rock, and he is swallowed up. Who is
Aristotle? let him hear, " Christ hath said," and
he trembleth among the dead. This Pythagoras
said, that Plato said. Set them beside the
Rock, compare their authority to the authority
* 1 Cor. vii. 5.
6 1 Johnii. 1, a.
* Matt. vi. ta.
1 1 Cor. x. 4.
Psalm CXLI].
ON THE PSALMS.
647
of the Gospel, compare the proud to the Cruci-
fied. Say we to them, " Ye have written your
words in the hearts of the proud ; He hath
planted His Cross in the hearts' of kings : finally,
He died, and rose again ; ye are dead, and
I will not ask how ye rise again." So " their
judges have been swallowed up beside " that
" Rock." So long do their words seem some-
what, till they are compared with the Rock.
Therefore if any of them be found to have said
what Christ too hath said, we congratulate him,
but we follow him not. But he came before
Christ. If any man speak what is true, is he
therefore before the Truth itself? Regard Christ,
0 man, not when He came to thee, but when
He made thee. The sick man too might say,
" But I took to my bed before the physician
came to me." Why, for that very reason has
He come last, because thou first has sickened.
9. " They shall hear My Words, for they
have prevailed." My Words have prevailed
over their words. They have spoken clever
things, I true things. To praise one who talk-
eth well is one thing, to praise One who speaketh
truth is another. " They shall hear My Words,
for they have prevailed." How have they pre-
vailed ? Who of them has been taken offering
sacrifice, when such things were forbidden by
the law, and has not denied it? Who of them
has been taken worshipping an idol, and has not
exclaimed, " I did it not," and feared lest he
should be convicted? Such servants hath the
devil. But how have the Words of the Lord
prevailed ? " Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves. Fear not those who kill
the body," etc.2 He gave them fear, He sug-
gested hope, He kindled love. " Fear not
death," He saith. Do ye fear death? I die
first. Fear ye, lest a hair of your head perish ?
1 first rise again in the flesh uninjured. Rightly
have ye heard His Words, for they have pre-
vailed. They spake, and were slain ; they fell,
and yet stood. And what was the result of so
many deaths of martyrs, save that those words
prevailed, and the earth being, so to speak, wa-
tered by the blood of Christ's witnesses, the
cross of the Church shot up everywhere ? How
have they " prevailed " ? We have said already,
when they were preached by men who feared
not. Feared not what? Neither banishment,
nor losses, nor death, nor crucifixion : for it was
not death alone that they did not fear ; but even
crucifixion, a death than which none was thought
more accursed. It the Lord endured, that His
disciples might not only not fear death, but not
even that kind of death. When then these
things are said by men that fear not, they have
prevailed.
1 " On the foreheads," MSS.
* Matt. x. 16, 28.
10. What then have all those deaths of the
martyrs accomplished ? Listen : " As the fat-
ness of the earth is spread over the earth, our
bones have been scattered beside the pit " (ver.
7). "The bones" of the martyrs, that is, the
bodies of the witnesses of Christ. The mar-
tyrs were slain, and they who slew them seemed
to prevail. They prevailed by persecution, that
the words of Christ might prevail by preaching.
And what was the result of the deaths of the
saints ? What meaneth, " the fatness of the
earth is spread over the earth " ? We know
that everything that is refuse is the fatness of
the earth. The things which are, as it were,
contemptible to men, enrich the earth. . . .
" Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of His saints."3 As it is contemptible to the
world, so is it precious to the husbandman.
For he knoweth the use thereof, and its rich
juice ; he knoweth what he desireth, what he
seeketh, whence the fertile crop ariseth ; but
this world despiseth it. Know ye not that
" God hath chosen the contemptible things of
the world, and those which are not, like as those
which are, that the things which are may be
brought to nought"?4 From the dunghill was
Peter lifted up, and Paul ; when they were put
to death, they were despised : now, the earth
having been enriched by them, and the cross
of the Church springing up, behold, all that is
noble and chief in the world, even the emperor
himself, cometh to Rome, and whither does he
hasten? to the temple of the emperor, or the
memorial of the fisherman ?
11. "For unto Thee, Lord, are mine eyes;
in Thee have I hoped, take not Thou away my
life" (ver. 8). For they were tortured in per-
secutions, and many failed. It occurreth to
him that many have failed, many have been
in hazard, and as it were in the midst of the
tribulation of persecution is sent forth the voice
of one praying ; " For unto Thee, Lord, are
mine eyes : " I care not what they threaten who
stand around, " unto Thee, Lord, are mine eyes."
More do I fix mine eye on Thy promises than
on their threats. I know what Thou hast suf-
fered for me, what Thou hast promised me.
12. " Keep me from the trap which they have
laid for me" (ver. 9). What was the trap?
" If thou consentest, I spare thee." In the trap
was set the bait of the present life ; if the bird
love this bait, it falleth into the trap : but if the
bird be able to say, " The day of man have I
not desired : Thou knowest : " 5 " He shall pluck
his feet out of the net," etc.6 Two things he
hath mentioned to be distinguished the one
from the other : the trap he said was set by
persecutors ; the stumbling-blocks came from
3 Ps. cxvi. 15.
5 Jer. xvii. 16.
* i Cor. i. 27, 28
6 Ps. xxv. 15.
648
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLII.
those who have consented and apostatised : and
from both he desires to be guarded. On the
one side they threaten and rage, on the other
consent and fall : I fear lest the one be such,
that I fear him ; the other such, that I imitate
him. " This I do to thee, if thou consent not."
" Keep me from the trap," etc. " Behold, thy
brother hath already consented." "And from
the stumbling-blocks," etc.
13. "Sinners shall fall into his nets" (ver.
10). Not all sinners: certain sinners, who are
so great sinners, as to love this life to such a
degree as to prefer it to everlasting life, " shall
fall into his trap." But what sayest thou? Shall
they that are such, thinkest thou, fall into his
nets? what of Thy disciples, O Christ? Behold,
when persecution was raging, when they all " left
Thee alone, and went every one to his own : " '
lo ! they who were closest to Thee, in Thy trial
and persecution, when Thine enemies demanded
Thee to be crucified, abandoned Thee. And
that bold one, who had promised Thee that he
would go with Thee even unto death, heard
from the Physician what was being done irf him,
the sick man. For being in a fever, he had
said he was whole ; but the Lord touched the
vein of his heart. Then came the trial ; then
came the test ; then came the accusation ; and
now, questioned not by some great power, but
by a humble slave, and that a woman, ques-
tioned by a handmaid, he yielded ; he denied
thrice. ..." He wept bitterly," it saith. Not
yet was he fitted to suffer. To him was said,
" Thou shalt follow Me afterwards." 2 Here-
after he was to be firm, having been strength-
ened by the Lord's Resurrection. Not yet then
was it time that those " bones " should be " scat-
tered beside the pit." For see how many failed,
even to those who first hung on His mouth ;
even they failed. Wherefore ? "I am alone,
until I pass over : " for this followeth in the
Psalm. . . .
14. Pascha, as they say who know, and who have
explained to us what to read, meaneth "Pass-
over." When then the Lord's Passion was
about to come, the Evangelist, as though he
would use this very word, saith, "When the hour
was come that Jesus should pass over to the
Father."' We hear then of Pascha in this
verse, " I am alone, until I pass over." After
Pascha I shall no longer be alone, after passing-
over I shall no longer be alone. Many shall
imitate Me, many shall follow Me. And if after-
ward they shall follow, what shall be the case
now? "I am alone, until I pass over." What
is it that the Lord saith in this Psalm, " I am
alone, until I pass over " ? What is it that we
have expounded? If we have understood it,
■ John xri. 33.
* John xiii. 36.
* John xiii. x.
listen to His own words in the Gospel. " Ex-
cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth alone ; but if it die, it beareth
much fruit." 4 . . . Therefore He was alone be-
fore He was put to death. ... So far was any
from dying for the Name, that is, for confessing
the Name of Christ, before that Corn of wheat
fell into the ground, that even John, who was
slain just before Him, being given by a wicked
king to a dancing woman, was not put to death
because he confessed Christ. Of course he
might have been put to death for this, and that
by many. If for another reason he was put to
death by one man, how much more might he
have been put to death by those very men, who
put Christ to death ? For John gave testimony
to Christ. They who heard Christ, wished to
slay Him ; the man who gave testimony to Him
they slew not. . . . He is not slain by the Jews
who gave free testimony to Christ, whom the
Jews slew ; he is slain by Herod, because he
said to him, " It is not lawful for thee to have
thy brother's wife." 5 For his brother had not
died without issue.6 For the law of truth, for
equity, for righteousness' sake, he did die : there-
fore is he a saint, therefore a martyr ; but yet he
died not for that Name whereby we are Chris-
tians, wherefore, save that the saying might be
fulfilled, " I am alone, until I pass over."
PSALM CXLII.?
1. . . . "With my voice have I cried unto the
Lord " (ver. i). It were enough to say, "with
voice : " not for nothing perhaps has " my " been
added. For many cry unto the Lord, not with
their own voice, but with the voice of their
body. Let the " inner man " then, in whom
" Christ" hath begun to " dwell by faith," 8 cry
unto the Lord, not with the din of his lips, but
with the affection of his heart. God heareth
not, where man heareth : unless thou criest with
the voice of lungs and side and tongue, man
heareth thee not : thy thought is thy cry to the
Lord. " With my voice have I prayed unto the
Lord." What he meant by, " I have cried," he
explained when he said, " I have prayed." For
they too who blaspheme, cry unto the Lord. In
the former part he set down his crying, in the
latter he explained what it was. As though it
were demanded, With what cry hast thou cried
unto the Lord ? Unto the Lord, saith he, I have
prayed. My cry is my prayer, not reviling, not
murmuring, not blaspheming.
2. " I will pour out before Him my prayer"
(ver. 2). What is, "before Him"? In His
sight. What is, in His sight? Where He seeth.
But where doth He not see ? For so do we say,
* John xii. 94,
1 tat. CXLI.
3*
* Matt. xtv. 4.
Sermon to the people.
6 [Matt. xxii. 34. — C.J
» Eph. iii. 17.
Psalm CXLII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
649
' where He seeth,' as though somewhere He seeth
not. But in this assemblage of bodily substances
men too see, animals too see : He seeth where
man seetli not. For thy thoughts no man seeth,
but God seeth. There then pour out thy prayer,
where He alone seeth, who rewardeth. For the
Lord Jesus Christ bade thee pray in secret : but
if thou knowest what "thy closet" is, and
cleansest it, there thou prayest to God. " But
thou," saith He, "when thou prayest, enter into
thy closet, and shut the door, and pray to thy
Father in secret, and He who seeth in secret
shall reward thee." ' If men are to reward thee,
pour out thy prayer before men : if God is to
reward thee, pour out thy prayer before Him ;
and close the door, lest the tempter enter.
Therefore the Apostle, because it is in our pow-
er to shut the door, the door of our hearts, not
of our walls, for in it is our " closet," — because
it is in our power to shut this door, saith,
" neither give place to the devil." 2 But what
is to "shut the door"? This door hath as it
were two leaves, desire and fear. Either thou
desireth something earthly, and he enters by
this ; or thou fearest something earthly, and he
enters by that. Close then the door of fear and
desire against the devil, open it to Christ. How
dost thou open these folding doors to Christ?
By desiring the kingdom of heaven, by fearing
the fire of hell. By desire of this world the
devil entereth, by desire of eternal life Christ
entereth ; by fear of temporal punishment the'
devil entereth, by fear of everlasting fire Christ
entereth. . . .
3. " My tribulation I will proclaim in His
sight." There is a repetition, both in the two
preceding sentences, and in these which follow :
the sentiments are two, but both twice expressed.
. . . For, " in His sight," is the same as " before
Him ; " "I will proclaim my tribulation," is the
same as, " I will pour out my prayer." When
doest thou this? Being set in the midst of per-
secution, he saith, "while my spirit failed from
me" (ver. 3). Wherefore hath thy spirit failed,
0 martyr, set in tribulation? That I may not
claim my strength as mine own, that I may
know that Another worketh in me the goodness
1 have. And men perhaps have heard that
my spirit hath failed within me, and have de-
spaired of me, and have said, " we have taken
him captive, we have overpowered him ; " " and
Thou hast known my paths." They thought
me cast down, Thou didst see me standing
upright. They who persecuted me and had
seized me, thought my feet entangled, " but
their feet were entangled, and they fell, but we
are risen, and stand upright." * For mine eyes
are ever unto the Lord, for He shall pluck
1 Malt. vi. 6.
2 Eph. iv. 37.
3 Ps. XX. 8.
my feet out of the net." 4 I have persevered
in walking, for " he that shall persevere unto
the end, the same shall be saved." s They
thought me overpowered, but I continued walk-
ing. Where did I walk? In paths which they
saw not, who thought me prisoner, in the paths
of Thy righteousness, in the paths of Thy com-
mandments. . . . For every path is a way, but
not every way is a path. Why then are those
ways called paths, save because they are narrow ?
Broad is the way of the wicked, narrow the way
of the righteous. That which is " the way " is
also " the ways," just as " the Church " is also
" the Churches," the " heaven " also the " heav-
ens : " they are spoken of in the plural, they
are spoken of also in the singular. On ac-
count of the unity of the Church it is one
Church ; " My dove is one, she is the only one
of her mother." 6 On account of the congrega-
tion of brethren in various places there are many
Churches. " The Churches of Judaea which are
in Christ rejoiced," saith Paul/ "and they glori-
fied God in me." Thus he spake of Churches ;
and of one Church he thus speaketh, " Give none
offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles,
nor to the Church of God." . . .
4. " In this way, wherein I was walking, they
hid a trap for me." This " way wherein I was
walking," is Christ ; there have they laid a trap
for me, who persecute me in Christ, for Christ's
Name's sake. There then " have they hid for
me a trap." What in me do they hate, what in me
do they persecute ? That I am a Christian. . . .
For the heretics too wish to hide a stumbling-
block for us in the Name of Christ, and are
themselves deceived. What they think that
they put in the way, they put outside the way,
for they themselves are outside the way. They
cannot set a trap where themselves are not. . . .
The Pagan thinketh to put a stumbling-block in
the way, when he saith to me, " Thou worship-
pest a crucified God." He findeth fault with
the Cross of Christ, which he understandeth not.
He thinketh that he setteth in Christ, what he
setteth near the way. I will not depart from
Christ, so shall I not fall from the way into the
trap. Let him mock at Christ crucified, let me
see the Cross of Christ on the foreheads of kings.
What he laugheth at, therein am I saved. Nought
is prouder than a sick man, who laugheth at his
own medicine. If he laughed no', at it, he would
take it, and be healed. The Cross is the sign
of humility, but he through excess of .pride
acknowledgeth not that whereby may be healed
the swelling of his soul. But if I acknowledge,
I am walking in the way. So far am I from
blushing at the Cross, that in no secret place do
I keep the Cross of Christ, but bear it on my
4 Ps. xxv. is.
7 Gal. i. aa, 33.
5 Matt. x. 33.
» Cant. vi. 8.
650
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[PSALM CXLII.
forehead. Many sacraments we receive, one in
one way another in another : some as ye know
we receive with the mouth, some we receive
over the whole body. But because the forehead
is the seat of the blush of shame, He who said,
" Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me before men,
of him will I be ashamed before My Father which
is in heaven," ' set, so to speak, that very ignominy
which the Pagans mock at, in the seat of our
shame. Thou hearest a man assail a shameless
man and say, " He hath no forehead." What
is, " He hath no forehead " ? He hath no shame.
Let me not have a bare forehead, let the Cross
of my Lord cover it. . . .
5. " I considered upon the right hand, and
saw" (ver. 4). He considered upon the right
hand, and saw : whoso considereth upon the left
hand, is blinded. What is to consider on the
right hand ? Where they will be to whom shall
be said, " Come, ye blessed of My Father," etc.,2
. . . He goeth on to say, " and there was none
that knew me." For when thou fearest all things,
who knoweth what thou regardest, whether thou
directest thine eyes to the right hand or to the
left? If, in bearing, thou seekest the praise of
men, thou hast regarded the left : if, in bearing,
thou seekest the promises of God, thou hast
regarded the right hand. Hast thou regarded
the right hand, thou shalt see : hast thou regarded
the left hand, thou shalt be blinded. But even
when thou seest on the right hand, there will be
none to know thee. For who comforteth thee
save the Lord ? " Flight hath perished from
me." He speaketh as though he were hemmed
in. Let the persecutors rejoice over him ; he is
overpowered, he is taken, he is hemmed in, he is
conquered. " Flight hath perished " from him
who fleeth not. But he who fleeth not, suffereth
whatever he can for Christ : that is, he fleeth not
in soul. For in body it is lawful to flee ; it is
allowed, it is permitted ; for the Lord saith,
" When they persecute you in one city, flee to
another."' He then who fleeth not in soul,
from him " flight hath perished." But it mak-
eth a difference why he fleeth not; whether
because he is hemmed in, because he is caught,
or because he is brave. For both from him that
is caught flight hath perished, and from him that
is brave flight hath perished. What flight then
is to be avoided ? what flight shall we allow to
perish from us ? That whereof the Lord speak-
eth in the Gospel, " The Good Shepherd layeth
down his life for the sheep. But he that is an
hireling, and not the shepherd, when he seeth
the wolf coming, fleeth." When he seeth the
ravager, why fleeth he ? " Because he careth not
for the sheep." ♦ ... In two ways a man's life is
sought, either by his persecutors or by his lovers.'
' Lulce ix. 26. * Man. xxv. 34, a. ' Malt. x. 23.
* John x. 11, etc. » [i.r. " who »eek to save it." — C.]
So then " there is none to seek my life," he said
of them ; verily they persecute my life, and they
seek not my life. But if they seek my life, they
will find it clinging to Thee : and if they know
to seek it, they know also to imitate it.
6. " Unto thee have I cried, O Lord : I have
said, Thou art my hope " (ver. 5 ) . When I
endured, when I was in tribulation, " I said,
Thou art my hope." My hope here, therefore I
endure. But " my portion," not here, but " in
the land of the living." God giveth a portion
in the land of the living ; but not something from
Himself without Himself. What will He give to
one that loveth Him, save Himself?
7. " Give heed unto my prayer, for much
have I been humbled " (ver. 6). Humbled by
persecutors, humbled in confession. He hum-
bleth himself out of the sight of man : he is
humbled by enemies in their sight. Therefore
is he lifted up by Him both visibly and invisibly.
Invisibly are the martyrs already lifted up ; visi-
bly shall they be lifted up, " when this corrupt-
ible shall have put on incorruption " in the
resurrection of the dead ; when this very part of
him, against which alone her persecutors could
rage, shall be renewed. " Fear not them that kill
the body, but cannot kill the soul." 6 And what
perisheth? what kill they? . . . Why then art
thou anxious about the rest of thy members,
when thou shalt not lose even a hair? ? " Deliver
me from them that persecute me." From whom
thinkest thou that he prayeth to be delivered ?
From men who persecuted him? Is it so? are
merely men our enemies? We have other ene-
mies, invisible, who persecute us in another way.
Man persecuteth, that he may slay the body ;
another persecuteth, that he ensnare the soul.8
. . . There are then other enemies of ours too,
from whom we ought to pray God to deliver us,
lest they lead us astray, either by crushing us with
troubles of this world, or alluring us by its entice-
ments. Who are these enemies? Let us see
whether they are plainly described by any servant
of the Lord, by any soldier, now perfected, who
hath engaged with them. Hear the Apostle say-
ing, " We wrestle not against flesh and blood : " »
as though he would say, Turn not your hatred
against men ; think not them your enemies ;
think not that it is by their hostility you are
being bruised ; these men whom ye fear are flesh
and blood. ..." For they are strengthened
over me." Who said, "they are strengthened
over me"? The Body of Christ crieth out; it
is the voice of the Church ; the members of
Christ cry out, " Much hath the number of
sinners increased." " Because iniquity hath
abounded, the love of many waxeth cold." ,0
8. " Bring forth my soul out of prison, that
* Matt. x. 38.
9 Eph. vi. 12.
' [Luke xxi. 18.
10 Malt. xxiv. 12.
-C] « Eph. :i. a.
TSALM CXLIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
651
it may confess to Thy Name " (ver. 7). This
" prison " has been variously understood by
former writers. And perhaps it is the prison
which is called in the title, " the cave." For the
title of this Psalm runneth thus : " Of under-
standing to David himself, a prayer when he was
in the cave." That which is the cave, the same
is also the prison. Two things have we set
before us to understand, but when we have
understood one, both will be understood.' A
man's deserts make a prison. For in one dwell-
ing place one man finds a house, another a
prison. ... To some then it has seemed that
the " cave " and " prison " are this world ; and
this the Church prayeth, that it may be brought
out of prison, that is, from this world, from
under the sun, where all is vanity.' Beyond this
world then God promiseth that we shall be in
some sort of rest ; therefore perhaps do we
cry concerning this place, " Bring my soul out
of prison." Our soul by faith and hope is in
Christ ; " Your life is hid with Christ in God."
But our body is in this prison, in this world. . . .
But some have said, that this prison and cave
is this body, so that this is the meaning of,
" Bring my soul out of prison." But this inter-
pretation too is somewhat at fault. For what
great thing is it to say, " Bring my soul out of
prison," bring my soul out of the body? Do
not the souls of robbers and wicked men go
forth from the body, and go into worse punish-
ment than here they have endured ? What great
request then is this, " Bring my soul out of
prison," when, sooner or later, it must needs
come forth ? Perhaps the righteous saith, " Let
me die now ; bring forth my soul from this
prison of the body." If he be too hasty, he
hath not love. He ought indeed to long for and
desire, as the Apostle saith, " having a desire to
be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is far
better." But where is love? Therefore it fol-
loweth, " but to abide in the flesh is needful for
you." Let God then lead us forth from the
body, when He will. Our body too might be
said to be a prison, not because that is a prison
which God hath made, but because it is under
punishment and liable to death. For there are two
things to be considered in our body, God's work-
manship, and the punishment it has deserved. . . .
Perhaps then he meant by, " Bring my soul out
of prison," bring my soul out of corruption. If
thus we understand it, it is no blasphemy, the
meaning is consistent. Lastly, brethren, as I
think, he meant this ; " Bring my soul out of
prison," bring it out of straitness. For to one
who rejoiceth, even a prison is wide ; to one in
sorrow, a field is strait. Therefore prayeth he
to be brought out of straitness. For though
1 Eccles. i. 2, etc
in hope he have enlargement, yet in reality at
at present he is straitened. ... It is not the
body that weigheth down the soul, but the cor-
ruptible body. It is not the body then that
maketh the prison, but the corruption. " Bring
my soul out of prison, that it may give thanks
to Thy Name." Now the words which follow
seem to come from the Head, our Lord Jesus
Christ. And they are the same as yesterday's
last words. Yesterday's last words, if ye remem-
ber, were, " I am alone, until I pass over." And
here what are the last words ? " The righteous
shall sustain me, until thou recompense me."
PSALM CXLIII.2
1. . . . The title of the Psalm is, "To David
himself, when his son was pursuing him." We
know from the Books of Kings3 that this hap-
pened : . . . but we must recognise here another
David, truly " strong in hand," which is the ex-
planation of David, even our Lord Jesus Christ.
For all those events of past time were figures of
things to come. Let us seek then in this Psalm
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, announcing
Himself beforehand in His prophecy, and fore-
telling what should happen at this time by things
which were done long ago. For He Himself
foretold Himself in the Prophets : for He is the
Word of God. Nor did they say ought of this
kind, save when filled with the Word of God.
They announced then Christ, being filled with
Christ,4 they went before Him about to come,
and He deserted not them going before. . . .
2. Let then our Lord speak ; let Christ with
us, whole Christ, speak. " Lord, hear my prayer,
receive with Thine ears my entreaty " (ver. 1).
" Hear " and " receive with ears " are the same
thing. It is repetition, it is confirmation. " In
Thy truth hear me, in Thy righteousness." Take
it not without emphasis when it is said, " in Thy
righteousness." For it is a commendation of
grace, that none of us think his righteousness his
own. For this is the righteousness of God, which
God hath given thee to possess. For what saith
the Apostle of them, who would boast of their
own righteousness? Speaking of the Jews, he
saith, " they have a zeal of God, but not accord-
ing to knowledge."3 . . . Thou art perverse,
because thou imputest what thou hast done ill to
God, what well to thyself: thou wilt be right,
when thou imputest what thou hast done ill to
thyself, what well to God. . . . Behold, " in Thy
righteousness hear me." For when I look upon
myself, nought else do I find mine own, save sin.
3. " And enter not into judgment with Thy
servant" (ver. 2). Who are willing to enter
into judgment with Him, save they who, " being
2 Lat. CXLII. A sermon to the people.
« [1 Pet. i. to, it, 12.— C.j
3 2 Sam. xv.
5 Rom. x. 2.
652
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLIII.
ignorant of the righteousness of God, go about to
establish their own?" "Wherefore have we
fasted, and Thou hast not seen ; wherefore have
we afflicted our souls, and Thou takest no knowl-
edge ? " ' As though they would say, " We have
done what Thou hast commanded, wherefore
dost Thou not render to us what Thou hast
promised ? " God answereth thee : I will give
to thee to receive what I have promised : I have
given thee that thou shouldest do that whereby
thou mayest receive. Finally, to such proud
ones the Prophet speaketh ; " Wherefore will ye
plead with Me? ye have all transgressed against
Me, saith the Lord." 2 Why will ye enter into
judgment with Me, and recount your own right-
eousnesses ? . . . " For before Thee every one
living shall not be justified." " Every one liv-
ing ; " living, that is, here,' living in the flesh,
living in expectation of death ; born a man ;
deriving his life of man ; sprung from Adam, a
living Adam ; every one thus living may perhaps
be justified before himself, but not before Thee.
How before himself? By pleasing himself, dis-
pleasing Thee. Enter not then into judgment
with me, O Lord my God. How straight soever
I seem to myself, Th6u bringest forth a standard
from Thy store-house, Thou fittest me to it, and
I am found crooked. Well is it said, " with Thy
servant." It is unworthy of Thee to enter into
judgment with Thy servant, or even with Thy
friend.3 . . . What of the Apostles themselves ?
. . . That ye may perceive it at once, they learnt
to pray what we pray : to them was given the
pattern of prayer by the heavenly Counsellor.
"After this manner," saith He, " pray ye." 4 And
having set down certain things first, He laid
down this too to be said by the leaders of the
sheep, the chief members of the Shepherd and
Gatherer * of the one flock ; even they learnt to
say, "Forgive us our debts."6 They said not,
"Thanks be to Thee, who hast forgiven us our
debts, as we too forgive our debtors," but, " For-
give, as we forgive." But surely the faithful
prayed then, surely the Apostles prayed then, for
this Lord's Prayer was given rather to the faith-
ful. If those debts only were meant which are
forgiven by Baptism, it would befit catechumens
rather to say, " Forgive us our debts." Let the
Apostles then say, yea let them say, " Forgive us
our debts." And when it is said to them,
" Wherefore say ye this? what are your debts?"
let them answer, "for in Thy sight every one
living shall not be justified."
4. " For the enemy hath persecuted my soul :
he hath humbled my life on the earth " (ver.
3). Here we speak, here our Head speaketh
for us. Manifestly both the devil persecuted the
1 I»a lviii. 3. a Jer. u. ao. 3 Malt. v. 40.
* Mall, vi 9.
> Congregatorit; MSS. Congrtgatorts, The gatherer*.
° Mall. vi. 11.
Soul of Christ and Judas the Soul of his Master :
and now too the same devil remaineth to perse-
cute the Body of Christ, and one Judas succeed-
eth another. There lacketh not then of whom
the Body too may say, " For the enemy hath
persecuted my soul." For what doth each one
who persecuteth us endeavour save to make us
abandon our heavenly hope, and savour of the
earth, yield to our persecutor, and love earthly
things ? " They have laid me in dark places, as
the dead of the world." This ye hear more
readily from the Head ; this ye perceive more
readily in the Head. For He died indeed for
us, yet was He not one of the " dead of the
world." For who are the " dead of the world "?•
And how was not He one of the " dead of the
world " ? " The dead of the world " are those
who have died of their own desert, receiving the
reward of iniquity, deriving death from the sin
transmissed to them ; according as it is said,
" For I was conceived in iniquity." 7 ... In
dying, saith He, I do the will of My Father, but
I am not deserving of death. Nought have I
done wherefore I should die, yet is it Mine own
doing that I die, that by the death of an inno-
cent One, they may be freed who had wherefore
they should die. " They set me in places," as
though in Hades, as though in the tomb, as though
in His very Passion, "as the dead of the world." 8
5. "And My Spirit within me," saith He,
"suffered weariness" (ver. 4). Remember,
" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death." ' Here we see one voice. Do we not
see plainly the transition from the Head to the
members, from the members to the Head? . . .
6. But we too were there. He goes to the
members. " I have called to mind the days of
old " (ver. 5). Did He "call to mind the days
of old," by whom every day was made? No,
but the body speaketh, each one who has been
justified by His grace, who dwelleth in Him in
love and devout humility, speaketh and saith,
" I have meditated upon all Thy works : " plainly
because Thou hast made all things good, and
nothing would have stood fast, which was not
established by Thee. Thy creation is made a
spectacle unto me : I have sought in the work
the Artificer, in all that is made the Maker.
Wherefore this, to what purpose this, save that
he might understand, that whatever there was
of good in himself was made by Him. . . . Look
back then upon the Framer of thy life, the
Author of thy substance, of thy righteousness,
and of thy salvation : " meditate upon the works
of His hands," for the righteousness -too which
is in thee, thou wilt find to pertain to His hand.
Hear the Apostle teaching thee this, " not of
works," he saith, " lest any should boast." Have
» P.. li. s.
• p».
1 Matt. xxvi. 38.
Psalm CXLIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
653
we no good works ? Plainly we have : but see
what follows ; " for we are His workmanship," '
saith he. " We are His workmanship : " perhaps
in thus speaking of workmanship, he meant to
mention the nature whereby we are men? Evi-
dently not : he was speaking of works. But let
us not make conjectures ; let the text go on,
"for we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works." Think not then that
thou thyself doest anything, save in so far as
thou art evil. ..." Work out your own salva-
tion," saith the Apostle, "with fear and trem-
bling." * If we do work out our own salvation,
wherefore with fear, wherefore with trembling,
when what we work is in our own power? Hear
wherefore with fear and trembling : " for it is
God that worketh in you both to will and to do,
of His good pleasure." Therefore " with fear
and trembling," that it may delight our Maker
to work in the lowly valley. . . .
7. " I stretched forth," saith he, " my hands
to Thee : my soul is as a land without water to
Thee " (ver. 6). Rain upon me, saith he, to bring
forth from me good fruit. " For the Lord shall
give sweetness, that our land may give her fruit." 3
" I have stretched forth my hands to Thee ; my
soul is as a land without water," not to me, but
" to Thee." I can thirst for Thee, I cannot
water myself.
8. "Speedily hear me, Lord" (ver. 7). For
what need of delay to inflame my thirst, when
already I thirst so eagerly? Thou didst delay
the rain, that I might drink and imbibe, not
reject, Thy inflowing. If then Thou didst for
this cause delay, now give ; for, " my spirit hath
failed." Let Thy Spirit fill me. This is the reason
why Thou shouldest speedily hear me. I am
now become " poor in spirit," make Thou me
" blessed in the kingdom of heaven." 4 For he
in whom his own spirit liveth, is proud, is puffed
up with his own spirit against God. . . .
9. " Turn not Thou away Thy Face from
me." Thou didst turn it away from me when
proud. For once I was full, and in my fulness
I was puffed up. Once " in my fulness I said,
I shall never be moved." " I said in my ful-
ness, I shall not be moved," knowing not Thy
Righteousness, and establishing mine own ; but
" Thou, Lord, in Thy Will hast afforded strength
to my beauty." " I said in my fulness, I shall
not be moved," but from Thee came whatever
fulness I had. And to prove to me that it was
from Thee, "Thou didst turn away Thy Face
from me, and I was troubled." 5 After this trou-
ble, whereinto I was cast, because Thou didst
turn away Thy Face, after the weariness of my
spirit, after my heart was troubled within me,
because Thou didst turn away Thy Face, then
1 Eph. ii. 9, 10.
* Man. v. 3.
2 Philip, ii. 12, 13.
5 Ps. xxx. 6, 7.
3 Ps. lxxxv. is.
became I " like a land without water to Thee :
turn not Thou away Thy Face." Thou turnedst
it away from me when proud ; give it back to
me now I am humble. Because, if Thou turn it
away, " I shall be like to them that go clown
into the pit." What is, " that go down into the
pit"? When the sinner has come into the
depth of sins, he will show contempt. They
" go down into the pit," who lose even confes-
sion ; against which is said, " Let not the pit
close her mouth over me."6 This depth Scripture
calleth mostly " a pit," into which depth when a
sinner hath come, " he showeth contempt."
What is, " he showeth contempt " ? He no
longer believeth in Providence, or if he do
believe, he thinketh that he has no longer aught
to do with it. . . .
10. " Make me to hear in the morning Thy
mercy, for in Thee have I hoped" (ver. 8).
Behold, I am in the night, yet " in Thee have I
hoped," until the iniquity of the night pass
away. " For we have," as Peter saith, " a more
sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in
a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-
star arise in your hearts." " Morning " then
he "calleth the time after the end of the world,
when we shall see what in this world we believe.
But what here, until the morning come? For
it is not enough to hope for the morning ; we
must do somewhat. Why do somewhat ? God
is to be sought with the hands in the night.
What is, "with the hands"? By good works.
Since then we must thus hope for the morning,
and bear this night, and persevere in this patience
until the day dawn, what meanwhile must we
do here? lest perchance thou think that thou
wilt do aught of thyself, whereby thou mayest
earn to be brought to the morning. " Make
known to me, O Lord, the way wherein I must
walk." Therefore did He kindle the lamp of
prophecy, therefore did He send the Lord in
the vessel,7 as it were, of the flesh, who should
even say, " My strength is dried up like a
potsherd." 8 Walk by prophecy, walk by the
lamp of future things predicted, walk by the
word of God. . . .
11. " Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lord,
for unto Thee have I fled for refuge" (ver. 9).
I who once fled from Thee, now flee to Thee.
For Adam fled from the Face of God, and hid
himself among the trees of Paradise, so that of
him was said in the Book of Job, "As a servant
that fleeth from his Lord, and findeth a shadow." '
He fled from the Face of his Lord, and found a
shadow. Woe to him, if he continue in the
shade, lest it be said afterward, " All things are
passed away like a shadow." '° The rulers of
6 Ps. lxix.
9 Jobvii. 2.TLXX.
iX*
' Ttstd.
8 Ps. xxii. 15.
10 Wisd. v. 9.
654
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLIV.
this world, of this darkness, the rulers of the
wicked ; against these ye wrestle. Great is
your conflict, not to see your enemies, and yet
to conquer. Against the rulers of this world, of
this darkness, the devil, that is, and his angels ;
not the rulers of that world, whereof is said,
" the world was made by Him," but that world
whereof is said, " the world knew Him not." '
" For unto Thee have I fled for refuge." . . .
Whither should I flee? "Whither shall I go
from Thy Spirit?"2
12. "Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art
my God " (ver. 10). Glorious confession ! glo-
rious rule ! " For Thou," saith he, " art my
God." To another will I hasten to be re-made,
if by another I was made. Thou art my all, " for
Thou art my God." Shall I seek a father to
get an inheritance ? " Thou art my God," not
only the Giver of mine inheritance, but mine
Inheritance itself. " The Lord is the portion of
mine inheritance." ' Shall I seek a patron, to
obtain redemption? "Thou art my God."
Lastly, having been created, do I desire to be
re-created ? " Thou art my God," my Creator,
who hast created me by Thy Word, and re-created
me by Thy Word. " Teach Thou me:" for it can-
not be that Thou art my God, and yet I am to' be
mine own master. See how grace is commended
to us. This hold fast, this drink in, this let none
drive out of your hearts, lest ye have " a zeal, of
God, but not according to knowledge." * Say then
this : " Thy good Spirit," not my bad one, " Thy
good Spirit shall lead me into the right land."
For my bad spirit hath led me into a crooked
land. And what have I deserved? What can
be reckoned as my good works without Thy aid,
through which I might obtain and be worthy to
be led by Thy Spirit into the right land?
13. Listen, then, with all your power, to the
commendation of Grace, whereby ye are saved
without price. " For Thy Name's sake, O Lord,
Thou shalt quicken me in Thy righteousness "
(ver. n); not in mine own: not because I
have deserved, but because Thou hast mercy.
For were I to show mine own desert, nought
should I deserve of Thee, save punishment.
Thou hast pruned off from me mine own mer-
its ; Thou hast grafted in Thine own gifts.
" Thou shalt bring forth my soul out of tribula-
tion." " And in thy mercy shalt bring mine en-
emies to destruction : and thou shalt destroy all
them that afflict my sou] ; for I am Thy ser-
vant" (ver. 12).
PSALM CXLIV.s
1. The title of this Psalm is brief in number
of words, but heavy in the weight of its myste-
1 John i. 10.
4 Rom. x. 3.
2 Pi. cxxxix. 7.
» Lat. CXLI11.
3 Ps. xvi. 5.
Sermon to the people.
ries. "To David himself against Goliath." This
battle was fought in the time of our fathers, and
ye, beloved, remember it with me from Holy
Scripture. . . . David put five stones in his
scrip, he hurled but one. The five Books were
chosen, but unity conquered. Then, having
smitten and overthrown him, he took the ene-
my's sword, and with it cut off his head. This
our David also did, He overthrew the devil with
his • own weapons : and when his great ones,
whom he had in his power, by means of whom
he slew other souls, believe, they turn their
tongues against the devil, and so Goliath's head
is cut off with his own sword.
2. " Blessed be the Lord my God, who teach-
eth my hands for battle, my fingers for war "
(ver. 1). These are our words, if we be the
Body of Christ. It seems a repetition of senti-
ment ; " our hands for battle," and " our fingers
for war," are the same. Or is there some dif-
ference between " hands " and " fingers " ? Cer-
tainly both hands and fingers work. Not then
without reason do we take "fingers" as put for
" hands." But still in the " fingers " we recognise
the division of operation, yet still a sort of unity.
Behold that grace ! the Apostle saith,6 To one,
this ; to another, that ; " there are diversities of
operations ; all these worketh one and the self-
same Spirit ; " there is the root of unity. With
these " fingers " then the Body of Christ fighteth,
going forth to " war," going forth to " battle." . . .
By works of Mercy our enemy is conquered,
and we could not have works of mercy unless
we had charity, and charity we could have
none unless we received it by the Holy Ghost ;
He then " teacheth our hands for battle, and our
fingers for war : " to Him rightfully do we say,
" My Mercy," from whom we have also that we
are merciful : " for he shall have judgment with-
out mercy, that hath showed no mercy." '
3. My Mercy and my Refuge, my Upholder
and my Deliverer" (ver. 2). Much toileth this
combatant, having his flesh lusting against his
spirit. Keep what thou hast. Then shalt thou
have in full what thou wishest, when "death shall
have been swallowed up in victory ; " 8 when this
mortal body has been raised, and is changed into
the condition of the angels, and rises aloft to a
heavenly quality. . . . There is life, there are
good days, where nought lusteth against the
spirit, where it is not said, " Fight," but " Re-
joice." But who is he that lusteth for these
days? Every man certainly saith, " I do."
Hear what followeth. I see that thou art toiling,
I see that thou art engaged in battle, and in
danger ; hear what followeth : . . . " Depart
from evil, and do good : " let not the poor first
weep under thee, that the poor may rejoice
6 1 Cor. xii. 8. etc.
7 Jas. u. 13.
8 1 Cor. xv. 54.
Psalm CXLIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
655
through thee. For what reward, since now
thou art fighting? " Seek peace, and ensue it."
Learn and say, " My Mercy and my Refuge,
mine Upholder and my Deliverer, my Protector : "
" mine Upholder," lest I fall ; " my Deliverer,"
lest I stick ; " my Protector," lest I be stricken.
In all these things, in all my toil, in all my battles,
in all my difficulties, in Him have I hoped,
"who subdueth my people under me." Behold,
our Head speaketh together with us.
4. " Lord, what is man, that Thou hast be-
come known unto him?" (ver. 3). All is in-
cluded in " that Thou hast become known unto
him." " Or the son of man, that Thou valuest
him?" Thou valuest him, that is, Thou makest
him of such importance, Thou countest him of
such price, Thou knowest under what Thou
placest him, over what Thou placest him. For
valuing is considering the price of a thing.
How greatly did He value man, who for him
shed the blood of His only-begotten Son !
For God valueth not man in the same way as
one man valueth another : he, when he findeth
a slave for sale, giveth a higher price for a horse
than for a man. Consider how greatly He
valued thee, that thou mayest be able to say,
"If God be for us, who can be against us?"
And how greatly did He value thee, " who spared
not His own Son " ? " How shall He not also
with Him freely give us all things?" ' He who
giveth this food to the combatant, what keepeth
He in store for the conqueror? . . .
5. "Man is made like unto vanity: his days
pass away like a shadow" (ver 4). What vanity?
Time, which passeth on, and floweth by. For
this "vanity" is said in comparison of the Truth,
which ever abideth, and never faileth : for it too
is a work of His Hand, in its degree. " For,"
as it is written, " God filled the earth with His
good things."2 What is " His"? That accord
with Him. But all these things, being earthly,
fleeting, transitory, if they be compared to that
Truth, where it is said, " I Am That I Am," » all
this which passeth away is called "vanity." For
through time it vanisheth, like smoke into the
air. And why should I say more than that which
the Apostle James said, willing to bring down
proud men to humility, " VVhat is," saith he,
" your life ? It is even a vapour, which appear-
eth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." 4
. . . Work then, though it be in .the night, with
thine hands, that is, by good works seek God,
before the day come which shall gladden thee,
lest the day come which shall sadden thee. For
see how safely thou workest, who art not left by
Him whom thou seekest ; " that thy Father which
seeth in secret may reward thee openly."' . . .
6. " Lord, bow Thy heavens, and come
1 Rom. viii. 31, 3a.
* Jas. iv. 14.
2 Ecclus. xvi. 29.
5 Matt. vi. 4.
3 Exod. iii. 14.
down : touch the mountains, and they shall
smoke" (ver. 5). "Flash Thy lightning, and
Thou shalt scatter them ; send forth Thine
arrows, and Thou shalt confound them " (ver.
6). "Send forth Thy Hand from above, and
deliver me, and draw me out of many waters "
(ver. 7). The Body of Christ, the humble
David, full of grace, relying on God, fighting in
this world, calleth for the help of God. What
are " heavens bowed down " ? Apostles humbled.
For those " heavens declare the glory of God ; "
and of these heavens declaring the glory of God
it is presently said, " There is neither speech nor
language, but their voices are heard among
them," etc.6 When then these heavens sent
forth their voices through all lands, and did
wonderful things, while the Lord flashed and
thundered from them by miracles and command-
ments, the gods were thought to have come down
from heaven to men. For certain of the Gen-
tiles, thinking this, desired even to sacrifice to
them. . . . But they commended to these the
Lord Jesus Christ, humbling themselves, that
God might be praised ; because " the heavens "
were " bowed," that " God " might " come down."
. . . "Touch the mountains, and they shall
smoke." So long as they are not touched, they
seem to themselves great : they are now about
to say, " Great art Thou, O Lord : " 7 the moun-
tains also are about to say, " Thou only art the
Most Highest over all the earth." 8
7. But there are some that conspire, that
"gather themselves together against the Lord,
and against His Christ." 9 They have come to-
gether, they have conspired. " Flash forth Thy
lightnings, and Thou shalt scatter them." Abound
with Thy miracles, and their conspiracy shall be
broken. ..." Send forth Thine arrows, and
Thou shalt confound them." Let the unsound
be wounded, that, being well wounded, they may
be made sound ; and let them say, being set now
in the Church, in the Body of Christ, let them say
with the Church, " I am wounded with Love." '°
" Send forth Thine Hand from on high." What
afterward ? What in the end ? How conquereth
the Body of Christ? By heavenly aid. "For
the Lord Himself shall come with the voice of
the Archangel, and with the trump of God shall
He descend from heaven," " Himself the Saviour
of the body, the Hand of God. What is, " Out
of many waters " ? From many peoples. What
peoples? Aliens, unbelievers, whether assailing
us from without, or laying snares within. Take
me out of many waters, in which Thou didst
discipline me, in which Thou didst roll me, to
free me from my filth. This is the " water of
contradiction." '2 . . . " From the hand of strange
6 Ps. xix. I, 3, 4.
9 Ps. ii. 2.
11 1 Thcss. iv. 16.
7 Ps. xlviii. I.
■° Cant. ii. 5, LXX.
12 Numb. xx. 13.
6 Ps. lxxxiii. 18.
656
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLIV.
children." Hear, brethren, among whom we are,
among whom we live, from whom we long to be
delivered. "Whose mouth hath spoken vanity"
(ver. 8). All of you to-day, if ye had not gath-
ered yourselves together to these divine shows '
of the word of God, and were not at this hour
engaged in them, how great vanities would ye be
hearing! "whose mouth hath spoken vanity:"
when, in short, would they, speaking vanity, hear
you speaking vanity ? " And their right hand is
a right hand of iniquity." What doest thou among
them with thy pastoral scrip with five stones in
it ? Say it to me in another form : that same law
which thou hast signified by five stones, signify
in some other way also. " I will sing a new song
unto Thee, O God" (ver. 9). "A new song"
is of grace ; " a new song " is of the new man ;
" a new song " is of the New Testament. But
lest thou shouldest think that grace departeth
from the law, whereas rather by grace the law is
fulfilled, " upon a psaltery of ten strings will I
sing unto Thee." Upon the law of ten com-
mandments : therein may I sing to Thee ;
therein may I rejoice to Thee ; therein may " I
sing to Thee a new song ; " for, " Love is the ful-
filling of the law." 2 But they who have not love
may carry the psaltery, sing they cannot. Con-
tradiction cannot make my psaltery to be silent.
8. " Who giveth salvation to kings, who re-
deemeth David His servant" (ver. 10). Ye
know who David is ; be yourselves David.
Whence " redeemeth He David His servant"?
Whence redeemeth He Christ? Whence re-
deemeth He the Body of Christ? " From the
sword of ill intent deliver me." " From the
sword " is not sufficient ; he addeth, " of ill in-
tent." Without doubt there is a sword of good
intent. What is the sword of good intent? That
whereof the Lord saith, " I came not to send
peace on earth, but a sword." 3 For He was
about to separate believers from unbelievers,
sons from parents, and to sever all other ties,
while the sword cut off what was diseased, but
healed the members of Christ. Of good intent
then is the sword twice sharpened, powerful with
both edges, the Old and New Testaments, with
the narration of the past and the promise of the
future. That then is the sword of good intent :
but the other is of ill intent, wherewith they talk
vanity, for that is of good intent, wherewith God
speaketh verity. For truly " the sons of men
have teeth which are spears and arrows, and
their tongue is a sharp sword."4 "From " this
" sword deliver me " (ver. n). " And. take me
out of the hand of strange children, whose mouth
hath spoken vanity : " just as before. And that
which followeth, " their right hand is a right
hand of iniquity," the same he had set down
before also, when he called them " many waters."
For lest thou shouldest think that the " many
waters " were good waters, he explained them
by the " sword of ill intent."
9. " Whose sons are like young vines firmly
planted in their youth" (ver. I21. He wisheth
to recount their happiness. Observe, ye sons of
light, sons of peace : observe, ye sons of the
Church, members of Christ ; observe whom he
calleth " strangers," whom he calleth " strange
children," whom he calleth " waters of contra-
diction," whom he calleth a " sword of ill intent."
Observe, I beseech you, for among them ye are
in peril, among their tongues ye fight against the
desires of your flesh, among their tongues, set in
the hand of the devil wherewith he fightetb.5
. . . What vanity hath their mouth spoken, and
how is their right hand a right hand of iniquity ?
"Their daughters are fitted and adorned after
the similitude of a temple." " Their garners are
full, bursting out from one store to another :
their sheep are fruitful, multiplying in their
streets" (ver. 13) : "their oxen are fat: their
hedge is not broken down, nor their road, nor is
their crying in their streets " (ver. 14). Is not
this then happiness? I ask the sons of the
kingdom of heaven, I ask the offspring of ever-
lasting resurrection, I ask the body of Christ,
the members of Christ, the temple of God. Is
not this then happiness, to have sons safe,
daughters beautiful, garners full, cattle abundant,
no downfall, I say not of a wall, but not even
of a hedge, no tumult and clamour in the streets,
but quiet, peace, abundance, plenty of all things
in their houses and in their cities? Is not this
then happiness? or ought the righteous to shun
it ? or findest thou not the house of the right-
eous too abounding with all these things, full of
this happiness? Did not Abraham's house
abound with gold, silver, children, servants, cat-
tle ? What say we ? is not this happiness ? Be
it so, still it is on the left hand. What is, on
the left hand ? Temporal, mortal, bodily. I de-
sire not that thou shun it, but that thou think it
not to be on the right hand. . . . For what
ought they to have set on the right hand ? God,
eternity, the years of God which fail not, whereof
is said, " and Thy years shall not fail." 6 There
should be the right hand, there shouid be our
longing. Let us use the left for the time, let us
long for the right for eternity. " If riches in-
crease, set not your heart upon them." 7 . . .
10. "They have called the people blessed
who have these things" (ver. 15). O men
that speak vanity ! They have lost the true
right hand, wicked and perverse, they have put
on the benefits of God inversely. O wicked
ones, O speakers of vanity, O strange children !
1 Spectacula.
> Malt. x. 34.
3 Rom. xiii. 10.
* Ps. ML 4.
* Eph. vi. la.
6 Ps. cii. a;.
1 Ps. lxii. 10.
Psalm CXLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
657
What was on the left hand, they have set on the
right. What dost thou, David? What dost
thou, Body of Christ? What do ye, members
of Christ? What do ye, not strange children,
but children of Cod? . . . What say ye? Say
ye with us, " Blessed is the people whose Lord
is their Cod."
PSALM CXLV.'
1. . . . The title is, "Praise, to David him-
self." Praise to Christ Himself. And since He
is called David, who came to us of the seed
of David, yet He was our King, ruling us, and
bringing us into His kingdom, therefore " Praise
to David himself" is understood to mean, Praise
to Christ Himself. Christ according to the flesh
is David, because He is the Son of David : but
according to His Divine Nature He is the
Creator of David, and Lord of David. " I will
exalt Thee, my Cod, my King ; and I will bless
Thy Name for the age, and age upon age " (ver.
1 ) . Ye see that the praise of God is here
begun, and this praise is carried on even to the
end of the Psalm. . . . Now then begin to praise,
if thou intendest to praise for ever. He who
will not praise in this transitory " age," will be
silent when " age upon age " has come. But
lest any one should in any otherwise also under-
stand what he saith, " I will praise Thy Name
for the age," and should seek another age,
wherein to praise, he saith, " Every day will I
bless Thee " (ver. 2). Praise then and bless the
Lord thy God every day, that when single days
have passed, and there has come one day with-
out end, thou mayest go from praise to praise,
as " from strength to strength." 2 No day shall
pass by, wherein I bless 1 hee not. And it is no
wonder, if in thy day of joy thou bless the Lord.
What if perchance some day of sorrow hath
dawned on thee, as is natural in the circum-
stances of our mortal nature, as there is abun-
dance of offences, as temptations are multiplied ;
what, if something sad befall thee, a man ; wilt
thou cease to praise God? wilt thou cease to
bless thy Creator? If thou cease, thou hast lied
in saying, " every day," etc. But if thou cease
not, although it seem to thee to be ill with thee
in the day of thy sorrow, yet in thy God it shall
be well with thee. . . .
2. " Great is the Lord, and very much to be
praised " (ver. 3). How much was he about to
say? what terms was he about to seek? How
vast a conception hath he included in the one
word, "very much"? Imagine what thou wilt,
for how can that be imagined, which cannot be
contained? "He is very much to be praised.
And of His Greatness there is no end ; " there-
fore said he " very much : " lest perchance thou
1 Lat. CXLIV. Sermon to the people. 2 Ps, lxxxiv. 7.
begin to wish to praise, and think that thou canst
reach the end of His praises, whose Greatness
can have no end. Think not then that He,
whose Greatness has no end, can ever be
enough praised by thee. Is it not then better
that as He has no end, so neither should thy
praise have end? His Greatness is without
end ; let thy praise also be without end. . . .
3. For how great things besides has His
boundless Goodness and illimitable Greatness
made, which we do not know ! When we lift
the gaze of our eyes even to the heaven, and
then recall it from sun, moon, and stars to the
earth, and there is all this space where our sight
can wander ; beyond the heavens who can extend
the eyesight of his mind, not to say of his flesh?
So far then as His works are known to us, let
us praise Him through His works.3 " Genera-
tion and generation shall praise Thy works"
(ver. 4). Every generation shall praise Thy
works. For perhaps every generation is meant
by " generation and generation." . . . Did he
perchance mean to imply two generations by
that repetition ? For we are in this generation
sons of God, we shall be in another generation
sons of the Resurrection. Scripture hath called
us " sons of the Resurrection ; " the Resurrec-
tion itself it hath called Regeneration. " In the
regeneration," it saith, " when the Son of Man
shall be seated in His Majesty." 4 So also in
another place > " For they shall not marry, nor
be given in marriage, for they are the sons of
the Resurrection." 5 Therefore " generation and
generation shall praise Thy works. . . . And
they shall tell out Thine excellence." For
neither shall they praise Thy works, save in
order to " tell out Thine excellence." Boys at
school are set to praise, and all such things are
set before them to be praised, as God hath
wrought : a mortal is set to praise the sun, the
sky, the earth ; to come to even lesser things, to
praise a rose-, or a laurel ; all these are works of
God : they are set, they are undertaken, they
are praised : the works are lauded, of the Worker
they are silent. I desire in the works to praise
the Creator : I love not a thankless praiser.
Dost thou praise what He hath made, and art
silent of Him who made? In that which thou
seest, what is it that thou praisest ? The form,
the usefulness, some virtue, some power in the
things. If beauty delight thee, what is more
beautiful than the Maker? If usefulness be
praised, what more useful than He who made all
things? If excellence be praised, what more
excellent than He by whom all things were
made? . . .
4. " They shall speak of the magnificence of
the glory of Thy Holiness, and shall record Thy
3 Rom. i, 20. * Matt. xix. 28. 5 Luke xx. 35, 36.
658
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXI.V.
wondrous deeds" (ver. 5). "And the excel-
lence of Thy fearful works shall they speak of:
and Thy greatness, they shall relate it " (ver. 6).
"The remembrance of the abundance of Thy
sweetness they shall pour forth" (ver. 7) : none
but Thine. See whether this man, meditating
on Thy works, hath turned aside from the
Worker to the work : see whether he hath sunk
from Him who made, to the things which He
made. Of the things which He hath made, he
hath made a step up to Him, not a descent
from Him to them. For if thou love, these
more than Him, thou wilt not have Him. And
what profit is it to thee to overflow with the
works, if the Worker leave thee? Truly thou
shouldest love them ; but love Him more, and
love them for His sake. For He doth not hold
out promises, without holding out threats also :
if He held out no promises, there would be no
encouragement ; if He held out no threats,
there would be no correction. They that praise
Thee therefore shall "speak" also "of the
excellence of Thy terrible deeds ; " the excel-
lence of that work of Thy hands which punish-
eth and administereth discipline, they shall
speak of, they shall not be silent : for they shall
not proclaim Thine everlasting kingdom, and be
silent about Thine everlasting fire. For the
praise of God, setting thee in the way, ought to
show thee both what thou shouldest love, and
what thou shouldest fear ; what thou shouldest
seek, and what thou shouldest shun ; what thou
shouldest choose, and what thou shouldest avoid.
The time of choice is now, the time of receiv-
ing will be hereafter. Let then the excellence
of Thy terrible things be told. Unlimited as it
is, though " of Thy greatness there is no end,"
they shall not be silent about it. How shall
they recount it, if there is no end of it ? They
shall recount it when they praise it ; and because
there is no end of it, so of His praise also there
shall be no end.'
5. "The remembrance of the abundance of
Thy sweetness they shall pour forth." O happy
feasts ! What shall they eat, who thus shall
"pour forth"! ... So eat, that thou mayest
pour forth again ; so receive, that thou mayest
give. Thou eatest, when thou learnest; thou
pourest forth again, when thou teachest : thou
eatest, when thou hearest ; thou pourest forth
again, when thou preachest; but that thou
pourest forth, which thou hast first eaten. Fi-
nally, that most eager feaster John, to whom the
very table of the Lord sufficed not, unless he
leaned on the Lord's breast, and of his inmost
heart drank in divine secrets ; what did he pour
forth? "In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God." 2 How is it that it
1 Pt. Uxxiv. 4.
* John i. 1.
sufficeth not to say, " Thy remembrance ; " or,
" the remembrance of Thine abundance " ?
Because, what availeth it if it be abundant, yet
not sweet ? So also it is annoying if it be sweet
but too little.
6. . . . By "pouring forth" this, His preachers
" shall exult in His righteousness," not in their
own. What then hast Thou done unto us, O
Lord, whom we praise, that we should be, that
we should praise, that we should "exult in Thy
righteousness," that we should " utter forth the
remembrance of the abundance of Thy sweet-
ness " ? Let us tell it, and, as we tell, let us
praise.
7. " Merciful and pitiful is the Lord ; long-suf-
fering, and very merciful " (ver. 8) . " Sweet is the
Lord to all, and His compassions reach into all
His works" (ver. 9). Were- He not such as
this, there would be no seeking to recover us.
Consider thyself: what didst thou deserve, O
sinner? Despiser of God, what didst thou de-
serve? See if aught occur to thee but penalty,
if aught occur to thee but punishment. Thou
seest then what was due to thee, and what He
hath given, who gave gratis. There was given
pardon to the sinner ; there was given the spirit
of justification ; there was given charity and
love, wherein thou mayest do all good works ;
and beyond this, He will give thee also life ever-
lasting, and fellowship with the angels : all of
His mercy. . . . Hear the Scripture : " I will
not the death of a sinner, but rather that he
should turn, and live." 3 By these words of
God, he is brought back to hope ; but there is
another snare to be feared, lest through this very
hope he sin the more. What then didst thou
also say, thou who through hope sinnest yet
more ? " Whensoever I turn, God will forgive
me all ; I will do whatsoever I will." Say not
then, "To-morrow I will turn, to-morrow I will
please God ; and all to-day's and yesterday's
deeds shall be forgiven me." Thou sayest true :
God hath promised pardon to thy conversion ;
He hath not promised a to-morrow to thy
delay.4
8. " Sweet is the Lord to all, and His com-
passions are over all His works." Why then
doth He condemn? why doth He scourge?
Are not they whom He condemneth, whom He
scourgeth, His works? Plainly they are. And
wilt thou know how " His compassions are over
all His works"? Thence is that long-suffering,
whereby " He maketh His sun to rise on the
evil and on the good." ' Are not " His compas-
sions over all His works, who sendeth rain upon
the just and upon the unjust " ? In His lcng-
suffering He waiteth for the sinner, saying,
" Turn ye to Me, and I will turn to you." 6 Are
3 Ezek. xxxiii. n.
* Ecclus. v. 7.
5 Matt. v. 45.
6 Zcch. i. 3.
Psalm CXLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
659
not " His compassions over all His works " ?
And when He saith, " Go ye into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," '
this is not His compassion, but His severity.
His compassion is given to His works : His
severity is not over His works, but over thy
works. Lastly, if thou remove thine own evil
works, and there remain in thee nought but His
work, His compassion will not leave thee : but
if thou leavest not thy works, there will be
severity over thy works, not over His works.
9. " Let all Thy works, O Lord, confess to
Thee, and let Thy saints bless Thee " (ver 10).
How so? Is not the earth His work? Are not
the trees His work? Cattle, beasts, fish, fowl,
are not they His works? Plainly they too are.
And how shall these too confess to Him? I see
indeed in the angels that His works confess to
Him, for the angels are His works : and men are
His works ; and when men confess to Him, His
works confess to Him ; but have trees and stones
the voice of confession? Yes, verily ; " let all "
His " works confess to " Him. What sayest
thou? even the earth and the trees? . . . But
there ariseth the same question in regard of
praise, as in regard of confession. For if earth
and all things devoid of sensation therefore can-
not confess, because they have no voice to con-
fess with ; neither will they be able to praise,
because they have no voice to proclaim with.
But do not those Three Children enumerate all
things, as they walked amid the harmless flames,
who had leisure not only not to fear, but even to
praise God? They say to all things, heavenly
and earthly, " Bless ye the Lord, praise Him,
and magnify Him for ever."2 Behold how they
praise. Let none think that the dumb stone or
dumb animal hath reason wherewith to compre-
hend God. They who have thought this, have
erred far from the truth. God hath ordered
everything, and made everything : to some He
hath given sense and understanding and immor-
tality, as to the angels ; to some He hath given
sense and understanding with mortality, as to
man ; to some He hath given bodily sense, yet
gave them not understanding, or immortality, as
to cattle : to some He hath given neither sense,
nor understanding, nor immortality, as to herbs,
trees, stones : yet even these cannot be wanting
in their kind, and by certain degrees He hath
ordered His creation, from earth up to heaven,
from visible to invisible, from mortal to im-
mortal. This framework of creation, this most
perfectly ordered beauty, ascending from lowest
to highest, descending from highest to lowest,
never broken, but tempered together of things
unlike, all praiseth God. Wherefore then doth
all praise God ? Because when thou considerest
1 Matt. xxv. 41.
3 Song of Three Children, 29, etc
it, and seest its beauty, thou in it praisest God.
The beauty of the earth is a kind of voice of
the dumb earth. . . . And this which thou hast
found in it, is the very voice of its confession,
that thou praise the Creator. When thou hast
thought on the universal beauty of this world,
doth not its very beauty as it were with one
voice answer thee, " I made not myself, God
made me "?
10. For when Thy saints bless Thee, what
say they ? " They shall tell the glory of Thy
kingdom, and talk of Thy Power" (ver. u).
How powerful is God, who hath made the
earth ! how powerful is God, who hath filled the
earth with good things ! how powerful is God,
who hath given to the animals each its own life !
how powerful is God, who hath given different
seeds to the womb of the earth, that they might
make to spring up such various shoots, such
beautiful trees ! how powerful, how great is God !
Do thou ask, creation answereth, and by its an-
swer, as by the confession of the creature, thou,
O saint of God, blessest God, and " talkest of
His power."
11. "That they may make known to the sons
of men Thy power, and the glory of the great-
ness of the beauty of Thy kingdom " (ver 12).
Thy saints then commend " the glory of the
greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom," the
glory of the greatness of its beauty. There is
a certain " greatness of the beauty of Thy king-
dom : " that is, Thy kingdom hath beauty, and
great beauty. Since whatever hath beauty, hath
beauty from Thee, how great beauty hath Thy
whole kingdom ! Let not the kingdom frighten
us : it hath beauty also, wherewith to delight
us. For what is that beauty, which the saints
shall hereafter enjoy, to whom it shall be said,
" Come, ye blessed of My Father, enjoy the
kingdom " ? 3 Whence shall they come ? whither
shall they come ? Behold, brethren, and, if ye
can, as far as ye can, think of the beauty of that
kingdom which is to come ; whence our prayer
saith, "Thy kingdom come." For that king-
dom we desire may come, that kingdom the
saints proclaim to be coming. Observe this
world : it is beautiful. How beautiful are earth,
sea, air, heavens, stars. Do not all these frighten
him who considereth them? Is not the beauty
of them so conspicuous, that it seemeth as though
nothing more beautiful could be found? And
here, in this beauty, in this fairness almost un-
speakable, here worm and mice and all creeping
things of the earth live with thee, they live with
thee in all this beauty. How great is the beauty
of that kingdom where none but angels live with
Thee ! There is a greatness of a certain beauty ;
let it be loved before it is seen, that when it is
seen, it may be retained.
3 Matt. xxv. 34.
66o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLV.
ia. "Thy kingdom." What kingdom mean
I? "a kingdom of all ages." For the kingdom
of this age too hath its own beauty, but there is
not in it that greatness of beauty, such as in the
" kingdom of all ages." " And Thy dominion is
in every generation and generation" (ver. 13).
This is the repetition we noticed, signifying
either every generation, or the generation which
will be after this generation. " Faithful is the
Lord in His words, and holy in all His works." '
" Faithful is the Lord in His words : " for what
hath He promised that He hath not given?
" Faithful is the Lord in His words." Hereto
there are certain things which He hath prom-
ised, and hath not given ; but let Him be be-
lieved from the things which He hath given.
We might well believe Him, if He only spake :
He willed not that we should believe Him speak-
ing, but that we should have His Scriptures in
our hands : ... as though a kind of bond of
God's, which all who pass by might read, and
might keep to the path of its promise. And
how great things hath He already paid in ac-
cordance with that bond ! Do men hesitate to
believe Him concerning the Resurrection of the
dead and the Life to come, which alone now
remaineth to be paid, when, if He come to
reckon with the unbelievers, the unbelievers
must blush? If God say to thee, "Thou hast
My bond : I have promised judgment, the sepa-
ration of good and bad, everlasting life for the
faithful, and wilt thou not believe? There in
My bond read all that I have promised, reckon
with me : verily even by counting up what I
have paid, thou canst believe that I shall pay
what still I owe. In that bond thou hast My
only-begotten Son promised, " Whom I spared
not, but gave Him up for you all : " ' reckon this
then among what is paid. Read the bond : I
promised therein that I would give by My Son the
earnest of the Holy Spirit : reckon that as paid.
I promised therein the blood and the crowns of
the glorious Martyrs ; let the White Mass3 remind
you that My debt has been paid. . . . He set-
teth before the eyes of all His payment of His
debts : some He hath paid in the time of our
ancestors, which we saw not : some He hath
paid in our times, which they saw not ; through-
out all generations He hath paid what was written.
And what remaineth ? Do men not believe Him,
when He hath paid all this? What remaineth?
Behold thou hast reckoned : all this He hath
1 This verse is not contained in the English version.
2 Ron., viii. 3a.
* This sermon appears from this to have been preached in the
Basilica of the " White Mass." The Roman Martyrology, Aug.
*4, has, " at Carthage, of the 300 holy martyrs, who, in the reign of
Valerius and Gallienus, first suffered manifold torments, and at last
were thrown into a burning lime-pit, and won a glorious crown of
martyrdom. Hence they had the name of 'The White Mass.'"
There was a Basilica in memory of them at Utica. Serm. 306 of St.
Aug. is on their festival. See also Prud. Ptristefk. 13; Kuinart,
PP. '99. 5>8-
paid : is He become unfaithful for the few things
which remain ? God forbid ! Wherefore ? Be-
cause " the Lord is faithful in His words, and
holy in all His works."
13. " The Lord strengtheneth all that are fall-
ing" (ver. 14). But who are "all that are
falling " ? All indeed fall in a general sense,
but he meaneth those who fall in a particular
way. For many fall from Him, many also fall
from their own imaginations. If they had evil
imaginations, they fall from them, and " God
strengthened all that are falling." They who
lose anything in this world, yet are holy, are as
it were dishonoured in this world, from rich
become poor, from honoured of low estate, yet
are they God's saints ; they are, as it were, fall-
ing. But " God strengtheneth." For " the just
falleth seven times, and riseth again ; but the
wicked shall be weakened in evils." 4 When
evils befall the wicked, they are weakened there-
by ; when evils befall the righteous, " the Lord
strengtheneth all that are falling." ..." And
lifteth up all those that have been cast down : "
all, that is, who belong to him ; for " God resist-
eth the proud." 5
14. "The eyes of all hope upon Thee, and
Thou givest them food in due season " (ver. 15).
Just as when thou refreshest a sick man in due
season, when he ought to receive, then Thou
givest, and what he ought to receive, that Thou
givest. Sometimes then men long, and he giv-
eth not : he who tendeth, knoweth the time to
give. Wherefore say I this, brethren ? Lest any
one be faint, if perchance he hath not been heard,
when making some righteous request of God.
For when he maketh any unrighteous request, he is
heard to his punishment : but when making some
righteous request of God, if perchance he have
not been heard, let him not be down-hearted,
let him not faint, let his eyes wait for the food,
which He giveth in due season. When He
giveth not, He therefore giveth not, lest that
which He giveth do harm.6 . . . "Thou givest
them meat in due season."
15. "Thou openest Thine Hand, and fillest
every living thing with blessing" (ver. 16).
Though sometimes Thou givest not, yet " in due
season " Thou givest : Thou delayest, not deni-
est, and that in due season." " Righteous is the
Lord in all His ways, and holy in all His works "
(ver. 17). Both when He smiteth and when
He healeth, He is righteous, and in Him unright-
eousness is not. Finally, all His saints, when set
in the midst of tribulation, have first praised
His righteousness, and so sought His blessings.
They first have said, " What Thou doest is right-
eous." So did Daniel ask, and other holy men :
" Righteous are Thy judgments : rightly have we
* Prov. xxiv. 16. ' Jas. iv. 6.
6 a Cor. xii. 7.
Psalm CXLVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
66 1
suffered: deservedly have we suffered." They laid
not unrighteousness to God, they laid not to
Him injustice and folly. First they praised
Him scourging, and so they felt Him feeding.
16. "The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon
Him " (ver. 18). Where then is that, " Then
shall they call upon Me, and 1 will not hear
them " ? ' See then what follows : " all who call
upon Him in truth." For many call upon Him,
but not in truth. They seek something else from
Him, but seek not Himself. Why lovest thou
God? "Because He hath made me whole."
That is clear : it was He that made thee so.
For from none else cometh health, save Him.
" Because He gave me," saith another, " a rich
wife, whereas I before had nothing, and one
that obeyeth me." This too He gave : thou
sayest true. " He gave me," saith another,
" sons many and good, He gave me a household,
He gave me all good things." Dost thou love
Him for this? . . . Therefore if God is good,
who hath given thee what thou hast, how much
more blessed wilt thou be when He hath given
thee Himself! Thou hast desired all these
things of Him : I beseech thee desire of Him
Himself also. For these things are not truly
sweeter than He is, nor in any way are they to
be compared to Him. He then who preferreth
God Himself to all the things which he has re-
ceived, whereat he rejoiceth, to the things he has
received, he " calleth upon God in truth." . . .
1 7. " He will perform the will of them that
fear Him" (ver. 19). He will perform it, He
will perform it : though He perform it not at
once, yet He will perform it. Certainly if there-
fore thou fearest .God, that thou mayest do His
will, behold even He in a manner ministereth
to thee ; He doeth thy will. " And He shall
hear their prayer, and save them." Thou seest
that for this purpose the Physician hears, that He
may save. When? Hear the Apostle telling
thee. " For we are saved in hope : but hope
which is seen is not hope : but if what we see
not we hope for, then do we with patience wait
for it : 2 " the salvation," that is, which Peter call-
eth " ready to be revealed in the last time." 1
18. " The Lord guardeth all that love Him,
and all sinners He will destroy" (ver. 20).
Thou seest that there is severity with Him, with
whom is so great sweetness. He will save all
that hope in Him, all the faithful, all that fear
Him, all that call upon Him in truth : " and all
sinners He will destroy." What " all sinners,"
save those who persevere in sin ; who dare to
blame God, not themselves ; who daily argue
against God ; who despair of pardon for their
sins, and from this very despair heap up their
sins ; or who perversely promise themselves
1 Prov. i. 38.
3 Rom. viii. 34.
' 1 Pet. i. 5.
pardon, and through this very promise depart
not from their sins and impiety? The time will
come for all these to be separated, and for the
two divisions to be made of them, one on the
right hand, the other on the left ; and for
the righteous to receive the everlasting Kingdom,
the wicked to go into everlasting fire. Since
this is so, and we have heard the blessing of the
Lord, the works of the Lord, the wondrous
things of the Lord, the mercies of the Lord, the
severity of the Lord, His Providence over all
His works, the confession of all His works ;
observe how He concludeth in His praise, " My
mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and
let all flesh bless His holy Name for ever and
ever " (ver. 21).
PSALM CXLVI.*
1. . . . Behold the Psalm soundeth; it is the
voice of some one (and that some one are ye,
if ye will), of some one encouraging his soul
to praise God, and saying to himself, " Praise
the Lord, O my soul" (ver. 1). For sometimes
in the tribulations and temptations of this pres-
ent life, whether we will or no, our soul is trou-
bled ; of which troubling he speaketh in another
Psalm.s But to remove this troubling, he sug-
gested joy j not as yet in reality, but in hope ;
and saith to it when troubled and anxious, sad
and sorrowing, " Hope in God, for I will yet
confess to Him." . . .
2. But who saith it, and to whom saith he it?
What shall we say, brethren? Is it the flesh
that saith, " Praise thou the Lord, O my soul " ?
And can the flesh suggest good counsel to the
soul? However much the flesh be conquered,
and subjected as a servant to us through strength
which the Lord imparteth, that it serve us en-
tirely as a bond slave, enough for us that it hin-
der us not. . . . For the body, inasmuch as it
is the body, is even beneath the soul ; and every
soul, however vile, is found more excellent
than the most excellent body. And let not this
seem to you to be wonderful, that even any vile
and sinful soul is better than any great and most
surpassing body. It is better, not in deserts, but
in nature. The soul indeed is sinful, is stained
with certain defilements of lusts ; yet gold,
though rusted, is better than the most polished
lead. Let your mind then run over every part
of creation, and ye will see that what we are
saying is not incredible, that a soul, however
blameable, is yet more praiseworthy than a praise-
worthy body. There are two things, a soul and
a body. The soul I chide, the body I praise :
the soul I chide, because it is sinful ; the body I
praise, because it is sound. Yet it is in its own
kind that I praise the soul, and in its own kind
4 Lat. CXLV. Sermon to the people. J Pa. xlii. 14, 15.
662
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVI.
that I blame the soul : and so in its own kind I
praise the body, or blame it. If you ask me
which is better, what I have blamed or what I
have praised, wondrous is the answer thou wilt
receive. ... So you speak of the best horse
and the worst man : yet thou preferrest the man
thou findest fault with to the horse thou praisest.
. . . The nature of the soul is more excellent
than the nature of the body : it surpasseth it by
far, it is a thing spiritual, incorporeal, akin to the
substance of God. It is somewhat invisible, it
ruleth the body, moveth the limbs, guideth the
senses, prepareth thoughts, putteth forth actions,
taketli in images of countless things ; who is
there, in short, beloved brethren, who may suf-
fice for the praises of the soul? And yet such
is the grace given to it, that this man saith,
" Praise the Lord, O my soul." ... It is not
the flesh that saith it. Let the body be angel-
like, still it is inferior to the soul, it cannot give
advice to its superior. The flesh when duly obe-
dient is the handmaid of the soul : the soul
rules, the body obeys ; the soul commands, the
body performs ; how then can the flesh give this
advice to the soul? Is it then perchance the
soul herself, who saith to herself, and in a man-
ner commandeth herself, and exhorteth and ask-
eth herself? For through certain passions in one
part of her nature she wavered : but in another
part, which they call the reasonable mind, the
wisdom whereby she thinks, clinging to God, and
now sighing towards Him, she perceives that
certain inferior parts of her are troubled by
worldly emotions, and by a certain excitement
of earthly desires, betake them to outward things,
leaving God who is within ; so she recalleth
herself from things outward to inward, from
lower to higher, and says, " Praise the Lord, O
my soul." . . . The soul itself giveth itself coun-
sel from the light of God by the reasonable
mind, whereby it conceiveth the wisdom fixed in
the everlasting nature of its Author. It readeth
there of somewhat to be feared, to be praised, to
be loved, to be longed for, and sought after : as yet
it graspeth it not, it comprehendeth it not ; it
is, as it were, dazzled with brightness ; it has not
strength to abide there. Therefore it gathers
itself, as it were, into a sound state, and saith,
" Praise the Lord, O my soul." . . . And then
the soul, weighed down, as it were, and unable
to stand up as is fitting, answereth the mind, " I
will praise the Lord in my life " (ver. 2). What
is, " in my life " ? Because now 1 am in my
death. Therefore first encourage thyself, and
say, " Praise the Lord, O my soul." Thy soul
answereth thee, I do praise so far as I can,
slightly, poorly, weakly. Wherefore ? Because,
" while we are in the body, we are absent from
the Lord." ' . . .
1 3 Cor. v. 6.
3. "In my life." Now what has it? It
might answer thee, " My death." Whence, " My
death"? because I am absent from the Lord.
For if to cling to Him is life, to depart from Him
is death. But what comforteth thee? Hope.
Now thou livest in hope : in hope praise, in
hope sing. Thy death is from the sadness of
this life, thou livest in hope of a future life.
And how wilt thou praise thy Lord? "I will
sing unto my God, as long as I have my being."
VVhat sort of praise is this, " I will sing unto my
God as long as I have being"? Behold, my
brethren, what sort of being this will be ; where
there will be everlasting praise, there will be also
everlasting being. Behold, now thou hast being :
dost thou sing unto God as long as thou hast
being? Behold, thou wast singing, and hast
turned thyself away to some business, thou
singest no longer, yet thou hast being : thou hast
being, yet thou singest not. It may be also thy
desire turneth thee to somewhat ; not only dost
thou not sing, but thou even offendest His ears,
yet thou hast being. What praise will that be,
when thou praisest as long as thou hast being?
But what meaneth, " as long as I have being " ?
Will there be any time when he will not be?
Nay, rather, that " long " will be everlasting, and
therefore it will be truly " long." For whatever
hath end in time, however prolonged it is, is yet
not "long." . . .
4. " Put not your trust in princes " (ver.
3). Brethren, here we receive a mighty task;
it is a voice from heaven, from above it
soundeth to us. For now through some kind
of weakness the soul of man, whensoever it is in
tribulation here, despaireth ofGod, and choos-
eth to rely on man. Let it be said to one when
set in some affliction, " There is a great man, by
whom thou mayest be set free ; " he smileth, he
rejoiceth, he is lifted up. But if it is said to
him, " God freeth thee," he is chilled, so to
speak, by despair. The aid of a mortal is
promised, and thou rejoicest ; the aid of the
Immortal is promised, and art thou sad? It is
promised thee that thou shalt be freed by one who
needeth to be freed with thee, and thou exultest,
as at some great aid : thou art promised that
Liberator, who needeth none to free Him, and
thou despairest, as though it were but a fable.
Woe to such thoughts : they wander far ; truly
there is sad and great death in them. Approach,
begin to long, begin to seek and to know Him
by whom thou wast made. For He will not
leave His work, if He be not left by His work.
5. . . . " His breath shall go forth, and he shall
return to his earth : in that day shall all his
thoughts perish" (ver. 4). Where is swelling?
where is pride? where is boasting? But perhaps
he will have passed to a good place, if indeed he
have passed. For I know not whither he who
Psalm CXLVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
663
spake thus hath passed. For he spake in pride ;
and I know not whither such men pass, save that
I look into another Psalm, and see that their pas-
sage is an evil one. " I beheld the wicked lifted
up above the cedars of Libanus, and I passed by,
and, lo, he was not ; and I sought him, and his
place was not found." ' The good man, who
passed by, and found not the wicked, reached a
place where the wicked is not. Wherefore,
brethren, let us all listen : brethren, beloved of
God, let us all listen ; in whatsoever tribulation,
in whatsoever longing for the heavenly gift, " let
us not trust in princes, nor in sons of men, in
whom is no salvation." All this is mortal, fleet-
ing, perishable.
What then must we do, if we are not to hope
in sons of men, nor in princes? What must
we do ? " Blessed is he whose Helper is the
God of Jacob " (ver. 5) : not this man or that
man ; not this angel or that angel ; but, " blessed
is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob : " for
to Jacob also so great an Helper was He, that
of Jacob He made him Israel. O mighty help !
now he is Israel, " seeing God." While then
thou art placed here, and a wanderer not yet
seeing God, if thou hast the God of Jacob for
thy Helper, from Jacob thou wilt become Israel,
and wilt be " seeing God," and all toil and all
groans shall come to an end, gnawing cares shall
cease, happy praises shall succeed. " Blessed
is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob ; " of
this Jacob. Wherefore is he happy? Mean-
while, while yet groaning in this life, " his hope
is in the Lord his God." . . . Who is this,
"Lord his God"? ... "To us there is one
God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all
things." 2 Therefore let Him be thy hope, even
the Lord thy God ; in Him let thy hope be.
His hope too is in the lord his god, who wor-
shipped! Saturn ; his hope is in the lord his god,
who worshippeth Neptune or Mercury ; yea
more, I add, who worshippeth his belly, of whom
is said, " whose god is their belly." 3 The one
is the god of the one, the other of the other.
Who is this "blessed" one? for- "his hope is
in the Lord his God." But who is He ? " Who
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is
in them " (ver. 6). My brethren, we have a
great God ; let us bless His holy Name, that He
hath deigned to make us His possession. As
yet thou seest not God ; thou canst not fully
love what as yet thou seest not. All that thou
seest, He hath made. Thou admirest the world ;
why not the Maker of the world ? Thou lookest
up to the heavens, and art amazed : thou con-
siderest the whole earth, and tremblest ; when
canst thou contain in thy thought the vastness
1 Ps. xxxvii. 35, 36.
2 1 Cor. viii. 6.
3 Philip, iii. 19.
of the sea? Look at the countless number of
the stars, look at all the many kind of seeds, all
the different sorts of animals, all that swimmeth
in the water, creepeth on the earth, flieth in the
sky, hovereth in the air ; how great are all these,
how beautiful, how fair, how amazing ! Behold,
He who made all these, is thy God. Put thy
hope in Him, that thou mayest be happy. " His
hope is in the Lord his God." Observe, my
brethren, the mighty God, the good God, who
maketh all these things. ... If he mentioned
these things only, perhaps thou wouldest answer
me, " God, who made heaven and earth and sea,
is a great God : but doth He think of me?" It
would be said to thee, " He made thee." How
so? am I heaven, or am 1 earth, or am I sea?
Surely it is plain ; I am neither heaven, nor
earth, nor sea : yet I am on earth. At least thou
grantest me this, that thou art on earth. Hear
then, that God made not only heaven and earth
and sea : for He " made heaven and earth and
sea, and all that is in them." If then He made
all that is in them, He made thee also. It is too
little to say, thee ; the sparrow, the locust, the
worm, none of these did He not make, and He
careth for all. His care refers not to His
commandment, for this commandment He
gave to man alone. ... As regards then the
tenor of the commandment, " God doth not take
care for oxen : " 4 as regards His providential
care of the universe, whereby He created all
things, and ruleth the world, " Thou, Lord, shalt
save both man and beast." Here perhaps some
one may say to me, " God careth not for oxen,"
comes from the New Testament : " Thou, Lord,
shalt save both man and beast," is from the Old
Testament. There are some who find fault and
say, that these two Testaments agree not with
one another. . . . Let us hear the Lord Himself,
the Chief and Master of the Apostles : " Con-
sider," saith He, " the fowls of the air ; they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
and your heavenly Father feedeth them." s
Therefore even beside men, these animals are
objects of care to God, to be fed, not to receive
a law. As far then as regards giving a law,
" God careth not for oxen : " as regards creating,
feeding, governing, ruling, all things have to do
with God. " Are not two sparrows sold for one
farthing? " saith our Lord Jesus Christ, " and one
of them shall not fall to the ground without the
will of your Father : how much better are ye
than they." 6 Perhaps thou sayest, God co'iint-
eth me not in this great multitude. There fol-
lows here a wondrous passage in the Gospel :
" the hairs of your head are all numbered." 7
6. Who keepeth truth for ever." What " truth
for ever " ? what " truth " doth He " keep,"
* 1 Cor. ix. 9.
6 Matt. x. 39.
5 Matt. vi. 26.
? Matt. x. 30.
664
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVI.
and wherein doth "He keep it for ever"?
" Who executeth judgment for them that suffer
wrong " (ver. 7). He avengeth them that suffer
wrong. There cometh at once to thee the voice
of the Apostle : " now therefore there is alto-
gether a fault among you, that ye go to law one
with another: why do ye not , rather suffer
wrong? " ' He urged thee not to suffer annoy-
ance, but to suffer wrong : for not every annoy-
ance is wrong. For whatever thou sufferest
lawfully is not a wrong; lest perchance thou
shouldest say, I also am among those who have
suffered wrong, for I have suffered such a thing
in such a place, and such a thing for such a
reason. Consider whether thou hast suffered a
wrong. RobBers suffer many things, but they
suffer no wrong. Wicked men, evil doers, house-
breakers, adulterers, seducers, all these suffer
many evils, yet is there no wrong. It is one
thing to suffer wrong; it is another to suffer
tribulation, or penalty, or annoyance, or punish-
ment. Consider where thou art ; see what thou
hast done ; see why thou art suffering ; and then
thou seest what thou art suffering. Right and
wrong are contraries. Right is what is just.
For not all that is called right, is right. What
if a man lay down for you unjust right? nor in-
deed is it to be called right, if it is unjust. That
is true right, which is also just. Consider what
thou hast done, not what thou art suffering. If
thou hast done right, thou art suffering wrong ;
if thou hast done wrong, thou art suffering
right. . . .
7. " Who giveth food to the hungry." Be-
hold, from thee I look for nothing : " God giveth
food to the hungry." Who are " the hungry " ?
All. What is, all? To all things that have life,
to all men He giveth food : doth He not reserve
some food for His beloved? If they have
another kind of hunger, they have also another
kind of food. Let us first enquire what their
hunger is, and then we shall find their food.
" Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled." 2 We
ought to be God's hungry ones. . . . "The Lord
looseth them that are fettered ; the Lord lifteth
up them that are dashed down ; the Lord maketh
wise them that are blind" (ver. 8). Perfectly
hath he by this last sentence explained to us all
the preceding ones : lest perchance, when he
had said, " the Lord looseth them that are fet-
tered," we should refer it to those fettered ones,
who for some crime are bound in irons by their
maste'rs : and in that he said, " He lifteth up
them that are dashed down," there should occur
to our minds some one stumbling or falling, or
thrown from a horse. There is another kind of
fall, there are other kinds of fetters, just as there
is other darkness and other light. Whereas he
said, " He maketh the blind wise ; " he would
not say, He enlightened the blind, lest thou
shouldest understand this also in reference to the
flesh, as the man was enlightened by the Lord,
when He anointed his eyes with clay made with
spittle, and so healed him : that thou mightest
not look for anything of this sort, when He is
speaking of spiritual things, he pointeth to a sort
of light of wisdom, wherewith the blind are en-
lightened. Therefore in the same way as the
blind are enlightened with the light of wisdom,
so are the fettered set free, and those who are
dashed down are lifted up. Whereby then have
we been fettered ? whereby dashed down ? Our
body was once an ornament to us : now, we have
sinned, and thereby have had fetters put on us.
What are our fetters ? Our mortality. , . . " The
Lord loveth the righteous." And who are the
" righteous " ? How far are they righteous now?
Just as thou hast ; " the Lord guardeth prose-
lytes " (ver. 9). "Proselytes" are strangers.
Every Church of the Gentiles is a stranger. For
it cometh in to the Fathers, not sprung of their
flesh, but their daughter by imitating them. Yet
the Lord, not any man, guardeth them. " The
orphan and widow He will take up." Let none
think that He taketh up the orphan for his in-
heritance, or the widow for any business of hers.
True, God doth help them ; and in all the duties
of the human race, he doeth a good work, who
taketh care of an orphan, who abandoneth not a
widow : but in a certain way we are all orphans,
not because our Father is dead, but because He
is absent.3 ....
8. "And the way of' sinners He shall root
out." What is, "the way of sinners"? To
mock at these things which we say. " Who is an
orphan, who a widow ? What kingdom of heaven,
what punishment of hell is there? These are
fables of the Christians. To what I see, to that
will I live : " let us eat and drink, for to-morrow
we die." * Beware lest such men persuade you of
aught : let them not enter through your ears into
your heart ; let them find thorns in your ears :
let him, who seeketh to enter thus, go away
pierced : for " evil communications corrupt good
manners." 5 But here perhaps thou wilt say,
" Wherefore then are they prosperous? Behold,
they worship not God, and commit every kind
of evil daily : yet they abound in those things,
through want of which I toil." Be not envious
against sinners. What they receive, thou seest ;
what is in store for them, seest thou not? . . .
Wilt thou not believe even the Lord thy God,
who saith, " Broad and spacious is the way that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be that
walk by it" ?6 This "way the Lord will root out."
■ 1 Cor. ri. 7.
• Matt. v. 6.
* [But compare (Greek) John xiv. 18
* x Cor. xv. 3a. ' 1 Cor. xv. 33.
I.-C]
6 Matt. vii. 13.
Psalm CXLVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
665
And, when " the way of sinners " has been " rooted
out," what remaineth for us? " Come, ye blessed
of My father, enjoy the Kingdom ; "•' " The Lord
shall reign for ever" (ver. 10). "O Sion, thy
God " shall reign for ever ; surely thy God will
not reign without thee. " For generation and
generation." He hath said it twice, because he
could not say it for ever. And think not that
eternity is bounded by finite words. The word
eternity consists of four syllables ; in itself it is
without end. It could not be commended to
thee, save thus, " for generation and generation."
Too little hath he said : if he spoke it all day
long, it were too narrow : if he spoke it all his
life, must he not at length hold his peace ? Love
eternity : without end shalt thou reign, if Christ
be thine End, with whom thou shalt reign for
ever and ever. Amen.
PSALM CXLVII.'
1. It is said to us, " Praise the Lord" (ver. 1).
This is said to all nations, not to us alone. And
these words, sounded forth through separate
places by the Readers, each Church heareth
separately ; but the one same Voice of God
proclaimeth unto all, that we praise Him. And
as though we asked wherefore we ought to
praise the Lord, behold what reason he hath
brought forward : " Praise the Lord," he saith,
" for a Psalm is good." Is this all the reward
of them that praise? . . . The " Psalm " is praise
of God. This then he saith, " Praise the Lord,
for it is good to praise the Lord." Let us not
thus pass over the praise of the Lord. It is
spoken, and hath passed : it is done, and we
are silent : we have praised, and then rested ;
we have sung, and then rested. We go forth to
some business which awaits us, and when other
employments have found us, shall the praise of
God cease in us ? Not so : thy tongue praiseth
but for a while, let thy life ever praise. Thus
then " a Psalm is good."
2. For a " Psalm " is a song, not any kind of
song, but a song to a psaltery. A psaltery is
a kind of instrument of music, like the lyre and
the harp, and such kinds of instruments, which
were invented for music. He therefore who
singeth Psalms, not only singeth with his voice,
but with a certain instrument besides, which is
called a psaltery, he accompanieth hfs voice
with his hands. Wilt thou then sing a Psalm ?
Let not thy voice alone sound the praises of
God ; but let thy works also be in harmony
with thy voice. ... To please then the ear,
sing with thy voice ; but with thy heart be not
silent, with thy life be not still. Thou devisest
no fraud in thy heart : thou singest a Psalm to
1 Matt. xxv. 34.
2 Lat. CXLVI. Sermon to the people of Carthage.
God. When thou eatest and drinkest, sing a
Psalm : not by intermingling sweet sounds suited
to the ear, but by eating and drinking moder-
ately, frugally, temperately : for thus saith the
Apostle, " whether ye eat or drink, or whatever
ye do, do all to the glory of God."3 ... If by
immoderate voracity thou exceedest the due
bounds of nature, and gluttest thyself in excess
of wine, however great praises of God thy tongue
sound, yet thy life blasphemeth Him. After
food and drink thou liest down to sleep : in thy
bed neither commit any pollution, nor go beyond
the license given by the law of God : let thy
marriage bed be kept chaste with thy wife : and
if thou desire to beget children, yet let there not
be unbridled sensuality of lust : in thy bed give
honour to thy wife,4 for ye are both members
of Christ, both made by Him, both renewed
by His Blood : so doing thou praisest God, nor
will thy praise be altogether silent. What, when
sleep has come over thee ? Let not an evil con-
science rouse thee from rest : so doth the inno-
cence of thy sleep praise God. . . .
3. " Let praises be pleasant to our God."
How? If He be praised by our good lives.
Hear that then praise will be pleasant to Him.
In another place it is said, " Praise is not seemly
in the mouth of a sinner." s If then in the
mouth of a sinner praise is not seemly, neither
is it pleasant, for that only is pleasant which is
seemly. . . . For praise may be pleasant to a
man, when he heareth one praising with neat
and clever sentiments, and with a sweet voice ;
but " let praise be pleasant to our God," whose
ears are open not to the mouth, but to the heart ;
not to the tongue, but to the life of him that
praiseth.
4. Who is " our God," that praise should be
pleasant to Him? He maketh Himself sweet
to us, He commendeth Himself to us ; thanks
to His condescension. ..." But God com-
mendeth His love to us " . . . " in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."6 . . . Let
us see whether it be the commendation which
the Apostle speaketh of, that Christ died for the
sinners and ungodly : " the Lord who buildeth
up Jerusalem, and gathereth the dispersions
of Israel" (ver. 2). For the people of Jeru-
salem are the people of Israel. It is Jerusa-
lem " eternal in the heavens," whereof the
Angels are citizens also. ... All the citizens
then of that city, through " seeing God," re-
joice in that great and wide and heavenly city ;
they gaze upon God Himself. But we are wan-
derers from that city, driven out by sin, that we
should not remain there ; weighed down by
mortality, that we should not return thither.
God looked back on our wandering, and He
3 1 Cor. x. 31.
5 Ecclus. xv. 9.
* 1 Pet. iii. 7.
6 Rom. v. 8.
666
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVII.
had fallen? . .
estate His Son
Thee, said He,
of the captives
who " buildeth up Jerusalem," restored the part
that had fallen. How restored He the part that
. He sent then to our captive
as a Redeemer. Take with
a bag, bear therein the price
For He put on Him our mor-
tal flesh, and therein was the Blood, by the
shedding of which we were to be redeemed.
With that Blood He " gathered the dispersions
of Israel." And if He gathered them that be-
fore were dispersed, how must we strive that
they be gathered who now are dispersed? If
the dispersed have been gathered, that in the
Hand of the Builder they might be fashioned
into the building, how should they be gathered
who through disquiet have fallen from the Hand
of the Builder ? Behold whom we praise ;
behold to whom we owe praise all our life long.
5. How doth He gather? What doeth He
in order to gather? "Who healeth the bruised
in heart" (ver. 3). Behold the way in which
the dispersions of Israel are gathered, by the
healing of the bruised in heart. They who are
not of a bruised heart, are not healed. What
is to bruise the heart? Let it be known,
brethren, let it be done, that ye may be able to
be healed. For it is told in many other places
of Scripture ; . . . " the sacrifice of God is a
troubled spirit, a bruised and contrite heart
God will not despise." He healeth then the
bruised in heart, for He draweth nigh unto
them to heal them ; as is said in another place,
" the Lord is nigh unto them who have bruised
their heart." ' Who are they that have " bruised
their heart " ? The humble. Who are they
that have not " bruised their heart " ? The
proud. The bruised heart shall be healed, the
puffed up heart shall be dashed down. For for
this purpose perhaps is it dashed down, that being
bruised it may be healed. Let not our heart
then, brethren, desire to be set upright, before
it be upright. It is ill for that to be uplifted
which is not first corrected. . . .
6. What are the means whereby He " bindeth
up their bruises " ? Just as physicians bind up
fractures. For sometimes (observe this, be-
loved ; it is well known to those who have ob-
served it, or have heard it from physicians),
sometimes when limbs are sound, but are crooked
and distorted, physicians break them in order to
set them straight, and make a new wound, be-
cause the soundness which was distorted was
amiss. . . .
7. What are these means whereby He bind-
eth? The sacraments of this present life,
whereby in the mean time we obtain our com-
fort : and all the words we speak to you, words
which sound and pass away, all that is done in
1 P». xxxiv. 18.
the Church in this present time, are the means
whereby " He bindeth up our bruises." For
just as, when the limb has become perfectly
sound, the physician taketh off the bandage ; so
in our own city Jerusalem, when we shall have
been made equal to the Angels, think ye that we
shall receive there, what we have received here?
Will it be needful then that the Gospel be read
to us, that our faith may abide ? or that hands
be laid upon us by any Bishop ? All these are
means of binding up fractures ; when we have
attained perfect soundness, they will be taken
off; but we should never attain it, if they were
not bound up.
8. " Who telleth the number of the stars, and
calleth them all by their names " (ver. 4). What
great matter is it for God to " tell the number
of the stars " ! Men even have endeavoured to
do this ; whether they ha^e been able to achieve
it, is their concern ; they would not however
attempt it, did they not think that they should
achieve it. Let us leave alone what they can
do, and how far they have attained ; for God I
think it no great matter to count all the stars.
Or doth He perhaps go over the number, lest
He should forget it ? Is it any great thing for
God to number the stars, by whom "the very
hairs of your head are numbered " ? 2 The stars
are certain lights in the Church comforting our
night ; all — of whom the Apostle saith, " In the
midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
holding the Word of life." 3 These stars God
counteth ; all who shall reign with Him, all who
are to be gathered into the Body of His only-
begotten Son, He hath counted, and still count-
eth them. Whoso is unworthy, is not even
counted. Many too have believed, or rather
may, with a kind of shadowy appearance of
faith, have attached themselves to His people :
yet He knoweth what He counteth, what He
winnoweth away. For so great is the height of
the Gospel, that it hath come to pass as was
said, " I have declared, and have spoken : they
are multiplied above number : " 4 there are then
among the people certain supernumeraries, so to
speak. What do I mean by supernumeraries?
More than will be there'. Within these walls are
more than will be in the kingdom of God, in
the heavenly Jerusalem ; these are above the
number. Let each one of you consider whether
he shineth in darkness, whether he refuseth to
be led astray by the dark iniquity of the world ;
if he be not led astray, nor conquered, he will
be, as it were, a star, which God already num-
bereth. " And calling them all by their names,"
he saith. Herein is our whole reward. We
have certain names with God ; that God may
1 Matt. x. 30.
3 Philip, ii. 15.
« Ps. xl. s.
Psalm CXLVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
667
know our names, this we ought to wish, for this
to act, for this to busy ourselves, as far as we
are able ; not to rejoice in other things, not
even in certain spiritual gifts. . . . When the
disciples returned from their mission exulting,
and saying, " Lord, even the devils are subject
unto us in Thy Name " ■ — then He (knowing
that many would say, " have we not in Thy
Name cast out devils?" to whom He should
say, " I know you not ") said, " In this rejoice
not, that the devils are subject unto you ; but
rather rejoice, because your names are written in
heaven." 2
9. "Great is our Lord" (ver. 5). The
Psalmist is filled with joy, he hath poured out
his words wonderfully : yet somewhat he was
unable to speak, and how availed he to think on
it? "And great is His power, and of His un-
derstanding is no numbering " He who " num-
bereth the stars," Himself cannot be numbered.
Who can expound this? who can worthily even
imagine what is meant by, " and of His under-
standing is no number "? . . . Whatsoever then
that is infinite this world containeth, though it
be infinite to man, yet is not to God : too little
is it to say, to God : even by the angels it is
numbered. His understanding surpasses all cal-
culators ; it cannot be counted by us. Numbers
themselves who numbereth ? What than is
there with God ? wherewith made He all things,
and where made He all things, to whom it is
said, " Thou hast arrayed all things in measure,
number, and weight " ? 3 Or who can number,
or measure, or weigh, measure and number and
weight themselves, wherein God hath ordered
all things? Therefore, "of His understanding
is no number." Let human voices be hushed,
human thoughts still : let them not stretch them-
selves out to incomprehensible things, as though
they could comprehend them, but as though
they were to partake of them, for partakers we
shall be. . . . Partakers then we shall be : let
none doubt it : Scripture saith it. And of what
shall we be partakers, as though these were parts
in God, as though God were divided into parts?
Who then can explain how many become par-
takeis of one single substance? Require not
then that which I think ye see cannot fitly be
said : but return to the healing of the Saviour,
bruise your heart. He will guide it, He will
bind it up where it is broken, He will make it
perfectly sound ; and then those things will not
be impossible with us, which now are impossible.
For it is good that he confess weakness, who
desireth to attain to the divine nature.
10. "The Lord taketh up the gentle" (ver.
6). For example; thou understandest not, thou
failest to understand, canst not attain : honour
God's Scripture, honour God's Word, though it
be not plain : in reverence wait for understand-
ing. Be not wanton to accuse either the ob-
scurity or seeming contradiction of Scripture.
There is nothing in it contradictory : somewhat
there is which is obscure, not in order that it
may be denied thee, but that it may exercise him
that shall afterward receive it. When then it is
obscure, that is the Physician's doing, that thou
mayest knock. He willed that thou shouldest
be exercised in knocking ; He willed it, that He
might open to thee when thou knockest. By
knocking thou shalt be exercised ; exercised,
thou shalt be enlarged ; enlarged, thou shalt
contain what is given. Be not then indignant
for that it is shut ; be mild, be gentle. Kick
not against what is dark, nor say, It were better
said, if it were said thus. For how canst thou
thus say, or judge how it is expedient it be said?
It is said as it is expedient it be said. Let not
the sick man seek to amend his remedies : the
Physician knoweth how to temper them : be-
lieve Him who careth for thee. Therefore what
conieth next? . . . "The Lord taketh up the
gentle, but humbleth the sinners even to the
ground," he intended a certain sort of sinners
to be understood, from the gentleness mentioned
first. By sinners then in this place, we under-
stand the fierce, and those who are not gentle.
Wherefore doth He " humble them even to the
earth"? They carp at objects of understand-
ing, they shall perceive only things earthly.4
11. " Begin to the Lord in confession " (ver.
7). Begin with this, if thou wouldest arrive at
a clear understanding of the truth. If thou wilt
I be brought from the road of faith to the profes-
j sion of the reality, " begin in confession." First
'accuse thyself: accuse thyself, praise God. . . .
What after confession ? Let good works follow.
" Sing unto our God upon the harp." What is,
" Upon the harp " ? As I have already explained,
just like the Psalm upon the psaltery, so also
is the " harp : " not with voice only, but with
works.
12. . . . "Who covereth the heaven with
clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth " (ver.
8). Now thou art alarmed, because thou canst
not see the heaven : when it hath rained thou
shalt gather fruit, and shalt see clear sky. Per-
haps our God hath done this. For had we not
the obscurity of Scripture as an occasion, we
should not say to you those things wherein ye
rejoice. This then perhaps is the rain whereat
ye rejoice. It would not be possible for it to
be expressed to you by our tongue, were it not
that God covereth with clouds of figures the
heaven of the Scriptures. For this purpose
willed He that the words of the Prophets should
2 Luke x. 20.
3 Wisd. xi. 20.
* [See this series, vol. iv. p. 364. Here is a digression upon
men ' not gentle, " — the Manichees. — C]
668
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVII.
be obscure, that the servants of God might
afterwards have that by interpreting which they
might flow over the ears and hearts of men, that
they might receive from the clouds of God the
fatness of spiritual joy. " Who maketh grass
to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the
service of men." Behold the fruit of the rain.
" Who maketh," saith he, " grass to grow upon
the mountains." Doth it not also grow upon
the low ground? Yes, but it is a great thing
that it groweth "on the mountains." . . . For
nothing could be more barren than the hard
mountains. " And herb for the service of men."
What " service " ? Listen to Paul himself. " And
ourselves," saith he, " your servants for Jesus
Christ's sake." ' He who said, " If we have sown
unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we
reap your carnal things? " yet said, that he was a
" servant." For we are your servants, brethren.
Let none of us speak of himself, as though he
were greater than you. We shall be greater if
we are more humble. " But whosoever will be
great among you" (it is the Lord's saying),
" shall be your servant." 2 Paul the Apostle,
indeed, living by his own labour, refused even to
receive " the grass of the mountains ; " he chose to
want ; nevertheless, the mountains gave " grass."
Because he chose not to receive, ought the
mountains therefore not to give, and so to remain
barren? Fruit is due to the rain, food is due
to the servant, as the Lord saith, " Eat such
things as they give you : " and that they should
not think that they gave aught of their own, He
added, " for the labourer is worthy of his hire." 3
13. . . . Just now has been read, " Give to
every one that asketh of thee ; " * and in another
place Scripture 5 saith, " Let alms sweat in thy
hand, till thou findest a righteous man to whom
to give it." One there is who seeketh thee,
another thou oughtest to seek. Leave not
indeed him who seeketh thee empty, for, " give
to every one that asketh of thee ; " yet still there
is another whom thou oughtest to seek ; " find
a righteous man to whom to give it." Ye
will never do this, unless ye have somewhat set
aside from your substance, each what pleaseth
him according to the needs of his family, as a
sort of debt to be paid to the treasury. If
Christ have not a state5 of His own, neither hath
He a treasury.? . . . Cut off then and prune off
some fixed 8 sum either from thy yearly profits or
1 a Cor iv. 5. a Mall. xx. 26.
J Luke x. 7, 8. 4 Luke vi 30.
' The Benedictine editors were unable to identify this text.
* RempHblicntn.
1 Fiicui. [The author says: " For know ye what fiscut means?
Fiicut is a bag;, and from the same source come also the words
fiicttln and /itcina. Think not that fiscm is a kind of dragon,
because men arc alarmed when they hear of the collector of the
fiKHt: i\kAicui is the public purse. The Lord had one here on
earth when he had the bag: and the bag was entrusted to Judas." —
1 AUfmU fixutn; other mss. fim, which suits the context
better : " prune off somewhat for the treasury," i t. Christ's treasury.
thy daily gains, else thou seemest as it were to
give of thy capital, and thy hand must needs
hesitate, when thou puttest it forth to that which
thou hast not vowed. Cut off some part of thy
income ; a tenth if thou choosest, though that is
but little. For it is said that the Pharisees gave
a tenth ; " I fast twice in the week, I give tithes
of all that I possess." 9 And what saith the
Lord ? " Except your righteousness exceed the
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." lo
He whose righteousness thou oughtest to exceed,
giveth a tenth : thou givest not even a thou-
sandth. How wilt thou surpass him whom
thou matchest not? " Who prepareth rain for
the earth."
14. " And giveth unto the cattle their food "
(ver. 9). These are the cattle he meaneth,
even God's flocks. God defraudeth not His
flock of their food through men, for whose " ser-
vice He maketh the grass to grow." " And to
the young of the ravens that call upon Him."
Shall we perchance think this, that the ravens
call upon God to give them their food? Think
not that the unreasoning creature calls upon God :
no creature knows how to call upon God, save
the reasonable alone. Consider it as spoken in
a figure, lest thou think, as some evil men say, that
the souls of men migrate into cattle, dogs, swine,
ravens. Give this no place in your hearts or in
your faith. The soul of man is made after the
image of God : He will not give His image to
dog or swine. Who are " the young of the
ravens"? The Israelites used to say that they
alone were righteous, because to them the Law
had been given : all other men of every nation
they used to call sinners. And in truth all
nations were given up to sin, to idolatry, to the
worship of stones and stocks : but did they con-
tinue so? Although the ravens themselves, our
fathers, did not, yet we, " the young of the
ravens," do call upon God." . . . For " the
young of the ravens," who seemed to worship
the images of their forefathers, have advanced,
and turned to God. And now thou hearest
" the young of the ravens " calling upon the one
God. What then? Sayest thou to " the young
of the ravens," "hast thou left thy father?"
Plainly I have, saith he ; for he is a raven who
calls not upon God. I, " the young of the raven,"
do call upon God.
15. " In the power of an horse He will not
take pleasure" (ver. 10). The power "of an
horse " is pride. For the horse seemeth adapted
as it were to bear a man aloft, that he may be
more uplifted as he goes. And in truth he has
a neck which typifieth a sort of pride. Let not
men exalt themselves upon their worth, let them
9 Luke xviii. 13.
10 Matt. v. 20.
» 1 Pet. i. 18.
Psalm CXLVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
669
not think themselves uplifted by their distinc-
tions ; let them beware lest they be thrown by an
untamed horse.1 ..." Nor in the tabernacle
of a man will He delight." For the tabernacle
of the Lord is the Holy Church spread through-
out the whole world. Heretics, separating
themselves from the Church's tabernacles, have
set up tabernacles for themselves. For if per-
chance it be the lot of any, who is good and
pious, who confesseth his own weakness, who is
" the young of a raven that calleth on God," not
to enjoy worldly distinction, he goeth not out of
the Church, he setteth not up for himself a tent
outside the Church, wherein God will not de-
light. But what saith he ? "I have chosen to
be cast away in the house of God, rather than to
dwell in the tents of sinners." '
16. But what addeth he? "The Lord will
delight in them that fear Him, and in them that
hope in His mercy" (ver. 11). A robber is
feared, and a wild beast is feared, and an unjust
and powerful man is much feared. " The Lord
will delight in them that hope in His mercy."
Behold, Judas, who betrayed our Lord, feared,
but he did not hope in His mercy. . . . It is well
indeed that thou hast feared, but only if thou
trustedst in His mercy, whom thou hast feared.
He in despair " went and hanged himself." In
such wise then fear the Lord, that thou trust
in His mercy. . . .
17. " Praise in unison, O Jerusalem, thy
God" (ver. 12). Abiding yet in captivity, they
behold those flocks, or rather, the one flock of
all its citizens, gathered from all sides into that
city ; they see the joy of the mass, now after
threshings and winnowings placed in the garner,
fearing nothing, suffering no toil nor trouble ;
and, as yet abiding here, in the midst of the
threshing they send forward their joy of hope,
and pant for it, joining as it were their hearts to
the Angels of God, and to that people which
shall abide with them in joy for ever. For what
wilt thou then do, O Jerusalem ? Surely toil
and groaning will pass away. What wilt thou
do? wilt thou plough, or sow, or plant vines, or
make voyages, or trade? What wilt thou do?
Will it still be thy duty to be engaged in the
works thou now doest, good though they are,
and spring from mercy? Consider thy numbers,
consider on all sides thy company : see whether
any hungers, for thee to give bread to ; see
whether any thirsts, for thee to give a cup of
cold water to ; see whether any is a stranger,
for thee to take in ; see whether any is sick,
for thee to visit ; see whether any is at strife, for
thee to reconcile him ; see whether any is dying,
for thee to bury him. What then wilt thou do ?
" Praise in unison, O Jerusalem, thy God." Be-
1 Ps. :
2 Ps. lxxxiv. :o.
hold, this is thy business. As is wont to be
said in inscriptions, " Use it and be happy." 3
18. Be ye Jerusalem ; remember of whom it is
said, " Lord, in Thy city their image Thou shalt
bring to nought." 4 These are they who now re-
joice in such pomps ; among them are they
who have not come hither to-day because there
is a show. To whom is it a gift? 5 to whom is it
a loss? or why is it a gift? why is it a loss? For
not they only who exhibit such shows are smitten
with loss, but with much greater loss are they
smitten who delight in gazing on them. The
former have their chest drained of its gold, the
latter have their breast robbed of the riches of
righteousness. Most of the exhibiters of shows
have to mourn for selling their estates ; how
ought the sinners to mourn, for losing their souls !
Was it then for this that the Lord cried out on
the Lord's Day, " Watch ye," that to-day men
should watch in this way. I beseech you, ye
citizens of Jerusalem, I beseech you by the peace
of Jerusalem, by the Redeemer, the Builder, the
Ruler of Jerusalem, that ye address your prayers
to God for them. May they see, may they feel,
that they are trifling ; and, intent as they are on
the sights which please them, may at length look
on themselves, and be displeased. For in many
we rejoice that this has already been done : and
once we too sat there and were mad : and how
many think we now sit there, who shall yet be,
not only Christians, but also Bishops ! From
what is past, we conjecture what is to be : from
what has already been done, we announce be-
forehand what God will do. Let your prayers
be wakeful, ye groan not for nothing. Certainly
they who have already escaped, praying for those
who are still in danger, because they too having
been among those in danger, are heard ; and God
shall drag His people out of the captivity of Baby-
lon ; by all means He shall redeem and deliver
them, and the number of the saints who bear the
image of God shall be perfected. ..." Praise in
unison," because thou consistest of many :
" praise," because thou hast been made one.6
" We being many," saith the Apostle, " are one
in Christ." ' As then we are many, " we praise in
unison ; " as we are one, we " praise." The same
are many and one, because He in whom they
are one 6 is ever One.8
19. Wherefore, saith this Jerusalem, do I praise
in unison the Lord, and, as Sion, praise my God?
Jerusalem is the same as Sion. For different
reasons has it the two names. Jerusalem meaneth
3 Utere felix. This and other like expr-ssions seem, from
Morcelli, Opera Rpigraphica, vol. i. p. 415, to have been usual in
inscriptions upon cups and like works of art, probably wher. given as
presents.
* Ps. lxxiii. 20.
5 A play on the double meaning of the word mutius, which, mean-
ing literally " a gift," is also used in a special sense for " as how of
gladiators. '
<* Unum. 1 1 Cor. x. 17. 8 Unus.
670
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
{Psalm CXLVII.
" visions of peace ; " Sion meaneth " watching." '
See whether these words do not sound like
sights ; x that the Gentiles may not think that they
have sights and we have none. Sometimes after
the theatre or amphitheatre breaks up, when the
crowd of lost ones begins to be vomited forth
from that den, sometimes, retaining in their
minds images of their vain amusements, and
feeding their memory with things not only use-
less but even hurtful, rejoicing in them as if they
were sweet, while they are really deadly ; they
see often, it may be, the servants of God pass
by, they recognise them by their garb or head-
dress, or they know them by sight,3 and they say
to one another, or inwardly, " Wretched people,
how much they lose ! " Brethren, let us return
their good will (for they do mean it well) with
prayers to the Lord. They wish us well ; but
" he that loveth iniquity, hateth his own soul." 4
If he hateth his own soul, how shall he love my
soul ? Yet with a perverse, and empty, and vain
good will, if indeed it may be called good will,
they grieve that we lose what they love : let us
pray that they lose not what we love. Behold
of what character that Jerusalem is to be which
he exhorteth to praise, or rather foreseeth will
praise. For the praises of that city, when we
shall see and love and praise, will not need to be
urged on and stirred up by the voice of proph-
ecy ; but the Prophets now say this, to drink in
as far as while they remain in this flesh they can,
the future joys of the blessed, and then giving
them forth into our ears, to arouse in us love of
that city. Let us burn with longing, let us not
be slothful in spirit. " Praise thy God, O Sion."
20. He saith, " He hath made strong the bars
of thy gates" (ver. 13). The making bars
strong is not for open gates, but shut ones,
wherefore most manuscripts read, " He hath
made strong the bolts 5 of thy gates." Observe,
beloved. He biddeth Jerusalem when closed in
to praise the Lord. We praise in unison now,
we praise now ; but it is amid offences. Many
where we wish not, enter in : many though we
wish it not, go out : therefore offences are fre-
quent. " And because iniquity hath abounded,"
saith the Truth," the love of many waxeth cold :"6
because men come in whom we cannot discern,
because men go out whom we cannot retain.
Wherefore is this? Because not yet is there per-
fection, not yet is there the bliss that shall be.
Wherefore is this? Because as yet it is the
threshing-floor, not yet the garner. What there-
fore will be then, save no fear that aught of this
kind will happen ? He said not only, He hath
set, but, " He hath made strong the bars of thy
1 Sftcutatio. ' Sftctacula.
'There U better reading in some mss.: fortf for fronte. "or
they happen to know them."
« P». xi. 5. » Strut. 6 Matt. xxiv. h.
gates." Let none_ go out, let none come in.
Let none go out, we rejoice : let none come in,
we fear. Nay, fear not this : when thou hast
entered it will be said : only be thou in the num-
ber of virgins, who carried their oil with them. . . .
21. "He hath blessed thy children within
thee." Who? He "who hath set peace as thy
borders." How ye all exult ! ? Love peace, my
brethren. Greatly are we delighted, when the
love of peace crieth from your hearts. How
greatly doth it delight you ! I had said noth-
ing : I had explained nothing : I but read the
verse, and ye shouted. What was it that shouted
in you? The love of peace. . . . O children
of the kingdom, O citizens of Jerusalem, in Je-
rusalem is the vision of peace : and all who love
peace are blest in her, and they enter in, when
the doors are being shut, and the bars made
strong. This, which when but named ye so love
and esteem, this follow after, this long for : this
love in your home, in your business, in your
wives, in your sons, in your slaves, in your
friends, in your enemies. . . .
22. What ye cried out a while ago at the very
mention of peace, ye cried from longing : your
cry was from thirst, not from fulness ; for there
will be perfect righteousness where will be per-
fect peace. Now we hunger and thirst after
righteousness. "They shall be filled."8 How
shall they be filled ? When we have arrived at
peace. Therefore when he had said, "Who hath
set peace for thy borders," because there is ful-
ness and no want, he added at once, " and filleth
thee with the fat of wheat " (ver. 14). . . .
23. "Who sendeth forth His Word to the
earth" (ver. 15). Behold, on earth we toil,
weary, fainting, sluggish, cold : when should we
be raised up to the fat of wheat that satisfieth,
did not He send His Word to the earth, whereby
we were weighed down, to the earth, whereby we
were hindered from returning? He sent His
Word, He deserted us not even in the wilderness,
He rained manna from heaven. " Who sendeth
forth His Word to the earth ; " and to earth His
Word came. How? or what is His Word?
" Even unto swiftness His Word runneth." He
said not, "His Word is swift," but, " His Word
runneth even unto swiftness." Let us under-
stand, my brethren : He could not have chosen
a better word. He who is hot grows hot by
heat, he who is cold grows cold by cold, he who
is swift becometh swift by swiftness. ... To
what degree then doth it run? "Even to swift-
ness." Increase as much as you will the swift-
ness of the Word, and say, It is as swift as this
or that, as birds, as the winds, as the Angels ;
is any of these as great as swiftness itself, " even
unto swiftness " ? What is swiftness itself, breth-
7 [Here were applauses. The Donatists were warlike. — C]
8 Matt. v. 6.
Psalm CXLVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
671
ren? It is everywhere; it is not in part. This
belongeth to the Word of God, not to be in
part, to be everywhere by Himself the Word,
whereby He is " the Power of God and the
Wisdom of God," ' before He had taken flesh
upon Him. If we think of God in the Form
of God, the Word equal to the Father, this is
the Wisdom of God, of which is said, " It
reacheth from one end to the other mightily." 2
What mighty speed ! " It reacheth from one
end to the other mightily." . . .
24. We then are burdened by the sluggish-
ness of this cold body, and the bonds of this
earthly and corruptible life ; have we no hope
of receiving "the Word," which "runneth even
unto swiftness"? or hath abandoned us, though
by the body we are depressed to the lowest
depths ? Did not He predestinate us, before
we were born in this mortal and sluggish body?
He then, who predestinated us, gave snow to
the earth, even ourselves. For now let us come
to those somewhat obscure verses of the Psalm,
iet those entanglements begin to be unrolled.
Behold, we are sluggish on this earth, and are
as it were frozen here. And just as happens
to the flakes of snow, for they freeze above,
then fall down ; so as love groweth cold, hu-
man nature falleth down to this earth, and in-
volved in a sluggish body becometh like snow.
But in that snow are predestined sons of God.
For, "He giveth snow like wool" (ver. 16).
What is " like wool " ? It meaneth, of the snow
which He hath given, of these, who are as yet
slow in spirit and cold, whom He hath pre-
destinated, He is about to make somewhat.
For wool is the material of a garment : when
we see wool, we look on it as a sort of prepa-
ration for a garment. Therefore since He hath
predestinated these, who at present are cold
and creep on earth, and as yet glow not with
the spirit of love (for as yet He speaketh
of predestination), God hath given these as a
sort of wool : He is about to make of them a
garment. Rightly did the " raiment " of Christ
'• shine " on the mountain, " like snow." 3 The
raiment of Christ did shine like snow, as
though of that snow a garment had already
been made : of which wool, that is, of the snow
which He gave like wool, they being as yet
predestined, were sluggish : but wait, see what
followeth. Since He gave them as wool, a gar-
ment is made of them. For as the Church is
called the Body of Christ, so is the Church
also called the garment of Christ : hence cometh
that which is said by the Apostle, " that He
might present it to Himself a glorious Church,
not having spot or wrinkle." 4 Let Him then
present unto Himself a glorious Church, not
1 1 Cor. i. 24.
3 Malt. xvii. a
2 Wisd. viii. 1.
* Eph. v. 37.
having spot or wrinkle ; let Him make Him-
self a garment of that wool, which He had
predestinated in the snow. While men are yet
unbelieving, and cold, and sluggish, let Him
make a garment of this wool. That it may be
washed from spots, let it be cleansed by faith :
that it may have no wrinkle, let it be stretched
out upon the cross. . . .
25. " He scattereth mist like ashes." " He
scattereth," saith the Psalmist, " mist like
ashes." Who? He "who giveth snow like
wool." For whom He predestined, He call-
eth to repentance ; for " whom He predes-
tined, them He also called." But " ashes "
are connected with repentance. Hear Him
calling to repentance, when He upbraided cer-
tain cities, saying, " Woe unto thee, Chorazin !
woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the mighty
works which have been done in you had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago re-
pented in dust and ashes." 5 Therefore, " He
scattereth mist like ashes." What is, " He scat-
tereth mist like ashes " ? When a man is called
to learn about God, and it is said to him, " Re-
ceive the truth ; " he beginneth to wish to receive
the Truth, but is not able ; he seeth that He is
under a sort of darkness, which before he saw
not. . . . Wander not in the mist, follow in faith.
But forasmuch as thou endeavourest to see and
art not able, repent of thy sins, for mist is scat-
tered like ashes. Repent thee now of having
been obstinate against God, repent of having
followed thine own evil ways. Thou hast come
into this state where it is difficult for thee to see
the vision of bliss, and the mist will .be health-
ful to thee, which God scattereth like ashes.
Thou thyself art as yet a mist, but like ashes.
For they that are penitent, as yet roll themselves
in ashes, my brethren, testifying, as it were, that
they are like it, saying unto God, " I am ashes."
For a certain Scripture saith, " I have despised
myself, and wasted away, I have reckoned my-
self earth and ashes." 6 This is the humility of
the penitent. When Abraham speaketh to his
God, and wisheth the burning of Sodom to be
disclosed to him, he saith, " I am but earth and
ashes." 7 How hath this humility ever been found
in gTeat and holy men !
26. " Who sendeth His crystal like morsels of
bread" (ver. 17). We need not spend our toil
again in saying what crystal is. We have already
said it, and I do not think that ye, beloved, have
forgotten it. What is then, " He sendeth His crys-
tal like morsels of bread " ? What is " crystal " ?
It is very hard, it is very tightly congealed ; it can
not, like snow, be easily melted. Snow, hardened
by many years' duration, and by the succession
of ages, is called " crystal," and this " He Bend-
s' Matt xi. ai. 6 Job xxx. ig, Vulg. 7 Gen. xviii. 27.
672
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVII.
eth like morsels of bread." What meaneth this?
They were too hard, no longer fit to be compared
to snow, but to crystal ; but they too are predes-
tinated and called, and some of them even so
as to feed others, to be useful to others also.
And what need is there to enumerate many,
whom we happen to know, this one and that
one? Every one when he thinks can recall to
mind how hardened and obstinate some of those
whom he knows have been, how they have strug-
gled against the truth ; yet now they preach the
truth, they have been made morsels of bread.
Who is that one Bread ? " We being many,"
saith the Apostle, " are one Body in Christ ; " '
he saith also, " we being many are one Bread and
one Body." z If then the whole Body of Christ
is one Bread, the members of Christ are mor-
sels of Bread. Of some that are hard He maketh
members of Himself, and useful for feeding
others. . . . Behold, the Apostle Paul was a
crystal, hard, resisting the truth, crying out
against the Gospel, hardening himself, as it
were, against the sun. . . . Since then he was
crystal, he appeared clear and white, but he was
hard and very cold. How was he bright and
white ? " An Hebrew of the Hebrews ; as
touching the law, a Pharisee." Behold the bright-
ness of crystal. Now hear the hardness of crys-
tal. " As touching zeal, persecuting the Church " 3
of Christ. Among the stoners of the holy mar-
tyr Stephen, was he, hard, perhaps harder than
all. " For he kept the raiment of all who were
stoning," 4 so that he stoned by the hands of all.
27. Thus then we see " the snow, the mist, the
crystal : " it is good that He blow and thaw them.
For if He blow not, if He Himself thaw not the
hardness of this ice, " in the face of His cold
who shall stand ? " He abandoneth a sinner,
behold, He calleth him not ; behold, He openeth
not his perception ; behold, He poureth not in
grace ; let the man thaw himself, if he can, from
the ice of folly. He cannot. Wherefore can
he not? "In the face of His cold who shall
stand?" Behold him then growing harder, and
saying. " O wretched man that I am ! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" Be-
hold, I am growing cold, behold, I am growing
hard, what heat shall thaw me that I may run ?
" Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" "In the face of His cold who shall
stand?" And who shall free himself, if God
abandon him? Who is it that freeth? "The
grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 5
Are we then to despair? God forbid. For it
goeth on, " He shall send out His Word, and
melt them" (ver. 18). Let not then the snow
despair, nor the mist, nor the crystal. For of
the snow, as of wool, a garment is being made.
1 Rom. xii. s*
* Actt xxii. 20.
* 1 Cor. x. 17.
> Rom. vii. 24, 25.
3 Philip, iii. 5, 6.
That mist findeth safety in repentance : for,
" whom He predestinated, them He also called."
But even though they be the very hardest among
the predestinated, though they have been for a
long time hardening, and are become crystal,
they will not be hard to the mercy of God.
" He shall send out His Word, and melt
them." What is " melt " ? Understand not
" melt " in an ill sense : it meaneth, He shall
liquefy, He shall thaw them. For they are hard
through pride. Rightly is pride called also dul-
ness : for whatever is dull, is also cold. . . .
Despair not even of the crystal. Hear a saying
of the crystal. " Who before was a blasphemer,
and a persecutor, and injurious." 6 But where-
fore doth God melt the crystal? That the snow
despair not of itself. For he saith, " For this
cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus
Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a
pattern to them that hereafter should believe on
Him unto eternal life." 7 God then calleth unto
the Gentiles, " Be melted, O crystal ; come, ye
snows." " His Spirit shall blow, and the waters
shall flow." Lo, the " crystal " and the " snows "
are melted, they turn into water, " let them that
thirst, come and drink." 8 Saul, hard as crystal,
persecuted Stephen unto death ; Paul, now in
the living water,? calleth the Gentiles to the
Fount. . . .
28. " Announcing His Word unto Jacob, His
Righteousnesses and Judgments unto Israel "
(ver. 19). What "Righteousnesses," what "Judg-
ments " ? Because whatever mankind had suffered
here before, when it was " snow " and " mist "
and " crystal," it suffered for the deserts of its
pride and uplifting against God. Let us go back
to the origin of our fall, and see that most truly
is it sung in 'the Psalm, " Before I was troubled
I went wrong." lo But he who says, " Before I
was troubled I went wrong," saith also, " It is
good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I
may learn Thy Righteousnesses." " These right-
eousnesses Jacob learnt from God, who made
him to wrestle with an Angel ; under the guise of
which Angel, God Himself wrestled with him.
He held Him, he exerted violence to hold Him,
he prevailed to hold Him : He caused Himself
to be held, in mercy, not in weakness. Jacob
therefore wrestled, and prevailed : he held Him,
and when he seemed to have conquered Him,
asked to be blessed of Him.'2 How did he
understand with Whom he had wrestled, Whom
he had held? Wherefore did he wrestle vio-
lently, and hold Him ? Because " the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take
it by force." '3 Wherefore then did he wrestle?
Because it is with toil. Wherefore do we with
6 1 Tim. i. 13. 7 1 Tim. i. 16. 8 lonn v"' 37*
9 John iv. 14. w Ps. cxix. 67. n Ps. cxix. 71.
12 Gen. xxxit. 24, etc. 1J Matt. xi. 12.
Psalm CXLVIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
673
difficulty hold, what we so easily lose? Lest,
easily getting back what we have lost, we learn
to lose that which we hold. Let man have toil
to hold : he will hold firmly, what he has only
held after toil. These His judgments therefore
God manifested to Jacob and Israel. . . .
29. " He hath not done so to the whole
race" (ver. 20). Let none deceive you: it is
not announced to any nation, this judgment of
God ; namely, how the righteous and the unright-
eous suffer, how all suffer for their deserts, how
the righteous themselves are freed by the grace
of God, not in their own merits. This is not
announced to the whole race, but only to Jacob,
only to Israel. What then do we, if He hath
not announced it to the whole race, but only to
Jacob, only to Israel? Where will we be? In
Jacob. " He hath not manifested His judgments
to them." To whom? To all nations. How
then are the " snows " called, when the crystal
is melted ? How are the nations called, now Paul
is justified? How, save to be in Jacob? The
wild olive is cut off from its stock, to be grafted
into the olive : now they belong to the olive, no
longer ought they to be called nations,' but one
nation in Christ, the nation of Jacob, the nation
of Israel . . . What is Israel? " Seeing God."
Where shall he see God? In peace. What
peace ? The peace of Jerusalem ; for, saith he,
" He hath set peace for thy borders." There
shall we praise : there shall we all be one, in
One, unto One : for then, though many, we shall
not be scattered.
PSALM CXLVIII.2
1. The subject of our meditation in this pres-
ent life should be the praises of God ; for the
everlasting exaltation of our life hereafter will be
the praise of God, and none can become fit for
the life hereafter, who hath not practised himself
for it now. So then now we praise God, but we
pray to Him too. Our praise is marked by joy,
our prayer by groans. . . . On account of these
two seasons, one, that which now is in the temp-
tations and tribulations of this life, the other,
that which is to be hereafter in everlasting rest
and exultation ; we have established also the
celebration of two seasons, that before Easter
and that after Easter. That which is before
Easter signifieth tribulation, in which we now
are ; that which we are now keeping after Eas-
ter, signifieth the bliss in which we shall here-
after be. The celebration then which we keep
before Easter is what we do now : by that which
we keep after Easter we signify what as yet we
have not. Therefore we employ that time in
fastings and prayer, this present time we spend
in praises, and relax our fast. This is the Halle-
' Gentct.
' Lat. CXLVIII. Sermon to the people.
luia which we sing, which, as you know, meaneth
(in Latin), Praise ye the Lord. Therefore that
period is before the Lord's Resurrection, this,
after His Resurrection : by which time is signi-
fied the future hope which as yet we have not :
for what we represent after the Lord's Resurrec-
tion, we shall have after our own. For in our
Head both are figured, both are set forth. The
Baptism of the Lord setteth forth to us this
present life of trial, for in it we must toil, be
harassed, and, at last, die ; but the Resurrection
and Glorification of the Lord setteth forth to us
the life which we are to have hereafter, when He
shall come to recompense due rewards, evil to
the evil, good to the good. And now indeed
all the evil men sing with us, Halleluia ; but, if
they persevere in their wickedness, they may
utter with their lips the song of our life hereafter ;
but the life itself, which will then be in the real-
ity which now is typified, they cannot obtain,
because they would not practise it before it
came, and lay hold on what was to come.
2. "Halleluia." "Praise the Lord," thou
sayest to thy neighbour, he to thee : when all
are exhorting each other, all are doing what they
exhort others to do. But praise with your whole
selves : that is, let not your tongue and voice
alone praise God, but your conscience also, your
life, your deeds. For now, when we are gathered
together in the Church, we praise : when we
go forth each to his own business, we seem to
cease to praise God. Let a man not cease to
live well, and then he ever praiseth God. . . .
It is impossible for a man's acts to be evil, whose
thoughts are good. For acts issue from
thought : nor can a man do anything or move
his limbs to do aught, unless the bidding of his
thought precede : just as in all things which ye
see done throughout the provinces, whatsoever
the Emperor biddeth goeth forth from the inner
part of his palace throughout the whole Roman
Empire.3 How great commotion is caused at
one bidding by the Emperor as he sits in his
palace ! He but moveth his lips, when he
speaketh : the whole province is moved, when
what he speaketh is being executed. So in each
single man too, the Emperor is within, his seat is
in the heart. If he be good and biddeth good
things, good things are done : if he be bad and
biddeth evil things, evil things are done. When
Christ sitteth there, what can He bid, but what
is good ? When the devil is the occupant, what
can he bid, but evil ? But God hath willed that
it should be in thy choice for whom thou wilt
prepare room, for God, or for the devil : when
thou hast prepared it, he who is occupant will
also rule. Therefore, brethren, attend not only
to the sound ; when ye praise God, praise with
3 [A striking illustration of (the Christmas morning Lesson,
Anglican) Luke ti. i. — C.J
674
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVIII.
your whole selves : let your voice, your life, your
deeds, all sing.
3. " Praise ye the .Lord from heaven " (ver.
1). As though he had found things in heaven
holding their peace in the praise of the Lord,
he exhorteth them to arise and praise. Never
have things in heaven held their peace in the
praises of their Creator, never have things on
earth ceased to praise God. But it is manifest
that there are certain things which have breath
to praise God in that disposition wherein God
pleaseth them. For no one praiseth aught, save
what pleaseth him. And there are other things
which have not breath of life and understanding
to praise God, but yet, because they also are
good, and duly arranged in their proper order,
and form part of the beauty of the universe,
which God created, though they themselves with
voice and heart praise not God, yet when they
are considered by those who have understanding,
God is praised in them ; and, as God is praised
in them, they themselves too in a manner praise
God.' . . .
4. " Praise ye the Lord from heaven : praise
Him in the high places." 2 First he saith, " from
heaven," then from earth ; for it is God that is
praised, who made heaven and earth. All in
heaven is calm and peaceful ; there is ever joy,
no death, no sickness, no vexation ; there the
blessed ever praise God ; but we are still below :
yet, when we think how God is praised there, let
us have our heart there, and let us not hear to
no purpose, " Lift up your hearts.-' Let us lift
up our heart above, that it become not corrupted
on earth : for we take pleasure in what the
Angels do there. We do it now in hope : here-
after we shall in reality, when we have come
thither. " Praise Him " then " in the high
places."
5. " Praise Him, all ye angels of His, praise
Him, all His powers " (ver. 2). "Praise Him,
sun and moon ; praise Him, all ye stars and
light" (ver. 3). "Praise Him, ye heaven of
heavens, and waters that are above the heavens "
(ver. 4). "Let them praise the Name of the
Lord " (ver. 5 ) . When can he unfold all in his
enumeration ? Yet he hath in a manner touched
upon them all summarily, and included all things
in heaven praising their Creator. And as though
it were said to him, " Why do they praise Him?
what hath He conferred on them, that they
should praise Him?" he goeth on, "for He
spake, and they were made ; He commanded,
and they were created." No wonder if the
works praise the Worker, no wonder if the things
that are made praise the Maker, no wonder if
« [/fame Nittura minister et interpret. — Bacon. The
"Hymn of the Three Children" was in his mind: it became very
early one of the hymns of the Church. — C.J
lifntxceliu. — C.)
creation praise its Creator. In this Christ also
is mentioned, though we seem not to have heard
His Name. ... By what were they made ? By
the Word?3 How doth he show in this Psalm,
that all things were made by the Word ? " He
spake, and they were made ; He commanded,
and they were created." No one speaketh, no
one commandeth, save by word.
6. " He hath established them for the age,
and forage upon age" (ver. 6). All things in
heaven, all things above, all powers and angels,
a certain city on high, good, holy, blessed ; from
whence because we are wanderers, we are
wretched ; whither because we are to return, we
are blessed in hope ; whither when we shall have
returned, we shall be blessed indeed ; " He hath
given them a law which shall not pass away."
What sort of command, think ye, have things in
heaven and the holy angels received? What
sort of command hath God given them? What,
but that they praise Him? Blessed are they
whose business is to praise God ! They plough
not, they sow not, they grind not, they cook not ;
for these are works of necessity, and there is no
necessity there. They steal not, they plunder
not, they commit no adultery ; for these are
works of iniquity, and there is no iniquity there.
They break not bread for the hungry, they clothe
not the naked, they take not in the stranger,
they visit not the sick, they set not at one the
contentious, they bury not the dead ; for these
are works of mercy, and there there is no misery,
for mercy to be shown to. O blessed they !
Think we that we too shall be like this? Ah !
let us sigh, let us groan in sighing. And what
are we, that we should be there? mortal, out-
cast, abject, earth and ashes ! But He, who
hath promised, is almighty. . . .
7. Let him then turn himself to things on
earth too, since he hath already spoken the
praises of things in heaven. " Praise ye the
Lord from the earth " (ver. 7). For wherewith
began he before ? " Praise ye the Lord from
heaven : " and he went through things in heaven :
now hear of things on earth. " Dragons and all
abysses." " Abysses " are depths of water : all
the seas, and this atmosphere of clouds, pertain
to the " abyss." Where there are clouds, where
there are storms, where there is rain, lightning,
thunder, hail, snow, and all that God willeth
should be done above the earth, by this moist
and misty atmosphere, all this he hath mentioned
under the name of earth, because it is very
changeable and mortal ; unless ye think that it
raineth from above the stars.4 All these things
happen here, close to the earth. Sometimes
even men are on the tops of mountains, and see
the clouds beneath them, and often it raineth :
' John i. 1, a.
« [See A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 57. — C.J
TSALM CXLVIII.l
ON THE PSALMS.
675
and all commotions which arise from the dis-
turbance of the atmosphere, those who watch
carefully see that they happen here, in this lower
part of the universe. . . . Thou seest then what
kind all these things are, changeable, troublous,
fearful, corruptible : yet they have their place,
they have their rank, they too in their degree fill
up the beauty of the universe, and so they praise
the Lord. He turns then to them, as though
He would exhort them too, or us, that by
considering them we may praise the Lord.
" Dragons " live about the water, come out from
caverns, fly through the air; the air is set in
motion by them : " dragons " are a huge kind
of living creatures, greater there are not upon
the earth. Therefore with them he beginneth,
" Dragons and all abysses." There are caves of
hidden waters, whence springs and streams come
forth : some come forth to flow over the earth,
some flow secretly beneath ; and all this kind,
all this damp nature of waters, together with the
sea and this lower air, are called abyss, or
" abysses," where dragons live and praise God.
What? Think we that the dragons form choirs,
and praise God? Far from it. But do ye,
when ye consider the dragons, regard the Maker
of the dragon, the Creator of the dragon : then,
when ye admire the dragons, and say, " Great is
the Lord who made these," then the dragons
praise God by your voices.
8. " Fire, hail, snow, ice, wind of storms, which
do His word" (ver. 8). Wherefore added he
here, "which do His word"? Many foolish
men, unable to contemplate and discern crea-
tion, in its several places and rank, performing its
movements at the nod and commandment of God,
think that God doth indeed rule all things above,
but things below He despiseth, casteth aside,
abandoneth, so that He neither careth for them,
nor guideth, nor ruleth them ; but that they are
ruled by chance, how they can, as they can : and
they are influenced by what they say sometimes
to one another : e.g. " If it were God that gave
rain, would He rain into the sea? What sort of
Providence," they say, "is this? Getulia is
thirsty, and it rains into the sea." They think
that they handle the matter cleverly. One should
say to them, " Getulia does at all events thirst,
thou dost not even thirst." For good were it
for thee to say to God, " My soul hath thirsted
for Thee." ' For he that thus argueth is already
satisfied ; he thinketh himself learned, he is not
willing to learn, therefore he thirsteth not. For
if he thirsted, he would be willing to learn, and
he would find that everything happeneth upon
earth by God's Providence, and he would wonder
at the arrangement of even the limbs of a flea.
Attend, beloved. Who hath arranged the limbs
1 Ps. cxliii 6; Ps. Uiii. 1; Matt. v. 6.
of a flea and a gnat, that they should have their
proper order, life, motion? Consider one little
creature, even the very smallest, whatever thou
wilt. If thou considerest the order of its limbs,
and the animation of life whereby it moveth ;
how doth it shun death, love life, seek pleasures,
avoid pain, exert divers senses, vigorously use
movements suitable to itself ! Who gave its sting
to the gnat, for it to suck blood with? How
narrow is the pipe whereby it sucketh ! Who
arranged all this? who made all this? Thou art
amazed at the smallest things ; praise Him that
is great. Hold then this, my brethren, let none
shake you from your faith or from sound doctrine.
He who made the Angel in heaven, the Same also
made the worm upon earth : the Angel in heaven
to dwell in heaven, the worm upon earth to abide
on earth. He made not the Angel to creep in
the mud, nor the worm to move in heaven. He
hath assigned dwellers to their different abodes ;
incorruption He assigned to incorruptible abodes,
corruptible things to corruptible abodes. Ob-
serve the whole, praise the whole. He then who
ordered the limbs of the worm, doth He not
govern the clouds? And wherefore raineth He
into the sea? As though there are not in the
sea things which are nourished by rain ; as though
He made not fishes therein, as though He made
not living creatures therein. Observe how the
fishes run to sweet water. And wherefore, saith
he, doth He give rain to the fishes, and some-
times giveth not rain to me ? That thou mayest
consider that thou art in a desert region, and in
a pilgrimage of life ; that so this present life may
grow bitter to thee, that thou mayest long for the
life to come : orelse that thou mayest be scourged,
punished, amended. And how well doth He as-
sign their properties to regions. Behold, since
we have spoken of Getulia, He raineth here
nearly every year, and giveth corn every year ;
here the corn cannot be kept, it soon rotteth,
because it is given every year ; there, because it
is given seldom, both much is given, and it can
be kept for long. But dost thou perchance think
that God there deserteth man, or that they do
not there after their own manner of rejoicing both
praise and glorify God? Take a Getulian from
his country, and set him amid our pleasant trees ;
he will wish to flee away, and return to his bare
Getulia. To all places then, regions, seasons,
God hath assigned and arranged what fits them.
Who could unfold it ? Yet they who have eyes
see many things therein : when seen, they please ;
pleasing, they are praised ; not they really, but
He who made them ; thus shall all things praise
God.
9. It was in thought of this that the spirit of
the Prophet added the words, " which do His
word." Think not then that these things are
moved by chance, which in every motion of theirs
676
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLVIII.
obey God. Whither God willeth, thither the fire
spreads, thither the cloud hurries, whether it carry
in it rain, or snow, or hail. And wherefore doth
the lightning sometimes strike the mountain, yet
strikes not the robber ? . . . Perhaps He yet seek-
eth the robber's conversion, and therefore is the
mountain which feareth not smitten, that the man
who feareth may be changed. Thou also some-
times, when maintaining discipline, smitest the
ground to terrify a child. Sometimes too He
smiteth a man, whom He will. But thou say-
est to me, Behold, He smiteth the more innocent,
and passeth over the more guilty. Wonder not ;
death, whencesoever it come, is good to the good
man. And whence dost thou know what pun-
ishment is reserved in secret for that more guilty
man, if he be unwilling to be converted ? Would
not they rather be scorched by lightning, to whom
it shall be said in the end, " Depart into ever-
lasting fire " ? ' The needful thing is, that thou
be guileless. Why so? Is it an evil thing to
die by shipwreck, and a good thing to die by
fever? Whether he die in this way or in that,
ask what sort of man he is who dieth ; ask
whither he will go after death, not how he is to
depart from life. . . . Whatever then happeneth
here contrary to our wish, thou wilt know that
it happeneth not, save by the will of God, by
His providence, by His ordering, by His nod,
by His laws : and if we understand not why any-
thing is done, let us grant to His providence that
it is not done without reason : so shall we not be
blasphemers. For when we begin to argue con-
cerning the works of God, " why is this? " " why
is that ? " and, " He ought not to have done this,"
" He did this ill ; " where is the praise of God?
Thou hast lost thy Halleluia. Regard all things
in such wise as to please God and praise the
Creator. For if thou wert to happen to enter
the workshop of a smith, thou wouldest not dare
to find fault with his bellows, his anvils, his ham-
mers. But take an ignorant man, who knows not
for what purpose each thing is, and he findeth
fault with all. But if he have not the skill of
the workman, and have but the reasoning power
of a man, what saith he to himself? Not with-
out reason are the bellows placed here : the
workman knoweth wherefore, though I know not.
In the shop he dareth not to find fault with the
smith, yet in the universe he dareth to find fault
with God. Therefore just as " fire, hail, snow,
ice, wind of storms, which do His word," so all
things in nature, which seem to foolish persons to
be made at random, simply " do His word," be-
cause they are not made save by His command.
10. Then he mentioneth, that they may praise
the Lord, "mountains and hills, fruitful trees
and all cedars" (ver. 9) : "beasts and all cattle,
1 Matt. Mr. 41.
creeping things, and winged fowls" (ver. 10).
Then he goeth to men ; " kings of the earth
and all people, princes and all judges of the
earth" (ver. 11): "young men and maidens,
old men and young, let them praise the
Name of the Lord" (ver. 12). Ended is
the praise from heaven, ended is the praise
from earth. " For His Name only is exalted "
(ver. 13). Let no man seek to exalt his own
name. Wilt thou be exalted? Subject thyself
to Him who cannot be humbled. " His con-
fession is in earth and heaven " (ver. 14). What
is "His confession"? Is it the confession
wherewith He confesseth? No, but that where-
by all things confess Him, all things cry aloud :
the beauty of all things is in a manner their
voice, whereby they praise God. The heaven
crieth out to God, "Thou madest me, not I my-
self." Earth crieth out, "Thou createdst me,
not I myself." How do they cry out? When
thou regardest them, and findest this out,
they cry out by thy voice, they cry out by
thy regard. Regard the heavens, it is beauti-
ful : observe the earth, it is beautiful : both
together are very beautiful. He made them,
He ruleth them, by His nod they are swayed,
He ordereth their seasons, He reneweth
their movements, by Himself He reneweth
them. All these things then praise Him,
whether in stillness or in motion, whether from
earth below or from heaven above, whether in
their old state or in their renewal. When thou seest
all these things, and rejoicest, and art lifted up
to the Maker, and gazest on " His invisible things
understood by the things which are made,"2
" His confession is in earth and heaven : " that
is, thou confesseth to Him from things on earth,
thou confesseth to Him from things in heaven.
And since He made all things, and nought is
better than He, whatsoever He made is less than
He, and whatsoever in these things pleaseth
thee, is less than He. Let not then what
He hath made so please thee, as to withdraw
thee from Him who made : if thou lovest
what He made, love much more Him who
made. If the things which He hath made
are beautiful, how much more beautiful is
He who made them. " And He shall exalt
the horn of His people." Behold what Haggai
and Zachariah prophesied. Now the " horn of
His people " is humble in afflictions, in tribula-
tions, in temptations, in beating of the breast ;
when will He " exalt the horn of His people " ?
When the Lord hath come, and our Sun is risen,
not the sun which is seen with the eye, and
" riseth upon the good and the evil," 3 but That
whereof is said, To you that hear God, " the
Sun of Righteousness shall rise, and healing in
3 Rom. i. 30.
3 Matt, v, 45.
Psalm CXLIX-1
ON THE PSALMS.
6/7
His wings ; " ' and of whom the proud and
wicked shall hereafter say, " The light of right-
eousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun
of righteousness rose not upon us." 2 This shall
be our summer. Now during the winter weather
the fruits appear not on the stock ; thou ob-
servest, so to say, dead trees during the winter.
He who cannot see truly, thinketh the vine
dead ; perhaps there is one near it which is
really dead ; both are alike during winter ;
the one is alive, the other is dead, but both the
life and death are hidden : summer advanceth ;
then the life of the jne shineth brightly, the
death of the other is manifested : the splendour
of leaves, the abundance of fruit, cometh forth,
the vine is clothed in outward appearance from
what it hath in its stock. Therefore, brethren,
now we are the same as other men : just as they
are born, eat, drink, are clothed, pass their life,
so also do the saints. Sometimes the very truth
deceiveth men, and they say, " Lo, he hath
begun to be a Christian : hath he lost his head-
ache ? " or, " because he is a Christian, what
gaineth he from me ? " O dead vine, thou ob-
servest near thee a vine that is bare indeed in
winter, yet not dead. Summer will come, the
Lord will come, our Splendour, that was hidden
in the stock, and then " He shall exalt the horn
of His people," after the captivity wherein we
live in this mortal life. . . .
n. "An hymn to all His Saints." Know
ye what an hymn is? It is a song with praise of
God. If thou praisest God and singest not,
thou utterest no hymn : if thou singest and
praisest not God, thou utterest no hymn : if thou
praisest aught else, which pertaineth not to the
praise of God, although thou singest and praisest,
thou utterest no hymn. An hymn then con-
taineth these three things, song, and praise,
and that of God. Praise then of God in song
is called an hymn. What then meaneth, "An
hymn to all His Saints"? Let His Saints re-
ceive an hymn: let His Saints utter an hymn:
for this is what they are to receive in the end,
an everlasting hymn. . . .
PSALM CXLIX.3
i. Let us praise the Lord both in voice, and
in understanding, and in good works ; and, as
this Psalm exhorteth, let us sing unto Him a
new song. It beginneth : " Sing ye to the Lord
a new song. His praise is in the Church of
the Saints" (ver. i). The old man hath an
old song, the new man a new song. The Old
Testament is an old song, the New Testament a
new song. In the Old Testament are temporal
and earthly promises. Whoso loveth earthly
■ Mai. iv. i. ' Wisd. v. 6
3 Lat. CXL1X. Sermon to the people.
things singeth an old song : let him that desireth
to sing a new song, love the things of eternity.
Love itself is new and eternal ; therefore is it
ever new, because it never groweth old. . . .
And this song is of peace, this song is of charity.
Whoso severeth himself from the union of the
saints, singeth not a new song ; for he hath
followed old strife, not new charity. In new
charity what is there? Peace, the bond of an
holy society, a spiritual union, a building of liv-
ing stones. Where is this? Not in one place,
but throughout the whole world. This is said
in another Psalm, " Sing unto the Lord, all the
earth." 4 From this is understood, that he who
singeth not with the whole earth, singeth an
old song, whatever words proceed out of his
mouth. . . . We have already said, brethren,
that all the earth singeth a new song. He
who singeth not with the whole earth a new
song, let him sing what he will, let his tongue
sound forth Halleluia, let him utter it all day
and all night, my ears are not so much bent
to hear the voice of the singer, but I seek the
deeds of the doer. For I ask, and say, " What
is it that thou singest? " He answereth, " Hal-
leluia." What is " Halleluia " ? " Praise ye
the Lord." Come, let us praise the Lord
together. If thou praisest the Lord, and I
praise the Lord, why are we at variance ? Char-
ity praiseth the Lord, discord blasphemeth the
Lord." . . .
2. The field of the Lord is the world, not
Africa. It is not with the Lord's field, as it
is without these fields of ours, where Getulia
bears sixty or an hundred fold, Numidia only
ten fold : everywhere fruit is borne to Him, both
an hundred fold, and sixty fold, and thirty fold :
only do thou choose what thou wilt be, if thou
thinkest to belong to the Lord's Cross. '• The
Church " then " of the saints " is the Catholic
Church. The Church of the saints is not
the Church of heretics. The Church of the
saints is that which God first prefigured before
it was seen, and then set forth that it might be
seen. The Church of the saints was heretofore
in writings, now it is in nations : the Church of
the saints was heretofore only read of, now it is
both read of and seen. When it was only read
of, it was believed ; now it is seen, and is spoken
against. His praise is in the " children of the
kingdom," that is, " the Church of the saints."
3. " Let Israel rejoice in Him who made
Him " (ver. 2). What is, " Israel "? " Seeing
God." He who seeth God, rejoiceth in Him
by whom he was made. What is it then, breth-
ren ? we have said that we belong to the Church
of the saints : do we already see God ? and
how are we Israel, if we see not? There is one
« P*. xcvi. I.
6;8
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLIX.
kind of sight belonging to this present time ;
there will be another belonging to the time
hereafter : the sight which now is, is by faith ;
the si^ht which is to be will be in reality. If
we believe, we see ; if we love, we see : see
what ? God. Ask John : " God is love ; " ' let
us bless His holy Name, and rejoice in God by
rejoicing in love. Whoso hath love, why send
we him afar to see God? Let him regard his
own conscience, and there he seeth God. . . .
'■ And let the sons of Sion exult in their King."
Th.; sons of the Church are Israel. For Sion
indeed was one city, which fell : amid its ruins
certain saints dwelt after the flesh : but the true
Sion, the true Jerusalem (for Sion and Jerusalem
are one), is "eternal in the heavens," * »and is
"our mother."3 She it is that hath given us
birth, she is the Church of the saints, she hath
nourished us, she, who is in part a pilgrim, in part
abiding in the heavens. In the part which abid-
eth in heaven is the bliss of angels, in the part
which wandereth in this world is the hope of
the righteous. Of the former is said, " Glory to
God in the highest;" of the latter, "and on
earth peace to men of good will." « Let those
then who, being in this life, groan, and long for
their country, run by love, not by bodily feet ;
let them seek not ships but wings, let them lay
hold on the two wings of love. What are the
two wings of love? The love of God, and of
our neighbour. For now we are pilgrims, we
sigh, we groan. There has come to us a letter
from our country : we read it to you. " And
the sons of Sion shall exult in their King." The
Son of God, who made us, was made one of us :
and He rules us as our King, because He is our
Creator, who made us. But He by whom we
were made is the same as He by whom we are
ruled, and we are Christians because He is
Christ. He is called Christ from Chrism, that
is, Anointing. . . . Give to the Priest somewhat
to offer. What could man find which he could
give as a clean victim? What victim? what
clean thing can a sinner offer? O unrighteous,
O sinful man, whatever thou offerest is unclean,
and somewhat that is clean must be offered for
thee. . . . Let then the Priest that is clean
offer Himself, and cleanse thee. This is what
Christ did. He found in man nothing clean for
Him to offer for man : He offered Himself as a
clean Victim. Happy Victim, true Victim,
spotless Offering. He offered not then what
we gave Him ; yea rather, He offered what He
took of us, and offered it clean. For of us
He took flesh, and this He offered. But where
took He it ? In the womb of the Virgin Mary,
that He might offer it clean for us unclean. He
1 x John iv. 16.
> Gal. iv. 36.
' a Cor. v. x.
* Luke ii 14.
is our King, He is our Priest, in Him let us
rejoice.
4. " Let them praise His Name in chorus "
(ver. 3). What meaneth "chorus"? Many
know what a " chorus " is : nay, as we are
speaking in a town, almost all know. A " cho-
rus " is the union of singers. If we sing " in
chorus," let us sing in concord. If any one's
voice is out of harmony in a chorus of singers;
it offendeth the ear, and throweth the chorus
into confusion. If the voice of one echoing dis-
cordantly troubleth the harmony of them who
sing, how doth the discord of heresy throw into
confusion the harmony of them who praise.
The whole world is now the chorus of Christ.
The chorus of Christ soundeth harmoniously
from east to west.5 " Let them sing a psalm
unto Him with timbrel and psaltery." Where-
fore taketh he to him the " timbrel and psaltery " ?
That not the voice alone may praise, but the
works too. When timbrel and psaltery are taken,
the hands harmonize with the voice. So too do
thou, whensoever thou singest " Halleluia," deal
forth thy bread to the hungry, clothe the naked,
take in the stranger : then doth not only thy
voice sound, but thy hand soundeth in harmony
with it, for thy deeds agree with thy words.
Thou hast taken to thee an instrument, and thy
fingers agree with thy tongue. Nor must we
keep back the mystical meaning of the " timbrel
and psaltery." On the timbrel leather is stretched,
on the psaltery gut is stretched ; on either instru-
ment the flesh is crucified. How well did he
" sing a psalm on timbrel and psaltery," who
said, " the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world " ? 5 This psaltery or timbrel He wishes
thee to take up, who loveth a new song, who
teacheth thee, saying to thee, " Whosoever will-
eth to be My disciple, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross, and follow Me." 7 Let him
not set down his psaltery, let him not set down his
timbrel, let him stretch himself out on the wood,
and be dried from the lust of the flesh. The
more the strings are stretched, the more sharply
do they sound. The Apostle Paul then, in order
that his psaltery might sound sharply, what said
he? "Stretching forth unto those things which
are before," etc.8 He stretched himself: Christ
touched him ; and the sweetness of truth sounded.
5. "For the Lord hath dealt kindly among
His people " (ver. 4). What dealing so kindly,
as to die for the ungodly? What dealing so
kindly, as with righteous Blood to blot out the
handwriting against the sinner? What dealing
so kindly, as to say, " I regard not what ye were,
be ye now what ye were not "'? He dealeth kindly
in converting him that was turned away, in aiding
J Ps. cxiii. 3.
? Matt. xvi. 34.
6 Gal. vi. 14.
■ Philip, lii. 13
Psalm CXLIX.]
ON THE PSALMS.
679
him that is fighting, in crowning the conqueror.
" And the meek He shall lift up in salvation."
For the proud too are lifted up, but not in salva-
tion : the meek are lifted in salvation, the proud
in death : that is, the proud lift up themselves,
and God humbleth them : the meek humble
themselves, and Gbd lifteth them up.
6. "The saints shall exult in glory" (ver. 5).
I would say somewhat important about the
glory of the saints. For there is no one who
loveth not glory. But the glory of fools, popular
glory as it is called, hath snares to deceive, so
that a man, influenced by the praises of vain
men, shall be willing to live in such fashion as to
be spoken of by men, whosoever they be, in
whatsoever way. Hence it is that men, rendered
mad, and puffed up with pride, empty within,
without swollen, are willing ever to ruin their
fortunes by bestowing them on stage-players,
actors, men who fight with wild beasts, chari-
oteers. What sums they give, what sums they
spend ! They lavish the powers not only of
their patrimony, but of their minds too. They
scorn the poor, because the people shouteth not
that the poor should be given to, but the people
do shout that the fighter with wild beasts be
given to. When then no shout is raised to them,
they refuse to spend ; when madmen shout to
them, they are mad too : nay, all are mad, both
performer, and spectator, and the giver. This
mad glory is blamed by the Lord, is offensive in
the eyes of the Almighty. . . . Thou choosest
to clothe the fighter with wild beasts, who may
be beaten, and make thee blush : Christ is never
conquered ; He hath conquered the devil, He
hath conquered for thee, and to thee, and in
thee ; such a conqueror as this thou choosest
not to clothe. Wherefore? Because there is
less shouting, less madness about it. They then
who delight in such glory, have an empty con-
science. Just as they drain their chests, to send
garments as presents, so do they empty their
conscience, so as to have nothing precious
therein.
7. But the saints who "exult in glory," no
need is there for us to say how they exult : just
hear the verse of the Psalm which followeth :
" The saints shall exult in glory, they shall rejoice
in their beds : " not in theatres, or amphithea-
tres, or circuses, or follies, or market places, but
" in their chambers." What is, " in their cham-
bers " ? In their hearts.1 Hear the Apostle
Paul exulting in his closet : " For this is our
glory, the testimony of our conscience." * On the
other hand, there is reason to fear lest any be
pleasing to himself, and so seem to be proud,
1 [There is a play here on the word cvbile, which was used of a
box in the theatre. Cubile oftens means a small apartment, and this
is our author's idea. Matt. vi. 6. Elsewhere he speaks of the
" closet " as the heart. I vary the text accordingly. — C.]
2 2 Cor. i. i a.
and boast of his conscience. For every one
ought to exult with fear, for that wherein he
exulteth is God's gift, not his own desert. For
there be many that please themselves, and think
themselves righteous ; and there is another pas-
sage which goeth against them, which saith,
"Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart,
and that he is pure from sin ? " 3 There is then,
so to speak, a limit to glorying in our conscience,
namely, to know that thy faith is sincere, thy
hope sure, thy love without dissimulation. " The
exultations of God are in their mouths " (ver. 6).
In such wise shall they " rejoice in their closets,"
as not to attribute to themselves that they are
good, but praise Him from whom they have
what they are, by whom they are called to attain
to what they are not, and from whom they hope
for perfection, to whom they give thanks, because
He hath begun.
8. " And swords 4 sharpened on both sides in
their hands." This sort of weapon contains a
great mystical meaning, in that it is sharp on
both sides. By " swords sharpened on both
sides," we understand the Word of the Lord : 5 it
is one sword, but therefore are they called many,
because there are many mouths and many
tongues of the saints. How is it two edged?
It speaks of things temporal, it speaks also of
things eternal. In both cases it proveth what
it saith, and him whom it strikes, it severeth
from the world. Is not this the sword whereof
the Lord said, " I am not come to send peace
upon earth, but a sword "? 6 Observe how He
came to divide, how He came to sever. He
divideth the saints, He divideth the ungodly, He
severeth from thee that which hindereth thee.
The son willeth to serve God, the father willeth
not : the sword cometh, the Word of God com-
eth, and severeth the son from the father. . . .
Wherefore then is it in their hands, not in their
tongues? "And swords," it saith, "sharpened
on both sides in their hands." By " in their
hands," he meaneth in power. They received
then the word of God in power, to speak where
they would, to whom they would, neither to fear
power, nor to despise poverty. For they had in
their hands a sword ; where they would they
brandished it, handled it, smote with it : and all
this was in the power of the preachers. For if
the Word be not in their hands, why is it
written, " The Word of the Lord was put in the
hand of the Prophet Haggai " ? ? Surely, breth-
ren, God set not His Word in His fingers. What
is meant by, " was put in his hand " ? It was
put into his power to preach the Word of the
3 Prov. xx. q.
* Framea. [He says: "That is called a sword which is com-
monly called spata. For there are swords sharpened only on one
side, which are called machara. But these framea are also called
romphaa and spata." — C]
s Heb, iv. ia. * Matt. x. 34. 1 Hag. i. 1, marg.
68o
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm CXLIX.
Lord. Lastly, we can understand these " hands "
in another way also. For they who spake had
the word of God in their tongues, they who
wrote, in their hands.
9. Now, brethren, ye see the saints armed :
observe the slaughter, observe their glorious
battles. For if there be a commander, there
must be soldiers ; if soldiers, an enemy ; if a
warfare, a victory. What have these done who
had in their hands swords sharpened on both
sides? "To do vengeance on the nations."
See whether vengeance have not been done on
the nations. Daily is it done : we do it our-
selves by speaking. Observe how the nations
of Babylon are slain. She is repaid twofold :
for so is it written of her, " repay her double for
what she hath done." « How is she repaid
double? The saints wage war, they draw their
" swords twice sharpened ; " thence come defeats,
slaughters, severances : how is she repaid double ?
When she had power to persecute the Christians,
she slew the flesh indeed, but she crushed not
God : now she is repaid double, for the Pagans
are extinguished and the idols are broken. . . .
And lest thou shouldest think that men are really
smitten with the sword, blood really shed,
wounds made in the flesh, he goeth on and
explaineth, " upbraidings among the peoples."
What is "upbraidings"? Reproof. Let the
" sword twice sharpened " go forth from you,
delay not. Say to thy friend, if yet thou hast
one ' left to whom to say it, " What kind of man
art thou, who hast abandoned Him by whom
thou wast made, and worshippest what He
made ? Better is the Workman, than that which
He worketh." When he beginneth to blush,
when he beginneth to feel compunction, thou
hast made a wound with thy sword, it hath
reached the heart, he is about to die, that he
may live.
10. " That they may bind their kings in fet-
ters, and their nobles in bonds of iron " (ver. 8).
"To execute upon them the judgment written "
(ver. 9). The kings of the Gentiles are to be
bound in fetters, " and their nobles in fetters,"
and that " of iron.". . . For these verses which
we are beginning to explain are obscure. For
for this purpose God willed to set down some of
His verses obscurely, not that anything new
should be dug out of them, but that what was
already well known, might be made new by being
obscurely set forth. We know that kings have
been made Christians ; we know that the nobles
of the Gentiles have been made Christians. They
are being made so at this day ; they have been,
they shall be ; the " swords twice sharpened "
are not idle in the hands of the saints. How
then do we understand their being bound in fet-
' Rev. xviii. 6.
2 [«./., a heathen one. — C]
ters and chains of iron ? Ye know, beloved and
learned brethren (learned I call you, for ye have
been nourished in the Church, and are ac-
customed to hear God's Word read),3 that "God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to con-
found the strong, and the foolish things of the
world hath God chosen to confound the wise, and
things which are not, just as things which are,
that the things which are may be brought to
nought." 4 ... It is said by the Lord, " If thou
wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give
to the poor, and come, follow Me, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven." s Many of the nobles
did this, but they ceased to be nobles of the
Gentiles, they chose rather to be poor in this
world, noble in Christ. But many retain their
former nobility, retain their royal powers, and yet
are Christians. These are, as it were, " in fetters
and in bonds of iron." How so ? they received
fetters, to keep them from going to things un-
lawful, the " fetters of wisdom," 6 the fetters of
the Word of God. Wherefore then are they
bonds of iron and not bonds of gold ? > They are
iron so long as they fear : let them love, and
they shall be golden. Observe, beloved, what I
say. Ye have heard just now the Apostle John,
" There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast-
eth out fear, because fear hath torment." 7 This
is the bond of iron. And yet unless a man begin
through fear to worship God, he will not attain
to love. " The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom."8 The beginning then is bonds of
iron, the end a collar of gold. For it is said of
wisdom, " a collar of gold around thy neck." 9
. . . There cometh to us a man powerful in this
world, his wife offendeth him, and perhaps he
hath desired another man's wife who is more
beautiful, or another woman who is richer, he
wisheth to put away the one he hath, yet he
doeth it not. He heareth the words of the ser-
vant of God, he heareth the Prophet, he heareth
the Apostle, and he doeth it not ; he is told by
one in whose hands is a " sword twice sharp-
ened," " Thou shalt not do it : it is not lawful
for thee : God alloweth thee not to put away thy
wife, " save for the cause of fornication." '° He
heareth this, he feareth, and doeth it not. . . .
Listen, young men ; the bonds are of iron, seek
not to set your feet within them ; if ye do, ye
shall be bound more tightly with fetters. Such
fetters the hands of the Bishop make strong for
you. Do not men who are thus fettered fly to
the Church, and are here loosed? Men do fly
hither, desiring to be rid of their wives : here
they are more tightly bound : no man looseth
these fetters. " What God joined together, let
not man put asunder." " But these bonds are
5 [Noteworthy. — C]
6 Ecclus. vi. 25.
9 Ecclus. vi. 24.
4 1 Cor. i; 26, etc.
7 1 John iv. 18.
10 Matt, v. 32.
s Matt. xix. 21.
8 Ps. cxi. 10.
" Matt. xix. 6.
Psalm CL.]
ON THE PSALMS.
68 1
hard. Who but knows it? This hardness the
Apostles grieved at, and said, " If this be the case
with a wife, it is not good to marry." ■ If the
bonds be of iron, it is not good to set our feet
within them. And the Lord said, " All men can-
not receive this saying, but let him that can re-
ceive it, receive it."2 "Art thou bound unto a
wife? seek not to be freed," for thou art bound
with bonds of iron. " Art thou free from a wife,
seek not a wife ; " bind not thyself with bonds
of iron.
ii. "To do in them the judgment that is
written." This is the judgment which the saints
do throughout all nations. Wherefore " written " ?
Because these things were before written, and
now are fulfilled. Behold now they are being
done : erst they were read, and were not done.
And he hath concluded thus, " this glory have
all His saints." Throughout the whole world,
throughout entire nations, this the saints do, thus
are they glorified, thus do they " exalt God with
their mouths," thus do they " rejoice in their
beds," thus do they " exult in their glory," thus
are they " lifted up in salvation," thus do they
" sing a new song," thus in heart and voice and
life they say Halleluia. Amen.
PSALM CL.J
i. Although the arrangement of the Psalms,
which seems to me to contain the secret of a
mighty mystery, hath not yet been revealed unto
me, yet, by the fact that they in all amount to
one hundred and fifty, they suggest somewhat
even to us, who have not as yet pierced with the
eye of our mind the depth of their entire arrange-
ment, whereon we may without being over-bold,
so far as God giveth, be able to speak. Firstly,
the number fifteen, whereof it is a multiple ;
this number fifteen, I say, signifieth the agree-
ment of the two Testaments. For in the former
is observed the Sabbath, which signifieth rest ;
in the latter the Lord's Day, which signifieth
resurrection. The Sabbath is the seventh day,
but the Lord's Day, coming after the seventh,
must needs be the eighth, and is also to be
reckoned the first. For it is called the first day
of the week,4 and so from it are reckoned the
second, third, fourth, and so on to the seventh
day of the week, which is the Sabbath. But
from Lord's Day to Lord's Day is eight days,
wherein is declared the revelation of the New
Testament, which in the Old was as it were
veiled under earthly promises. Further, seven
and eight make fifteen. Of the same number
too are the Psalms which are called " of the
steps," because that was the number of the steps
of the Temple. Further too, the number fifty
1 Matt. xix. 10.
J Lat. CL.
8 Matt. xix. ii, x3.
4 Una Saiiati,
in itself also containeth a great mystery.' For
it consisteth of a week of weeks, with the addition
of one as an eighth to complete the number of fifty.
For seven times seven make forty-nine, whereto
one is added to make fifty. And this number
fifty is of so great meaning, that it was after the
completion of that number of days from the
Lord's Resurrection, that, on the fiftieth day
exactly, the Holy Spirit came upon those who
were gathered together in Christ. And this
Holy Spirit is in Scripture especially spoken of
by the number seven, whether in Isaiah or in the
Apocalypse, where the seven Spirits of God are
most directly mentioned, on account of the seven-
fold operation of one and the self-same Spirit.6
And this sevenfold operation is mentioned in
Isaiah.7 . . . Hence also the Holy Spirit is spoken
of under the number seven. But this period of
fifty the Lord divided into forty and ten : for
on the fortieth day after His Resurrection He
ascended into heaven, and then after ten days
were completed He sent the Holy Spirit : under
the number forty setting forth to us the period
of temporal sojourn in this world. For the
number four prevaileth in forty ; and the world
and the year have each four parts ; and by the
addition of the number ten, as a sort of reward
added for the fulfilment of the law in good
works, eternity itself is figured. This fifty the
number one hundred and fifty containeth three
times, as though it were multiplied by the
Trinity. Wherefore for this reason too we make
out that this number of the Psalm is not un-
suitable.8
2. Now in that some have believed that the
Psalms are divided into five books, they have
been led by the fact, that so often at the end of
Psalms are the words, "so be it, so be it."
But when I endeavoured to make out the prin-
ciple of this division, I was not able ; for neither
are the five parts equal one to another, neither
in quantity of contents, nor yet even in number
of Psalms, so as for each to contain thirty. And
if each book end with, " so be it, so be it," we
may reasonably ask, why the fifth and last book
hath not the same conclusion. We however,
following the authority of canonical Scripture,
where it is said, " For it is written in the book
of Psalms,"9 know that there is but one book of
Psalms. And I see indeed how this can be true,
■ [Sea p. 181, note 12, supra. •
* Rev. I. 20. 7 Isa. xi.
■C]
8 [He adds: "For in the number of the fishes too which were
caught in the nets which were let down after the Resurrection, by
the adding of three to one hundred and fifty, we seem to have a kind
of suggestion given us, into how many parts that number ought to be
divided, namely, that it should contain three fifties. Though there is
another account too of that number of fishes, one much more deep
and pleasing, namely, that we arrive at that same number, by setting
down seventeen in a column, and adding all the numbers from one to
seventeen together. But in the number ten is signified the Law, in
sevent Grace; for nought fulfilleth the Law save Love (Rom. v. 5)
by the Holy Spirit,' who is set forth under the number sevtn." — C.J
9 Acts 1. 20.
682
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
| Psalm CL.
and yet the other be true also, without contra-
vening it. For it may be that there was some
custom in Hebrew literature, whereby that is
called one book which yet consists of more than
one, just as of many churches one church con-
sisted, and of many heavens one heaven," . . .
and one land of many lands. For it is our every-
day habit to say, " the globe 2 of the earth," and
" the globe of the lands." And when it is said,
" It is written in the book of Psalms," though
the customary way of speaking is such that he
seem to have wished to suggest that there is but
one book, yet to this it may be answered, that
the words mean " in a book of the Psalms," that
is, " in any one of those five books." And this
is in common language so unprecedented, or at
least so rare, that we are only convinced that the
twelve Prophets made one book, because we
read in like manner, " As it is written in the book
of the Prophets." 3 There are some too who
call all the canonical Scriptures together one
book,4 because they agree in a very wondrous
and divine unity. . . .
3. Whichever then of these is understood,
this book, in its parts of fifty Psalms each, gives
an answer important and very worthy of consid-
eration. For it seems to me not without sig-
nificance, that the fiftieth is of penitence, the
hundredth of mercy and judgment, the hundred
and fiftieth of the praise of God in His saints.
For thus do we advance to an everlasting life of
happiness, first by condemning our own sins,
then by living aright, that, having condemned
our ill life, and lived a good life, we may attain
to everlasting life. Our predestination is not
wrought in ourselves, but in secret with Him,
in His foreknowledge.5 But we are called by the
preaching of repentance. We are justified in
the calling of mercy and fear of judgment. He
feareth not judgment, who hath previously at-
tained salvation. Being called, we renounce the
devil by repentance, that we may not continue
under his yoke : being justified, we are healed
by mercy, that we may not fear judgment : being
glorified, we pass into everlasting life, where we
praise God without end. . . . The verse where-
with this Psalm concludeth is the voice of life
everlasting.
4. " Praise the Lord in His saints," that is, in
those whom He hath glorified : " praise Him in
the firmament of His power" (ver. 1). " Praise
Him in His deeds of strength;" or, as others
have explained it, "in His deeds of power:
praise Him according to the multitude of His
greatness " (ver. 2). All these His saints are ; as
1 Pa. cxxi. 2 ; Gen. i. 8.
* Orbtm terra, and orbem terrarum. [But by orbit terra
doei he mean " globe "T See p. 365, note 6, tupra. — C]
1 Acts vii. 42.
• Pi. xl. 8. [i.e. the Bible. In the Middle Age» called rather
"the Holy Library." — C.)
» Rom. viii. 30. [Seep. 231, tupra. — C.J
the Apostle saith, " But we may be the righteous-
ness of God in Him." 6 If then they be the
righteousness of God, which He hath wrought
in them, why are they not also the strength of
Christ which He hath wrought in them, that they
should rise again from the dead? For in Christ's
resurrection, " strength " is especially set forth
to us, for in His Passion was weakness, as the
Apostle saith.7 And well doth it say, " the firma-
ment of His power." For it is the " firmament
of His power " that He " dieth no more, death
hath no more dominion over Him." 8 Why
should not they also be called "the works of"
God's " strength," which He hath done in them :
yea rather, they themselves are the works of His
strength ; just as it is said, " We are the right-
eousness of God in Him." For what more
powerful than that He should reign for ever,
with all His enemies put under His feet? Why
should not they also be " the multitude of His
greatness "? not that whereby He is great, but
whereby He hath made them great, many as
they are, that is, thousands of thousands. Just
as righteousness too is understood in two ways,
that whereby He is righteous, and that which He
worketh in us, so as to make us His righteous-
ness. These same saints are signified by all the
musical instruments in succession, to praise God
in. For what the Psalmist began with, saying,
" Praise the Lord in His saints," that he carrieth
out, signifying in various ways these same saints
of His.
5. " Praise Him in the sound of the trumpet"
(ver. 3) : on account of the surpassing clear-
ness of note of their praise. " Praise Him in
the psaltery and harp." The psaltery praiseth
God from things above, the harp praiseth God
from things below ; I mean, from things in
heaven, and things in earth, as He who made
heaven and earth. We have already in another
Psalm,9 explained that the psaltery hath that
board, whereon the series of strings rests that
it may give a better sound, above, whereas the
harp has it below. " Praise Him in the timbrel
and choir" (ver. 4). The "timbrel" praiseth
God when the flesh is now changed, so that
there is in it no weakness of earthly corruption.
For the timbrel is made of leather dried and
strengthened. The " choir " praiseth God when
society made peaceful praiseth Him. " Praise
Him on the strings and organ." Both psaltery
and harp, which have been mentioned above,
have strings. But " organ " is a general name
for all instruments of music, although usage has
now obtained that those are specially called
organ which are inflated with bellows : but I do
not think that this kind is meant here.10 For
* a Cor. v. 91. 7 2 Cor. xiii 4: Philip, iii. 10.
* Rom. vt. 9. 9 See vol. i. p. 31a.
10 [See p. 229, note I, tupra. — C.l
Psalm CL]
ON THE PSALMS.
683
since organ is a Greek word, applied generally,
as I have said, to all musical instruments, this
instrument, to which bellows are applied, is called
by the Greeks by another name : but it being
called organ is rather a Latin and conversa-
tional usage. When then he saith, " on the
strings and organ," he seemeth to me to have
intended to signify some instrument which hath
strings. For it is not psalteries and harps only
that have strings : but, because in the psaltery
and harp, on account of the sound from things
below and things above, somewhat has been found
which can be understood after this distinction,
he hath suggested to us to seek some other mean-
ing in the strings themselves : for they too are flesh,
but flesh now set free from corruption. And
to those, it may be, he added the organ, to sig-
nify that they sound not each separately, but
sound together in most harmonious diversity,
just as they are arranged in a musical instru-
ment. For even then the saints of God will
have their differences, accordant, not discordant,
that is, agreeing, not disagreeing, just as sweetest
harmony arises from sounds differing indeed, but
not opposed to one another.
6. " Praise Him on the well-sounding cym-
bals, praise Him on cymbals of jubilation " (ver.
5). Cymbals touch one another in order to
sound, and therefore are by some compared to
our lips. But I think it better to understand
that God is in a manner praised on the cymbal,
when each is honoured by his neighbour, not by
himself, and then honouring one another, they
give praise to God. But lest any should under-
stand such cymbals as sound without life,
therefore I think he added, "on cymbals of
jubilation." For "jubilation," that is, unspeak-
able praise, proceedeth not, save from life. Nor
do I think that I should pass over what musi-
cians say, that there are three kinds of sounds,
by voice, by breath, by striking : by voice, uttered
by throat and windpipe, when man singeth with-
out any instrument ; by breath, as by pipe, or
anything of that sort : by striking, as by harp,
or anything of that kind. None then of these
kinds is omitted here : for there is voice in
the choir, breath in the trumpet, striking in the
harp, representing mind, spirit, body,' but by
similitudes, not in the proper sense of the words.
When then he proposed, " Praise God in His
saints," to whom said he this, save to them-
selves? And in whom are they to praise God,
save in themselves ? For ye, saith he, are " His
saints ; " ye are " His strength," but that which
He wrought in you ; ye are " His mighty works,
and the multitude of His greatness," which He hath
wrought and set forth in you. Ye are " trumpet,
psaltery, harp, timbrel, choir, strings, and organ,
cymbals of jubilation sounding well," because
sounding in harmony. All these are ye : let
nought that is vile, nought that is transitory,
nought that is ludicrous, be here thought of.
And since to savour of the flesh is death, " let
every spirit praise the Lord " (ver. 6).
PRAYER OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
Which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty,
and with pure hearts offer to Him, so far as our mean-
ness can, great and true thanks, with all our hearts
praying His exceeding kindness, that of His good
pleasure He would deign to hear our prayers, that by
His Power He would drive out the enemy from our
deeds and thoughts, that He would increase our faith,
guide our understandings, give us spiritual thoughts,
and lead us to His bliss, through Jesus Christ His Son
our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Him, in the
Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
1 [The tripartite nature of man recognised. See A. N. F. vol. iii.
P-474- — C.]
INDEXES
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Aaron, brother of Moses, 486, 487.
Abba, same as Father, 381; St. Paul
uses both words, 532.
Abel, 31, 252, 268, 450.
Abimelech, 72, 197.
Abraham, seed of, faithful Christians
also, 148, 149, 627 ; servant's
hand under his thigh, 149, 334 ;
poor in midst of riches, 410.
Absalom, David's son, 4, 5 ; type of
Judas the traitor, 4, 20.
Absolution granted by the Church,
500.
Abyss, or deep, of God's judgments,
88; of man's heart, 136.
Accuser, the devil the great, false,
328 ; false accusers entangled,
221. See Devil.
Achish, 75, 197.
Adam, transgression of, 16; type of
Christ, 131 ; meaning of name,
474-
Advent, day of second, not known,
15. See Christ and Judgment.
Adversity. See Tribulation.
jtman, i.e. Meman, the Israelite,
424.
jEthan, 429.
Ahithophel, 20.
Allophyli, 218, 219.
Almsgiving, one of the wings of
prayer, 140; the Lord requires
it, 171 ; poor can give alms, 605;
a fixed sum to be set aside, 668.
Altar of God, who only can approach
it, 139-
Amalek, 398.
Ammon, 398.
Amorites, 625.
Angels, ministered to Christ, 227 ;
the redeemed equal to, 259 ;
abode of, 415; bodies of, 416;
greatness of, 472 ; food of, 625;
office or function, 627.
Angels, rebel, fell through pride, 591.
Anger, definition of, 16; anger of
God, 382, 399 ; terribleness of
His anger, 443.
Anointed, 151,622. See Christ.
Ant as an example, 137.
Antichrist, " that Wicked," 532 ;
Jews deceived by, 532.
Apollinarians, 411.
A polios, 281.
Apostles, the twelve, wrought mira-
cles, 272 ; designated as rams,
335; number of a mystery, 421 ;
words of, reached unto end of
the world, 430 ; anointed by the
Holy Spirit, 623.
Arians and Arian heresy, 217, 297,
592,615.
Aristotle the philosopher, 640.
Ark of Noah, type of the Church,
421.
Asaph, 334, 335, 348, 367, 386.
Ashes, mark of penitence, 497.
Asp, or adder, 232, 233, 451.
Assur, 398.
Assyrians, 386.
Augustin on lying, 13; anxious to be
understood, 99, 285; alludes to
Sermon on the Ten Plagues,
etc., 375 ; relations to the See
of Rome, 591.
Aurelius, 467.
Avarice. See Covetousness.
Babes, to be fed with milk, 217 ;
afterwards with bread, 615.
Babylon, means "confusion," 268,
604 ; type of captivity of Chris-
tians, 604.
Baldness. See Core.
Baptism, passage through the Red
Sea type of, 392, 533 ; for remis-
sion of sins, 192; laver of re-
generation, 367 ; why the Lord
Jesus was baptized, 450.
Barabbas, 396.
Hasan, or Bashan, 295, 625.
Basilica of St. Peter, 152; Christian
churches called basilica;, 594.
Basilisk, 451.
Beasts of the wood, 512.
Beauty, of Christ as God and man,
146, 148; of soul in confession,
472.
Being, God alone absolute, 441, 442.
Belief. See Faith.
Benjamin, how applied to St. Paul,
296 ; meaning of name, 387.
Birth, natural and spiritual, 231 ;
natural, brings guilt from Adam,
192, 252 253.
Bishops, called "fathers" by the
Church, 155; superintendents
or guardians, 606; under the one
chief Shepherd, 606, 607.
Blasphemers, enemies of God, 455,
504, 665.
Blessed, happiness of the, 423, 545.
Blindness of mind and heart, 18;
judicial punishment of sin, 308.
Blood of Christ our propitiation,
613. See Christ.
Body, human, four portions or ele-
ments of, 16; garment of the
soul, 502.
Bones in Body of the Lord, 81, 82,
496 ; the bone made in secret,
638.
Bow, refers to the Scriptures, 25 ;
bow of the wicked, 94.
Bread for the soul the word of God,
99; bread of the heart, 176;
Christ the Living Bread, 621.
Building, Christians are God's, 498;
built as stones in the Heavenly
City, 593. 594-
Burden of Christ light, 291.
Caecilianus, bishop of Carthage,
42.
Cain, mark set on, 124, 241 ; built a
city, 252 ; connection with Baby-
lon, 268.
Calling, of God's free grace, 1 5.
Calvary, 132.
Canaan, woman of, 295.
Captivity of Christians typified by
Babylon, 604
Carthage See Tarshish.
Catholic Church, 283, 473, 489, 501.
Catholics, 228.
Cedars of Libanus, the righteous like
to, highly exalted, 456.
Cherubim, 386.
Chrism, 64, 678.
Christ, the Mediator, 68 ; Angel of
the great counsel, 75; Body of,
81; the seed of Abraham, 124;
man, 162, 540; bom of a Virgin,
193; Rock on which the Church
is built, 249, 632 ; temptation of,
249; Lamb without spot, 265,
food of angels, 372 ; descent
into hell (hades), 427 ; Judge of
the whole world, 474 ; flesh of
our life, 485; Xhe anointed one,
the Messiah, 504, 622. See In-
cantation.
Christians, must suffer troubles in
this world, 219, 310; persecuted,
342, 511,610, 632.
Church, inherits eternal life, n ; as-
sailants of the, 39; Body of
Christ, 81 ; Eve type of, 131 ;
blessed, 166; works done out of,
401, 402 ; ark of Noah type of,
42; the city of God, 484; city
of the saints, Catholic, 677.
Chusi, or Hushai, 20, 21.
Cicero, 512, 513.
687
688
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Circumcelliones, miscreants, 42, 218,
470, 622, 623.
City of God, the Church, 484.
Cities, two opposed, Jerusalem and
Babylon, 268.
Clergy and clerks, 291.
Commandments, God's, man of him-
self too weak to keep them, 561,
562 j love, the mark of their
breadth, 576.
Confession, twofold, of sin and of
praise, 27, 68, 155, 632, 633;
benefit of, 70, 283 ; always need-
ful, 490 ; of sins of ignorance
and negligence, 528.
Confirmation, 64.
Conscience, an altar, 185 ; testimony
of, 208.
Consolation, in the desert of this
world, 260 ; in hope, 604.
Conversion, difficulty of, 17 ; work
of God's grace, 323 ; must not
be delayed, 497, 498.
Core, or Korah, 132, 140, 155, 400.
Cornelius, 478.
Country, the heavenly. See Jeru-
salem and The City of God.
Covetousness, hateful to our Lord,
479 ; root of all evils, 565.
Creation, beauty of, 27 ; not to be
preferred to the Creator, 389,
r. ■ 39°'
Crispina, martyr, 591, 633.
Cross of our Lord a key, 155 ; virtue
hidden in, 247 ; mark of, on
foreheads of Christians, 650.
Crown, Christ's crown of thorns, 6.
Cyprian, martyr, 92, 102, 418 ; table
of, 391.
Daniel, prophecy of, 164.
Darkness, not made by God, but or-
dered by Him, 27; term used
for rulers of this world, 79.
David, " ecstasy " of, 68, 70 ; his sin
and fall no warrant for other
men to sin, 190; type of Christ,
209, 225 ; meekness of, 616, 617.
Day of the Lord. See Advent and
Judgment.
Days of the week, 459, 460.
Dead, do they know in Hades what
transpires on earth ? 538.
Death, of the righteous and wicked,
78, 79; is certain, 117; defini-
tion of, 174.
Degrees, songs of, 112; meaning of,
589, 596, 598 ; same in number
as steps of the temple, 68t.
Deluge, ark of the Church refuge
from, 67 j of persecutions, 511.
Denary, 545.
Detraction, a stumbling-block to the
weak, 188 ; must not seek re-
venge for, 537.
Devil, the, fell through pride, 242 ;
the tempter, 299 ; false accuser,
328; lion and dragon, 457 ; ser-
pent, 517; persecuted Christ,
persecutes His Church, 652 ;
warfare between Christians and
the devil, 654, 655.
Doeg the Edomite, 197, 201.
Dogs, use of the word, 295, 296.
Donatists, schismatics, 42, 228, 470;
claimed to be the only true
Christians, 414, 473, 592, 640,
641, 670.
Donatus, 216, 298.
Dove, type of love, 212.
Drunkenness, spiritual, so called.
See Inebriation.
Eagle, explanation of characteristics,
285, 506.
Earth, God's saints on, 48; lower
places of, meaning of, 262 ; God's
footstool, 485 ; things of, cleave
to Christians, 564.
Eastertide, type of everlasting hap-
piness, 545; follows Lent with
praise and feasting, 673.
Ecstasy of David, 68, 70 ; trance or
transport of mind, 296, 555.
Edom, or " earthly," 244 ; name for
Esau, 631.
Egypt, ten plagues of, and meaning,
375; land of Ham, 523; emblen.
of this world, 550.
Election of the Gentiles, 625.
Elijah, 181, 545.
Endor, 399.
Envy, defined, 524; entices to sin,
642 ; the devil the great envier,
642.
Ephraim, meaning of name, 247, 386.
Ephrata, 617.
Epicurus, philosopher, 349 ; named
"hog," 349; teaching of, 349.
Episcopus. See Bishop.
Epithalamia, 146.
Esau, type of the proud, etc., 162 ;
type of carnal men, 631.
Esther, Queen, 197.
Eternity, eternal, meaning of, 3 ; our
refuge, 442.
Etham, 347.
Ethiopia and Ethiopians, 298, 346.
Eucharist, sacrament of the, how
spoken of, 75; for rich and poor
alike, 169; mystery of eating and
drinking in, 485, 486. See Sac-
raments.
Eunomians, 297.
Eve, type of the Church, 131, 607,
608; our flesh compared to, 170.
Evil, sent on men in just judgment,
80; bodily, comes on good and
bad alike, 384.
Examples, effect of, 589, 590, 643.
Exultation of the just, 209 ; in the
Lord, 467, 468 ; exult with fear,
679.
Eye of God on those who look to
Him, 71; wantonness of eyes
condemned, 190; eye of the flesh,
480, and of the heart, 480 ; eyes
of Christ's Body, the Church,
426.
Ezekiel, prophet, song of, Ps. lxv.,
267.
Face of God, meaning of expression,
44, 286, 298.
Faith, path to knowledge, 29 ; of the
fathers same as ours, 195 ; in
Christ cleanses, 438 ; necessary
to reconciliation, 522.
Faithful, the, God's tabernacle on
earth, 134, 606.
Fasting, one of the wings of prayer,
140, 423; fast of Lent enjoined
in Old Testament and by our
Lord, 545; of Christ, 304; on
heathen festal days, 484.
Father, the, first Person in the
Blessed Trinity, 301, 289; Ab-
ba, 381.
Fear of God, a safeguard, 13; two
kinds of fear, chaste and servile,
55 ; Christians need have no
fear, 64 ; fear of damnation, 170;
flight of the mind, 286; Christ
our Lord's death changed fear to
love, 451 ; one of the leaves of
the door of the heart, 649; in
working out our salvation, 653.
Felix the martyr, sermon on, 609.
Field, God's field, the world, 677.
Finger of God, refers to the Holy
Ghost, 29; fingers for the Body
of Christ's warfare, 654.
Fire, purging or cleansing, 103; de-
stroying, 103; of God's judg-
ment, 180; used for affliction,
278 ; used in exorcism before
Baptism, 278.
Flesh, lust of the, 32 ; fleshly desires,
64; infirmity of the, 129; resur-
rection of the, 196, 259; all
flesh, how to come to God, 269 ;
frailty of the, inherited from
Adam, 406.
Food of men and angels, even the
Incarnate Lord, 625.
Forgiveness, on confession and
amendment, 193 ; promised, to
prevent despair, 498 ; of others,
so as to obtain mercy, 547.
Foundation, our, is Christ, 510, 594.
Free will, man punished because he
sins through, 498 ; gift of God,
545; divine grace needed to
enable man to serve God, 579;
man has free will, 637.
Friendship, danger of worldly, 631.
Fulgentius, 91.
Gaiuseius, 646.
Gath, David in, 218.
Gehenna. See Hell.
Generation, of generations, 329, 502 ;
years of a, 521.
Gentiles, called in, 478 ; vast num-
bers of, in the Church, 626.
Getulia, 675.
Giant, the Lord termed Giant of
giants, 427.
Gideon, fleece of, 158, 329, 634; and
three hundred that lapped, 295.
God, finger of, 29; attributes of, 35,
141, 150, 184, 240, 353, 502, 557;
in three Persons, 195; anger of,
383> 399 ; face of, 44, 286, 298 ;
to be loved for His own sake,
223, 341 ; repentance of, 531 ;
workmanship of, in Christ, 653.
Gods, use of term in Scripture, 178,
478, 479-
Good, God alone truly so, 557 ; good
and bad in the Church militant,
166, 167, 489, 590, 591 ; good gifts
of God, 87 ; good gifts of Heav-
enly Jerusalem, 270.
Gospel, good news of salvation, 531,
532 ; preachers of the, to be sup-
ported, 513 ; Gospels four in
number, 635.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
689
Grace of God, leads to confession,
117; in Christ abundantly, 147,
148 ; all good comes through,
287; virtue of the Sacraments,
367-
Groaning, of heart and flesh, 106;
of God's servant, 107.
Hades. See Hell.
Hagarenes, 398.
Haggai the prophet, 546, 547, 679.
Hail in Egypt, meaning of, 375.
Halleluia, meaning of double, 532 ;
song of the future life, 673.
Ham, land of Egypt, 523.
Hand, right, used for preference,
538 ; safety in God's right hand,
635-
Hands, lifted up in prayer, 261 ; of
the Lord Jesus stretched out on
the cross, 427.
Happiness of this world, not prom-
ised by the Lord, 93 ; a dream,
339. 34° ; a pitfall for the un-
godly, 463; checkered with trials,
465.
Hatred, God's, in what it consists, 12 ;
hating wrongfully a dangerous
temptation, no; is darkness and
death, 211.
Head of the Church is Christ, 642;
head of the ungodly the devil,
642.
Heart, the, an abyss, 136; wings of,
faith, hope, and charity, 401 ;
should be in heaven, 452 ; straight
heart and wicked heart, 493 ; the
two leaves of, 649.
Heaven, used for books of both Tes-
taments, 29 ; foundation of what,
396; how to be bought, 466;
heaven of heavens, 502 ; figure
of God's mercy, 508; all holy
souls, 596.
Hell (Hades), place of waiting before
the judgment, Lazarus in Para-
dise, 17; Rich man in Gehenna,
17; upper and lower, 415,416;
no escape in Hades from God's
presence, 637.
Heresies, why allowed, 26; like tor-
rents, 233.
Heretics, false prophets, 23 ; names
of, 217, 297, 645 ; characteristics
of, 367, 615, 669.
Hermon, Mount, 135, 433, 623.
Herod, slaughter of the innocents by,
165.
Hippolytus, 70.
Holocaust, 184, 197, 279, 633.
Holy Ghost, finger of God, 29, 451 ;
came down at Pentecost, 157,
451 ; sword of the Lord, 457 ;
sevenfold operations of, 681.
Hope, in God, 35, 121, 614; of im-
mortality, 519; comforted by,
in our pilgrimage, 604, 660,
663.
House of God, 486,' 606, 618.
Humble, the, praise God, 73 ; God
gives grace to, 534, 535; God
exalts, 549.
Humility, road to life, 49; of the
publican, 126; commended, 77,
117,371,518; our strength, 457 ;
of the Lord Christ, 607.
Hymns, sung in churches, 143 ; songs
of praise, 333; of God's saints,
677.
Hyssop, 193, 194.
Idithun, 112, 117, 119, 251, 254; to
whom applied, 360.
Idols and Idolatry, refutation of, 477,
478; rage of idolaters against
Kingdom of Christ, 483; mad-
ness of idol worshippers, 632.
Idumaeans, 398. See Edom.
Image of God in soul of man, 140, 177.
Incarnation of Christ, 146; born of
a Virgin, 193; the Word and
flesh, i.e. God and man, 540.
See Christ.
Inebriation, so called, spiritual, ef-
fects of, 2, 89; refreshing the
people of God, 272.
Infants. See Babes.
Inheritance, Christians co-heirs with
the Lord, 178; of Old Testa-
ment in contrast with that of the
New, 292.
Innocence, to be kept with care, 102 ;
of heart, 380; righteousness in-
cluded in, 492.
Innocents, murdered by Herod,
crowned by Christ, 165.
Intercession of Moses, power of, 529.
Ishmaelites, 398 ; type of worldly
seeking Christians, 590.
Israel, " seeing God," 356 ; Christians
called by this name, 550.
Jabin, 398.
Jacob, meaning of his two names,
369 ; Jacob and Esau, two na-
tions, 437, 631. See Esau.
Jannes and Jambres, 96.
Jebus and Jebusites, 268.
Jeremiah, song of, 267, 315.
Jerusalem, 36, 268 ; Jerusalem and
Babylon, the world and the
Church, contrasted, 252 ; same as
Sion, 268; the Heavenly Jerusa-
lem, 414, 593.
Jews, caused the Lord's crucifixion,
264; judicially blinded, 308;
named from Judah, 355; how
superior to other nations, 408,
468 ; many converted, 461 ; con-
victed by the resurrection of the
Lord, 618.
Joab, 244.
Job, a pattern to Christians, 224 ;
answer of, to his wife, 224 ; holy
Job, 281; tempted by the devil
by God's permission, 446.
John the Baptist, a burning light,
622 ; boldness of, 648 ; killed by
Herod, 648.
Jonadab, 315.
Jordan, land of, 135; figure of bap-
tism, 135.
Joseph, husband of Virgin Mary, 381.
Joseph, the patriarch, 386; a type of
Christ, 392, 522.
Joy, of the saints in the Church, 293 ;
joy in God, 406 ; coupled with
fear, 415; impure joy, 604; in
tribulation, 639.
Judas Iscariot, case of, 538, 539 ; bag
entrusted to, 668 ; in Hades, 538.
Judge, God judges His people, 63;
our Lord as Son of man, Judge
at the last day, 179, 351, 474.
Judgment, day of last, 15, 91, 148,
442, 474; God's judgments a
great deep, 136; Christ's assess-
ors at the judgment, 181 ; tem-
poral judgments a warning, 246
Julian the apostate, 602.
Justice, twofold, 562 ; God's, com-
bined with mercy, 491, 507.
Justification, of the ungodly, 22, 545;
God's free gift, 240; precedes
good works, 545. See Con-
fession, Faith, Grace.
Kedar, 590.
Kingdom of heaven, in this world,
197; how to be bought, 547.
See Babylon and jferusalem.
King, Christ our anointed. See Christ.
Kishon, 399.
Knowledge, distinguished from wis-
dom, 629; accompanied by
charity and humility. See God.
Korah. See Core.
Lamb, Christ the immaculate, 265.
Land of the living, kingdom of the
saints, 101 ; land of the dying,
101 ; land of where all is for-
gotten, 428.
Law, written and unwritten, 1 ; of
Moses promises temporal re-
wards mostly, 445 ; Gospels, law
of faith and love, 564, 577 ;
threefold, given in Paradise, im-
planted by nature, written in
letters, 580.
Lazarus and Rich Man in the parable,
17, 78, 94, 173, 416.
Lazarus, brother of Martha and
Mary, raised from the dead, 500.
Lent, type of misery of life, 545, 673.
Lies and liars, hateful to God, 12, 31 ;
some rather lax views of Augus-
tin's as to, 12; toil of lying, 643.
Life, considered as twofold, of the
flesh and of the spirit, 16,323;
our true life is love, 211; old
and new, 445; sickness and
death, 505, 662; in hope of
eternal life, 519. See Death and
Eternity.
Light, Christ the light of God, 139;
two kinds, i.e. of the sun and
of God, 479 ; rising before light,
meaning of, 607.
Lion, type of what, 188, 189, 227, 516.
Locust, 375.
Lot, daughters of, 247 ; children of,
398-
Love, foot of the soul, 37 ; our root,
174; Holy Spirit's love shed
abroad in our hearts, 291 ; wings
of the two commandments of
the new law, 291 ; all good works
summed up in, 445; God loves
us always, 452; law of the City
of God, 484 ; exceeding broad
commandment, 576; strong as
death, 595.
Luciferians, heretics, 297.
Lust, depraved love, 37 ; burning fire,
234; lust and fear, causes of all
sins, 389.
Luxury a slippery way, 80.
690
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Macarius, 42, 97.
Maccabees, 77, 306, 381.
Macedonians, heretics, 297.
Man, old and new, 16; consists of
soul and flesh, 105; made in
image of God, 498 ; created in
and fallen in Adam, 571, 572.
See Adam and Christ.
Manasses, 247, 386.
Manes and Manichees, heretics, 297,
645,667.
Manna, 287.
Martyrs, and their persecutors, 42;
sermon on Feast of the Martyrs,
128-132; case of, when exposed,
248 ; spirits of, in Paradise, 382 ;
" the bones " of, 647.
Mary Magdalene, 284, 645.
Mary the Virgin, 54, 55, 83, 146.
Maximianists, heretics, 212, 218.
Melchisedek, 72, 543, 619.
Members of the body. See Christ
and the Church
Mercy, greatness of God's, 150;
joined with truth, 434; every
man needs mercy of God, 491 ;
works of, commended, 474, 547,
654.
Merit, our calling and election not
of, 15; no merit in man, 189,
410; grace not given on account
of, 513. See Grace and Works.
Mesopotamia, 244.
Messiah. See Christ.
Midian, Madian, 398.
Ministers of the Gospel, unworthi-
ness of, no bar to God's grace,
42. 43-
Moab, 247, 398.
Monasteries, 439.
Monks, evil lives of some, 490; why
so called, 623; Ps. cxxxiii. in
defence of, 622-624.
Moon, used in various applications
in Scripture, 41, 329, 515; as to
origin of light of, 41.
Moses, man of God, prayer of, Ps.
xc, 441-446; a priest, 486; God's
ways made known to, 507 ; books
of, how typified, 321, 654; pun
ishment of, 486, 487.
Mouth, of God, His revelations, 562;
what comes out of, from the
heart, 604, 633 ; door of restraint
needed for, 645.
Mysteries, the great, of God, 640, 641.
Name, of Christ, knowledge of Him,
484 ; of God, " I Am,' 502. See
God.
Necessity mother of all employ-
ments, 402.
Neighbor, every man our neighbor,
48. See Love.
Night, type of wickedness, lying, etc.,
12; type of life here, 361, 494,
569, 638.
Nineveh, 193.
Noah, ark of, 421.
North, what it represents, 165.
Novatians, heretics, 217.
Numbers, mystical meanings of, 15,
16, 181.
Obedience, parents to be obeyed,
315; road to knowledge, 577;
even wicked masters have right
to, 602.
Oil, used for spiritual joy, 60; for
the Holy Spirit, 540; "oil of a
sinner " flattery, 646.
Onagers, 512.
Organ, instrument of music, mys-
tically used for the saints, 682.
Orphans, God the protector of, 39,
664.
Pagans, blamed Christians for all
misfortunes which occurred, 390;
cowards compared with Chris-
tian martyrs, 647.
Pannonia, 271.
Parable, i.e. comparison or simili-
tude, 304, 366.
Paradise referred to, 95, 382, 580.
Pardon. See Forgiveness.
Parents, to be obeyed, and when not,
315; sins of, visited on children,
53»-
Passion, our Lord's, described in
Ps. lxix., 300; teaches us to
look for eternal, not temporal,
good, 444; suffering of Christ's
Body, the Church, 251.
Patience, a gift of God, 254; the
patience of Christ, 417.
Patriarchs, called "Christs," 522.
Paul, the Apostle, conversion of,
149; greatest of sinners, pattern
of the grace of God, 315, 672; in
what sense to occupy a throne
of judgment at the last day, 421.
Peace, to be found only in part in
this life, 77 ; exhortations to
peace in the Church, 591, 603;
677 ; Christ is peace, 603; Christ
the true peacemaker, 606.
Pelagius, heretic, 241.
Penitential Psalms, seven, 15.
Perfect, the, repay not evil, 21 ; none
really perfect, 116; an example
to other Christians, 121 ; to be
judges with the Lord at last day,
449.
Perpetua, martyr, 168.
Persecution, three kinds endured by
the Church, 39; great persecu-
tions inflicted on the Church,
448 ; why God permits persecu-
tion, 449; persecutors almost
extinct through the Church's
prayers, 484.
Persons in the Godhead, 301.
Peter the Apostle, threefold denial
of the Lord, and threefold con-
fession, 128; monument of, in
Rome, 1 52 ; chief among the
Apostles, 536; remembered in
Rome, 647.
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 625.
Pharisees, pride and outward purity
of, 493.
Philistines, 398.
Philosophers, pagan, some hold the
soul to be immortal, but all re-
jected the resurrection, 437.
Photinus, heretic, 297.
Physician, Christ the true, 90.
Pilate, Pontius, 264.
Plato the philosopher, 646.
Pleasure of the flesh, 31 ; compared
to mire, 549. See Lust.
Possession, God ours, and we God's,
663.
Powers of this world signified by
mountains, 157; obedience due
to the powers that be, 602.
Praise of God man's chief work, 148;
manifest grounds for, 196; ever
lasting employment of the
blessed, 402 ; prayer and praise,
520, 54s ; God's works praise
Him, 659, 674.
Prayer, two kinds, outward and in-
ward, 107 ; two wings of, 140,
423; perseverance in, 280; the
Lord Jesus prays for us and in
us, and is prayed to by us, 410;
the Lord's Prayer pattern of all
prayer, 652.
Precepts. See Law.
Predestination, secret with God, 671,
680.
Pride, deadly sin, 32, 56 : pride of the
devil, 242 ; pride of Adam and
his race, 324; mother of envy, 493.
Priest, Christ our Priest and Sacri-
fice, 623. See Christ and Sacrifice.
Primacy of Peter, 536.
Promises of Old and New Testaments
not the same, 342 ; fulfilled, an
earnest of those not fulfilled, 660.
Prophets, foretell the future, 80, 142;
Christ speaks in the, 635, 651 ;
heretics false prophets, 23.
Propitiation. See Sacrifice.
Proselytes, 664.
Prosperity, perils of, 190; not the
lot of Christians in this world,
207 ; does not make men happy.
638 ; Christians must not be
lifted up by, nor depressed by
adversity, 638. See job.
Providence of God, over all, 663 ; sin
of not believing in, 653.
Psalms, though one book, divided
into five books, 681.
Psaltery, 229; mystical meaning of,
678.
Punishment of the wicked, 234; how
angels are employed in punish-
ing, 376. 377-
Pythagoras, philosopher, 513, 646.
Redemption by and through Christ,
505. See Christ and Sacrifice.
Refuge, God is our, 1 56, 317.
Repent, in what sense God is said to
repent, 531, 619.
Resurrection, the Christian's faith in,
501 ; rejected by heathen philos-
ophers, 437; our hope of, 614;
the resurrection-body, 654.
Righteous, delivered by God out of
trouble, 77 ; blessing on, 98; sure
of rest at the last, rejoice in hope,
609. See Grace, Prosperity, Trib-
ulation.
Righteousness, beauty of, 270 ; God's
gift, 316; summed up in inno-
cence, 492. See Justification.
Rome, curies or tribes in ancient,
594 ; Peter and Paul remembered
in, 647.
Sabbath, type of everlasting rest, 103 ;
Christian sabbath in the heart
or good conscience, 453.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
691
Sabellius, heresy of, II, 297.
Sacraments, difference between Old
and New Testament sacraments,
342; result when administered
by ungodly men, 640 ; chief means
of binding up bruises of heart,
666
Sacrifice, of repentance, 9; of praise,
183; of righteousness, 196; love
the fire of our sacrifices, 224 ; of
humility, 615; our Lord's sacri-
fice a pure offering, 678. See
Christ.
Saints, supposed to be represented
by number of fishes in the nets,
181 ; in Paradise, interceding for
the living, 418; differ in glory in
heaven, 688. See Righteous and
Good.
Salvation, Christ our, 90, 621 ; Christ
salvation of God, 588 ; of free
grace, 652. See Grace.
Saul, king of the Jews, 50; Saul,
i.e. Paul the Apostle, 316. See
Paul.
Schism and schismatics, 216, 218.
See Donatists.
Scripture, both difficult and clear
passages in, 43; remedy for sick
souls, 91 ; mysteries in, 459, 667 ;
all written for Christ, 634.
Selah, Sursum Corda, 8.
Septuagint version, 427.
Simon Magus, 450, 615.
Sinai, Mount, meaning of name, 288,
293-
Sin, Sinners, must be punished, 150,
239; Christ alone without sin,
192; original sin washed away in
baptism, 192, 252, 253 ; all men
sinners, 436, 560, 645. See
Baptism.
Sion the fatherland, same as Jerusa-
lem, 268; type of the Church
militant, 500; the true heavenly
Sion, 620.
Solomon, son of David, 606.
Son of God, same substance as the
Father, 301. See Christ.
Songs of Degrees. See Degrees.
Soul, bread of the Word of truth, 260;
nature of the, 528, 529, 662 ; love
the virtue of, 510; by faith and
hope is in Christ, 631 ; made in
image of God, 668. See Salva-
tion, Body, Image of God.
Spirit, Holy. See Holy Ghost.
Stephen, proto-martyr, 237.
Suffering. See Tribulation.
Swearing, forbidden to men, 430 ;
what God hath sworn will surely
happen, 620.
Synagogue, the murderer of the
Lord, 335, yet out of it came
forth Saul, or Paul, the great
Apostle, 335.
Syria, 245.
Tabor, Mount, 433.
Tarshish, supposed by some to be
Tarsus in Cilicia, by others to
be Carthage, 166.
Temple of God, the beauty of right-
eousness, 270; how man is a
part of, 596; heathen temples
closed in Augustin's time, 637.
Temptation, of the Lord threefold,
32 ; sets forth three classes of
man's temptation, 32 ; can be
overcome only by God's help,
442 ; assails Christians after re-
mission of sins in baptism, 504.
See Devil.
Testament, Old prefigured by New,
405 ; Old revealed in New, New
revealed in Old, 531. See Prom-
ises.
Three Children, Song of the, 77, 674.
Time, our time very short here, 93,
94 ; six times or periods of his-
tory, 457 ; of mercy and judg-
ment, 491 ; two times of Christ,
humiliation and majesty, 544.
See Mercy and Judgment.
Titus, emperor, 380, 381.
Tongue, dispersion of tongues, 213;
deceitful tongue, 589; Christian's
tongue the Song of Jerusalem,
631.
Tribulation, Christ delivers His peo-
ple in, 145; greatest, is an evil
conscience, 156; strengthens us,
313; profitable to us, 186; ac-
companies us all through life,
361. See Grace and Prayer.
Trinity, one God, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, 11; Sabellian her-
esy concerning, 1 1 ; different er-
rors concerning, 297, 298 ; three
Persons, one Substance, 301,
629.
Truth, alone makes blessed, 9; to be
overcome by, is glorious, 235;
joined with mercy, 434 ; must
strive for, unto death, 575; lying
is toilsome, truth easy, 643. See
Mercy and Augustin.
Ungodly, compared to grass, 174 ;
flourish for a time, perish for
ever, 208 ; miserable, though ap-
parently happy, 336.
Unity of the Catholic Church, 328,
501, 591 ; unity recommended,
677. See Church.
Usury condemned, 99, 612.
Virginity, 451, 452 ; parable of five
virgins, lessons in, 670.
White Mass, 660.
Wicked. See Ungodly.
Wine of the Lord, 514.
Wisdom, book of, 172.
Wives and husbands, 223.
Word of God, Christ Jesus, 502 ;
godhead and manhood insepa-
rable, 65; became flesh so as to
be man's food, 372; the written
word is bread of the righteous,
99 ; a well of life to the receiver,
347 ; was heard read standing,
402.
Works, love the root, good works
the fruit, 199, 200 ; faith works
by love, 445. See Grace, Justi-
fication, Righteousness.
World, Christ sends both fire and
sword into, 245 ; six ages of the,
456; Christians must use, not
serve, the world, 474.
Zechariah the prophet, 546, 547, 676.
Zion. See Sion.
Ziphites, 206, 207, 208.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
FACE
PAGE
PACE
Gen. xii. 17-20. . . 522
Gen. xlix. 18 . . 63, 406
»-3-5
• ■ 27
xiii.-xx. .
. 611
xlix. 27 .
• 381
i- 3"'9
. . 460
xiii. 2 . .
201, 410
Exod. i. 19 . .
12
i. S •
• • 320
xv. 18 . .
. I48
• 378
i. 6 .
. . 502
xvii. 4, 7 .
. 291
ii. 12-15.
. . 486
i. 6-8
. . 164
xvii. 19 .
. I48
iii. 6 . .
163, 503
i. 8 .
. 299, 682
xviii. 2 . .
• 376
iii. 8 . .
• • 529
i. ii
• • 333
xviii. 21 .
• ,43
iii. 14. . 2,35, 119,
i. 14
• • 543
xviii. 27 .
. 671
399, 442, 655.
i. 20
>84, 391. 392
xix. 1 . .
• 37D
hi. 14, 15 . . 521
i. 26, 10, 115, 177, 210,
xix. 19 . .
• 3H
iv. 1-3 .
343. 344
230, 282, 498, 502.
i. 26, 27 . . . 504
xix. 20 . .
• 41
iv. 6 . .
345
xix. 26 . .
• 359
iv. 21 . .
376
i. 27 . 301, 325, 380
xix. 36, 37
247. 398
vii. 12
347
i- 3'
624, 629
xx. 3 . .
. 522
viii. 7 . .
370
ii 1-3
. ... 456
• • • • 587
xxi. 1 . .
• 355
viii. 18, 19
376
xxi. 12 . .
• 370
viii. 19 .
29
ii. 7.
. ... 441
xxii. 10
. 410
ix. 25 . .
375
fa. 17
103, in, 309,
xxii. 12 . 144, 238
xii. 46 .
7»
322
xxii. 18 . 124, 148,
xiii. 3. .
392
ii. 21, 22 . . 31, 131,
333. 334. 389. 584-
xiii. 21 .
287
607, 610
xxiv. 2. . .149,334
xiv. 8 . .
357
ii. 24 . 128, 210, 251,
xxv. 13 . . 132, 590
xiv. 21, 22
469
35'. 585
xxv. 22, 23 . . 583
xiv. 22, 392, 533, 599
in 1 .... 343
xxv. 23 . . 56, 162,
xiv. 29, 30 392, 599
in. 5, 7 . . 22, 36, 90,
205, 231, 252, 391,
xv. 1 . . . . 528
322, 446, 565.
437. 55°-
xvi. 2 . .
• 3'5
ni. 6 . 301, 309, 496
xxv. 26 . . 355, 360
xvi. 3 . .
• • 373
iii. 14 . 21, 254, 518
xxv. 27
• 424
xvi- '3-35
xvii. 6 .
. . 469
iii. 15 . 91, 148, 170,
346.
xxv. 30-34
. . 162
• • 395
xxv. 33 .
• 55°
xvii. 12 .
. . 142
iii. 16, 20 . . . 608
xxvi. 4. .
216, 572
xix. 8 . .
370, 377
iii. 17 . 26, 256, 571
xxvi. 8-1 1
, . 522
xx. 1-17 .
■ • 354
iii. 18, 19 . . . 508
xxviii. 11— 18
• 'J1
i54.5»9
xx. 3 . .
■ ' 37|
iii. 19 . . 22,43,130,
xxviii. 12 .
xx. 5 . .
• • 538
164, 368, 400, 406,
xxix. 32 .
'■ 3$
xxxi. 18 .
. . 29
409, 518, 644.
xxxi. 44 .
xxxii. 1-4
. 486
iii. 20 .... 151
xxxii., xxxiii.
. 522
xxxii. 10.
253. 374
iii. 22 .
• • 347
xxxii. 25, 24
151,672
xxxii. 19.
0, 346
iv. 1, 2.
• • 252
xxxii. 26 .
• 387
xxxii. 20
86, 434
iv. 4 .
• • 370
xxxii. 28 .
369. 38°
xxxiv. 28
29. 545
iv. 6 .
. . 256
xxxii. 32 .
. 366
xxxiv. 33-3
> • 58'
iv. 8 . 31, 177, 370,
xxxv. 4 .
. 246
Lev. xiii. 25 . .
• 345
585. °' 1
xxxvii. 28
• 364
xviii. 3 . .
• 524
iv. 15 . . . . 241
xxxvii. 36
. 252
xix. 2 . .
. 411
iv. 17 .
• • 333
xxxviii. 29
• 37°
Num. xi. 5, 6 .
. 288
v. 24 .
. . 611
xxxix. 20 .
. 252
xi. 17 . .
• 371
vi.-viii.
. . 611
xii. . . .
• 523
xiii. 20 .
• 524
vi. 14 .
. . 421
xii. 40 . .
• 379
xiii. 23 .
. 28
• • 3'
xlii. 5 . .
• 252
xiv. 23, 24
. 288
• • 443
xlviii. 5 .
• 355
xvi. 1 . . .
160, 529
xlviii. 14 .
• 370
xvi. 9, 10
• 529
ix 12 .
. . 291
xlviii. 17, 19
• 379
. 378
xvi. 31 .
• 215
ix. 19 .
• • 299
xlix. 3 . .
xviii. 20, 48
291.355
xlix. 5 . .
xlix. 8 . .
• 378
xx. 13. .
• 655
• 487
xii. 3 . 216, 278, 572,
• 247
xx. 24-28
xlix. 9 . .
• 438
xxi. 8 . . .
344. 345
xii. 7
. . . 148
xlix. 10 , ,
'48. 355
xxi. 9 . .
340
Num. xxv. 8.
, .
• 530
xxxiii. 38
• • 487
xxxiv. 5
• • 388
Deut. iv. 13 .
. . 181
vi. 4, 5
• • 354
vi. 5 .
. . 16
vi- 13-
• • 48;
vi. 16.
• • 45'
vi. 21 .
• • 392
ix. 10.
. . 29
xiii. 3 .
12, 15
xix. 15
. . 219
xxi. 23
. . in
xxiii. 20
. . 612
xxv. 4
• • • 279
xxv. 26
. . 152
xxxii. 35
• • 507
xxxii. 39
• '93. 497
xxxii. 49-
52 • 53°
Josh. ii. 1
. . 421
iii. 15-17
• • 550
vi. 5 •
• • 213
vi. 25 .
. . 421
xviii. 28
. 252, 268
Judg. iv. 7, 8
• • 398
vi. 36-40
.158,329
vi- 37, 39
• • 634
vii. 5 .
• • 295
. . 368
xiii. 20
1 Sam. ii. 5 .
. . 76
iii. 9-18
• • 434
iv. 10
• • 378
iv. 19
• • 378
v. 6 .
• • 378
• • 487
viii. 1
viii. 5
. . 50
ix. 1 .
• 355. 379
xv. 11, :
9 . . 619
xvi. 1
• • 379
xvi. 12
• 355. 370
xvi. 18
. . 192
xvi. 19
• • 334
xix. 11
• • 237
xx. 42
. . 291
xxi. 7
• 0 2*8
xxi. 10
.218, 219
xxi. 13
• 72, 73
xxiv. 3
. . 225
xxiv. 4,
7. 205. 225
xxiv. 5
. . 190
xxv. 1
487
xxxvi. 9
190
2 Sam. v. 9 .
254
vii. 27
412
viii. .
244
xi. 2-17
190
xi. 4, >5
192
xii. 1, 2
•'9
0, 191
692
INDEX OF TEXTS.
693
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGB
2 Sam. xii. 10 . . . 195
Ps. V. 12 79
Ps. xxii. 26 ... . 621
Ps. xl. 5 .
. .611,666
xii. 13 .
«93- '95
xxii. 27 ... . 496
xl.7 .
. ... 141
XV. . .
32, 651
vi- 3 S74
xxii. 28 . . . 509, 514
xxii. 29 . . . 620, 621
xl. 8 .
. ... 682
xvi. 10 .
• 195
vi. 4, 7 .15,23,93,120,
xl. 15.
. ... 187
xviii. 33
4
210, 628.
xxiii. 5 . .10, 89, 219,
xii. 1 .
. ... I2g
xxii. . .
• 5°
vi- 5 637
272, 354, SH-
xii. 4 .
. . . . 6l2
xxiii. 1 .
. 209
vii. 12 ... . 34
xxiv. 1 .... 575
xii. 5 .
• • 252, 326
xxiii. 1-5
• .54
vii. 14-16 .14,105,299
xxiv. 10 ... . 289
xii. 7 .
. . . . 212
I Kings vi. 7 .
. 617
viii. 2 .... 381
xxv. 1 .... 578
xii. 10
. .295, 6l8
viii. 27
• 293
viii. 4 .... 558
xxv. 7 . . . . 86
xlii. 3, 4
■ 378,4I3,559,
xi. 1
• i3l
ix 433
xxv. 9 . . . . 95
560.
xi. 7,8.
. 606
ix. 7 542
xxv. 10 . 250, 304, 429,
xlii. 7
. . . . 426
xix. 8 .
• 545
ix. 9 . 41,43,400, 515
562, 572.
xlii. 9
... 568
5 ... 661
xix. 18.
. 181
xxv. 15 . . .647, 649
xlii. 14, 1
xxii. 20
• 376
ix. 19, 20 . . 39, 40
xxv. 17 .... 287
xliii. 1
. . 206, 328
2 Kings ii. 23, 24
. 160
xxvi. 1, 9 . . 183, 328
xliii. 4
. ... 391
iv. 20-36
xvii. 16
• 322
x- 14 43
xliii. 5
... 527
. 61
xi. 1-6 . .30,44, 515
xliv. 6
. ... 159
xxiv. 14,
267, 381
xi. 5 . . . .492,670
xxvii. 4, 10. 133, 158,
xliv. 20
. ... 117
1 Chron. vi. 22 .
. 198
xii- 4 31
240, 250, 373, 379,
xliv. 22
• • 36,439
xvi. 23
• 47°
xii. 6 290
4>3> 546.
xliv. 24
. . . . 50S
xxvi. 1
• '55
• 529
xxvii. 9 . . . tha. eJsS
xiv. 2
49, 266, 587
... 457
2 Chron. xxvi. 18
xiu. I . . . . 444
xxvii. 10 .
. . 287
xiv. 3
Ezra i. 5 . . .
Esther iv. 16 .
• 547
xiii. 3 .... 259
xxvii. 12
. . 266
xiv. 4
... 384
• 197
xiu. 4 .... 643
xxvii. 13 .
• • 548
xiv. 6
• • • 397
xiv. 6, 7
Job i. 9, 1 2 . .
• S«5
224, 328
xxvii. 14 .
xxviii. 5 . .
• • 95
429, 544
xiv. 7
xiv. 8
• -434,435
... 522
xiv. 1 . . 202, 349, 352,
i. 11 . . .
34o, 478
428.
xxix. 1 . .
• • 335
xiv. 10, 1
1 . . . 422
i. 16 . . .
• 376
xiv. 3 .... 243
xxix. 5 . .
■ • 5'4
xiv. 13
. . . 640
i. 21 . no, 224, 310,
xiv. 4 . . . 223, 360
xxx. 5 . .
■ . 243
xlvi. 1
... 186
360, 376, 481, 624.
xiv. 6, 7 . . . 204, 21S
xxx. C, 7 .
• • 653
xlvi. 4
... 458
ii- 3 46
ii. 9, 10 . . . . 224
xxx. 9 . .
xxx. II . .
■ • 306
• • 536
xlvi. 10
... 321
... 655
xv. 12 . . . . 491
xlviii. 1
iii. 25 . . . . 115
xvi. 2 . 185, 279, 314
xxxi. 20 . .
• • 49'
xlix. 12-1
4,'76,I77,325
vi. 4 103
xvi. 5. ... 92, 654
xxxi. 20-22
33, 84,
1-3 •
... 299
vii. 1 . 286, 299, 361,
xvi. 5, 6 . . . 2, 1 1
106, 137, 240, 310.
1. 14 .
... 310
547, 563> 572-
xvi. 7, 8 . . . 1,25
xvi. 10 . 68, 101,416^
1. 21 .
0 ' 0 352
vii. 2 . . . . 653
xxxii. 9 . 74, 140, 174,
1. 22, 23
. 85, 208, 310
ix. 24 . ioi, 130, 301
439-
210.
li. . .
... 15
xiv. 5 . . . . 192
xv. 26 . . . 159, 612
Xvi. II . . Ati. aac
Ii. 5 .
Ii- 9, 3
. . . 652
150, 196,350
xvi. 12 . .
• 644
xxxiii. 5. . .87, 235
xix. 23 ... . 48
xvii. 1 . .
206, 302
xxxiv. 1 .21,90, 177,
li. 17,18,
16, 9,36,184,
xix. 25 ... . 56
xvii. 2 . .
• 371
195- 320, 532. 638.
473-6
5-
xix. 26 ... . 510
xvii. 13 . .
• 25
Iii.. .
... 21
xxviii. 28 . . . 629
xvii. 15 . .
373, 445
xxxiv. 4 . . . . 520
liii.
• • ■ 536
xxx. 19 . . . . 671
xviii. . . .
. 67
xxxiv. 5 . 240, 316, 454,
liii. 4 .
. . . 412
xxxvii. 22 . . . 165
xviii. 25. .
• 335
577-
liii. 5 .
... 22
Ps. i. 1 . 58, 87, 233, 270
xviii. 28. 23, 279, 282,
xxxiv. 8, 16. 132, 194,
liv.
. . . 21
314,638.
202, 214, 558.
liv. 6 .
• -3'6, 578
i. 4 . 22, 59, 80, 145,
xviu. 29 .... 339
xxxiv. 12 . . . 445
Iv. 15
... 308
34», 499-
»-o 93
xviii. 33. ... 515
xxxiv. 14 . . . 485
Iv. 19
• -254,440
xviii. 41 ... . 360
xxxiv. 15, 16 . . 119
xxxiv. 18, 19, 126, 226
3!9> 35°, 588, 666.
lv. 22
• -127,255
11 1, 2, 22,34,67,252,
542, 544, 588.
xviii. 43. 153,157,329
lvi.
... 21
xix. 1 .182, 288, 430,
lvi. 1 .
. . . 220
ii. 2, 10 . . .434, 655
476, 655.
xxxiv. 20 . . . 81
lvi. 4, 8,
11. . . 224
xix. 3,4 . 82, 112, 123,
xxxv. 12 . . . 253
lvi. 12 .
. .196, 3'6
ii. 8 . 11, 22, 66, 113,
124, 183, 365, 655.
xxxv. 15 ... 235
lvii. .
. . 21,84
166, 249, 608.
xix. 5 .... 427
lvii. 1
• • • 253
ii. 9 . . . .150, 168
xix. 6 .150,179,197,
xxxvi. 6-10. 5, 10,30,
lvii. 3, 4
227, 264, 656
ii. 10, 11 . 165,190,200,
217, 279.
31, 44, 136, 167, 347,
lvii. 6
... 194
275,286,360,415,519
xix. 7 .... 502
598, 602.
lvii. 7
40, 425, 536
xix. 9 . . . 566, 580
xxxvi. 11 . . . 2
lvii. 8-12
... 536
xix. 10 .... 581
xxxvi. II, 12
. 618
lvii. 10
... 536
iii. 3 . . . . 27, 41
xix. 12, 13, 90,156,317
xxxvii. 4
. 328
lviii. .
: : : Jj
m. 4 . . . .139, 155
xx. 7 669
xxxvii. 6
• 527
lviii. 4
111. 5 . . 130, 439, 497
xxxvii. 20, 28
101, 102
lviii. 6
• • • 233
in. 7 . . . . 12, 15
111. 8 . . 314, 320, 321
xxxvii. 34-36
xxxviii. 4, 5
2, 209
105, 652
lix.
. . . 21
xxu. I . 104, 137, 141,
lix. 7 .
• • • 243
179, 309, 428, 645.
xxxviii. 10 .
. 412
Ix. . .
... 392
iv. 2 . 258,396,439,540
xxii. 2 . . . . 246
xxxviii. 14 .
. 302
Ix. I .
... 248
iv- 3 439
xxii. 4-6 ... 141
xxxix. 4, 5 .
445, 610
Ix. 5-12 .
■ * • "£
iv. 6, 7 . 25, 30, 33, 208,
xxii. 7 .... 143
xxxix. 6 . .
• '77
Ix. 6, 7
... 536
445- 548-
xxii. 14 ... . 302
xxxix. 12 .
■ 250
lx. 9 .
. . . 240
iv. 8 . . . 427, 438
xxii. 15 . . .313,653
xl. 3 . . .
. 425
Ix. n . 5
% 320, 554, 588
v. 3 . 14, 18,
243, 445
xxii. 16-18 . .
50, 142
xl. 4 . . .
"5.255
• • • 536
694
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PACE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Ps. lxi. 2 . . 183, 215, 411,
Ps. lxxix. 2 . . . . 382
Ps. cv. 18 .... 252
Ps. cxxxvi. 8, 9
. 460
495. 59°-
lxxix. 11 ... 500
cvi. 12 . . . 528, 529
exxxvii. 5 .
• 252
lxi. 3 . .
.251,258
.581,639
lxxix. 20 . . . 248
cvi. 20 ... . 253
exxxviii. 3 .
exxxviii. 6 .
. 6lO
lxii. 5
cvi. 47 .... 367
. 126
Ixii. 10 .
. . 656
lxxx. 5 . . . 257, 382
exxxix. 4 .
• 636
lxii. 11 .
• • "47
lxxx. 19 ... . 295
cviii. 5 ... 166, 331
exxxix. 6 .
. 286
lxiii. . .
. . 8
lxxxii. 1 . 178, 478, 628
cviii. 7, 8 . . . 536
exxxix. 7-9
308, 654
Ixiii. 1 .
. . 438
Ixxxii. 6. . .413,478
cviii. 10 ... . 240
exxxix. 8 .
«85. 395
lxiii. 10 .
lxxxii. 7 . . .117, 178
cviii. 13 . . . . 536
exxxix. 16 .
114,145
Ixiv. 6, 7
.136,228
lxxxiii. 18 . . . 655
ex. 4. . . .535,619
cxl. 3 .
. 146
Ixv. 2, 4 .
Ixv. 3 .
. . 271
. . 632
ex. 7 . .114, 233, 277
cxi. 10 . 48, 368, 680
cxii. 2
270,417
• 3'4
lxxxiv. 2 . .404.573
cxii. 5
cxii. 6
Ixv. 9
. . 1
lxxxiv. 3, 7.41,45, 225
cxii. 9, 14 . . 19, 138
cxii. 10 . . .312,384
. 506
Ixvi. 6 .
. . 272
lxxxiv. 4, 135, 139, 142,
cxii. 10
• 3"
Ixvi. 7 .
• 3°4. 3°7
196, 419, 423, 532,
cxiii. 3 . . . 535, 678
cxiii. .
21
Ixvi. 13, 14
Ixvi. 16 .
. . 468
546, 559. 593. 658.
cxiii. 5 .... 364
cxiii. 4
• 3'*
. . 280
lxxxiv. 5 . . . 590
cxiii. 7, 8 . . . 422
cxiii. 4, 5 .80
. 97. «oi,
Ixviii. 6 .
. 287, 288
lxxxiv. 0
. 289, 562
108, 126.
Ixviii. 8 .
. . 288
lxxxiv. 7
:sl.2'%
cxiv. 4, 6 ... 327
cxliii. . .
• '5
Ixviii. 15
• • 57'
lxxxiv. 10
cxv. 1 .... 472
cxliii. 2 . .
• 384
Ixviii. 17
• • 294
lxxxv. 4 .
. . . 295
cxv. 4-6 . . 81, 393,
cxliii. 5 . .
cxliii. 6 . .
11
Ixviii. 18
• • 7
lxxxv. 8 .
. .116,187
413. 536-
277.675
Ixviii. 19
• • 295
lxxxv. 10
• -328,434
cxv. 12, 13, 14 . 557
cxliii. 7 . .
• • 5'8
Ixviii. 20
• • 302
lxxxv. II
. -483.508
cxv. 34 .... 540
cxliii. 10
■ " 583
223.538
Ixviii. 30
. . 216
lxXXV. 12
• 289. 577.
cxvi. 3, 4 ... 401
cxvi. 6, 4, 117, 186, 191
cxliv. 11, 15
Ixix. 1
. . 511
581, 653.
cxiv. 3 . .
■ • 43"
lxix. 2 .
•305. 554
lxxxv. 13
• • 527
cxvi. 8, 9 ... 418
cxlvi. 4 . .
•75.337
Ixix. 4 .
• • 257
lxxxvi. 11
• • 323
cxvi. 12, 13, 89, 504,624
cxlvi.8 . .
• 527
lxix. 15 .
. . 308
lxxxvii. 3, 154, 252, 253
cxvi. 15, 128,382,563,
cxlvii. 7 . .
35°. 490
lxix. 19, 24
Ixxxviii. 10 . . 321
647.
cxlvii. 12, 13
• 5'2
lxix. 22 .
• • 3°9
lxxxix. 15 . . . 488
cxvi. 16, 231, 286, 495
cxlvii. 13 .
489. 5' 7
lxix. 23 .
• • 349
lxxxix. 52
• • 35'
cxviii. 9, 12 . 61, 132
cxlvii. 15 .
• '47
Ixx. 2
• • 3'3
. • 318
cxviii. 13 . . . 252
cxviii. 18 . . . 478
cxlvii. 20 .
. 288
lxxi. 6 .
xc. 4 . .
cxlviii. 4
• 299
lxxi. 11 .
• • 237
89, 328, 603
• • 3S
.332.388
• • 398
xc. 8 . .
cxviii. 19 . . 421,491
cxviii. 22 . 151, 165,
243. 381. 469-
cxvin. 24 . .575, 577
cxix. 9 .... 583
cxlviii. 5
Prov. Li. . .
. . 441
• 327
. 48
. 46
Ixxii. 1, 2, 2
Ixxii. 7 .
Ixxii. 8 .
i. 7 . . .
i. 16 . .
Ixxii. 9 .
xci. 13 .
. . 129
i. 28 . .
412,661
Ixxii. 11 . 1
,8, 166, 254,
xcii. 7
. . 208
cxix. 18 ... . 446
ii. 19 . .
• 743
344. 365-
xciv. 3 .
• .357,466
cxix. 53 . . . . 361
iii. 11 . .
. 109
Ixxii. 12
. . 82
xciv. 9 .
.116, 465
cxix. 67 ... . 672
iv. 18 . .
• 45
Ixxii 13 .
• • 33'
xciv. 15 .
• • 527
cxix. 71 . 117, 138, 667
iv. 27 . .
• ?l
xcv. 2 . 1
48, 298, 584
cxix. 84 ... . 574
v. 22, 52, 81
231,642
Ixxii. 19 .
• • 35>
•i94.3'9
cxix. 85 . . . 81, 202
cxix. 86-88. .575,578
vi. 6 . .
. 282
lxxiii. 1 .
xcvi. 1 .
• 480, 677
vi. 8 . .
• '73
lxxiii. 2, 3
338. 342,
xcvi. 4, 5
168, 178,
cxix. 96 ... . 576
vi. 27 . .
• 234
39°. 444-
4|3< 478,
628.
cxix. 100 ... 584
vii. 22 . .
. 236
xcvi. 10 •
■ • 459
• ■ 47'
cxix. 133 ... 371
cxix. 142 ... 565
cxix. 155 . . 30,58
viii. • .
1
• • 3i
xcvi. 11 .
viii. 3 . .
. 608
lxxiii. 16, 17
, 134, 209,
xcvi. 12 .
• • 389
viii. 10 .
• i3l
, 234. 575-
cxx. 3, 4 . . . 25
ix. 8 . .
. 646
lxxiii. 20
. . 669
xcvii. 3 . ,
. . 180
cxx. 5 .... 559
cxx. 6, 7 . . . 215,640
x. 17 . .
• 99
lxxiii. 21
• • 34i
xcvii. 35
• • 478
x. 26 . .
. 176
lxxiii. 22, f
1 • • 348
• • 487
exxi. 1, 2, 88, 131, 356,
xi. 25 . .
. 281
lxxiii. 27
. . 520
• ■ 584
357, 601, 682.
xi. 31 . .
• 465
lxxiii. 28
. . 14
• V388
45. 346, 535
. . 8«
cxxi. 4, 101, 145, 185,
607.
xn. 23 . .
xiv. 28 .
475. 483
• 4'4
• 539
Ixxiv. 9 . 3
cii. 7 . .
.401,425
xiv. 30 .
Ixxv. 5 .
Ixxv. 6, 7
• • 354
. . 510
• • 353
cii. 8 . .
exxiii. 4 . . . 289, 620
exxiv. 1-3 . . 86, 263,
308, 330-
xvi. 32
xviii. 3, 88,
305. 554. t
21
120, 287,
'3-
cii. 26, 27
. . 442
cii. 27 .113,250,363,
exxiv. 2, 3 . . 569, 586
exxvi. 5, 6, 19,403,609
xviii. 21 .
• 340
lxxvi. 4 .
lxxvi. 11 . 2
. . 601
..373. 435. 445. 656.
xx. 9 . .
• 679
24, 269, 401
exxvii. 4 . . . 622
xx. 26. .
45
• • 366
ciii. 5
• 285, 319
xxi. 1 . .
• 5"
Ixxvii. 13
, .. **
. . 246
ciii. 14 .
• • 499
xxi. 20
. 520
Ixxvn. 14
• • 365
. 234, 368
. . 281
cxxx. 1,2, 120,295,305
cxxx. 3 . . . 239, 384
cxxxii. 6 ... 471
xxiv. 16 . .
587,660
• 3'3
173,282
lxxviii. 1-3
xxvii. 21 .
Ixxviii. 2
• -375.377
civ. 16 .
• • 332
xxx. 25 .
lxxviii. 6
• • 367
civ. if? .
. . 629
cxxxii. n . . . 437
Eccles. i. 2 . . .
9.651
lxxviii. 8
. . 625
• • 374
civ. 24 .
exxxiii. 1 . . . 624
i. 2, 3 . .
. 566
Ixxviii. 25
lxxviii. 38
civ. 26 .
• • 432
cxxxv. 13 . . . 626
cxxxv. 15 . .364,536
cxxxvi. 5 . . . 628
i. 18 . . .
ii. 16
. 118
• 490
. 500
lxxviii. 54,
55- • 374
vi. 24-32 .
INDEX OF TEXTS.
695
PAGE
Eccles. x. 13 ... 346
Song Sol. (Canticles).
1-3,4
1.4 .
i. 8 .
ii. 2.
ii. 4, 5
Ii:
ii. 17
iv. 2
iv. 8
VL 6
vi. 8
vi. 9
viii. 5
viii. 6
Isa. i. 2 .
i-3 •
1. it, 12
i. 16 .
i. 18 .
ii- 2, 3
11.5 .
iii. 12
iii. 14
v. 2 .
U:
v. 18.
vi. g .
ix. 2 .
ix. 6 .
x. 21, 22
xi
105, I52» 452
• 34
. 282
167, 640
25. '49
643. 655
! 28^
379. 469
. 298
• 469
6
• 649
. 290
k '53
167, 597
• 395
. 366
. 48
• 5i9
'53- '94
156, 159, 165,
292. 293. 332. 427-
164,
626
. 418
182, 299
'79. 393
'58.365
57°. 642
• 29
425. 584
• 75
. 618
334
xi.2,3, 45,181,566,681
... 85
9°. 247. 347
14 . 2, 165, 433
"7
xm. 24
xiv. 13,
xiv. 13,
xiv. 22
xxiii. 1
xxvi. 17, 18
xxviii. 16 .
xxix. 13
17a
xxix. 31
xxxiv. 4
xl. 6-8, 2, 199, 206, 207
208, 244, 253, 333,
378, 442, 496, 509.
xl. 8 548
166
165
' • • 34„5
.9, 101,108,
. . . 125
29
xlii. 14
xiv. 11
xlvi. 8
xlviii. 22,
xlix. 6
xlix. 8
1.6 .
Iii. 7 •
liii. I
377
180
. . 522
• • 230
16,423,633
. . 161
• 554. 559
• • 454
. 198, 286
36. 324. 364.
4'5. 444., 480,
518, 540, 572, 630.
Ha. 2, 3, 4 . 266, 300,
424, 499.
liii. 7. 67, 109, 149, 179,
266, 299, 302, 515.
lin.8. . . .332,543
liii. 9 108
liv. 1 . . 299, 382, 392,
440, 501,627.
liv. 2, 3 . . . . 239
liv. 5 . .163, 333, 382
hv. 13 ... . 626
Isa. Iv. 3 . .
lvi. 10 .
lvii. 1
lvii. 15, 16
lvii. 21 .
lviii. 1 .
lviii. 3 .
lviii. 7, 9,
198, 40
633-
lviii. io, 13
lix. 6.
lix. 7 .
lix. 20
lxi. 10
lxiv 4
lxv. I
lxv. 2
lxv. 24
lxvi. I
485. 595-
lxvi. 2
Jer. i. 10 .
i. 13 .
11. 21 .
ii. 27.
ii. 29 .
vii. 12
x. 11 .
xvi. 19
xvii. 5
xvii. 1 1
xvii. 16
xxiii. 24
xxv. 11
xxix. 10
xxxi. 31
xxxi. 31,
xxxiiL 2
Ezek. xiii. 10
xiii. 11
xviii. 4, 20
xviii. 25
xxxiii. 11
xxxvii. 9
xxxviii. 1
Dan. ii. 34, 35
.. 'SS* '»
11.48 .
iii. . .
iii. 26 .
iii. 28 .
iii- 29. 3°
iii. 30 .
v. 28 .
viii. 15, 16
ix. .), 16
ix-5.7
x. 13 .
x. 14 .
xii. 1 .
Hos. iv. 5
vi.3 .
vi. 6
Amos viii. 11
ix. 3 .
Jon. ii. 2 . .
iii. 4, 9 .
Mic. vii. 15-19
Hal), ii. 4
iii. 2 .
Hag. i. . .
i. 1 . .
Zech. i. . .
i-3- •
PAGE
54.3"
295. 396
• 390
126, 363
480, 633
• £2
98, 140, 183,
402, 495.
27, 105
• 443
. 46
47
495
87
622
427
17, 74, 140
34. 45'. 484.
So,
349, 519, 617
193. 429
• 247
. 219
55'. 552
. 652
• 378
168, 483
• 469
0 *
218, 327
• 647
'85, 395
268,604
268, 604
348
32
35'.
521
35
47i
498
538
52
658
245
166
5. '39.
64, 487.
253
301
306
77
452
253
59
572
585
453
"7
572
557
575
17
154. 183
23
432
6'3
'93
550
582
I47
679
• 547
17, 658
PAGE
Zech. ix. 12 . . . . 249
xii. 10. . . . 499
Mai. i. 2 231
'• 10 535
in. I ... 75, 182
iii. 17 ... . 57
iv. 2 ... 41, 677
Matt. i. I . . . .225, 541
1. 16 . . . 164, 381
i 20 .... 231
i. 21 . . . . 406
ii. 10 . . . . 181
ii. 16 . . . . 165
ii. 20 . . . . 539
iii. 2 . 284, 495, 633
iii. 3 .... 409
iii. 9 . 57,436.450.
553- 627.
iii. 11 ... . 1
iii. 12 . 31, 167, 169,
«97. '99. 2 '5. 239.
299. 326, 342, 436-
iii. 14, 15 . . 450
iii. 17 . . .256,330
iv. 1— 11 . . . 470
iv. 2 . . . 249, 540
iv. 3, 6, 8, 9 . 32
iv. 1 1 . . . 227, 633
iv. 18, 21 . . . 515
iv. 20 . . . . 183
v. 1 .... 57
v-3. 39.45. '28, 310,
327. 349. 5 '9. 653-
v. 4 . 103, 418, 554
v. 5, 6, 8 . 2, 11, 76,
84, 89, 90, 94, 139,
176, 259, 311, 314,
348, 417, 419, 445,
494. 496, 5 '4. 528.
576, 620, 641, 644,
664,670,675.
v. 10 ... . 45
v. 14, 15 . 154, 164,
293. 433-
v. 16 ... . 6
v. 17 . . . 55, 288
v. 20 . . . 85, 668
v. 25 ... . 613
v. 32 . . . . 680
v. 34 . . .430.543
v. 40 . . . . 652
v. 41 . . . . 253
v. 43. 45 • 21,87,127,
234. 385. 405, 436.
479. 487. 507. 658,
676.
v. 44 . 107, 384, 467,
484, 563, 640.
v. 48, 45 . . 188, 374
vi. 1 . 183, 274, 566
vi. 2 . . . 199, 274
vi. 3 • • 20, 45, 592
vi. 4 .... 655
vi. 6 . 5, 9, 21, 74,
87, 107, 140, 649.
vi. 9 . 520, 567, 587,
652.
vi. 9-12, 214, 280,333
vi. 10 . 253, 285, 332,
483.
vi. 11 . . . . 527
vi. 12 . 116, 174, 284,
33'. 573. 646, 652.
vi. 13, 14 . 210, 214,
263, 442. 568-
page
308, 392, 452
:g
Matt. vi. 21
vi. 25 .
vi. 26 .
vi. 34 •
vii. 5
vii. 7
582.
vii. 12 ... . 199
vii. 13, 14, 16 . 31,
42,62,93, 121, 144,
212, 314, 417, 565,
664.
vii. 23 .
vii. 24, 25,
236.
3"
. 191, 211
459. 567. 576
• 426, 493
212, 222,
vii. 27
vii. 29 .
viii. 2 .
viii. 11,
viii. 12
viii. 22
viii. 24, 25
viii. 24-26
..5'7-
via. 31, 32
ix. 11
ix. 12
497-
ix. 13
. . 81
. 42, 126
17,299,522
. . 164
• • 555
- - 452
• 39. '56,
• ■ '39
• 238, 497
'89, 255. 352.
23, '54. 255,
352, 472-
ix. 15 . 4,20, 132,
610.
:S8
• 7.45
• 329
. 42
• 647
• 568
205, 519
20, 254, 649
305. 650
130, 220,
ix. 17 .
ix. 23 .
ix. 37 .
x. 5, 6 .
x. 5-7 .
x. 16, 28
x. 18 .
x. 20 .
X. 22 .12
x. 23
x. 24, 25 .
416.
x. 27 ... . 497
x. 28 . 95, 211, 247,
263, 272, 444, 479,
586, 650.
x. 30 . 382, 479, 483,
639, 666.
x- 33-34 -19.54.148
245, 286, 476, 656
679-
x-39
x. 42
595-
xi. 10
xi. 12
xi. 15
xi. 17
xi. 20-
xi. 21
xi. 25
49'
xi. 27
xi. 28-30
... 504
'83. '85. 507.
24
. . 182
.422,672
. 169, 627
. . 611
. . 65
. . 671
. 27, 29, 380,
520, s6i, 633
26, 47, 62.
213,-246, 291, 294,
392. 396. 555. 663.
xii. 25 ... 255
xii. 28. . . . 451
xii. 29. 165, 237, 290,
33'. 587-
xn- 33. 34 • • 230
xii. 34. . . . 13
xii. 37 .... 340
696
INDEX OF TEXTS.
PACE
PAGE
PAGE
PAGE
Matt. xii. 39, 40, 275, 302,
Matt. xx. 10 . . . . 545
Matt. xxv. 32, 33, 34 . 35,
Mark xii. 42, 44
. 611
418, 427.
xx. 16 . . 373, 583
XX. 21, 22 . . 607
82, 94, 143, 155,
xiii. 9 . .
• 474
xii. 46. . . . 610
169, 182, 183, 239,
xiii. 13 .
xiii. 26 .
23
xii. 48-50 . 40,610
XX. 22 . . 107, 556
xx. 26 . . 414, 668
246, 286, 310, 328,
296, 474
xiii. 5 . . . . 200
xiii. 6, 20, 21 144
367. 433. 444. 603.
xiii. 27 .
• 474
xx. 28 . . . . 633
xxv. 34, 35, 37,
xiii. 32 . 1
5, 40, 91
xiii. 24-28 . . 641
xx. 30. . . 40,379
40 . 99, 102, 121,
xiii. 33 .
• 474
xiii. 25 . . . 273
xiii. 28 . . 129, 219
xxi. 9. . .381,559
129, 154, 173, 185,
xiv. 35 .
xiv. 58 .
• 82
xxi. 13 ... 321
548, 665.
. 276
xiii. 30 . 102, 130,
xxi. 16 ... 28
xxv. 34, 41 .650,659
xv. 25 .
. 264
273. 32°-
xxi. 19, 20 . . 545
xxi. 19, 21 . 82, 156,
xxv. 41, 46, 100, 153,
xvi. 2 . .
. 229
xiii. 31, 33 . . 299
234. 255, 267, 449,
xvi. 9 . .
• 307
xiii. 39 ... 612
202.
475. 627, 636, 659,
676.
xvi. 19, 293
329. 330
xiii. 40,41 .139,199
xxi. 23, 24 . . 233
Luke i. 5 . . .
• 38'
xiii. 43, 250, 436, 572
xxi. 31 . . . 422
xxv. 42 .
8. 103
i. 3' • •
■ 434
xiii. 47 .31,43,436
xxi. 35 . . . 388
xxv. 42-45
. 104
1. 32 . .
. 40
xiii. 47-49 . . 271
xxi. 37 ... 309
xxvi. 5
. 82
'•33 • •
• 253
xiv. 4 . .
. 648
xxi. 38 . . . 556
xxvi. 14, 15
265, 302
i. 34 . .
. 292
xiv. 17, 21
• 45°
xxi. 43, 262, 268, 559
xxvi. 26, 36
73.83
1-35 • •
i.38 • •
193, 292
xiv. 20
• 392
xxi. 44 . . . 544
xxvi. 29 .
. 28
• 4'7
xiv. 23 .
• 8J
xxii. 2, 3 . . 182, 327
xxvi. 35-69
■ 238
'•53 • •
• 76
xiv. 25
• 302.365
xxii. 11 . . 255, 585
xxvi. 39 .
. 267
11. 1 . .
• 673
xiv. 28, 30, 123, ail,
xxii. 16, 17, 18 . 108,
xxvi. 37, 38, 424,540,
ii. 7, 8 .
• A43
547. 605.
212,465.
497-
652.
ii. 14 . 185,
xiv. 29 . . . 307
xxii. 17-19 .232,233
xxvi. 41 .
• 385
678.
xiv. 30, 31
• 465
xxii. 21, 10, 233, 504,
xxvi. 56 ,
59. 426
ii. 25 . .
ii. 28-30 .
• 381
556, 586.
xxvi. 59 .
xxvi. 60 .
. 466
. 481
xv. 2, 3 .
54. 577
xxii. 24 . . . 648
. 108
ii. 29, 30 . .
■ 283
XV. 10, II
. 604
xxii. 26, 28 . . 85
xxvi. 61 .
. 276
11. 30 . . 4
;, 81, 125
XV. II . .
• 43
xxii. 30 . .318,361
xxvi. 64 .
166, 432
»• 34 • 393.
432. 437
xv. 14 . .
217,396
xxii. 37 . . . 11
xxvi. 68 .
451, 458
11.35 • •
• 523
• 458
xv. 19. .
. 500
xxii. 37-40, 565, 576,
xxvi. 69-75
11. 40, 52 .
xv. 21-28
• 154
582, 592.
xxvi. 70-75
516, 567
ii. 42-46 .
. . 576
xv. 24. 218,329,367,
xxii. 39 ... 199
xxvii. 5 .
• 309
iii. 1 . .
■ • 355
381, 408, 532.
xxii. 40 . 6, 64, 291,
xxvii. 22 .
. 228
iii. 6 . .
.226, 481
xv. 27, 28 . . 295
469, 509.
xxvii. 23, 25 . 233,
iii. 14 . .
. . 586
xvi. 13-16 . . 431
xxii. 42-45 . . 541
237, 242, 265, 539.
iii. 17 . .
. . 28
xvi. 14 . . . 292
xxii. 43-45 . 40, 209
xxvii. 29, 25. . 50
IV. II . .
. 568
xvi. 16-23 • 84, 178,
xxiii. 3, 125, 187, 197
xxvii. 33 . 140, 160,
iv. 13 . .
• 32
426.
xxiii. 9, 13 . 40, 109,
302, 424.
iv. 41 . .
. . 178
xvi. 18, 22 .127,211,
302, 371.
xxvii. 34 . . . 300
v. 6 . .
. . 181
222, 249.
xxiii. 12 . 251, 278
xxvii. 35 . . . 166
v. 10 . .
• • 294
xvi. 19 . . . 536
xxiii. 13, 16 . . 460
xxvii. 37, 161,225,236
V. 19, 20 . 9
5, 99, 1 01
xvi. 22, 23 . 262, 307
xxiii. 15 . . . 302
xxvii. 39,40, 58, 131,
vi. 12 . .
■: .53
xvi. 23, 22 . 33, 80,
xxiii. 23, 24 . 242,327
179, 213, 247, 318,
vi. 20 . .
222, 223, 313, 607.
xxiii. 26 . . . 604
387.
vi. 27 . .
. 210
xvi. 24 . . . 678
xxiii. 27, 28 . . 428
xxvn. 40, 42 . 172,
vi. 30 . .
. 668
xvi. 26 . 339, 389
xxiii. 37, 238, 262, 497
266, 294, 348.
vii. 6, 7 .
. '• 368*
xvi. 27 . . . 25
xxiii. 37, 38 . . 309,
xxvii. 43 . . 58, 302
xxvii. 46 . .111, 137
vii. 8 . .
xvii. 2. . . 194,671
440, 447, 501, 537,
vii. 12-14
. . 480
xvii. 12 . . . 101
593
'79. 270, 319, 645.
vii. 14 . .
. . 79
xvii. 20 . . . 136
xxiv. 3-13 . . 480
xxvii. 49 . . . 276
vii. 30. .
• 533
xvii. 24-26 . 586, 635
xxiv. 12, 13 . 23, 63,
xxvii. 51, 155,325,396
vii. 37. 38.
284, 547.
xviii. 2 . . . 100
93. »07. "3. "37.
226, 250, 251, 269,
xxvii. 63 . . . 266
xxvii. 66 . . . 236
573-
xviii. 3, 7. 125,135,
vii. 38 . .
. 198
302, 31 1, 548.
311, 571,650,670.
xxviii. 10. . . 171
vii. 39. .
. 645
xviii. 12, 13. 31, 101,
xxiv. 14 . . . 330
xxviii. 12, 13, 266,276
vn. 41, 42
• 233
5s8-
xxiv. 22, 23 . . 128,
xxviii. 13. . . 108
vii. 42-48
• 545
xviii. 16 . . . 219
166, 179, 473, 481,
xxviii. 19 . . . 367
viii. 25 .
• 156
xiv. 6 . 104, 351, 680
592.
xxviii. 20. 162, 168,
ix. 26 . 19,
303. 630
xix. io>-i2 . . 681
xxiv. 24 . 38, 43, 473
470, 49'. 54'-
x.5 . .
• 3'3
xix. 14 ... 160
xxiv. 30 ... 552
xxviii. 30 . . 551
X.7 . .
• 320
xix. 17 . . 505, 573
xxiv. 31 . . . 138
xxviii. 50, 60 . 425
x. 7, 8. .
5'3.668
xix. 21, 22, 468, 547,
xxiv. 35 . . 101, 597
xxviii. 52 . . 427
x. 9 . .
• 52
680.
xxiv. 37-41 . . 71
Mark ii. 1 1 . .
. 129
X. 17, 20 .
. 667
xix. 21, 24, 181, 200,
xxv. 4 646
iii. 11 . .
. 178
X. 21 . .
• 55
449. 469. 5'4-
xxv. 10 . . . 585
ix. 24 . .
• 306
x. 27 . .
• 436
xix. 24-26 . . 546
xxv. 12 . . . 499
x. 17, 18.
• 556
• 385
x. 30 . .
xix. 27 ... 515
xxv. 20 . . . 312
x. 30 . .
x. 30, 34 .
594.606
xix. 28 . . 44, 152,
XXV. 21, 30 . I4, 18
xi. 13. .
xi. 28, 29
• 83
x- 35. 37 •
. 606
181, 182, 299, 351,
xxv. 25, 27, 30 . 113,
• 233
xi. 13 . .
• 567
418, 421, 464, 494,
33'. 612.
xi. 20 . .
• 263
.545.549.595.657-
xxv. 26 . . . 496
xii. 29
■ 347
xii. 5 . .
xix. 29 ... 385
xxv. 31 . .326,499
xii. 31
. 510
xii. 14. .
• 579
xx. 9 . .
xxv-3'-33 • • 4»S
xii. 42, 183
■85. 547
xii, 15. .
• *55
INDEX OF TEXTS.
697
Luke xii. 16
xii. 20
xii. 33 •
xn. 45 .
xii. 47, 48
xii. 49
245- 389. 476-
page
• 237
176, 208
100, 171
• 299
. 526
160, 244,
xn. 52
xiii. 5 .
xiii. 8 .
xiii. 16
xiii. 32
xiv. 10
xiv. 11,
xv. 4 . .
xv. 4, s .
xv. 6, 24 .
xv. 12-15
xv. 12-20
xv. 12-24
xv. 13.
xv. 18.
xv. 32 .
xvi.
xvi. 1, 2
xvi. 9 .
325
48
52
181,389
. 308
263, 438
• 404
397. 585
3'. 3'3
• 490
472. 561
. 617
62
. 258
• 17
• '72
171,172,279,
549-
xvi. 19-22, 78,95,172.
xvi. 19, 23, 27 . 172,
234. 547-
xvi. 20, 23 . 94, 95
xvi. 22 . . . 173
xvi. 23 . . . 314
xvi. 24-26 . . 416
xvii. 5 . . . 570
xvii. 32 . .315,359
xviii. 1 . . . 280
xviii. 1-8 . . 620
xviii. 3 . . 84, 384
xviii. 8 . . . 23
xviii. 9-14 . . 126
xviii. io . . . 353
xviii. 11 . .127, 645
xviii. 11—13 -V°' 447
xviii. 12 . . . 668
xviii. 13 . 189, 294,
295. 347. 348, 463.
612, 613.
xviii. 14 . 116, 295,
568, 585.
xix. 2-9 . . . 611
xix. 8 . . 185, 357,
595, 605.
xx. 18, 159,345. 544
xx. 35- 36 • 399. 657
xx. 36. . . . 259
xx. 38. . . . 371
xxi. 1-4 . . . 605
xxi. 17, 18, 272, 568,
650.
xxi. 24
xxii. 15
'5'
57
xxii.19,21, 42,85,307.
644
211, 265
60,
xxn. 31,32
xxii. 41
xxii. 44
xxiii. 14
xxiii. 20, 21, 22.
265.
xxiii. 21
xxiii. 23
xxiii. 26
xxiii. 34
. 264. 266
. . 151
• • 344
27. '49.
u
PAGE
Luke xxiii. 35 . . . 8
xxiii. 39 . , . 51
xxiii. 42 . . . 125
xxiii. 43 . . 78, 82
xxiii. 51 . . . 381
xxiv. 16 . . . 266
xxiv. 21 . . . 344
xxiv. 26, 27 . . 551
xxiv. 37-40 . . 179
xxiv. 39 . . . 266
xxiv. 44 ... 332
xxiv. 46, 47. . 179,
266, 314, 488.
John i. 1, 40, 54, 162, 170,
178, 195, 2to, 216,
292, 328, 329, 346,
393. 5 '2, 542. 566,
577. 614. 658, 674.
i. 3, 4, 146, 147, 209,
256, 301, 347, 355,
356,450,490, 510.
i. 8 23
i. 9 . . 292, 293, 433
1. 10 ... 17, 654
i. 11, 12 . 167, 178,
340, 551, 592.
i- "4. 7. 55. '77. 179.
210, 226, 292, 372,
393. 447. 495. 5°9.
560,577,614.
'5
. 16
U
• • 33
• • 59'
;. 342, 343
• • -435.543
• • • 9'. 370
• • • '47. 447
. 473, 618, 622
. ... 90
• 299, 342, 356,
424. 507, 594.
• '5'. '54.35'
'7
. 18
27
-9
.53
34
47
38'
1.51
li. 15 . . . . 303
II. 16 ... . 24
ii. 17 . . . . 583
ii. 19 . . . 131, 226
ii. 19, 20 . . . 276
ii. 25 . 108, 230, 264
iii. 2 . . . . 66
iii. 8 .... 625
iii. 12 ... . 177
iii. 13 ... . 44
III. 14 .... 344
iii. 18 ... . 33
iii. 29 . 91, 113,473,
495, 672.
iii. 30 ... . 623
iii. 36 ... . 429
iv. 4, 13 . . . 528
iv- 7. 83,253,304.539
iv. 14 .347.371. 55'.
581
213.307. 3'2, 4'7.
425. 537-
iv. 21-24
iv. 22 .
iv. 24 .
'v- 35. 38
V. 2
v. 2-4 .
V. 3. .
v. 17 .
v. 22-35,
622.
v. 23 .
v. 24 .
v. 27
v. 33-36
614
167
'95
273
321
507
403
. 456
23. 55. 4'7.
• • 3°4
• 33. 532
. . 576
John v. 39
v. 43
v. 46
vi. 27
vi. 29
vi. 38
vi. 41
vi. 44
vi. 45
vi. 49
vi. 51,
PAGE
. ... 3IO
. ... 559
. ... 441
. . . . 14
. ... 445
• • • 33.427
• 45°. 496, 5'4
. . . 428, 626
. 583,588,626
. ... 496
10, 16. 76, 176,
311, 514,621,644.
v- 52. 53
vi. 54
vi. 60
vi. 63
vi. 70
vii. 12
vii. 20
vii. 24
vii. 36
4 =
75.217
• 485
302,35'
• 485
I3I, 221
• 457
• 98
327. 58o
302
Vli.37, 38 .1,157, 272,
37'. 482, 510, 551,
672.
vii. 39 ... . 22
450, 496, 514
. . . 1
. . . 506
• • '39. 406
vii. 41
viii. 5, 6
viii. 7
viii. 12
viii. 25
viii. 26
viii. 28
Viii. 33
viii. 34
viii. 35
viii. 36
viii. 39
viii. 44, 46
39
60
■ 458. 522
• •' 3Sk
■ • 346
. 542
• 256
. 576
. 163
• • 27, 392
'99. 392, 570
• • 32. 392
. . . 620
5°. 54.
113,192,256,504,618.
viii. 48 . 98, 348, 447
viii. 50. .
viii. 56, 58
viii. 58. .
ix. 24, 29 .
ix. 27 . . . . 539
ix. 28 ... . 58
ix- 39 • 392, 475. 626
ix. 41 . . . . 527
x. 1-16, 28, 29 . 553
x. 7. . . .446, 516
x. 9 . . . .471,608
x. 11,9, 420, 516, 650
x. 16 . 329, 367, 532,
550.
x. 17, 18 . 5, 58, 130,
192, 264, 439, 539,
645.
x. 32 ... . 264
x. 34 ... . 628
xi 33
xi. 25 . 102, 275, 276
xi. 39 . . . . 1 10
xi. 43 . . . . 287
xi. 44 . . . . 500
xi. 48 .47.54.57.13'.
205, 262, 268, 309.
xi. 50 . . . . 58
xii. 6 . . . . 42
xii. 19, 28 . 54, 56, 287
xii. 24 . 56, 128, 155,
247. 3°3> 3". 34°.
386, 648.
xii. 25 ... . 504
x" 3'. 32. 35.56.244.
53'-
John xii. 35
xiii. 1
xiii. 4-15
xiii. 26.
xiii. 27 .
xiii. 36.
xiv. 1 .
xiv. 2 .
xiv. 6 .
... 639
298, 300, 648
457
'3'
4
648
303
250
10, 11, 105,
125. 139, 170, 225,
318, 260, 261, 278,
2S3, 364, 388, 405,
4 '5. 5' 4. 562, 565.
640.
xiv. 8, 9 . 106, 146,
'55.304. 445. 543-
xiv. 10, 83, 417, 543
xiv. 21, 170, 417, 445
xiv. 27, 28, 42,57,67,
266.
xiv. 30
XV. I
xv. 5
XV. 12
I92
28l
• 293. 5'4
• • 470
• 56. 5°4
3. 20, 502
' ■ 37i
13, 112, 256
• • 302
. . 543, 648
61, 67, 459,
xv. 13 .
xv. 15 .
xvi. 9 .
xvi. 12 .
xvi 17,
xvi. 32 .
xvi. 33 .
480.
xvii. 1 . .
xvii. 2 . .
xvii. 5 . .
xvii. 6, 21 .
xvii. 10
xvii. 20 .
xvii. 23
xvii. 24 .
xviii. 6, 4 . . 64, 83
xviii. 36 . . . 206
xix. 5 . . . . 242
xix. 6 . 54, 59, 228,
266, 286, 302, 308,
4'7. 537-
xix. 11 . 34,179,344
xix. 14 . . . . 264
xix. 15 . 263, 265, 356
56. 57
. 269
48,56
66, 289
. • 168
• 293
xix. 17, 1
xix. 19-21
218, 225
xix. 21 .
xix. 22 .
xix. 24 .
xix. 28 .
xix. 28,29,
xix- 33. 32
xix. 34 .
xix. 38 .
xx. 1-17
xx. 17 .
xx. 18 .
xx. 27 .
xx. 28 .
xx. 29 .
xxi. 11 .
xxi. 15.
xxi. 17 .
xxi. 18 .
Acts i. 2 . .
i. 3 . .
i. 4 . .
i. 5 . .
1. 7 . .
601
20, 21,
36.
• 393
225, 310
66, 226
304. 539
28,83, 254
78,82
276, 607
■ 38'
• 58
20
• 307
. 361
■ '75
29, 180
. 181
. 108
. 520
300, 442
. 163
• 470
• '79
• 306
15. 442, 574
6g8
INDEX OF TEXTS.
38r.
Acts i. 9 242
i. 11 . 162, 299, 417
i. 15-26 . .421, 622
i. 18 .... 539
i. 20 . 308, 538, 6S1
1. 26 .... 291
ii. 1,2. . . 74, 157
ii. I, 4. 284, 451, 622
ii. 3 . . .471.476
ii.4, 37,213.243,46s
ii. 12 . . . . 317
ii. 13-18 ... 89
ii. is . . . . 215
ii. 25 . . . . 49
ii. 29 . . . . 439
H-37
ii. 38
637
ii. 41
499. 618
ii. 44 .
ii. 45 .
iii. 1
iii. 21 .
iv 4 .
iv. 10, 11
jv. 15 .
iv. 24 .
iv. 26 .
'v- 32. 35
623.
'v. 34. 35
379, 622
vii. 39 .
vii. 42 .
vii. 49 .
vii. 57. 5s
vii. 58 .
vii. 59 .
vii. 60 .
viii. 8 .
viii. 9 .
viii. 13, 18
viii. 28 .
ix. . .
\r. 1, 20
240,312.
ix. 4 . 104, I2.I, 193,
202, 210, 293, 296,
312, 420, 428, 435,
497, 54°. 599-
ix. 5, 6. ... 357
ix. 6
ix. 40 .
x. 13, 46,
x. 40
x. 47
xiii. 27, 41
xiii. 34
xiii. 46
xiv. 14, 15
xiv. 22 .
xv. 9 .
xv. 28, 29
xvii. 3 .
xvii. 18, 32,
3X7.
xvii. 27, 28
xvii. 28
... 352
240, 380, 618,
_269, 306, 381,
. 46S
379. 622
• 2'5
44
468, 617
• 447
• 3'7
■ 458
2
617, 622,
161, 344.
.162,315
. . 682
• • 45'
• 232, 312
• • 237
• 3'6,38i
. . 22
• • 45°
'9
86.
545
• 83
• 33
■94. 239,
149
■ 476
240, 599
• 275
. 478
• 29
49. 54
. 158
• 477
• 293
■ 438
. 612
. 82
> 57. 357.
xviii. 26
xix. 19.
xix. 34 .
xxi. 39 .
xxii. 14
xxii. 20
• • 633
• • 83
• •„ 4'5
•258,394
'. 82, 166
. . 42
. . 672
PACK
Rom. i. 3 . 40, 162, 190,
209, 225.
i. 3, 4 . . . . 289
L 14 ..... 384
i. 16 .... 306
i. 17 . 81,125,213,
235. 37°. 467. 52'.
618.
i. 21-24 ... 9°
i. 23 . . . . 529
1.24 .217,234,377,
394. 535-
1. 25 . . . 47.553
I. 28 . 18, 37, 46, 377,
53°-
ii. 4-6, 460, 484, 491
ii. 5,6 .16, 25,94,
461. 492-
ii. 9, 10, 8, 44, 243.
398.
ii. 12, 317, 392, 579
ii. 15 . . . 35, 230
II. 21, 22 . . . 82
ii. 28, 29. . 167, 551
iii. 2 .... 534
iii. 4 .... 537
iii. 13-18. . . 46
iii. 19-21 . .394, 582
iii. 20, 21. .368, 584
iii. 23 . 15, 277, 331,
626.
iii. 24 .
iii. 27..
iii. 28 .
iii. 29 .
iv. 2
... 576
... 564
. . . 29S
476, 478, 521
... 254
iv. 4, 5 . . . 513
iv. 5 . 22, 24, 79, 81,
127, 153, 196, 201,
298. 3 '6, 320> 369.
485. 5'9. 537, 545-
551,568,58^8,639.
iv. 10 . . . . 550
iv. 15 . . .416,579
iv. 17 . . . . 522
iv. 20, 21 . . . 466
iv. 25 . 226, 558, 633
v- 3. 5 • 8, 33, 95, 96,
144, 228, 236, 291,
3'7. 33i. 368, 480,
510, 558, 579.
v. 6 . 189, 546, 551
. . . 410
24, 297, 562,
v. 7, 8 .
v. 8, 9 .
665.
v. 10 .
V. 12 .
v. 14 .
v. 19
v. 20
... 15. 326
• 82, 193, 443
. . 16, 151
.... 253
■ 243. 277. 288,
295> 403. 545. 564.
580.
vi. 6, 9 .16,58,111,
309. 3'8. 3'9. 329.
332. 425. 439. 477,
645, 682.
vi. 12,13, 35.87. '34.
190, 292.
vi. 18 . . . . 294
vi. 21 . 20, 316, 418
vii. 8, 9 . . 369,403
vii. 12. 293, 582,613
vii. 13. . . . 369
v. '. 14. . . . 603
vii. 23. 314, 317, 403
Rom. vii. 24, 25, 7, 9, 18, 87,
92, 231, 316, 317,
403. 533. 672.
viii. 3 . 82, 179, 288,
304, 425, 581.
viii. 6 . . . . 390
viii. 10 . . 193, 416
viii. 14 . . . 582
viii. 15, 381, 532,566
viii. 17 . . 99, 124
viii. 18 . . . 96
viii. 20 . 62, 69, 571
vi"- 23, 135, 326, 555
viii. 23-25 . 443, 579
viii. 24, 25 . 12, 115,
■35. 294. 3>8. 377.
405. 553. 555. 661.
viii. 25, 8, 11,40, 51,
.254. 297, 521.
viii. 26 . . 207, 246
viii. 28, 29 .400, 603
viii. 29, 30, 310, 436;
VIM. 30 . . . 682
viii. 31, 79, 158,377,
397, 400, 655.
viii. 32 . 276, 297,
562, 660.
viii. 34, 120,215,435,
497. 544-
viii. 35, 38, 39 . 7, 26,
61, 546.
viii. 36 . . . 140
ix. 2, 4 . . . 425
ix. 5 .162, 286, 319,
• 3^6;
ix. 6, 8, 299, 333, 342,
381, 566-
ix. 12, 56,61,583,631
ix. 13 . . . 231, 583
ix. 14 . 255, 257, 309
ix. 16 . . . . 564
ix. 20 . . . . 25b
ix.22, 23. 241,256,
53', 539. 569
ix. 27
ix. 29
ix. 30
ix. 31
ix. 32
342, 348
553
57
37o
164
x. 2, 3 . 433, 569, 576,
651, 654.
x. 3 .52,57,66,117,
162, 316, 321, 533,
534. 564, 583- 602
x. 4 . 8, 45, 46, 1 1 6,
155, 209, 218, 225,
244, 274, 285, 297,
343- "344. 347. 368,
386, 405, 475, 526,
641.
x. 9, 10 . . . 501
x. 10, 70, 125,297, 541
x. 15 . 198,247, 296
x. 17 . . . 578, 588
x. 18 . . . . 54
x. 20 . . . . 82
xi. 1,2.. 342, 430
xi. 6 . . . 143, 288
xi. 7 . . . . 381
xi. 14 . . . . 427
xi. 17, 18 . 201, 334
xi. 19 . . . . 181
xi. 21 . . . . 438
xi. 24 . . . . 334
PAGE
Rom. xi. 25 . 161, 274, 346,
439-
xi. 25, 26 . . 56
xi-25. 33. 34. 2o,-22,
.32> 47. 57. '60, 243
xi. 29 . . . . 404
xii. 1 . . . . 71
xii. 2 . . . 236, 572
xii. 5 . . .175.672
xn. II. 197,279,454,
480.
xii. 12. 286, 358, 609,
618.
xii. 14 ... . 520
xii. 17 . . . . 384
xii. 19. . . . 635
xii. 20 . . . 385, 506
xiii. 1 . . .518, 586
xiii. 8 . . . 403, 586
xiii. 10 . 54, 51, 386,
445. 484. 567. 656.
xiii. 12 . . . 27
xiii. 13 . .262,575
xiii. 14 . . . 574
xiv. 10 . . . 463
xv. 1 . . . . 164
xv. 4 . . . . 304
xv. 8, 9, 329, 430, 432
1 Cor. i. 10 . . . . 130
i. 12 . . . . 482
i. 13 . 152, 161, 602
i. 20 . . . 398, 427
i. 22-25 ■•• 73
i. 23 . . . 364, 566
1. 24 . 163, 297, 403,
475. 572. 671.
i. 25 . . . . 247
i. 26, 27, 97, 274,275,
392, 423, 647, 680.
i. 28 . . . 67, 647
i. 31, 30 . 22, 66, 117,
127, 165, 189, 198,
293. 384. 386, 433.
442, 513, 520, 566,
569. 5«£
ii. 2 . . . . 206
ii. 6-10 .28, 29, 203,
273-
ii. 8 . 146, 179, 220,
225, 275, 286, 309,
3 '9. 396, 425. 426,
.. 567-
11.9,87,341,357,414,
423, 548, 610.
ii 15, 14. . . 188
iii. 1-4 . 28, 30, 60,
112, 188, 217, 273,
283, 292, 482, 61 5.
iii. 6, 7 . 281, 554,
588, 602.
iii. 9 . . . . 281
iii. 9-11 . . . 498
iii. 11 . 165, 389, 396,
420, 510, 585, 594.
iii. 12, 13, 15, 16, 103
iii. 17 . 13, 43, 296,
399. 547. 594. 633.
iv. 1 . . . . 507
iv. 2 . . . . 606
iv. 4 . . . . 547
iv. 5 . 221, 431, 569
iv. 6 . . . . 141
iv. 7, 5, 165,201, 220,
322, 454, 518, 585.
iv. 9 . . .116, 123
INDEX OF TEXTS.
699
PACE
I Cor. iv. 13 . . . . 440
iv. 14. . . . 371
iv. 15 . . . . 66
v. 7, 8, 124, 394. 664
vi. 1-6 . . . 579
vi. 3 . 183, 299, 418,
421, 494, 546.
vi. n . . . . 411
vii. 5 . . . . 646
vii. 7 .... 531
vii. 29-32 . . 474
vii. 30, 31 . . 394
vii. 40 . . . 359
viii. I . . . . 571
viii. 4. . .477, 628
viii. 6. 297, 626, 630,
663.
ix. 7, 15 . . . 513
ix. 9, 31,279,513,663
ix. 11 . . . . 391
ix. 26, 27 . 3, 187, 360
x. 1,2 ... 392
x. 1-6. . . . 550
x. 4 .120, 147, 249,
3 '7. 367. 395. 5°6.
513, 515, 516, 551,
632, 646.
x- 5 • 367. S25. 526
x. 6 ... . 335
x. 1 1 . 253, 268, 288
44i, 533. 550. 626.
x. 12 . . . 135, 200
x. 13 . 186, 257, 258,
37°. 387. 432. 466
x. 20 . . .472, 628
X. 20, 21 . . . 477
x. 31 . . .503,665
XI. I ... . 98
xi. 3 . . 7, 151, 270
xi. 19 . . 26, 217
xi. 29 . . . . 124
xi. 31 . . . . 584
xii. 2 . . . . 280
xii. 7, 11, 12,29, 29°>
292, 377. 5'4. 571-
xii. 8-10. .403, 654
xii. 17 . . 72, 426
xii. 27 . 7, 236, 293,
347. 426.
xii. 29, 30 . . 292
xii. 31 . . . 332
xiii. 1-3 . . . 216
xiii. 3, 144, 168, 424,
586. 587-
xiii. 12 .89,96, 141,
170, 229, 277, 341,
452. 553. 5°5-
xm. 13 . . . 554
xiv. 20 . . 161, 548
xv. 6, 468, 498, 618,
622.
xv. 9 . . . . 315
xv. 10, 281, 341, 505,
S", 566.
xv. 19 . . . 610
XV. 20, 22 . . 404, 406
xv. 23, 24 . . 293
xv. 26, 27 . 31, 299,
33°-
xv. 28, 68, 407, 423,
429. 5°2. 53'-
xv. 32, 203, 318, 664
"v. 33 . .417.664
xv. 35 ... 349
xv. 43 . . . 299
1 Cor. xv. 46
xv. 47
xv. 49
xv. 50
xv. 51
xv. 52
PAGE
. . 252
«. 33< 5°8
• 3°. 245
. . 196
. 269, 607
.216,418
xv. 53, 104, 196, 407,
479. 555-
xv. 54, 8, 11,87,279,
385, 402, 555, 627,
654.
v-5k
v. 56
XV
xv. 51
xv. 58
2 Cor. i. 8
i. 9
1. 12
i. 20
ii. 15,
627
ii. 16,
m. 6
iii. 11
iii. 13
iii. 13
iii. 15
iii. 16
hi. 18
iv. 5
iv. 7
514.
iv. 16
iv. 18
v. 1
V. I, 2
v. 1,4
v. 4 .
v. 6
3'8,
662.
v-7. 9
v. 10 .
. . 605
• • "7
• • 457
• • 534
. . 271
. 208, 679
•332.369
14. 105, 152,
26, 43, 52, 377,
155,322,580
... 165
... 369
15 . . 581
... 446
•20,325,369
• • • 3
... 668
299. 3 '7. 466,
. . 502
• • 52
• 593. 678
• 47. n8
• • 300
• • 385
134, 170, 268,
401, 445.
. . 51, 118
102, 463, 561
v. 13. 14. • • 559
v. 15 . . . . 251
v. 16, 17, 114,392,500
v. 17, 18. .516,517
v- '9 -34.83,302,319
v. 20 . . . 298, 474
v.21 . 564, 571, 581,
682.
v. 29 . . . . 246
vi. 1 . . . . 167
vi. 2 . . . 304, 498
vi. 10 . 286, 293, 385,
558-
vi. 14. . . . 530
viii. 9. 36, 128, 129,
396. 494. 539-
ix. 6 . 100, 547, 605
ix. 7 . . . . 140
x. 3 .... 268
x. 10 . . . . 188
xi. 3 . . . . 606
xi. 8, 9 . . . 207
xi. 27 . . .98, 228
xi. 29. 312,496. 593
xii. 2, 4 . . 106, 296
xii. 7-9 . 242, 443,
482, 660.
xii. 9 .... 288
xii. 10, 56, 117, 242,
xiii. 3. .6, 10, 352,
368, 420.
PACE
2 Cor. xiii. 4 . 283, 387, 540,
682.
Gal. i. 9 . .
i. 22 . .
i. 22, 23
ii. 9 . .
11. 20, 34,
iii. 11
iii. 13 .
iii. 15, 16
430. 435
iii. 16
34
-7
. 381
• 649
189, 276
• 438
426, 540
216, 333,
U
• • 439
.322,613
.411, 621
2, 398, 43°.
337.554.584
• 498
• 195
. 260
. 606
. 182
88, 231, 608
111. 19
iii. 21
iii. 27
iii. 29
503. 550-
iv. 4, 296,
iv. 4, 5 .
iv. 6 . .
iv. 9 . .
iv. 10, 11
iv. 14 .
iv. 19 . 1
iv. 22 . . . . 590
iv. 24 . . . . 288
iv. 25, 26, 546, 556, 678
iv. 26 . 381, 382, 420,
529. 593-
iv. 27, 299, 440, 501,
627.
iv. 29
v. 4 .
v. 6 .
575. 582.
v-i3
v. 15
v. 17,
V. 21
V. 22
vi. I .
vi. 2 .
vi. 3.
vi. 9.
vi. 14
596, 678.
vi. 16 . . . . 299
Eph. ii. 2.61, 290, 294, 328,
376, 377. 398. 5'6.
570, 650.
.... 7
ii. 8-10 . . 288, 635
ii. 9, 10 . . 545, 653
II. 10 . 445.454. 5 '9
ii. 12 . . . . 67
ii. 14 . 165, 381, 591,
603, 606.
ii. 15, 16 . . . 559
ii. 17 408
ii. 19, 20 . . . 420
ii. 20 . 13, 155, 165,
243. 365. 396. 420,
469, 475, 499.
III. 13 .... 144
202, 590
189, 581
370, 445. 407.
■ 556
• 6, 347. 494
92. 573. 576, 577
• • 394. 436
• • • 332
109, 200, 553
• • • '33
• • • 375
• ■ 547. 605
39, 293, 306,
U$t
111. 14, 17
iii. 16, 17
iii. 17-19
iv. 2, ,
iv. 7, 1
iv. 8
iv. 10
iv. 11
iv. 13
iv. 14
iv. 15,
16
9 . 200
io, 37. 54'
28, 36, 53
• 470
• 293
7
• 299
290, 292
270
166
7. 43. 495
Eph. iv. 18 .
iv. 22 .
iv. 22-24
iv. 24 .
iv. 26 .
iv. 27 .
v. 7.
PAGE
• • 639
. . 400
• • 5'7
• o 2*3
• '8, 234
• 138, 649
152
v. 8 . . 244, 253, 278,
346, 411, 42S, 510,
547, 621, 641.
v. 12 . 317,362,656
v. 14 . .7,159,174,
259. 323-
v. 18, 19 . . . 89
v. 23 ... 120,430
v. 27 . . 34, 52, 67 1
v. 28, 29 . . . 170
V-3I.32-43. 128,210,
.*5«.35«.585-
vi. 5 ... 253, 602
vi.12 . 79, 219,398,
537. 650-
vi. 15 ... . 247
vi. 16, 17 . . . 79
Phil. i. 6 417
i. 16 .... 45
i. 18 .... 187
i. II, 23, 24, 211,212,
385-
ii. 6, 8 .265,276,434,
626.
ii. 7 . .67, 203, 397,
. 503. 576.
II. 8, 9 . . . 226, 426
ii.8-n . . . 544
ii. 12, 13 . 200, 275,
369. 370, 4 '5. 653-
ii. 13 . . . 526, 569
ii. 14-16 . . . 460
ii. 15 . . .629,666
ii. 21 . 199, 251, 494,
53'. 548.
iii. 2 . . . . 295
iii. 5, 6 . . 296, 672
iii. 8 .... 378
iii. 9, 12, 14, 113,576,
602.
iii. 10 . . 299, 682,
iii. 12, 13. 113,115,
120, 315.
iii. 12-14 ... 553
III. 13 . 33, 285, 401,
442, 551,678.
iii. 14 ... . I2t
iii. 15 . . . 116,616
iii. 19 .... 668
iii. 20 . 174, 268, 476,
5°3. 564-
111. 21 .... 495
iv. 5, 6. . . . 162
iv. 10 . . . . 182
iv. 15 . . . . 391
iv. 17 . ... 535
Col. 1. 13. . . .377,531
i. 16 115
i. 18 . . . . 7, 274
i. 24, 132,202, 251,428
i. 26 146
ii. 3 . . 129, 185, 256,
562, 629. v
"9 293
n. 14 .... 432
II. 19 .... 43
III. 1, 2 . 325, 369, 476,
518.
7oo
INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
PAGE
Col. iii. 3.91,206,245,377,
396. 597. 599. 044- ,
iii. 4 . . 141, 200, 200,
• S87-
111.9,10. 18,253,400
16
188
606
641
5.605
564
'5
19
262
7, 262
107
3°'
5
37
o 532
38. 397
397
246
606
493
445. 568
247. 398
i. 9 . . . . 1
1. 13 . 120, 191, 202,
222. 239. 3'5. 34',
504.
.404,492,
.189,315
• 287, 542
586
111. 10
1 Thess. ii. 7
ii. 7, 9.
iii. 2
iv. 13 .
iv. 17 .
y. 2
v.3 .
vs »■
v. 7, 8 .
v. 17 .
v. 19 .
v. 23 .
2 Thess. ii. 3
ii. 3-1 1
ii. 4
ii. 8 .
iii. 2 .
iii. 8, 9
iii. 14 .
I Tim. i.
i.8 ! 116,
1. 13, 16
672.
i. 15 .
1. 17 .
ii. 1, 2
ii. 5 . 148, 236, 244,
293, 522, 559, 577.
261
181
ii. 8
ii. 19. .
iii. 9, 13
iii. 12 .
iii. 15 .
iv. 4 . .
iv. 8 . .
v-.i: :
T. 12, 14
V. 18 . .
vi. 7, 8 .
vi.
vi
218
212
164
604
129,498
287, 620
36, 620
• 359
• 3'
• '9
i. 10, 36, 546, 565
i. 17, 18, 19 . 171,
340,410, 546,621.
2 Tim. ii. 2 . . . . 327
»• 8 • 355. 356. 358.
379-
11. 9 . . . . 555
11. 17. . . . 1
ii. 17-19 . . 458
ii. 19.123,436,449,
.. 525. 535. 599-
11. 20. . . . 326
2 Tim. iii. 2 .
iii.
iii.
iii.
ii- 6, 7
PAGB
• ■ 535
. 166, 167
• • 297
96
iv. 16
Tit. i. 9, 10 .
iii. 5 .
Heb. i. 1 . .
iii. 12, 219,312,417,
... 597-
111. 13 . . . 309
iv. 8 . 315,404,492
iv. 14 . . . 545
L 1, 2 . .
i- 3. 4. 5. '47
ii. 8 . . ,
ii. II, 14 .
iv. 2 . .
iv. 12 . .
vi. 13 . .
vii. 25 . .
viii. 13. .
ix. 7 . .
ix. 12, 14,24
x. 5. . .
art. 3 . . .
xii. 6, 33,35, 109,1 30,
243. 387. 435. 443.
. 545. 555. 570, 587-
xii 7 . 435, 467, 555
■ 570
• 429
. 298
• 573
256. 53°
147, 178
329.510
• 3'
: g?
• 679
• 470
• 56
. 114
. 270
• 544
124
146
2 Pet.
PAGE
19, 200,361,444,578
11.7 .
ii. 22 .
iii. 4 .
iii. 5, 6
iii. 16 .
I John i. 8, 9
ii. 1, 2
ii. 9, 1 1
ii. 11
ii. 15, 1
ii. 18
ii. 19
iii. 2 .
42
472
148
502
297
436, 560
640, 646
211
27
3-
55°
535
96, 141, 178,
223, 299, 402, 406,
407, 429, 543, 597,
644.
■ • 239, 384
... 177
98, 424, 504,
in. 4 .
iii. 12
iii. 16,
678.
iv. 8.
193
372
207
644
561
384, 547. 584.
xii. II
xiii. 4
Jas. i. 5, 6
i. 10, 11
i. 19 .
1. 23-25
11. 13 .
654.
iii. 2 221
iv- 4 455
iv. 6 . 55,288,414,534,
568, 616, 660.
iv. 9 418
iv. 14 .... 655
v. 6 172
1 Pet. i. 5 ... 328, 661
i. 10-12, 40,111,380,
6;i
i. 1$
ii. 4
u
ii.9
ii. 20
ii. 21
iii. 7
iii. 9
iv. 17
. 668
'5'. '54
421, 593
>59.369
379. 573
• 3°3
• 424
. 665
• 384
2, 246, 465,
570, 587, 588.
iv.18, 17,70,246,465
v. 5 . . .568,616
v. 8 . . 21, 50, 189
iv. 19 .
v. 16, 17
v. 17 .
v. 19
Jude 4 . .
16 .
Rev. i. 5 .
i. 16
i. 20
iii. 19
v. 5.
447, 5' 5
vi. 9
vi. 10
vi. 10, 1
vi. 14
xiii. 8
xv. 3
xvii. 1
xviii
xix. 10
xix. 12
xx. 3
xxi. 9, 25
xxi. 12
xxi. 23
xxii. n
xxii. 15
Ecclus. i. 14 .
ii. I .
ii. 4, 5
ii. 10
iii. 17
iii. 18
iii. 19
iii. 22
iv. 28
v. 7 .
. . 386, 484
18 .13,55,368,
566, 570, 680.
1. 6
582
436
384
79
529
601
68
227
681
187
147, 189, 263,
• 384
• 455
• 574
• 29
• 3'°
. 528
'.365
. 680
413.477
■ 57
• 312
. 114
. 421
• 577
• 23
• 559
. 48
387. 4°o
. 568
• 263
. 605
. 615
: m
• 575
. 658
Ecclus. vi. 18
vi. 24, 385, 444, 680
680
x. 9 . .
X. 12, 13
56, 91.
xi. 28 .
xii. 4. 5. 6
xv. 9 .
xvi. 29 .
xvii. 26
xvii. 28,
639-
xviii. 30
xxiv. 21
xxvii. II
xxxii. 4
xxxiii. 5
xxxv. 20
xxxv. 26
xxxix. 14-1
xxxix. 33
xl. I
Baruch iii. 37
WUd. i. 1 . .
i-7.8.
i. n .
i. 14 .
i. 16 .
ii. 1, 8-10
ii. 15
ii. 20,
ii. 24
iii. 1
iii. 6
iv. 11
iv. 20 .
iv. 26.
»■ 3. 5<
v. 3-9.
598.
v. 6 .
vii. 16
ix. 1 5 .
,8
2, 400
22, 26,
■ 489
. 506
. 665
. 655
428, 554
287, 305.
577
419
348
33°
623
305
6, 27, 561
. 386
• 563
. 168
10
353. 637
12,65
. 629
• 136
• 203
. 101
172, 264
. 192
425. 578
• 3'3
. 412
. 418
• 2*i
. 418
'9. 235. 35°.
479. 5 '5. 677
. . 560, 578
10,45,86,134,
•37. 3". 3'7. 407.
5°5. 564-
574
667
3. l6
33
2S0
xi. 10 . .
xi. 20 . .
xii. 18 .
xii. 25, 26
xiii. 1 . .
Song of the Three Children.
2-10 .... 585
29 659
35, etc. . . . 612
Sus. 35, 44 . . . . 83
44 5
Tobit iv. 3-19 . . . 235
iv. 7, 10 . . . 480
iv. 15 . . . . 229
2 Mace. vii. .306,381,452
vii. 3 • • • 77
'—"
N:
BR 60 ,S4 1890
V.8 SMC
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